What are some good PCI video cards?

[Speck102]

Hey guys, what are sme good PCI cards for playing 3d games?(I know there are really no good ones, but I just need the best ones possible for around $50-$100.) LMK please, thanks

 

[nimo]

On 2'd thought ati 9200

 

[CraigRT]

there isn't too many.. 9200 as mentioned above, some GF4 mX cards, not sure what else is in PCI..

 

[Mloot]

Your best bet for performance is to get a Visiontek 9100 PCI, preferrably with 128mb. It's faster than all the 9200's, 9000's, GF4 MX's, and PCI FX 5200's.

 

[atlr]

I have been wondering the same thing. I have a system with a Shuttle SV24 motherboard with Celeron 800 MHz.

It's hard to find 9100 specific benchmarks. You can equate the 9100 with the 8500 series which are faster than 9000/9200 series. There's a lot of 9200 articles out right now so look at those and figure the 9100 is even better.

http://oc3dmark.octeams.com/cardguide.html
This page has a lot of good information although it does not address PCI cards specifically.

I have narrowed my choices to the Visiontek Radeon 9100 128MB (US$80)and the Inno3d Tornado FX5200 (US$110). The Inno3d interests me because it does not have a fan and has S-video out.

Here are some links I found useful.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDkwLDE=
5200 vs 9200

http://www.3dxtreme.org/Inno3D_FX%205200_p1.shtml
5200 on an AMD 1600+

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030120/vgacharts-02.html#aquanox
Benchmarks of a variety of cards on an AMD 1GHz

 

[JammingJay]

Another vote for Radeon 9100. (aka Radeon 8500LE) CompUSA was selling the Visiontek 64mb version with DVI for $59.99 - $20MIR (not sure if the MIR is still valid). They'll be difficult to come by B&M, but its worth a shot.

 

[Mloot]

here are some 9100 PCI benchmarks

I'm working on an updated version of this post that I hope to finish soon, but so far, I've found the 9100 to be the fastest PCI card around, especially the 128mb model. The Inno3D 5200 PCI is a good card and it's a little faster than the PNY 5200, but for now, the fastest 5200 PCI is made by Mad Dog Multimedia, which you can get at Compusa for $100/after $20 MIR. Both the Inno3D and Mad Dog cards come with VGA, DVI-I, and TV/out, plus both of them also come with a DVI-VGA adapter, which was a nice surprise. However, each of these 5200 PCI's have different memory clock speeds. Here's how they break down:

PNY - 128-bit card - 250mhz core & 150(300)mhz DDR memory

Inno3D - 128-bit card - 250mhz core & 200(400)mhz DDR memory

Mad Dog - 128-bit card - 250mhz core and 250(500)mhz DDR memory

The Mad Dog is the fastest card I've found so far, not counting the 9100. If you are looking at getting a 5200 PCI, it's your best buy, considering it's at the same price point as the other 5200 PCI's.

Atlr, each of the 3 5200 PCI's, including the Inno3D, are cooled with a HSF. The only 5200 PCI I have seen (only seen pictures of it on the web) that is passively cooled is the Gainward 64mb 5200 PCI. Here is an actual picture of the Inno3D 5200 PCI.

 

[blazer78]

3DFX Voodoo 5 , killer card IMO, will kill a 9200 for good..... if u can't find one get a 9100 pci

 

[Speck102]

I don't know about the voodoo5, is it really any good? It's pretty dated, I doubt that it wil compete with the new cards being released. BTW, thanks for the info guys, from checking out the benchmarks, I am going to aim for the 128meg 9100, and if not, then the 64meg version which I found for $66 at best buy.

 

[blazer78]

kool, best of luck. u r correct, the v5 is dated and drivers r also dated... but its a damn fast card if ur gunna play dx8.1 games, in comparison to ur 50-100 buck range =)

cheers!

 

[InlineFive]

No PCI card will be good for anything whatsoever. Period.

-Por

 

[atlr]

I just got the Visiontek Xtasy 9100 PCI. But there is no joy in mudville. The computer will not post with it; no BIOS beeps, no display. (Via MVP3 chipset, FIC VA-503+v1.2a motherboard, 550 MHz K6-3+ CPU) I pop a S3 Virge/GX back in and it boots right up. I removed all other cards and nada.

The card works in one of my other systems ( Via PN133T chipset, Shuttle SV25 motherboard, 800MHz Celeron CPU).

I went with PCI because the AGP cards I have tried in the past were not stable in this system (GeForce 2 MX400 and S3 Savage 2000). THe net wisdom I gleaned at the time suggested that the Via MVP3 chipset didn't support AGP very well.

Perhaps its power. The power supply is rated 250w but who knows. I wonder about PCI bus versions too.

 

[The Green Bean]

spend some more money and get urself a new mobo....Then get AGP card....those 2 cards wont even play easy games like CS at full speed...What mobo do u have now? whats the bilt in vid memory for it?

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: hatim
spend some more money and get urself a new mobo....Then get AGP card....those 2 cards wont even play easy games like CS at full speed...What mobo do u have now? whats the bilt in vid memory for it?

advice coming from a guy who wrote this thread.

 

[The Green Bean]

so?

 

[Shawnimal]

 

[nick1985]

9100

 

[blazer78]

seriously, go grab a 9100 or a v5 =)

 

[atlr]

At least a couple people have experienced a similar incompatibility between the 9100 PCI and older motherboards. I will try and contact these folks to see if they found a solution.

Xtasy 9100 PCI not recognized by ASUS P2B-D

No video with ABIT BH6 motherboard

Does anyone already have an account at http://forum.visiontek.com? Their automated account creation is not working.

 

[atlr]

I decided to return the Visiontek 9100 PCI to TigerDirect after a week of altering BIOS settings, slot positions and so on. The FIC VA-503+ I have will not boot with this card.

In my search for a solution here are some older motherboards that will not boot with a Visiontek 9100 PCI.
ABIT BH6
ASUS P2B-D
FIC VA-503+

 

[Speck102]

I need to find out what kind of mobo my friend has in his system before buying the video card(no i havn't gotten it yet) I don't want to get him a vid card that wont work in his system.