radeon 7000 vs 7200 vs mx400

[delhi]

hello,
on a separate thread i am having issues with my nt2 value on win2k. so am looking for a cheap replacement. I don't play that much games anymore. So will not be needing gf3/4 or radeon 8500. so am looking at these bottom feeders.

As the topic header said, I am at a toss up b/t all three cards.

- the radeon 7000 (rv100) is a 64bit chipset has DDR
- 7200 is rage6c chipset with 128bit but has SDR

both of these priced very closely and from ATI's site, the 7200 is discontinued. How come? I thot 7200 is a newer model than the 7000.... hence the numerical increase?!

then the wildcard - gf2 mx400. also priced closely. In lower res, the gf2 is much faster than the radeons. Just not sure about nvidias cus in my experience unless u have the latest drivers for everything, it craps out. I am running in win2k. How are the drivers for both nvidia and ati?

thanks.

[BipolarBill]

I never could get an MX to even boot on a slot 1 mainboard, but I had no trouble with an M64, TNT2 or GeForce2 GTS. I have never had an issue with any nVidia card but the MX.

If you're not into gaming, I would suggest a Matrox G450/550. Nothing is better at 2D and the G450 is passable in 3D (actually only at original TNT levels). Since the G550 comes bundled with Serious Sam, it must be decent at OpenGL.

[Lycia]

I have the 7000, great card, great price...

[JeffD]

Hi delhi,

I've wrote a few posts on similar topics in this forum.

My suggestion:

ATI Radeon 32MB DDR (aka 7000, $45 Newegg.com). Card has much better 2D than a MX400. It will also perform very well in games when you call on it. It did take a while but ATI has finally produced solid drivers in Win98/2000/XP for this card.

Not only do I have the above card running in a system right now but I also have a GF3 Ti200 and a Matrox G400. IMHO the Radeon DDR can't be beat when it comes to 2D and 3D quality/speed when you take price into account.

Regards,

JeffD

[dhsu36]

go for redeon 7200~~~

:o

[InnovaZero]

Heres my opinions:

If you want the ultimate low cast performance go with:

The Kyro II at $57 on Pricewatch, just make sure you have a 800mhz plus CPU.
___________

If ya love ATI and want good all around performance go with:

The Radeon 7200
___________

If Ya love Nvidia and want decent performance but T&L, go with:

GF2 MX400

___________

ATI drivers are probably the worst, but they are getting better with them. Overall they all offer good to great drivers.