vid card for amd 1.2ghz/256mb/40gb

rainypickles

Senior member
Dec 7, 2001
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my friend has subject's specs with a 16mb TNT2. he bought raven shield, and surprise surprise, it doesnt work.

what is the best card to replace the TNT2? preferably something cheap (under 50) that is not overkill for his system, and hopefully run raven shield and/or bf1942.

thank you.
 

novice

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2000
1,169
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0
I would suggest Nvidia something. Even a used Geforce 3 should be a decent upgrade from a TNT 16 mb card. As for ATI, I have never trusted their drivers, and now I really don't. Just built a PC for my sister in law's family, used a 32 mb Radeon DDR 32 mb card from a Dell. Cannot get it to run either Rogue Squadron 3D or Episode 1 Pod Racer, both LucasArts games, both of which ran just fine on the old P3 and Celeron systems with geforce 2 MX cards. Very annoying, since my nephews are big Star Wars fans and I am sure they (and their dad) would like to be able to play those games. It just crashes to the desktop with Rogue Squadron, locks up with Pod Racer. ATI, never again. I should be thankful though, now I know to go for an FX 5900 when it is time to upgrade my systems.
 

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
Originally posted by: novice
I would suggest Nvidia something. Even a used Geforce 3 should be a decent upgrade from a TNT 16 mb card. As for ATI, I have never trusted their drivers, and now I really don't. Just built a PC for my sister in law's family, used a 32 mb Radeon DDR 32 mb card from a Dell. Cannot get it to run either Rogue Squadron 3D or Episode 1 Pod Racer, both LucasArts games, both of which ran just fine on the old P3 and Celeron systems with geforce 2 MX cards. Very annoying, since my nephews are big Star Wars fans and I am sure they (and their dad) would like to be able to play those games. It just crashes to the desktop with Rogue Squadron, locks up with Pod Racer. ATI, never again. I should be thankful though, now I know to go for an FX 5900 when it is time to upgrade my systems.

k
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
geforce 4 mx series looks like a good choice here. Dont get an mx420, as that is a little faster then a gf2 mx400. mx440 and 460 are much better. I have never seen performance of an mx460 too much, but i assume it is the fastest dx7 level card there is.
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
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Just built a PC for my sister in law's family, used a 32 mb Radeon DDR 32 mb card from a Dell.

You do know this card is like four years old, right? I don't think it even has HW T&L... I'm sure a RADEON 8500 or newer would not have had a problem with those games.

That said, if you're looking for a sub-$50 graphics card that can still play newer games, a GF4MX440 or GF2MX400 are probably your best bets (as several people above have suggested). A used GF3Ti200/400 may also be good. A GF4Ti4200 would be great if you could find a used one in that price range, but good luck!

For ATI, a RADEON 9000 or 8500/9100 (essentially the same card) would be nice, but again, you'll have trouble finding one for $50 (unless it's a 9000SE or whatever the crippled version of that card is).
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
I recommend an 8500, or 9100

I think they play better than my 4200 did.. I traded my 4200 for an 8500LE and happy with the results...
 

Boogak

Diamond Member
Feb 2, 2000
3,302
0
0
Go to the FS/FT forum here and pick up a GeForce3 for $40. I just bought one to replace my nephew's 16mb Riva TNT (original!) on his Athlon 950mhz system and he can now play NFS:U at 800x600 (this is a recent game that's fairly taxing).
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: CraigRT
I recommend an 8500, or 9100

I think they play better than my 4200 did.. I traded my 4200 for an 8500LE and happy with the results...

The Ti4200 will be faster without AA or AF... the ATI cards will be faster with AA and AF. So, it's up to you to make the decision for them, would they like playing with AA and AF? And will the 9100 or 8500 give them decent FPS with those options on? If you answer no to either of those, get either a GF3 Ti500 or a GF4 Ti4200 with 64 MB RAM.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
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The Ti4200 will be faster without AA or AF... the ATI cards will be faster with AA and AF. So, it's up to you to make the decision for them, would they like playing with AA and AF? And will the 9100 or 8500 give them decent FPS with those options on? If you answer no to either of those, get either a GF3 Ti500 or a GF4 Ti4200 with 64 MB

I think this is kind of a moot point. None of them are really fast enough to use AA/AF much as far as I remember, and wasn't there some problem with the 8500 AF that made it basically unusable?
 

Blastman

Golden Member
Oct 21, 1999
1,758
0
76
Don?t go lower than a 440MX.

The 9100?s and 4200?s are much better than the 440MX?s so it would be good to try for one of those if possible.

A refurbished 128MB 9100 is at Newegg for $52.75 and they have new ones for about $70.
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
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I think this is kind of a moot point. None of them are really fast enough to use AA/AF much as far as I remember, and wasn't there some problem with the 8500 AF that made it basically unusable?

I *think* (I didn't own one) that the 8500 had problems with AA, but its AF worked fine, and it was pretty much the first card that had usable AF (ie, it didn't tank performance so much that it was unplayable).

 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: Rollo
The Ti4200 will be faster without AA or AF... the ATI cards will be faster with AA and AF. So, it's up to you to make the decision for them, would they like playing with AA and AF? And will the 9100 or 8500 give them decent FPS with those options on? If you answer no to either of those, get either a GF3 Ti500 or a GF4 Ti4200 with 64 MB

I think this is kind of a moot point. None of them are really fast enough to use AA/AF much as far as I remember, and wasn't there some problem with the 8500 AF that made it basically unusable?

As I said, if the 9100 or 8500 don't give decent FPS with those options on then don't get it.