What sound and graphics card do you...?

[toni33]

Hi! I´ve got a voodoo3 2000 agp and a sound blaster 128 pci, mounted on a asus a7v133.
I´m planning to update my graphics and sound card, which cards do you recommend me?
Thanks in advance!

[jeff_harrison_344]

It all depends on how much you are willing to spend, and what games you play. Please be more specific and I will reccomend a good solution for you.

[Myself and I]

Soundblaster live 5.1
Geforce 2 Ultra or PRo whatever you can afford

If you are rich get the Geforce 3 powerpack by gainward and the new Soundblaster when it comes out within a month

[UnseenMenace]

a) Soundblaster live Value..
its cheap, good quality and does what most people require

b) Geforce card from any quality maker (I like Elsa)
Rather than suggest suggest a 64 mb card and look at the prices, however I consider Geforce 3 to be exceptionally expensive at this point in time and as such it is the only geforce card I do not reccomend as its not good value for money.

b) Matrox G450
If your just working on desktop apps (not playing many games) the Matrox G450 is a good quality card in my opinion

[[Oc]acaridans]

I agree on getting the SB Live value..The on I got has treated me very good.

The vid card really does depent on what your going to do with it.
I opted for the Raedon 64mb..Im a gammer but not a hrdcore gamer I do alot of other things on this compuer,so I didnt need a GF2 or 3...For me the Raedon covered all my bases for a good price.

[ken257]

I have most of the current ones out, I have a lot of machines :)

But my favorite combo so far is CF2 Ultra and a Hercules Game Theater.

If you want to be able to do video capture the Radeon All In Wonder is hard to beat even though ATI's drivers have left me a bit disapointed.

If you have any interest in running Linux stick with a GF2 and a SBLive as this provides a excellent gaming experiance.

[toni33]

I´m not rich so I would like a non expensive cards, I want a reliable sound and graphics card

[jeff_harrison_344]

Okay then I suggest the Soundblaster Live! Value. And as for video card I would suggest the Geforce2 GTS or PRO (PRO is better).

[Tacoman667]

The SBLive is cheap enough that it will not mug your wallet at the store. The G2 Ultra is the card to get right now. The G3 has taken over now and the G2's are going to be phased out very quickly with newer and newer games. If you have the cash, get a G3, you won't be sorry.

[Richard]

Jeff is right. A lot of what's recommended depends on the games you like to play.

Here's the short shortlist. (In my order of preference)

64 MB GeForce2 Pro -
32 MB Radeon LE -
32 MB GeForce2 GTS -

If you want my longwinded explanation (rambling) read on.


The Radeons are nice. The GeForce2s are nice as well. If you've got the money the GeForce3s are sweet.

So which one? Personally, I'd shy away from the 64 MB Radeon. Even though its relatively cheap for a 64 MB DDR card, there are better alternatives. Plus, ATI is about to release their new boards, the Radeon 7500 and 8500. The Radeon 7500 is essentially a Radeon Ultra. The 8500 is a whole new animal and will carry a pretty savage pricetag to boot. The only problem is both of these cards aren't expected to show up for about a month.

Confused yet? Alright. The Radeon VIVO is out. That leaves the 32 MB Radeon LE. That card is more or less a Radeon that has had the Hyper-Z feature disabled. (And it's only got half the RAM) If you flash the bios of the card and overclock it a little you can get similar performance to the Radeon 64 MB VIVO.

Sound like a lot of work? It really isn't that bad, but I can understand if you're not into bios flashing and whatnot.

Really though. The Radeon LE is probably the best bang for your buck card out there. It just takes that little bit of work to get it on track.

Now, if you're not willing to jump through those hoops I'd shift over to the Nvidia cards. The GeForce2 GTS is still a pretty nice card. I have a 64 MB GeForce2 GTS and it hasn't ever given me trouble with games. Even the graphically intense Max Payne plays rather well. (Now only if it was fun.) The thing is, if you go for the 64 MB GeForce2 you might as well swing for the Pro version. They can be found for about $140 shipped to your door. That's not bad when you consider that it retailed for $400 when it was the new kid on the block. The GeForce2 64 MB Pro, can also be clocked to damn near Ultra levels. In fact, a lot of people have done just that.

If you can't swing the scratch for the Pro go for the 32 MB GeForce2. You save about $30-$40 and get quite competitive performance. Although, if I were you and I was upgrading from a V3 2000 I'd want to make the most of my money and go for the 64 MB GeForce2 Pro.

[toni33]

Richard Thanks for your explanation, you had help me a lot.
Thanks!!