Which video card for my next upgrade..... help/opinions please!!!

Okay, as you can see from my sig, I'm running an older Abit mobo currently, but that will change later....

I'm looking to upgrade from my Prophet2 MX video card to a newer/faster/better card and thought I would post here to ask the experts! I will also be looking into a new 19" monitor as well so I'm looking for opinions on a new video card/monitor upgrade. Common uses for my machine are:

Light Gaming - 30%
Medium Graphics work - 50%
Other mundane uses - 20%

Give me some ideas, but keep the price reasonable. I don't want or need a GeForce3 Ti500 and a LaCie monitor. I've been looking at the GeForce3 Ti200 and a ViewSonic 19" PerfectFlat. But the Radeon looks good to.

Ideas please! Thanks! http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/biggrin.gif

------------------
TBird 1.2 @ 1.3
(2)128mb Crucial@CAS2
Antec SX1030B
ALPHA PAL6035 w/Delta
Abit KT7-R
(2)Diamondmax+ 7200rpm 30GB
RAID Level0
Prophet 2 MX 200/200
HP9110i + Creative 52x

Well the Viewsonic G90f and the Matrox G450 work great for me .I'm thinking of getting a Radeon8500DV soon ,for the TV tuner and better gaming,but my current specs provide awesome image quality. http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/smile.gif

------------------
Win98se/Mandrake 8.1
IwillKK266+
VolcanoII/RadioShack paste
1.2ghz 266DDR T-bird @ 1.4
384 MB PC133
16XDVD
6424CDRW
Matrox G450 32MB AGP
Viewsonic G90f 19"

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AMDnut:
I've been looking at the GeForce3 Ti200 and a ViewSonic 19" PerfectFlat.

---

Sounds good to me! http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/biggrin.gif


------------------
Icebox 3000™
AOpen HQ45 w/300watts
Soltek 75KAV-X w/snd
AMD T-bird 1GHz(133x7.5)
128MB PC100 @ 133
GF2 mx400 64MB AGP TVOUT
2.1GB hdd :(
Delta 12x/40x DVD
56x CDROM
Windows 98

I'd get a Radeon 7500 if I was you. Looks like you want to balance excellent image quality with decent graphics performance and that card has both. It'll also provide you with DVI/multiple monitor support should you ever need them. You could pick one up for under $150. For about $200 there's the 8500LE which I'd say lies between the Ti200 and Ti500 in 3D performance (although can be o/c'ed very easily). Helluva card! http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/biggrin.gif

For absolute 2D quality I'd still say go Matrox. Recently had the pleasure of a non-partial G450/8500/GF3 comparison on three identical monitors. ATI and Matrox looked close with Matrox just edging it. At higher resolutions the pair distanced themsleves from the nVidia card in terms of quality. I didn't think it would be noticeable at all, but it was. Not sure whether it was just the particular brand of GF3 they were using or not.

How much do you want to spend, AMDnut?

MuFu.

------------------
More # please...

Bink's HWC GALLERY

[This message has been edited by Mutha Funker (edited 01-14-2002).]

Thanks guys!

Expenses are not to exceed $350-$375 if possible. I'm thinking of around $200 for monitor and $150-$175 for video card. But that 8500LE sounds real nice! http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/biggrin.gif

Any more?

------------------
TBird 1.2 @ 1.3
(2)128mb Crucial@CAS2
Antec SX1030B
ALPHA PAL6035 w/Delta
Abit KT7-R
(2)Diamondmax+ 7200rpm 30GB
RAID Level0
Prophet 2 MX 200/200
HP9110i + Creative 52x

There could well be price drops all round within the next couple of months, as Nvidia are supposed announcing the GF4 in Feb.

As MF knows - I just got the ATI 8500LE for $200.00. I love it and as MF says it outperforms the GF3 Ti 200. Excellent image quality and DVD playback with the DVI output connectot as well as TV out. Just scored 7945 in 3DMARK2001 with the CPU OC to 1.666 GHZ so you can see it is very good for gaming. Great card.

Forgive my ignorance but whats the difference between the 8500 and the 8500LE?

Yeah, what is the difference between the "regular" and "LE" versions?

Is it simply the core and memory speed?

------------------
TBird 1.2 @ 1.3
(2)128mb Crucial@CAS2
Antec SX1030B
ALPHA PAL6035 w/Delta
Abit KT7-R
(2)Diamondmax+ 7200rpm 30GB
RAID Level0
Prophet 2 MX 200/200
HP9110i + Creative 52x

I've been meaning to ask this for awhile. I know the 7000 and 7200 suck @$$ when compared to even the 7500, but why? Is the memory data pathway cut in half from like 256 bit to 128bit (wahtever the actual scores, I mean like cut in half), or is it actually a completely different core? I would like a 7500, but I don't have a lot of money and I would like to know how they all compare and if the 7000 and 7200 can OC well? I already know about the 7500..I would aim for 300/300...

------------------
MSI K7T Turbo-R
AthlonXP 1600+ @1600+ @ 2.35v
256MB Corsair PC150 CL2
12x DVD, 12x CDRW
Water-cooled 118w Peltier
Want S3 Savage2k 64mb Tvout vid card? $50 shipped...just email me!

Wow, 7500's are floating around the $90-100 mark on pricewatch. http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/eek.gif

Ok... the 7500 (RV200) is based on the same core as the original Radeon (Rage6C) execpt it's manufactured on a smaller process (0.15 micron) allowing it to clock much higher (270-360MHz MHz vs. 166-210MHz of the original). It also now has a revamped output stage including better DACs and support for dual DVI/VGA monitors + Composite/S-Video.

The 7200 (Rage6C) is essentially a "64MB SDR" version of the original Radeon (0.18 micron).

The 7000 (RV100) is identical to what used to be the Radeon VE apart from having no dual-display support i.e. great workstation card with 32MB DDR crippled by a narrow memory bus (64-bit) and no T&L meaning piss-poor 3D performance.

The 8500LE (R200) is identical to the 8500 (R200) apart from having a different BIOS and a couple of different resistor values which amount to it being restricted to lower clockspeeds (sometimes the LE's have lower-spec RAM but this is still not universally the case... mine is LE and has 3.6ns Hynix). These problems can be overcome fairly easily (BIOS flash, pencil trick) so you basically end up with a full Retail board.

Ok? http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/smile.gif

MuFu.

P.S. Glad you are pleased with your 8500LE AMD Guy, there's nothing worse than recommending something and then them having a ****ty time with it! http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/mad.gif






------------------
More # please...

Bink's HWC GALLERY

[This message has been edited by Mutha Funker (edited 01-16-2002).]

My advice:
A Radeon 7500, unless if you wanna invest some money in quality

Low price:
Radeon 7500

Medium price (better):
Radeon 8500
GeForce 3 Ti200
3D Prophet

High price (Exellent quality):
Geforce 3 Ti 500-800

Extreme price:
You should think of studiocards (price from 4x up to 20x the price of a Radeon

------------------
The Copycad

http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/confused.gif

MuFu.

------------------
More # please...

Bink's HWC GALLERY

I just finished upgrading my CPU, RAM and mobo... next is a new PSU, the Enermax 431W EG465P! And after that a new Video Card! I want the Geforce 3 Ti500. But I think I´m going to wait until the Geforce 4 is out, I hope the Geforce 3 cards will drop in price then... http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/smile.gif In Sweden a good Geforce 3 Ti500 cost just under $400 USD!

------------------
EpoX EP-8KHA+
XP 1700+
Water Cooled
256 Mb Samsung PC-2100
IBM 30 Gb 7200 RPM, ATA100
Asus V-7700 GeForce 2 GTS 32 Mb (220/390) Det. 23.10 DX8.1

Looks like I'm getting the R7500 then. Will I notice any difference between 32mb and 64mb if the most intensive 3D thing I do is DVD out to my TV? My monitor can't handle over 1024x768x32, which pisses the hell out of me for a 17" monitor. My next one will be easily able to support 1600x1200...but thats not for a few years, and by that time, my vid card will probably be obsolete, so I guess the most I'll do is 1024x768x32 on monitor and 640x480x16 on TV.

Also, taking a rough estimate, what speeds would this card have to operate to achieve the performance of a R8500? Just some guesses would be nice!

------------------
MSI K7T Turbo-R
AthlonXP 1600+ @1600+ @ 2.35v
256MB Corsair PC150 CL2
12x DVD, 12x CDRW
Water-cooled 118w Peltier
Want S3 Savage2k 64mb Tvout vid card? $50 shipped...just email me!