Video Card 2D: NEED HELP!!!

[CloroxCowboy]

Okay I am sorry but I cannot stand the crappy 2D of my Geforce 3 TI200. Please help me make a new choice.

I want honest suggestions at the same time please keep in mind my needs.

COST DOES NOT MATTER.

I use my computer mainly for typing and surfing. I also like to play the occasional game (Civ 3, Subspace and Quake3). What card is right for me please help. Is ATI really that superior in 2D or will it basically be like the Geforce. Can a Matrox handle the games I play?

I am so confused.

 

[Willoughbyva]

It also depends on your monitor. I went from a gforce2mx400 to an ati alll in wonder 7500 and I did notice an improvement in 2d. The reason I went with the 7500 is because it have linux drivers built into the latest xfree 86.

Matrox also has good 2d (so I hear), but it probably won't do the 3d games you play.

Can you borrow an ATI card from someone and see how it does on your setup?

Good luck with it.

Will

 

[CubicZirconia]

Personally I don't think the radeon has 2d quality much higher than the average geforce 3. That said, 2d quality is said to vary brand to brand, so it's hard to group all geforce 3's in the same category. I've never used a matrox card, but anyone will tell you that they suck in 3d while doing great in 2d. If you can get over the loss of quality 3d gaming, get a matrox. If you can't, get used to your geforce 3.

 

[CloroxCowboy]

Thanks for the replies. My monitor is 19" and i run at 1024 x 768 @ 85mhz.

I just cannot get over the fact that my Voodoo 3000 has noticable better 2d than the Gainward GF3 Ti200. It just does not make sense to me.

 

[Willoughbyva]

If you were happy with the VooDoo card then you might be happy with one of the ati cards. I am pretty sure you can get a regular 7500 for less than $100.00. Might be able to get an 8500 for cheap. Though I am not sure how the 7500 will do in those games.

If you are interested in ATI check out www.rage3d.com they also have a forum you can ask questions in.

Good luck

Will

 

[Rand]

If your that displeased with the 2D visual quality of your current card then I'd probably go with ATi... ATi's 2D is slightly better then that available from the best of nVidia board. And at least with ATi you know your guaranteed to get good 2D.
Gainward is often considered to have among the very best 2D available in an nVidia graphics card... so if your displeased with that then I doubt any nVidia board manufacturer will be able to satisfy you.

If you just want a card with excellent 3D, and decent gaming capabilities then a Radeon 7500 should do you quite well. If you want something that's a bit faster then your Ti200 with a better feature set then a Radeon 8500 is a nice option.
Since you said cost doesnt matter I'd definitely suggest a Radeon 8500 though, an unmatched feature set and excellent gaming performance with very good 2D. It;s an extremely good all around graphics card.

As for the V3 having better 2D then your Gainward GF3... that isnt terribly surprising. 3dfx always did have extremely good 2D visual quality, IMHO the best besides Matrox.
My old Voodoo 3 3000 also has better 2D then my current Gainward card, though it's not so significant that I truly miss the V3 unless I get to 1280x1204 or higher.

 

[BFG10K]

In my experience Gainward and Leadtek both have excellent 2D image quality and they both look as good as my Radeon does.

 

[Peter]

2D image quality isn't much inherited in the graphics chip's properties. Much more of it is achieved (or ruined)
by the output line filters on the card.

Now NVidia's OEM card quality control obviously had that point missing (they admitted it a few days ago),
so basically if you buy a card with an NVidia chip, you might get good or bad image quality, luck of draw.

ATi, both on their own cards as well as on any OEM card I've seen so far, have perfect analog signal quality,
regardless of whether it's a low end card or their most expensive 3D cruncher. Even that old 1 MByte
ISA bus "ATi Graphics Ultra" in my emergency spare looks great in 1024x768 @ 75 Hz

Matrox cards usually do as well (although I've seen a couple of cards where I didn't like it), and most of the
cheap-n-slow SiS chip cards are surprisingly good at this too. I haven't seen enough Kyro cards to judge them.

1024x768 is a good 19" monitor wasted ... I'm currently running 1536x1152 @ 80 Hz on this midrange 19" thingie
here, with perfectly readable text. It's an old "ELSA Synergy" card with 8 MBytes of RAM and a Permedia 2 chip.

It's all in the quality of the card ... so if you want crystal clear 2D and enough 3D power for the occasional game, you
should go with an ATi Radeon 7500 or above. Matrox cards have fairly weak 3D by today's standards. SiS Xabre
might also be a contender, but it'll be a while until these will be on the shelves. So go ATi. ATi and their
OEMs also make All-in-Wonder cards with TV receivers on, dual head cards with DVI connector, cards with TV-out,
you choose. Maybe you discover something else you'd find neat, not just better 2D.

regards, Peter

 

[CloroxCowboy]

Thank you to everyone for all the suggestions. It really has helped. I have decided to check out a Radeon 8500. Price seems ok and if the 2d is all everyone is saying I will be happy.