yet another Vid card choice question radeon or GF2 or Matrox

[garo]

I am not a hard core gamer. Recently I've only played Age of empires II and a bit of Quake II - yes Quake II. I may do some gaming in the future but I'm not hard core. What i would like from my vid card is to be able to watch DVDs at reasonable quality on the 17" monitor and on my SONY WEGA 20". nothing too fancy. So obviously i need a TV out on the card. And if i remember corectly the SONY does not take an S-Video input.

These are my narrowed down choices:

MSI 831 GeForce2 GTS Pro 5ns DDR RAM == $142 @newegg.com
ATI Radeon 32MB DDR 4X LE (OEM so no TVOUT) == $69 @newegg.com
ATI Radeon VE w/ TV OUT (retail) == $79 @ newegg.com
Matrox G450 32MB DDR 4X (OEM) w/ TV out == $88 @newegg.com
ELSA GLADIAC 511, GeForce2 MX 400, 64MB, AGP, TV-Out, with DVD software. Retail Box. == $95@newegg.com

I'd like to stay under $100 but can go for the $142 if it is highly recommended as being a good deal, for my needs etc.

My rig:
1.2 Ghz Athlon 266 MHz FSB
IWILL KK266 R
512 MB PC133 CL2 Crucial RAM
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Pioneer 116 16x DVD
liteon 12/10/32 CDRW
Pulse 424 Speaker

 

[sohcrates]

i really like the g450

i have a g400 it has great 2d and i can get 60 fps in quake2 at 1024x768. not too shabby at all.

if you don't see yourself gaming, and you want some nice 2d/2d apps (i.e. tv out) i'd stick with matrox

 

[Snickers]

I agree. I had a Matrox G400 and it did great at 2d apps. I played a few games with it and they ran excellent though my scale is not as critical as a hard core gamer.

The G450 is supposed to be better all around than the 400 and if you don't need the hardcore fps, then go with a good (but cheaper) solution.

 

[kombatmud]

I love my G450, and you couldn't pay me to give it up. The only problem is that it doesn't have good 3d, so I'm currently looking to switch my G450 AGP for a G450 PCI, and throw a more powerful 3d accelerator in. If I can't do it, I'd sooner keep my G450 and give up on new games, then give up on the G450.