Confused about Vid cards and what's worth getting.

[Drifter01]

Hey guys... I really need some advice so I'm hoping you can help me out.

I'm in the process of upgrading my comp and have no idea what vid card I should get. I will be getting an AMD 1.2 266 cpu with a Gigabyte GA-7dxr mobo with 256mgs of 266 ram.

I guess my biggest problem is I can only dish out about $150 Can. for a new card. This leaves me with getting either a 64 mg gf2 mx400 by either Asus, Abit, or MSI.... a 3D Prophet 4000 XT 64mg Kyro or an ATI Radeon LE Dual Display 32mg DDR or a Matrox G450 Dualhead 32mg DDR. *Note: I will be buying from NCIX.com since they have everything I need in one location thus saving shipping chanrges.*

I don't really need a dual head card but my options are limited.

Any suggestion with a reason why would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks....

Drifter

[Bob The Great]

Don't get the mx400. It doesn't have the bandwidth to support the memory it has. It's like trying to shove an elephant through a straw. It doesn't work. The ATI Radeon LE is a good card! I have one oc'ed to the DDR's speeds, and it works great! On a Duron 950Mhz with 256MBs of pc-2100 DDR I get 2864 3dmarks in 3Dmark2001! The other cards are good to. The Matrox is slower, but is feature packed! The Kyro (while I've never had one) is supposed to be a really awesome card! I'd either get the Radeon LE or the Kyro. The Kyro does have some limitations like I believe it doesnt do 32bit or somthing like that. Look it up at tomshardware or google.com or something like that!

[dawgtuff]

First of all......welcome to SysOpt!
Right now, all the vid card companies are introducing their new products.This is good for you because you can buy an older card at a discounted price.Considering the system you have,wait a bit longer. You can then probably pick up a Geforce2 Pro/Ultra for the price you mentioned.
If your using your new system for gaming, buy the best available.If you don't, you'll regret it later on........believe me!

[dawgtuff]

As Bob said the Kyro2(4500) is a very good card. It does render in 32 bit, in fact, it renders everything in 32 bit. What it doesn't have is T&L. It lets your CPU do that function and your AMD 1.2 will do it with no problem.
Since your new here, go to the Benchmarking and User Review sections and research systems that are similar to yours. It will take a little time, but hey, it's your hard earned money......spend it wisely!!!

[Drifter01]

Thanks for your replies, at least I'm able to narrow down what I want to get. Unfortunately I don't have much time till I have to make a decision.

I've been trying to do some research but it's quite the pain in the **** considering there are so many manufacturers putting out what seems like the same card...eg, Asus,Abit etc.

I wasn't planning on a new vid card on this upgrade but mom needs a comp so I have to buy more stuff than originally intended. Not a bad thing really but its hard to save money when you keep spending it :)

Well, it looks like its either the Kyro2 and the Radeon unless I'm missing something.

[dawgtuff]

Hehe...Those were my two choices,also. I decided on the Kyro2 because it didn't need any tweaking or OC'ing like the LE does. Also, the LE has a "Second" graphics chip. Meaning it doesn't come up to ATI's specs,so they repackaged them as the LE with lower clock speeds. Hope this helps with your decision.
BTW- There's 3 or 4 manufacturers making the Kyro2.From what I understand, there's no performance difference between them. Hope this info helps...........Dawgtuff.

[Drifter01]

Actually it helps alot :)

Looks like I will probably go with the Prophet. I read a review a while back about one of the lower priced Prophets and it had a great review. The only thing that would concern me would be the driver situation. Aren't they a newish company? Do they support all the games that are out there now?

I don't want to be stuck with a card that gets no support especially if its already considered an older card. At least with ATI I know it will have lots of drivers etc.

And could anyone explain if a 32mg ddr will outperform a Radeon 7200 64mg card. I just noticed this ATI in my price range :)

Thanks for the help.