Vid card recommendation

[Disk11]

I need a video card for a system I hope to start building soon. It will be used for internet, e-mail, and playing a few non-graphic intensive games (most intense game played is unreal). Here the specs:

ECS K7SEM B SiS730S MICRO AT
DURON 1.1GHZ
10x DVD-ROM
AOPEN BLACK CDRW 48x12x50
512 MB pc133
40 GB HD

[gibsinep]

Radeon 8500
Geforce 3 ti 200
Geforce 2 ti


What are you looking to spend?

[SLX]

Get the Radeon 8500Le with 128mb ddr memory. The card is about 70-100 dollars. If you want you can OC it to GF4400 speeds.

get the program here

http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/

[bw]

At Computrade sells Creative Labs Blaster TNT2 Ultra for $33, that's after shipping and handling. You have to mention "Pricewatch" to get $5 flat shipping fee.

[Disk11]

Sorry about the wait, I've been bugging the parents to let me know my budget, which I still don't know yet. Since my family doesn't do hardcore gaming and there will be NO overclocking, I was thinking gf 3 ti 200, but am thinking I could go w/ a mx and get away with it. Thoughts?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Ach - god no - dont get an MX - get either an 8500 or a cheap gf4 ti4200 from the lieks of Inno 3d

--Jakk:t

[Disk11]

Dude, after the crappy onbard graphics we have been using for years, the mx will be like an incredible leap up. Besides, they wont do any serious gaming. If I were to be using this, I would try to get my dad to fork over the money for a good card, which I seriously doubt will happen. When finding new parts on newegg, i found a refurbished asus 415 board for $65 and added a curical 256 MB pc2100 for $65. Upon showing this setup to him, and explaining the setup, he said he had just upgraded the current comp to 512 SDR (which was a year ago) and if I wanted this setup, I would have to chip in for it. And the total cost with a case, 48x burner, 2 case fans, a cpu fan for the 1700 tbred, the mentioned mobo and ram, and a radeon 7000 was under $500. So I have to settle for the ecs sis 735 chipset board:(.

[AllGamer]

either get the Radeon 8500 or 9000
or the GeForce 3, or GeForce 4 Ti series

but non of the MX non sense

:t

[gibsinep]

Disk11- jeeze he is paying for a computer for you to use and you complain. :confused: :rolleyes:

Also the ECS K7s5a is a great board in case you didn't know.

[Beeblequix]

Being that you're not a hardcore gamer AND on a budget, I'll give you different advice.

Keep in mind that I have nothing but utmost respect for the gents above.

But for you, I'd tell you to simply get a Geforce 2ti or even an MX. This is not blasphemy!!!

Since you do nothing intensive, plus you're buying a low end Duron 1.1, plus you'll really never reap any tangible benefits from a higher purchase, go the MX route. Besides, if you even need it, the Geforce __ MX cards have twinview, meaning you can hook two monitors up to it and run dual monitors. These guys will always tell you to get a card suiting their needs, not necessarily yours.

I liked my G3ti200, until I became addicted to eye-candy. It would suit your needs nicely though (Unreal is OLD tech, only 256 colors per texture).

[Disk11]

I have heard ECS K7s5a is a good board, but nforce is better. BTW, this is the family pc, and I hope to have my own computer one the way I will use for gaming, therefore having little part of this new one.

[Rugor]

Sapphire Radeon 9000 $66 at Newegg.

Good basic card, full DX 8 compatibility and cheap. ATI also outsources to Sapphire for a lot of their OEM manufacturing.

$72 Gets you their 8500LE card. Both 64mb.

At those prices you should not be looking at ANY MX solution. A Gf2MX is too old, and a Gf4MX's should be avoided on general principles.

[Beeblequix]

Remember when you had to approach your *father* to get money for computer equipment? Every dollar mattered.

Or someone with three kids to feed and on a very limited budget. "$10 is $10", and makes a difference to these folks.

So I checked pricewatch. And that Radeon 8500 is a good price @ $66. Seeing this price makes me want to buy one. :D And that Radeon 7500 @$48. And that Radeon 9000 (not as good as 8500) for $63.

And Rugor has a point. It's really hard to recommend an MX, as those who know, know that it's a half failed part, casterated and shrink wrapped into a 'new' product.

You could grease him for a bit more by telling him how all this stuff is already out of date, that you need to get a comp that's "FUTURE PROOF", that can handle all the "applications" you'll be using. It's a highly euphamistic approach, but might work. Start throwing acronyms and geek-terminology at him, like tout vertex and pixel shaders and how every graphical app uses them now. Tell him about the 'bang for buck' you'll be getting by getting a DX 8.1 now as they've been out for some time.

If you plan on playing newer games then get something with DX 8.0/8.1 support. If not, get a DX7 card and be reasonable in your expectations. It can all be surmized by asking yourself:
"Where do you see you PC use in 6 months? 12 months?"

[Disk11]

"Where do you see you PC use in 6 months? 12 months?"
I'll be at college with my (hopefully) custom band-spanking new computer. I'll see what prices newegg has on the better raedons, since I'll be ordering from them, and see what dad has to say about it.

[cheapster]

My suggestion for the budget conscious upgrader for a video card would be the Geforce 3 Ti200, which you should be able to find new for under $100. If you are really strapped, try to find a used Geforce 2 GTS or Pro, which you could pick up for around $30 to $35 shipped. (And I know where you could get a nice MSI Starforce 820 Pro that ran rings around a Geforce 2 MX for that price ;) ) Either of these would work fine with a Duron 1.1 gig cpu and be an amazing upgrade from onboard video.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Why not a $65.00 nforce mobo from newegg NEW not used. It has built in G2 (not mx) video card plus agp slot for upgrades later and 3 pci slots. DDR and etc.;)

[AllGamer]

i was doing some Low cost upgrades over the weekend

and i found the most viable way was to either get

the ATI 8500 or ATI 9000 if the 8500 is out of stock, which seems to be the case now

is sooooo hard to find, cuz it's in such a high demand vs the ATI 9000

when it comes to low cost and High Tech

:t

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Yea, the original BBA 8500's with their way low cost / performance ratio are getting harder these days. Lots of LE's around though. $70 is good for a killer gaming card.:D

[Disk11]

Why not a $65.00 nforce mobo from newegg NEW not used. It has built in G2 (not mx) video card plus agp slot for upgrades later and 3 pci slots. DDR and etc.

My dad won't go for ddr, because for my current p3 rig, we upgraded to 512 a year ago and still wants to use that for the time being.

Either of these would work fine with a Duron 1.1 gig cpu and be an amazing upgrade from onboard video.

Should I edit the first post? Somewhere I mentioned I'm getting a 1700 t-bred instead of a 1.1 duron, because the duron is not much of a upgrade over a p3 850. Besides, that 1700 is fairly inexpensive.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yup - plus if you can get the newer 1700+ they overclock rather nicely ;)

--Jakk:t