You CAN buy a video card with too much horsepower...

[NovaTerra]

But how much is too much?

Celeron 300 o/c to 450
256 meg RAM
Abit mobo
SB emulator sound card
etc. etc.

This is my child's gaming machine. The TNT 16 meg card is obviously not going to cut it for newer games. But how far should one go with the purchase of a new card? Or is a new card AND a new processor the way to go? She likes playing games like ALICE, Giants, and the FPS from Star Trek. It makes little sense to me to spend 200 bucks on a new video card when you consider the base machine.

The question becomes...what kind of card would work best in a gaming environment, considering what she already has? I have considered buying a new Leadtek GeForce 2 card, and giving her my Asus 7700V, but that card may not be fully utilized by her system.

So, I throw the question out to the experts...
What you say?

 

[stultus]

Radeon LE? Nice card, not even $80 shipped. My little sister's 366@550 with a Voodoo3 3000 handles Black & White in D3D mode surprisingly well - I was impressed. The Radeon is another generation of technology better than the V3... I'd say it's a safe bet.

 

[sharkeeper]

GeForce2MX

Cheers!

 

[Rand]

Radeon LE, Kyro 2, GeForce 2 MX.... take your pick.

If you can find one I'd suggest the Radeon LE though, if you can't then wait till' Anand's update of the Kyro review is and see how the Kyro 2 looks in terms of compatibility.

A processor upgrade would really help also though, otherwise your going to end up being processor limited most of the time.

 

[nortexoid]

honestly, voodoo 3 3000...

yeah, 3dfx is gone, but they do have excellent win9x drivers and good win2k drivers...

the will probably perform the best w/ that system, and it's the cheapest no doubt...

i have a k6-2 450 and a saw no improvement going from a voodoo banshee to tnt2 ultra...so i went back w/ my banshee...a celery is faster, but....

 

[arod324]

Radeon DDR LE!!! I have this card and it rocks.