What Video Card Should I GET???????????????

[wj]

My System:
FIC VB-601 M/B
Celeron 566MHz O/C 850MHz
Two Sticks of Micron 128Mb CL3 7.5 Dimm Chips
Diamond Sound Card
AOpen Modem ISA Hardware Modem
Two Maxtor Harddrives 8.7GB and 4.3GB
Acer 40X Max CD-ROM
Full Tower Case
And here my video card I'm running,off brand AGP TNT2 M64

I have about $130.00 to spend now, or should I just wait and save more money to buy a high dollar card.

I know you Guys and Gals must have a word or two on this matter.

Thanks

wj

 

[pillage2001]

Geforce 2 MX no doubt!!

Brand?? Leadtek is good, Prophet II MX is a good steal too. I don't really know the price of these cards but they are definitely below 130 bucks.

 

[wj]

Thanks I check those out.



wj

 

[SendTrash]

Save up like $20-40 more and get a Voodoo 5500.. If you check out the Hot Deals forum, you can get it from onvia for ~$170 or try to PriceMatch with Staples... I really think that teh Voodoo 5500 is a really hot deal right now.

 

[The Wildcard]

Hmm there are alot of choices...GEforce 2MX comes up first on my list but the ATI Radeon DDR model comes up real close cuz it's price has dropped too recently.

 

[BillyPackerFan]

My 2 cents worth (not worth that even

I have been an avid fan of the Voodoo cards for some time now. I like the Voodoo cards because I could buy any game on the store shelves and be certain that it would work with the VooDoo card I had installed. With some of the other cards that I had purchased, I had to download major driver updates every week in order to play the latest game and then hoping that the next level that I played didn't force me to download a new driver (some times the weekly driver updates took longer than the actual time I had to play the game AKA U9). Did DirectX fix this???

I have heard rumors that 3DFX dumped there STB plant who actually builds the video cards and this bothers me because I would like to purchase the V5 5500 and compare it to the latest cards but the question of driver updates from the 3DFX people scares me.

I currently own a TNT, a TNT2 ultra, Radeon 32 DDr, a V3 3500 TV and 3 of the V3 3000's.. The Radeon has a good looking 2D and a very impressive 3D (although it is glitchey above 1024 x 768 - A Driver issue so I am told)

My next card will be one of the GForce2 cards (as seen on Toms reviews as sold on pricewatch) as I am shure that all the games should work on these ( but look for many driver updates to tweak the cards to perfection...)

Good luck with the search... and keep me posted of your choice...

 

[Tates]

V5 5500... a very good card for money, right now. The most compatible card out there. For $150 to $170, you can't go wrong.

 

[Maverick2002]

i would still get a gf2mx if you dont have the extra moeny (i mean think about it, you can spend ANOTHER $20-30 and get a v5500 or radeon 32ddr, but the you can spend just a BIT more and get a GTS, and then....the story keeps going and going......you spend just a TAD BIT more, but then you realize you're about to pay $300 for a video card.....its like that with ALL hardware: you pay some to get something better, but then you find something ever BETTER for only a little more, ad infinum)
the Guillimot 3D Prophet GeForce 2 MX is the BEST
it ships with 5.5ns ram (the FASTEST for gf2mx cards) and overclocks like a BEAUTY.....
the only prob is you might want to get a blue orb to cool it better, since the card uses passive cooling
also, dont get the OEM one, it comes with 7ns ram, get the RETAIL

 

[damac]

I had a geforce ddr and just bought the 64mb radeon retail card. Unless Im on crack on the same setup my unreal tournament is running way better with direct 3d than this other video card. Before I would dip to under 30 fps and I just went online and jumped into some games and I was getting like 49fps minimum with a few guys onscreen and this is with all options to the max at 1024x768. Also everything looked just fine to me graphics wise. Its too soon to tell but this card appears ok thus far. Im not having any crashes or games not booting up.

One thing I thought was wierd is although unreal was flying I booted up deus ex with their direct 3d beta file on their site and this was running worse. not slide show slow but slower than ut, and I thought they ran on the same engine?

I'll put everything through the ringer when I iron out my new kt7 mb and ghz tbird next week to see if I can overclock that setup. then as long as everything runs im pretty sure I'll be good and will just leave my rig alone for a while.

 

[Deeko]

If you don't want to save up more, the GF2 MX is a great choice for you. However, if you save up a bit more, you can get either a Radeon 32 DDR or a V5, both are priced well and provide excellent performance, compared to the MX.

 

[Hawk]

Save up 10 to 15 more dollars, and check out the hot deals forum on how to get a Voodoo 5 for 137-145...it's within your budget I believe. =)

 

[RoboTECH]

i'll vouch

the 5500 kicks a$$, no doubt.

 

[RedWolf]

You said you have 130 to spend. You can get a GeForce MX for $90 on Pricewatch. You can get a GeForce 2 for $155 or a Voodoo 5500 for 173. I have a GeForce 2 GTS and am very happy with it. I can play any game at a high resolution with everything turned on. My roommate has a Voodoo 5500 and his Quake scores at high resolutions are always lower than mine. I get about 40 fps 1600x1200 high quality with a Celeron 500. He gets 28 with the same settings on a P3 600 and 256 meg ram. I have a friend with an MX and a Cel 566@850. His Q3 scores are about 25 at HQ 16x12. At 1024 he scores about 20 fps more than mine. I think the GTS will last you much longer than a 5500. A GeForce MX tops out at about 1024x768 and will allow you to play games now great. I don't have any experience with a Radeon but they are prices much higher than the GTS/MX. I think the GTS will last you much longer than a 5500 or an MX. It looks like you'd like to keep your card for a while (since you didn't buy anything after the TNT2) and I think the GTS will fit the bill. If you can't afford that, an MX will work great up to about 1024x768.

 

[wj]

I thank you all for the feedback on what video card I should get. I think now I'll wait until after the first of the year to get one.
1. I'll have more money then.
2. The price of cards out now should go down.
3. Something better may come out.

And like Red Wolf said I'll keep the card I buy for a while. So I want to get a good one. So I can live with the card I have now for a little while longer i know.


wj