What video card for me?

[eagle1]

If you want clear and crisp pictures you should go with the Radeon. Ati is the leader in the picture quality area. If you want more FPS then get a GeForce. You should steer clear of the Voodoo for now since it gets outperformed in almost every category.

[CWB]

For starts I'm not a shooter gamer. No quake, ut, anything like that.

I have been primarly a playstation/nintendo gamer and like games in the adventure/role playing area.

This will be my first computer and looking for the right video card.

So what should it be, what will give great clear graphics?

Ati Radeon
geforce
vodoo
matrox etc

I was thinking of the asus v6800 deluxe for the video in/out or the radeon 64mb vivo. I want to use my camcorder for video conferncing. Is the another solutions(pci cards) or usb devices out there that anybody knows of that will allow me to use the camcoder for that reason?

[CWB]

thanks

[Oracle]

er ati are good and all but matrox are the leaders of the 3d/2d quality area and have been for ages ,

the radeon and excellent card (i have ze 32ddr) and would reccomend it but for what u want to do wiv ur computer use the marvel g400 it will do everythingu need.

Oh silly me firgot the all in wonder radeon duh all the speed of a 32ddr radeon but wiv all the video in out and editing stuff u need as well

laterz
Oracle http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Aleph1]

Don't get the Matrox g400. The performance is lower than the Voodoos. Even thought RPGs and Adventure games dont require as much fps as First person shooters...its good to keep it above 30fps. The G400 would just not be able to do it (assuming you didnt want to play in low res and low details) for all the more recent and upcoming games.

[This message has been edited by Aleph1 (edited 12-11-2000).]

[CWB]

thanks for the help guys.

I think if anything it might be the asus 6800 deluxe, geforce with ddr and video in and out. the radeon would be great but the cost, ouch.

is there any one that has used ieee1394(fire wire) and a camcorder for the video confernencing. I would like to use the camcorder for better quality and since I already have it. I can't stand that choppy video confercing that i have seen with web cams.

Anybody know anything else that would work-

[txdomask]

i like the ati the best. i own it, use, and its quite awesome. mainly for 2d rendering. if you want to do 3d such as gaming now has, go with the GForce.

as for firewire, the only thing i have seen it used for in a camcorder is just data transfer. the software in the camcorder is not setup for video conferencing. since i sell camcorders and video products where i work, it is deemed virtually impossible.
video conferences would require a webcam, and the FPS rate is really up to the data transfer rate of the internet. the camera has limits as well, but you wont get a clear 30FPS. higher end webcams usually top off at 24fps right now, to my knowledge.

[Kruzin]

"Ati is the leader in the picture quality area."
smgff...
mmmmmffff...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Um...no.
Matrox has been the industry leader in visual quality for more than 2 decades.
Of the dozens of cards I have run over the years, ATI has never once been near the "leader" in visual quality. They have, however, been the leader in buggiest drivers around.


"Don't get the Matrox g400. The performance is lower than the Voodoos".

Again...no.
Voodoo2 is faster in Glide based games, but since glide died with 3dfx, thats not really an issue. G400 has always beat V2 in straight D3D and pure OGL.
True, G400 is not as fast as GeForce or Radeon cards, but it WILL deliver playable frame rates in ANY game on the market today, and look better doing it. And Matrox G550 is supposed to be available this month, with rumored GF2-MX performance levels (I already have mine, and have NO complaints with gaming performance), and their legendary visuals.

As far as video conferencing goes...the problem you have seen with "choppy" conferencing has nothing to with your video card, and everything to do with the limits of internet bandwidth.
Matrox has a solution for that too, with G550, and their "HeadCasting" apps.

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_g550/home.cfm

[Hellmund]

Hehe,well, I'd like to see that G550 run giants, at all. I've seen Giants on a G450 and it worse than my overclocked M64, sure it's crisp but I'd still think the Radeon @1024X768X32 looks a LOT better than barely able to deliver with 640X480X16 with no detail. The headcasting would be excellent for the Video conferencing provided both end's have matrox cards and are using the matrox software for it.

Ati has the best visual quality of all the gaming cards, no one gets a matrox card for 3d performance, ATI has also been strenghtening their driver support for a while, they recently established another developement team so driver issues are not prevailant anymore.

Voodoo2 may get beaton by a G400 in true OpenGL and Direct3d but he said Voodoo not voodoo2. A V4 or V5 will pummel a G400 so badly it's not funny in EVERYTHING except 2d image quality. Even V3's give it a real run for it's money and they're a LOT older. The 550 won't even be that much faster, it may use DDr memory but it's 64bit.

[eagle1]

Kruzin - Yeah.. I agree Matrox has cards with better 2d quality than Ati but Ati performs very good at 2d, performs better in 3d and dvd playback than any Matrox card out there, has better support, updates it's drivers and there's better availability.!

And the AIW Radeon can beat almost all Matrox cards in features, etc.!!
Want a preview of the new Matrox card???

However, the G550 is pin compatible with the G450, and the biggest changes to the Matrox product line are going to come in the minor improvements the G550 delivers over its predecessor.

Hahahahaha who's laughing now.!!!!


[This message has been edited by eagle1 (edited 08-06-2001).]

[eagle1]

The only good thing going for Matrox is its DualHead technology and Dual Ramdacs.!!

But guess what...

On 3D, the chief cause of concern may be that the G550 is not a DirectX 8.0 3D accelerator, which it ought to be if it were a truly competitive 3D graphics product. It has a pretty comprehensive tick box list of features but don't be confused by the references to DirectX 8.0 or Extended Vertex Shader, the vertex shading is limited to the acceleration of animated faces and lip synching. It's almost as if Matrox' designers had added some elements of DirectX 8.0 vertex shading into the pipeline just so that they could add these specific features, but without really wanting to take the 3D engine to the next generation.


And if you want the whole preview...

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/01q2/010619/index.html

[tahir12]

I suggest you get the geforce 3 if you really want to use it for games other wise get the radeon

[deadkenny]

What price range are you looking at?

Also, are you interested in / willing to overclock?

If you're interested in ATI, but concerned about price, you could look into the Raedon LE. If you are willing to do a little extra work, like reg edit and OC the card, you can get good performance at a bargain price.

[camaro]

Geforce2GTS or PRO
Radeon 64MB

[snedsta75]

I'm in the same boat as this guy. I cant spend over $80 bucks and dont know what to get. Either ATI Radeon 32MB DDR 4X AGP Video Card - LE ,,, Abit Siluro Nvidia Geforce2 Mx400 64mb Sdram,,, CardExpert GeForce2 MX 400 64MB SDRAM AGP - NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX GPU. 256-bit 3D,,Evga Geforce2 MX400 64MB 256-bi,,,,tPower Color Geforce2 MX400 32mb with Tv-Out

Give me your thoughts. I play alot of all types ofgames= CS, Maxpayne, Spors, racing.

The Geforce cards get confusing to me. So many different makers and models. I have $80 bucks to spend and will be getting it from newegg. I am buying alot of other stuff from there so I can save money on shipping.

[camaro]

It goes like this. MX then GTS then PRO then Ultra then Geforce 3. Then there are different flavors of MX. Get at least a GTS. That's the step where they get DDR memory. MX and it's variants are only for low resolution gaming.

[Hellmund]

Definitely get the LE and hack and overclock it then, it retails for around $75 and give GTS or higher performance once fixed up a little http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif
It's the equivalent of the 32mb DDR Geforce2 GTS more specifically, very good price/performance ration, actually better than a KYROII.

[Kuasimodem]

I've got the Radeon LE, and it performs great with a little bit of tweaking. I added a Blue Orb and RAMsinks (RAMsinks are optional) and used the RaidOnTweaker (http://www.tweakfiles.com/video/raidontweaker.html) to overclock and tweak the card. With the Tweaker, you don't have to dink with the registry, it does it for you with no mistakes.

[Gohann]

hey this is gonna sound really lame but.....

i dont know what part of the country you live in but i assume they are everywhere... Yes thats right im talkin bout wal-mart...

they currently carry 32mb pci raedon cards coming in at just under a hundred dollars, and with a all in wonder upgrade, you'd have yourself a decent setup for right at 120$, and i think that this would be pretty much the best bang for your buck for what you want the card for.

[hassoopasha]

I also own a Voodoo2, but recently I am facing some graphical problems in FF8. I see horizontal lines all ovr the screen, but the FMv's r working perfectly. And all the other games are working gr8. I am thinking of buying a new card, what card would me affordable and superb too?

[eagle1]

hassoopasha
I already posted my opinion in your thread.! I really think you need a major update and not just the video card.!