What video card for ~$100?

[KaBudokan]

I'm currently upgrading my entire system from a K6-3@550 to an Athlon XP1600+. This will be on an Epox 8K7a+ mobo.

My current video card is an old Asus V3400TNT. I was thinking of upgrading the TNT, since it would seem silly to keep it in this otherwise fast system. I will probably do a little bit of gaming, though not much.

Since gaming is a minor concern, I am not going to spend $300 on a video card. What are the best options for about $100? Whatever I put in should be a good improvement over the TNT, right?

The other question - I have a hardware DVD decoder... this works well for DVD, but I do notice that the video pass-through actually degrades 2d video. Would I be better off running a software dvd program instead? Would the sound from a software dvd just go through my regular sound output? Would this still decode Dolby surround?

Thanks much for the advice!!!

 

[jfunk]

Get a Radeon LE or a GF2.

Either can be had for $70-$90.



j

 

[rogue1979]

If you can afford a few bucks more, newegg has a Gainward Geforce Pro 450 for $103 shipped, or a Radeon 7500 for $116 shipped. While not top of the line, both of these cards have plenty of power for todays games and apps.

 

[Spike]

I completely agree with rogue. If you want the best card possible for about $100, then it has to be the GeForce2 Pro. I am personally a ATi fan, but in this case nVidia is the better choice. If you want to spend a little less and still get a good card, go for the Radeon 32mb DDR card. I run that right now (at least for the next 3 days, then my Radeon 8500 comes, yum ) and it plays games just fine. I get smooth framerates in all the latest games (RTCW, Q3, CS, Ghost Recon) while running in 1024x768 32bit color. If you want to push to a higher res, then spend the extra for the GF2 pro. I only mention the Radeon because it is a great solution for someone who does not game a ton (though I game almost constantly) and who does not want to spend alot of money (this category I do fit ) You can get the radeon 32mb DDR for $59 from newegg. Here are the links

Here is the ATI page, the radeon 32mb DDR is about half-way down

Here is the GeForce2 Pro, the card is in the middle of the list

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I have to agree, the GeForce 2 Pro seems to be the card that is going to best suit your needs, but I will mention that Gainward offers a newer GeForce 2 Ti that is only a little ($6) more shipped at Newegg, and that offers a little bit better performance than the Pro, so it might be worth a few extra bucks.

 

[Eagle17]

I would agree with every one else BUT you said you use it for dvds also. I would definatly go ATI either the radeon 7500 at $98 on pricewatch or the radeon 32 ddr at $49 on price watch. With either of these cards you will see great DVD and get much better to excellent gaming over what you have now. The nvidias will be great if you want to keep your current mpeg decoder. (the ATIs have built in mpeg decoding that is much better than the GF2's) anyway as far as the sound goes you will need to be able to run DD out of your sound card... you'll have to check you sound card specs for that. if not you can pick up decent cards that will work fine for around $50 and less.

 

[Rand]

I'd go with either a Radeon 7500 or a GF2 Ti.
Gainward's GeForce 2 Ti/450 is available for $96.00 on PriceWatch, and should offer excellent performance.
The Radeon7500 should offer slightl slower to slightly faster gaming performance depending upon the individual game but it has better DVD, an asssurance of excellent 2D, and a better feature set so it might be worth spending the extra money for over the GF2 Ti.

 

[NewCompGeek]

i have a radeon le and its not that bad