What is a good video card for a 133MHz Pentium?

[woodworker]

Gentlemen,

I recently bought a used computer, for my son, which has a 120Mhz Pentium reclocked to run 133. I want to be able to set it up primarily for game use. At the moment it uses an ATI mach64 graphics accelerator. Can anyone suggest a really good card for this machine?

Thanks,

woodworker

 

[YaKuZa]

i suggest a tnt. if you get anything better than that, your cpu will be a bottleneck anyway.

 

[NeonFlak]

I don't want to sound to mean or anything. But that comp can't run any games or would be suffering severly. I wouldn't throw anymore money into the thing.

 

[NeonFlak]

His cpu will be a bottleneck with the tnt.

 

[ledzepp98]

i agree with the others. no offense, but i don't think the cpu can handle more than the current video card can handle.

 

[Boogak]

You won't be able to run any 3d games released in the last 2 years or so at a decent fps or with decent image quality, no matter what kind of video card you have. You might be able to run most recent 2d games if you turn settings waaaaay down (even Starcraft ran pretty choppy on my p166mmx laptop w/ 48 megs of memory).

Sad to say it, but your machine is best used for surfing the 'net right now.

 

[Wingznut]

"But that comp can't run any games..."

That's not true. I used to play plenty of games when I had a P-166. Of course, it won't play Giants or B&W.

To answer your question, a Voodoo3-2000 would probably be your best option.

 

[Whitedog]

What kind of games? Doom2? hehehe Oh, Hearts/Minesweep...etc..?

A good video card, would be one that was attached to a Socket 425 Mobo in the APG slot

 

[woodworker]

A Voodoo3 will run on a Pentium 133?

 

[Wingznut]

Heh, Tomb Raider and Quake were probably the newest games that I played back then.

I'm pretty sure that a V3 will work. I'm not positive, as I've never tried it. You'd have to get a PCI version, of course.

 

[IcemanJer]

That's assuming that there are PCI slots free on that mobo.

 

[Shagga]

I agree. Voodoo 2000 or 3000 would be a good bet.

 

[Woodie]

This machine can be fine...depends on the games. My son does ok with most stuff, but he's only 5. Lego Racers is a blast, but I did have to upgrade him from P120 to P166. Starcraft/C&C:Red Alert/Warcraft IIalso run fine on it.
Beware some of the ATI cards and older games (WarCraftII) some don't seem to have video drivers that work right--mostly DOS mode games.
Vid: 8MB ELSA Gloria Synergy w/ video capture.

 

[tom3]

I think a Banshee would be fine. With the cpu being the bottleneck, would you see a difference between a Banshee and a V3??

 

[jeremy806]

Pick up a pair a used V2 card.

You can play Unreal and Q2 just fine, along with all other games of that time.

 

[woodworker]

I want to thank all of you for your replies. I understood from the time that I bought the system that it was not going to be an excellent machine for today's games, not by a long shot. But at least it would be something of a benefit for most of his games. Plus.......it gives me back my computer and desk; clutter, game cd's, steering console and the like. I will look at purchasing a VooDoo card or TNT. I should be able to pick one up fairly cheep.

 

[InFecTed]

Go for a voodoo1, it's really your only option with this processor and will give you some boost for almost no money. Spending more on voodoo2/3 or TNT is useless, a p133 can't even come close to the potential of those cards.

 

[Lvis]

The voodoo one would be a good choice, or maybe a riva 128 based card.

 

[fatbaby]

Also agreeing with others, what kind of games is your son gonna play? If it's just games like ultima 9 then its ok but you can't really expect to play newer games such has half-life or red alert two.

Get liquid nitro, overclock that thing to a gig, then you got a nice gaming rig.

 

[Peter007]

I own a similar setup: Gateway P133 with ATI march64

I know what I'm talking about when I say that they are about a perfect match.

the sad fact is that P133 is just too slow to even full utilized my old Voodoo1 card. March64 is just about what a P133 can do

One suggestion I want to make is to avoid TNT at all COST
TNT is very CPU intensive, you 'really need' a fast CPU to utilize TNT

I would stick with the 3dfx Voodoo 1, 2, or 3

Search Anand's old Graphic Card article, he did a great comparison "something call the best Graphic card for Super7"
in which he show that now even a K6(2) 300 is enough to drive a TNT

 

[woodworker]

Thanks "Fatbaby" for your advice, and all others. I tend to agree with you on this VooDoo1 card. I guess that is what I will look for. Some of the games he has include: thunder brigade, tony hawks pro skater 2, need for speed 2, and nascar revolution.

 

[Wingznut]

Oooh... THPS2 and NASCAR Revolution will just laugh at the P133. NFS2 should be good, though. I'm not familiar with Thunder Brigade.

 

[woodworker]

Sorry about that "infected" and others, I was reading over the posts so fast that I got all of your names mixed up. Again I want to thank you all for your contributions. This forum is incredible. I never thought that I would receive so many replies in one day. THANKS ANANDTECH!!

Woodworker

 

[Wingznut]

Are you really a woodworker? Props to the blue collar workers on this board. Too many people with jobs in the world, who don't really "work" for a living.

Yeah, my job is probably pale blue (sorta in between, leaning towards white. Well, my bunny suit is all white... But I digress.) But I used to fix cars for a living, so I know how it is to have a rough job.

 

[woodworker]

Actually, I am an Industrial Electronic Tech, "maintenance man," if you will. Woodworking is my hobby. Nothing beats the smell of wood being cut and assembled into something useful.

I have been searching the web for a voodoo 1 card, but no luck. Any advice?

woodworker