Which card should i get?

[aamo]

I want to get the radeon All in wonder 8500DV 64MB...
Will this card be able to run Doom 3 and other future games respectably with a decent cpu?
lets say a amd 2000+ XP and 256- 512 MB ram?

or should i just get a tv tuner card and find a better graphical card..i'm on a tight budget.
also

what is the minimum number of FPS that you need before you can notice stuttering and the like?

 

[MithShrike]

I'd probably go with something higher than the 8500DV. If you read the most recent article here at AnandTech you'd notice that they said until Doom 3 comes out UT 2003 will be the most graphic intensive game out there. I'd go with a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 if I were you. However, if you're willing to wait, go with the R300. Well, that's my two cents.

 

[aamo]

But even for UT or U 2003 or whatever the game was in the article it got 50 almost 60 Fps in the resolution i normally use...
is that not playable?
i thought anything about 30 fps was supposed to be fine

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: aamo
But even for UT or U 2003 or whatever the game was in the article it got 50 almost 60 Fps in the resolution i normally use...
is that not playable?
i thought anything about 30 fps was supposed to be fine

30fps is usually what video appears in on a tv, when it's referred to in games 30fps is very slow and you will notice choppiness when playing. The higher the fps the better. 50-60fps is about as low as I would like to go when playing a good graphic intensive game such as the better looking First person shooters out there.

It's hard to say what the actual requirements will be on Doom 3 when it comes out cause it will not be out for awhile. JC has been known to put out products that stress systems to the max and there's no reason not to think this will be the case with Doom 3 as well. I wouldn't buy an 8500 DV for tv and for it to be a great video card for the future cause it's basically being compared to a GF3 which is last generation, and it's expensive so you could get a vid card as well as a tv tuner and then just upgrade the video.

If it were me, I would buy an inexpensive tv tuner like the Winfast TV2000XP from Leadtek and then get a GF4 Ti4200/4400 card and go from there(overclock the card when you need to).

 

[niggles]

I'm going to throw my two cents worth in as well. I'd strongly suggest gowing lower down the NVIDIA scale and picking up the Ti 4200 128MB. It is much cheaper than the 4600 and offers almost the same frame rate. I suggest the 128MB over the 64MB because the 128 scores higher on Jedi tests. Since Jedi is Quake 3 based and Doom 3 is headed up by John Carmack I'm guessing it will be built along the same lines. Like I said... go with the 4200 128 MB.... best bang for the buck and it'll be around to support Doom 3 when it comes out.

If TV is something that is important to you most NVIDIA cards come with some sort of tuner. The trick is to pick one with a decent software package. Haven't seen any reviews on the VIVO for the new cards but I'm sure they'll be almost as good as the ATI. Seeing as the gaming is so much better on the NVIDIA I'd personally pick the NVIDIA.

I guess it comes down to which is more important to you, VIVO or Gaming.

 

[cdub]

nVidia cards do not come with a TV tuner. At least, the reference Ti4200-Ti4600 do not come with a tuner. They come with a hardware video decoder (video out, VO) and sometimes an encoder as well (video in, VI).

A tuner will take a signal from the cable company or antenna and tune to the video information of a particular channel. Cards like Hauppage's WinTV series can do that (they actually have a coaxial jack on them). GeForces cannot do that. If you are trying to tune channels like you would with a TV, you need a TV tuner card. If you are just trying to watch and record a video signal (composite or s-video) from another source, like a VCR, most of the recent GeForce cards can do that.

Hope this helps clarify. It seems like this was getting confused above.

 

[aamo]

Let's say i get the radeon but then i get a geforce 4400 or something similar..can i use the geforce to render the game but output it to my tv using radeon or will the 4400 have tv out?

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: aamo
Let's say i get the radeon but then i get a geforce 4400 or something similar..can i use the geforce to render the game but output it to my tv using radeon or will the 4400 have tv out?

You will only need one or the other, not both. Just figure out what is more important to you. Image quality or speed. Although the GF4 has better filters and is probably one of the best looking in the nVidia line over the past few generations.

You will not be able to render a game with one and output with the other, that's not possible. What you could do is either get a Radeon 8500 or a GF4 Ti4400 and watch a movie on your tv as well as do work on your monitor at the same time. Both the Radeon and the GF4 have Tv-out so that you can play your games or watch your movies on your tv if that's your beef. And if you're really into watching "tv" on your monitor, you should go for one of the VIVO GF4 Ti4400's like the MSI or Gainward versions. They will allow you to hook up a vcr or cable box to your video in and then you can watch tv on your monitor in a small window or full screen.

 

[zm2002]

Hi There,

I'm thinking of buying a Geforce4 MSI Ti4400 ... does anyone knows anything about the quality of the video input on the card?

I want to connect my VCR and pass my old home videos to mpeg to save them in CDs ... for future-proof


One more thing ... about the many formats of video file (mpeg1, mpeg2, asf, ...) which has the most quality? and which occupies less space?


Thanks allot

 

[mee987]

1. you should probably start a new post for this
2. I personally recommend buying your gf4 based on speed of the card rather than vivo capability. then if you need vivo grab an addon card from ati or another manuf.

 

[spanky]

i think the 8500dv will be fine if u can run doom3 at a lower res. but i would rather get a video card and a dv card separately. the 8500dv is not clocked as high as the regular 8500... so the numbers from most video card reviews will be slightly off. as others have already suggested... pick up a 128mb ti4200. the visiontek one overclocks very well (not to ti4600 level, but close...)

 

[niggles]

Spanky, Any idea what the VIVO software package on the Visiontek 4200 is like?

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: niggles
Spanky, Any idea what the VIVO software package on the Visiontek 4200 is like?

i'm not really sure. all the vivo video cards i have ever seen didn't impress me much, so vivo video cards don't really appeal to me.

 

[zm2002]

Hi,

Sorry about the basic quaestion ... but ... erhm ... when you say vivo are you refering to Video Input? Like connecting a VCR to the card?

Thanks

 

[mee987]

VideoInVideoOut