which of these 2 (well, 3) video cards...

[hudster]

...would be better for my dad's computer:

The GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GEFORCE2 Ti450, GOLDEN SAMPLE, 64MB W/ TV-OUT DDR 4.5ns - RETAIL
Newegg has it for $101

or

The Gainward/Cardexpet GeForce 4 MX440 (NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 GPU), 64MB DDR. TV-Out. Retail Box
Newegg has it for $117

or

The GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GEFORCE2 Ti450, 64MB (NO TV-OUT) DDR 4.5ns - RETAIL
Newegg has it for $87

Here's the main games that he plays: Delta Force Land Warrior, Armored Fist 3, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, and Operation Flashpoint. And once I show him Medal of Honor, he'll probably buy that too.

Also, it's important to note that he's NOT going to use the TV-out feature, so what's the difference between those cheaper two cards, other than the one being a 'golden sample'? what exactly is a 'golden sample'? is it 'more overclockable' or something? if you have no plans on overclocking it, is there any advantage to it?

And the other thing is, while performance is certainly a big factor, i'd say that any of these cards would be capable of handling most of today's games without a problem, right? See at this point, for him I'd say the biggest factor is the compatibility/stability. I just upgraded his machine to XP for him, and so I can't get the games to work at all on his old Diamond Viper II Z200. So he needs a new card, with good/stable drivers, that plays his games mentioned above without any major issues (lockups, etc). So at first, getting the GeForce 4 card mentioned seemed like the best deal for a mere $16 more than the middle-priced card, but with the GeForce 4 being so new, I am better off just getting him one of the two cheaper GeForce2-based cards, since the drivers should be more mature/stable?

Your thoughts/comments/opinions on this buying decision are most greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


-hudster


p.s. The other option that I presented to him was that I'd sell him my current Radeon 32MB DDR card for $30, and I'd upgrade MY video cards to one of the choices mentioned above! (I like this option the best, although I still have to decide which of the 3 to get)

 

[novice]

Between those 3, I would go for the cheapest card mentioned. I happen to have the predecessor, Gainward Pro 450 Golden Sample 64 MB DDR that I paid like $130 for just a few months ago and it works great. The only other option to consider would be the MSI Geforce 3 200 Ti that newegg offers for $150 shipped. While it is more expensive, it does offer the additional Geforce 3 capabilities at a nearly acceptable price point. (Sort of wish I would have waited, but then my card seemed like a decent deal at the time....

) I guess it just depends on how much you want to spend. I believe that you would notice a decent improvement even with the geforce 2 Ti versus your Radeon, but the Geforce 3 Ti 200 would be a lot better. The only question is: is it worth an extra $60 to have the next higher performance level? I am waiting for the GF3 Ti 200's to drop to $125 for my next upgrade. At that point, at least one of my Geforce 2 GTS 32 MB DDR cards will have to go! Good luck.
Chuck