Ok I am thinking of buying a new video card. My main criteria is the value/performance ratio. I narrowed my options down to the following:
1. Some sort of a Geforce2 MX card with 183 MHZ SDR
It's the cheapest solution allright... and I could get TV out with it... but I am not sure just how long I'll be happy with it's performance.
2. Radeon with 32 MB of 166 MHZ DDR
Quite a bit faster than the MX, but also more expencive. Is the performance difference worth it? And the version that I can afford has no TV output
3. Wait a bit and get a DDR version MX.
Now this would sound like a plan, except for I am not at all sure that DDR with 64 bit memory is going to be all that much faster than SDR with 128 bit.
What do you guys think? Which one should I go for? Any other alternatives? (keep in mind i do not have much more that 200 bucks to spare )
You can get a Radeon 32MB DDR for $150 right now if you use the rebate. The performance of the Radeon DDR 32MB over the MX is very significant and ATi has the best DVD quality in the world.
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AMD Athlon 700@950, 1.85v on an Abit KA7-100
Antec full tower case w/ 300W P/S
ATi 64MB Radeon w/VIVO & an ATi All-in-wonder Pro 8MB
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.04 THX Speakers
Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM & a Ricoh 8X/4X/32X CD-RW
IBM 34.2GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB Crucial PC-133 RAM
Lots of air cooling
Well.. I've had both a Radeon 32MB DDR and a 3D Prophet II MX (GeForce2 MX) and the Radeon literally kicks it's ***. Even though many people say that ATi's drivers aren't the best in the world, they work well enough for me to say that their card's better than the GeForce2 MX.
The ATI foobars 16bit badly. If you have any games that are 16bit only, steer clear for now. www.reactorcritical.com has a good article. I suggest you read it before buying any Radeon card. Yes, the Radeon 32mb DDR is quite a bit faster, but you'll have to determine if the problems are worth it, not just the price. If it were only the price I'd say definitely get the Radeon.
The Creative Labs Geforce 2 MX DDR was reviewed at www.tbreak.com. It has 64bit 143mhz DDR RAM, which is actually a bit slower than 166 or 183mhz 128bit SDR. I say get a 183mhz SDR card, like the Hercules. It overclocks well and will still run most games at 1024x768x32 (Q3 at ~60fps).
Originally posted by Freon: The ATI foobars 16bit badly
Liar liar pants on fire The 16bit isn't the greatest but it's nothing to throw piles of dog crap at. I have a Radeon 64MB DDR and I chose to stick with it over my old GeForce2 GTS. The drivers are not bad, I have had no problems at all.
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AMD Athlon 700@950, 1.85v on an Abit KA7-100
Antec full tower case w/ 300W P/S
ATi 64MB Radeon w/VIVO & an ATi All-in-wonder Pro 8MB
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.04 THX Speakers
Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM & a Ricoh 8X/4X/32X CD-RW
IBM 34.2GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB Crucial PC-133 RAM
Lots of air cooling
Well first off It took me 4 Months to see what should i buy when its out Radeon or GTS! Anyways after long wait I got the Radeon 32MB DDR And All i can say it spanks my friends geforce 2 GTS in all games at high res in 32BIt color! Plus the Radeon dosent have 166MHZ DDR ram like GTS it has faster one 183MHZ DDR and oh god my DVD's play like they are runing of a 500 dollar DVD player!
Alex D
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WTF?? I am just trying to help OK!
My bad I mixed up the two there anyways!! I dont need for o/c or anything cause the Hyper Z makes the Thing screams the 166MHZ radeon DDR is 20% faster than 166MHZ DDR geforce casuse the Hyper Z is not redering what canot be seen! or what ever they ment with that!
Oh yeah the drivers are all good now!
Alex D
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WTF?? I am just trying to help OK!
"The 16bit isn't the greatest but it's nothing to throw piles of dog crap at. "
Except for those little vertical lines that randomly appear all over the screen and horrible dithering, especially in FSAA?
You have a Radeon, you know better! Go try playing Midtown Madness or SWAT 3 (both are 16bit only) and tell me it's nothing to throw piles of dog crap at. The quality is beyond horrible. It is glitched out.
If you have no 3D applications that run 16bit only this is a moot point, true. It is less and less likely that 16bit only applications will be released as time goes on. But the Radeon's 16bit truely DOES suck in more ways than one.
Originally posted by Freon: Except for those little vertical lines that randomly appear all over the screen and horrible dithering, especially in FSAA?
What the f are you talking about? I play SWAT 3 and I've never noticed any "vertical lines" or any other problems...
Maybe you need to download the latest drivers...unless you're one of those people that doesn't actually own one and just make up their opinions
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AMD Athlon 700@950, 1.85v on an Abit KA7-100
Antec full tower case w/ 300W P/S
ATi 64MB Radeon w/VIVO & an ATi All-in-wonder Pro 8MB
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.04 THX Speakers
Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM & a Ricoh 8X/4X/32X CD-RW
IBM 34.2GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB Crucial PC-133 RAM
Lots of air cooling
------------------
AMD Athlon 700@950, 1.85v on an Abit KA7-100
Antec full tower case w/ 300W P/S
ATi 64MB Radeon w/VIVO & an ATi All-in-wonder Pro 8MB
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.04 THX Speakers
Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM & a Ricoh 8X/4X/32X CD-RW
IBM 34.2GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB Crucial PC-133 RAM
Lots of air cooling
------------------
AMD Athlon 700@950, 1.85v on an Abit KA7-100
Antec full tower case w/ 300W P/S
ATi 64MB Radeon w/VIVO & an ATi All-in-wonder Pro 8MB
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.04 THX Speakers
Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM & a Ricoh 8X/4X/32X CD-RW
IBM 34.2GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB Crucial PC-133 RAM
Lots of air cooling
)
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The 16bit isn't the greatest but it's nothing to throw piles of dog crap at. I have a Radeon 64MB DDR and I chose to stick with it over my old GeForce2 GTS. The drivers are not bad, I have had no problems at all.
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