Looking for a good PCI (non-AGP) Video Card

[SeanS]

I need to get a good PCI video card (non-AGP), but am having trouble deciding on what is the best one to go for. Here are a few I was considering:

S3 Virge 4MB PCI
ATI Charger 4MB PCI
ATI Expert@Play 8MB PCI

I have a Pentium 233MMX on a motherboard that does not have an AGP slot (PC-Chips M571). Currently, I am using onboard video which slows down the system performance.

Any advice appreciated...

[ksutanto]

If you like the best PCI card, just buy voodoo3 3000 PCI

[Dave_B]

Or, save some $$$ and get a Voodoo3 2000!

[SeanS]

I like the look of the Voodoo 3 2000 PCI. I hear it is excellent with 3D. But what about normal 2D applications? One user at c-net reported that it distorts graphics on the desktop. Is this true?

Really, I'm looking for a best-buy-type of card. Something that works very well, but is not very expensive.

[popthedwarf]

Not if you install it right. I have one and everything works great but my friend got one and did some funky crap to(dropped it on concrete) and so it is really messed up in everything.

[Erich]

I had the same system, and I went with the Voodoo3 2000. It's cheap and well worth it.
It's like running 2 Voodoo2 in SLI mode. It'll work well.

[Kuzia]

I don't know how about ATi Xpert@Play, but ATi Charger RageIIc 4 meg AGP is pretty crappy. In 3D, anyway. It performs about 5 times worse than Voodoo1 4 meg PCI. (Hence, make a conclusion about the PCI version)

S3 ViRGE 4 meg PCI is one of the worst cards you can get. (Probably, as bad as SiS 530 chipset ) It's not even 3D accelerated.

V3 2K PCI is the best card for your sys. You can get one for $80 + shipping (I saw OEM on killerapp for $72 about 2 months ago.)


[This message has been edited by Kuzia (edited 03-06-2000).]

[DocMigru]

Are you all sure, that a 233MMX is fast enough for a Voodoo3? I recommend to use a Banshee - if you can find any. They should be very cheap by now and they are available for PCI.
And never ever buy a card with Savage chips!!
DocMigru

[Secrom]

Voodoo 3 definitely. I got a 2000, and I consider it my best purchase ever.
With the 200 MMX CPU, I am beyond 30 fps at QuakeII, Half-life and Unreal are OK.
You should also be able to have decent perfs with Quake 3, when tweaked.
With 2D apps, never a single problem.
It's really value for money.
However, I would probably wait for the Voodoo 4 and 5.

[SeanS]

Thanks for the valuable info everyone: I think that the V3 2K is what I'll go with. Onvia.com has 'em for $85

[600R]

Ati Xpert@Play 8mb - I had one of these and it was not good. The Rage Pro does not support Mipaping or something so textures look blured espesialy in later 3d games such as Half-Life, UT. The card is to slow to really handle the Open GL ICD it supports with newer drivers.

Best bet- go for a V3-2000 or 3000 Pci. This will give you the ability to run 3dfx games too, as well as opengl and d3d.

------------------
Check my K6-3 450@550 ;

http://www.madasafish.com/smithy/san550.jpg

[morphious]

lets just say this any of ati cards before the ati rage fury are not able to do graffics or any other type of thing. they do work for games but the performince is crappy and slow some games it will work but when your in the middle of a game it will freese i have a rage pro turbo and it sucked *** i dont mean some big wealth guys *** i mean a dirty bum on the streets *** waite untill the NV15 or NV11 come out i no there will be a pci version of the NV11 but i'm not sure about the NV15 (they are faster then the geforce with only half the heat and half the power) if your not willing to pay alot go with a voodoo3 2k i have it and whell it didn't meet my anticipations but it is an alright card if your not into gameing that much and dont really use 3d appliances go with voodoo 3 2k it will work for everything you need it to but with not that good graffics and speed