which PCI Graphic card would be better for gaming? the Radeon or Geforce? (or even Voodoo4)?

[andylawcc]

my friend has an intel i810 mobo with onboard video and he wants to play some game (nothing graphic-intensive, like Red ALert II and Counterstrike and Rogue Spear). I haven't been updated on the computer hardware industry for quite a while so I have no clue which one is better.

so it is either Radeon, Geforce or Voodoo4/3 PCI.
he is using WinXP so I think drivers maybe an issue for the Voodoo and Radeon right???

 

[FishTankX]

I heard somewhere they were making a Geforce4MX 420... PCI flavor. Would blow all of those out of the water.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: FishTankX
I heard somewhere they were making a Geforce4MX 420... PCI flavor. Would blow all of those out of the water.

You mean a Geforce 2?

 

[gennro]

well what i have seen is the geforce 4mx's seem to do pretty good, and also the radeon 7200(pci version) is good also

 

[Athlon4all]

The best he will get is prolly a GF4MX 420 PCI. But realize, it weill be slower than an AGP GF2 MX, the MX420 uses essentially the same core as the GF2 MX400, and with the same memory bandwidth.

 

[MadRat]

The 810 chipset is extremely PCI limited compared to the BX and 815 chipsets, too. He'd be better off spending that $100 on a new AGP motherboard! There are plenty of mATX boards out with an AGP slot.

 

[MadRat]

Most of the 810's were limited to Celeron PPGA chips, too, meaning that they couldn't handle FCPGA Pentium-!!!'s. If your friend has the Celeron PPGA then recommend the Voodoo3 for him. Its cheap and doesn't require a good CPU. All NVidia GeForce-family cards are crap on low end processors!!!!

 

[jm0ris0n]

ATI has announced the Radeon 9000 will be available in PCI flavor

 

[bluemax]

Tell him to replace his i810 with something with integrated video if he's that desperate. A nice SiS board w/ integrated SiS315(?) or i845G would be half-way decent. If you're thinking MX-level graphics, he can get it imbedded right on the mobo while concentrating on the most important task:
replace that mobo!!

Hope this isn't a proprietary machine where replacing is not an option.
If that's the case, Radeon PCI would be far superior to a GF2MX or GF4MX420. If you could find a GF4MX-440 in PCI (do they exist?) that would be good.

But a Radeon 9000 PCI? That would be awesome. More than the i810's CPU could use though.
Of course, it'd rock if he upgraded later. It shouldn't cost much more than a Radeon PCI either..... but look for a special deal on a Radeon PCI now that they're going the way of the dodo. (Only meaning that they're being replaced. Still a great card.)

 

[andylawcc]

oh. I just searched and found MadRat's previous thread on the same question and Rand voiced a similar opinion.

well, here's the exact situation:
I am in USA, and my friend will go back to HongKong in a week; he, is somewhat computer-literate; his younger brother, who owns the "i810" rig, is completely computer-illiterate. So, I will call my friend and tell him which Video Card to buy and he will plug it in for his bro. The problem is I don't know whether will the New Radeon 9000 PCI or the MX420 will be out yet in HongKong, and I don't know how much is he willing to pay for a PCI video card. I definitely will not recommended him build a new rig (or just a mobo swap) since niether of the two know how to.

so now, replacing Mobo and buying Voodoo Cards are out of the question, since V4 have no driver support under XP and I doubt he can find a new or used V3 in HK.

so, let's say Radeon 9000 and MX420 is not available, the runner ups would be,
GF2 MX400 PCI or Radeon 7000PCI.

i seems to like Radeon coz ATI historically has better 2D.
so, here's some more questions:
the FIRST Radeon is NOT the Radeon 7000 right? and there is no difference btwn the 32mg and 64mg version right?

any objections or Nvidia fans who want to defend yourselves

 

[MadRat]

Radeon 7000 = Radeon VE (dual-head, 64-bit DDR)

 

[bluemax]

The Radeon PCI card is a full-fledged Radeon. Not a VE or 7000. AVOID THE VE OR 7000!!!! BAD! EVIL! AS BAD AS AN MX-200!
Don't do it man.... just don't. Find a full-fledged "regular" retail Radeon PCI. SDR is all they came in if I'm right.

 

[MadRat]

There is no performance difference from the VE (64-bit DDR) as compared to the PCI-version with 128-bit SDR.

 

[andylawcc]

Bluemax:
I just check ATI's site, they discontinued the Original Radeon PCI already...
http://www.ati.com/shopati/pricespcusa.html
I found like a few merchants that still carries the original Radeon pci.


so it seems like the Gf4-420 is the best choice huh...

 

[Tanked]

The GF4MX-420 would be the fastest option right now, and it'd probably be close to twice as fast as the GF2MX-400. Although they have the same bandwidth, the GF4 manages it much better and has a more optimized core.

Stay away from the Radeon 7000 or VE. They don't have hardware T&L engines and only a single pipeline, which kills their performance. Get an original Radeon PCI, or GF2MX-PCI (The Geforce4 PCI will probably be severely overpriced). I would even recommend the GF2MX-200 over the Radeon 7000, because in an old 810 rig with a celeron, it's going to need T&L assistance.

 

[MadRat]

Actually if he has a sub-566MHz processor then its likely that a Voodoo3 or SiS315 is faster than either an NVidia or ATi solution.

Maybe you can get Anand to review PCI cards on a variety of PCI-only systems, old and new!

 

[mrzed]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it, but right now, by far the best PCI video card is the Radeon 7500 PCI. It would blow a PCI MX420 away, and it has hardware T+L support, unlike the 7000PCI.

Link to powercolor

If there really is going to be a PCI 9000, that would be the new champ, although I imagine it would be badly limited by the PCI bus at that level.

 

[bocamojo]

The Voodoo 5 5500 has long been known as the top PCI video card available. I don't have one, but I have read many good reviews about it versus the GF2 MX and PCI Radeons.... Don't know how it would match up against the newer Radeon 9000's coming out, but I think this card at least deserves mention here.

 

[spanky]

i had a compaq rig with a 500 cel and i810. i had a v3 2000 pci in there before... and now i have a radeon sdr pci in there. it does a nice job of running CS.

 

[bluemax]

Another reason I mentioned the Radeon PCI is because the Radeon chipset "helps out" (read: performs) better with slower CPUS than the GF2MX would. The GF4MX-420 isn't a whole lot faster than that, but I'd consider them equal.

I'd still upgrade that mobo to something with onboard video if money is that tight. An nForce mobo + Duron processor + 2x128/256MB DDR = quite cheap upgrade with "free" GF2MX and 6-channel audio.

That, or just the cheapest MX-420 he can find. [shrug] That'd be cheaper than a R7500PCI and he can save his wooden nickels for that mobo/CPU upgrade.