What to buy...my situation explained inside.

[Haervii]

I will be running games at low resolutions on a 15" monitor, sorry, 19 inchers are just too pricey. These are the games I'll be playing

various HL mods
TF2
Diablo 2
Tribes 2 (maybe on that)
maybe Red Alert 2
Deus Ex
So what video card do I get?
my choices are:
V5500
GF2MX
Radeon DDR 32MB

 

[snow patrol]

I'd be tempted to say the Voodoo 5. The price is really low now (~$140 with rebate) and you've mentioned a couple of glide games there which of course the voodoo excells at. Given that you won't be able to run at very high resolutions, you'll also benefit from the Voodoo 5's FSAA which is superior to that of the other cards you mentioned..

 

[Tates]

For your set, I agree with Snow Patrol. The Voodoo5 5500 at todays' pricing would suit you well.

 

[Tates]

For your set, I agree with Snow Patrol. The Voodoo5 5500 at today's pricing would suit you well.

 

[Haervii]

Cool.. I'll go with V5500 unless someone convinces me otherwise...
but hey, doesn't G2MX out perform V5500 at low res? Or is there a very small margin?

 

[JACKHAMMER]

get the v5

 

[RoboTECH]

get the V5

if you're playin gon a 15" monitor, you'll be going 800x600

the V5 can do FSAA @ 800x600 without issue, and the image quality will $hit all over an MX.

The MX typically will bench faster than the 5500 in some caes (NOT!!!!!!! Deux Ex!!!) at lower resolution, but the 5500 won't lose as many frames when FSAA is enabled in lower resolutions, while the visual quality will be dumbfounding.

Buy.com $145 V5!!!

sign up as a new user, and you get $30 off coupon, which means the $175 price of the V5 drops to $145

unbeatable right now

 

[her209]

Where is the rebate and how much is it for? PCI and AGP or just one?

 

[BFG10K]

but hey, doesn't G2MX out perform V5500 at low res? Or is there a very small margin?

In T&L games (such as Quake3 and MDK2) combined with CPU limited situations the MX significantly outperforms the V5 5500.

Since you haven't mentioned Quake 3 I'd assume you aren't a big fan of it? You may as well get the Voodoo5 then. You can use FSAA in low res situations plus half of the games you mentioned run in your list run under Glide.

 

[MADCAP]

Hell you can get by with a $35 TNT1 or TNT2. Then you can sock that money away for a bigger monitor. Those cards are pretty much a waste at that res. Then by the time you get a new monitor, you'll have to get a new vid card anyway because the ones you're looking at will be obsolete.

Remember your monitor's the one thing you're not likely to upgrade soon and really doesn't become obsolete.

The toughest game on your list is DeusEx and my old TNT played it smoothly on my 17" trinitron.

Sorry to be the one to differ. But I just thought a different point of view would be good. At that res you probably wouldn't see much difference between a $35 card or a $175 card.

My take is save your money for a new monitor, and buy a cheaper used card that was made to play at those res's.

 

[audreymi]

Read this 5500/MX/Radeon thread for some more opinions.

 

[Haervii]

What Madcap says makes sense..can anyone give me a second opinion on a TNT2 for a 15 incher? And would a voodoo3 do better, or worse?

 

[MADCAP]

Either the V3 or the TNT2 would do great. I would make sure you get one of the higher V3's though. I bet you could get a better deal on a used TNT2. The V3's still seem to hold a little more value.

I recommend you hang out in the "For Sale/Trade" forum to find a good deal, or post a topic for what you're asking and a price you want to pay.

Just get something CHEAP! You'll be at 800X600 or 640X480 anyway. Any of these will play any game smoothly at these res's.

Sock that money away, and wait for a deal on a bigger monitor. FYI I saw some kick ass used/refurb Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 17"'s on egay today for around $80-$90 bucks. That's what they went for. These are top of the line with diamondtron screens. If you pay $25 for shipping you end up getting an awesome monitor for cheap. Just keep your eyes open. And don't waste your money on something now that you can't use.