Building system and need advice about which v-card to get.

[scourge]

Check out the ATI Rage Fury Maxx and the Annihilator Pro.

[UKLee]

My suggestions:

If your budget is particularly tight then the Diamond Viper V770 TNT2 Ultra would probably be the best choice - it's price is literally dropping every week right now.

If money is a slight concern , then for good performance go for the ATI Rage Fury Maxx - it will give you the best "bang for buck" ratio available right now.

If money is not too important, then I would go for the Annihilator Pro with DDR from Creative Labs - it has the best performance available today by a considerable margin(in video card terms) and will also support all 3D games past and present thanks to the Glide drivers that will let you play all 3dfx-only games as well.

[UKLee]

As far as DVD decoding goes, I think that either the Rage Fury Maxx and the Annihilator Pro coupled with an Athlon 600 and software decoding would be enough to give you really good DVD performance - not sure about the TNT2 Ultra's DVD capabilities though. I only think that individual hardware decoders are necessary with lower CPUs, and I think that as long as it's coupled with 128MB of RAM or more, then the 600 CPU will be "man enough" to cope without a PCI decoder card. I have just ordered a PIII 600 system with DVD and I plan to use software decoding as I think it'll probably be good enough. However, again, for assured performance if money is plentiful then the best option of all would be to go for one of the Creative Encore DVD and PCI decoder card kits, which are available at a reasonable price, but if you've already bought the DVD drive separately I know that Cinemaster decoder cards are okay because my current PII 400 PC has one and it works excellently.

[This message has been edited by UKLee (edited 01-15-2000).]

[This message has been edited by UKLee (edited 01-15-2000).]

[chipbgt]

Gotta love those ATI's when it comes to dvd decoding http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[dduck1]

I'm building a K-7, 600 mhz. system with a DVD player and needed some advice as to what video card to get. I need solid performance for both gaming (which will support most current and past 3D games) and the DVD player. I've been told to get the TNT2, 32 mb Diamond Viper with a mpeg decoder card for the DVD player. I've been scanning past debates and notice most leaning toward the TNT cards.

[mattheadfat]

i thought the rage fury maxx had dvd decoding? i know the rage fury does