Reconsidering my video card needs

[Pinky]

The title says it all.

Mr. Geforce 3 has RMA's his card, is checking out the Radeon 8500 (to be out in a month or so).

Based on the latest projections for geforce 3 games, I'm wondering about my choice and whether it was premature.

I was thinking about reselling the geforce 3, and should get what I paid for it.

I am looking to make some movies late this winter/next spring and have reevaluated my needs.

I still want to game, but need decent capturing technology (using camcorders and 8mm for taping). Looks like radeon VIVO.

My questions are: does the new radeon have vivo? Will the current VIVO card run in windows XP? I know windows 2000 had/has some drivers issues. I know next to nothing about Radeon cards other than what I've heard here, so now's the time to sell me :)!!!

[funnyperson1]

id say go with the radeon and sell the geforce3 i just got a geforce2 pro and while im getting much better framerates the ATI 2D just cant be beat id rather have an ATI rageII 3D for 2D performance than a gf2.....The radeon will almost certainly have vivo...why? becaus ATI has always made its money with all around cards....the rage fury pro...still selling today...why because it has decent 3D awesome 2D and vivo...Whatever happens there will be a flavor of 8500 with vivo ATi without vivo is like voodooo without FSAA...

[Tacoman667]

Since NVidia and ATI are now battling it out with the "Best" video cards, and you already have the G3, I suggest waiting to see what the new, more defined drivers will have in store for unlocking the G3's potential. I, for one, am very excited for the release of these drivers. I feel that the performance increase will be right on par with the new ATI 8500.

[funnyperson1]

well, you must remember that ATi will be making new drivers for the 8500 as well......fps isnt everything either...even if it didnt beat the gf3 id still go with theATI

[Pinky]

I'm disappointed, in part, by the fuzzy 2D of nvidia's chipset. I'd like to get something with a better look and video in/out.

[Kingslayer]

Well you have already seen for yourself, nVidia's lack of 2D ability.

You want to go to video editing and etc, I would consider the ATI. I don't know if the new 8500 has VIVO yet, but i would imagine that it will come in a model that has it. They original RADEON VIVO has sold so well the ATI wouldn't make the mistake of not putting a VIVO 8500 out.

nVidia has backed themselves into a corner. All they do is make game cards. Their DVD supports is horid, their 2D is pathetic, and their VIVO cards are shaky at best. These are the areas that ATI cards still win out. And seeing their game area are becoming better, how could you go wrong with getting an ATI.

Two choices. The best of all worlds, in a very good mix. Or Blazing FPS, that really don't matter, and second rate extras. If the first sounded better.....go with ATI.

[Jon]

Current Radeon VIVO (I have one in my second system and is great) or the new 8500 VIVO (I'm sure they will have one, it's their strong suite) would be my choice.

I've also seen no mention of the Radeon All-In-Wonder which may fit your needs even more.

[Placid]

You might want to wait for the 8500dv.
http://www.ati.com/na/pages/corporate/press/2001/4407.html
Or look at some Matrox cards their 2D is even better than ati's but the 3d performace is lower.

[Zuck Gou :)]

Originally posted by Placid
You might want to wait for the 8500dv.
http://www.ati.com/na/pages/corporate/press/2001/4407.html
Or look at some Matrox cards their 2D is even better than ati's but the 3d performace is lower.

Ya but his 8mm is analog so the 1394 would be pretty useless to him.

I'd definately go with the Radeon VIVO. And probably wait for the 8500. You could probably sell your GF3 easily for the 8500s suggested street price.

On the same note, anyone know if the VIVO on the Radeons is 640x480 and what's the max fps it can handle? (also funnyperson1 did your fury capture at 640x480? )

[funnyperson1]

im not sure...i only really captured a couple times and it was just to play n64 on my computer (my screen is bigger than the tv in my room) and to watch movies (same reason)....it had a cool feature that you could make it play on your desktop and my desktop was 1024 and it didnt look bad at all it was like vhs almost.....

[Placid]

Originally posted by Zuck Gou :)


Ya but his 8mm is analog so the 1394 would be pretty useless to him.

I'd definately go with the Radeon VIVO. And probably wait for the 8500. You could probably sell your GF3 easily for the 8500s suggested street price.

On the same note, anyone know if the VIVO on the Radeons is 640x480 and what's the max fps it can handle? (also funnyperson1 did your fury capture at 640x480? )

Other ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV features include:
Analog and digital video capture and editing;

Analog Input/Output Ports Yes

[Punk]

Originally posted by Pinky
I know windows 2000 had/has some drivers issues. I know next to nothing about Radeon cards other than what I've heard here, so now's the time to sell me :)!!!

I have windows 2000 and i've never had any problems with my Radeon 64MB DDR /w VIVO or any of it's drivers. I think u should go with the Radeon. The current RADEON (64MB DDR w/VIVO) is excellent for both 3D and 2D, and are better than most GeForce 2's that i've seen, so the new Radeon's that are coming out should be way better and have many more features than the current Radeon. And it should be equal or even better than the GeForce 3's.

[Pinky]

Thanks to all for the feedback.

I'm not going to wait too long before buying a card. If you see a link to the vivo card, let me know. I could wait until the 8500 is released, but that means no 3d until then.

I still don't think most of the new features are going to be used for a while (at least the gaming ones).

[Placid]

Not sure what you mean buy a link but here is the one at the mfg's site.
http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/pc/radeon64_ddr/index.html

[Pinky]

Originally posted by Placid
Not sure what you mean buy a link but here is the one at the mfg's site.
http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/pc/radeon64_ddr/index.html

yep, that's the one I just bought from newegg :).

Also picked up a Toshiba DVD drive. I figure I could probably turn around and sell the Pioneer when it arrives Tuesday.

I need to be able to read sub channel and didn't realize the Pioneer doesn't do this.

[Placid]

Its not christmas yet ;)

[Pinky]

Originally posted by Placid
Its not christmas yet ;)

Everyday's christmas and 72/sunny in Pinky's land :D !!

[Thirus44]

How much you gonna sell your Geforce 3 for? I might want to pick it up.:cool: Even though I already have a Radeon I am more of a gamer than...well im just a gamer=P

[Zuck Gou :)]

Originally posted by Placid


Other ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV features include:
Analog and digital video capture and editing;

Analog Input/Output Ports Yes

But the regular Radeon has the analog VIVO already.

[Pinky]

Originally posted by Thirus44
How much you gonna sell your Geforce 3 for? I might want to pick it up.:cool: Even though I already have a Radeon I am more of a gamer than...well im just a gamer=P

I will have to sell it on ebay. I will be getting a new card back from Visiontek, not a fixed card. I want to get what I paid 45 days ago, $350. (which is what some are selling for on eBay, and my profile usually earns me the highest bids :))

[Thirus44]

o;)

[merlin704]

hey thirus44 if you buy Pinky's GF3 and want to sell your Radeon 64mb DDR VIVO let me know. i will buy your card.

[Pinky]

OK guys, save it for the classifieds :).

[FerrariF50]

ohhh so thats why you are getting rid of it...

[ken257]

I have several GF2's and Radeons. I use the Radeons for capture and the GF2 for game play. No question the GF cards are faster but the ATI has great capture so it is a catch 22. I have had Radeon driver problems and really bad ones in W2K. The cd that came with my All In Wonder Radeon would not even complete the install in W2K, bailed every time. I had to use the cd that came with one of my newer cards with the All In Wonder and then update to the latest beta video driver in order to get all the capture features working as well as decent game play. Oh yea and this new cd that works only did so in sp2 otherwise it would bomb to. I also had problems with non plug and play monitors seems the ATI likes to pick refresh rates during games that they don't like. There is no excuse for this as the card has been out for a year now, shame on ATI! NVidia on the other hand has great drivers. Another big problem for me is the lack of driver support in linux from ATI. If I had it to do over again I would get an Asus GF3 with vid cap and have the best of both worlds.
http://www.asus.com/products/Addon/Vga/agpv8200d/index.html

[Pinky]

Originally posted by ken257
I have several GF2's and Radeons. I use the Radeons for capture and the GF2 for game play. No question the GF cards are faster but the ATI has great capture so it is a catch 22. I have had Radeon driver problems and really bad ones in W2K. The cd that came with my All In Wonder Radeon would not even complete the install in W2K, bailed every time. I had to use the cd that came with one of my newer cards with the All In Wonder and then update to the latest beta video driver in order to get all the capture features working as well as decent game play. Oh yea and this new cd that works only did so in sp2 otherwise it would bomb to. I also had problems with non plug and play monitors seems the ATI likes to pick refresh rates during games that they don't like. There is no excuse for this as the card has been out for a year now, shame on ATI! NVidia on the other hand has great drivers. Another big problem for me is the lack of driver support in linux from ATI. If I had it to do over again I would get an Asus GF3 with vid cap and have the best of both worlds.
http://www.asus.com/products/Addon/Vga/agpv8200d/index.html

I was hoping to hold out and see what the new radeon cards do and if their pricing is lower I will pick one of them up eventually.

I am too pleased with the overall image quality of this card to care about pure frame gain with the geforce line now. Besides, I get good frame rates with the radeon card anyway :).

[Zeke009]

Originally posted by Pinky
I'm disappointed, in part, by the fuzzy 2D of nvidia's chipset. I'd like to get something with a better look and video in/out.
Read somewhere that the Gainward GeForce3 Power Pack!!! had the best 2D performance of the G3 cards reviewed at Anadtech.
Anadtechs' GeForce3 round up (July) (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1507&p=1)

Does anyone have this card? Is the 2d really that good or that bad?

[funnyperson1]

Originally posted by Pinky


I was hoping to hold out and see what the new radeon cards do and if their pricing is lower I will pick one of them up eventually.

I am too pleased with the overall image quality of this card to care about pure frame gain with the geforce line now. Besides, I get good frame rates with the radeon card anyway :).
yay! another ati convert....:)

[_jubei_]

Originally posted by Pinky
The title says it all.

Mr. Geforce 3 has RMA's his card, is checking out the Radeon 8500 (to be out in a month or so).

Based on the latest projections for geforce 3 games, I'm wondering about my choice and whether it was premature.

I was thinking about reselling the geforce 3, and should get what I paid for it.

I am looking to make some movies late this winter/next spring and have reevaluated my needs.

I still want to game, but need decent capturing technology (using camcorders and 8mm for taping). Looks like radeon VIVO.

My questions are: does the new radeon have vivo? Will the current VIVO card run in windows XP? I know windows 2000 had/has some drivers issues. I know next to nothing about Radeon cards other than what I've heard here, so now's the time to sell me :)!!!

What Did I tell you couple of Months ago about GF3....... You were arguing with me, and now You finally realized the truth.....

[Pinky]

Originally posted by _jubei_


What Did I tell you couple of Months ago about GF3....... You were arguing with me, and now You finally realized the truth.....

I'll admit when I was wrong.

But I also have the right to change my mind at any time ;).

In part you are responsible for my change of heart.

So thanks!!

[FerrariF50]

HAHAH that Pos Gf3 is not all it's up to be Eh?

[Pinky]

Originally posted by FerrariF50
HAHAH that Pos Gf3 is not all it's up to be Eh?

The display wasn't right at higher resolutions.

[FerrariF50]

What did it look like??

Originally posted by Pinky


The display wasn't right at higher resolutions.

[Pinky]

Originally posted by FerrariF50
What did it look like??



Like water was rolling through the image at anything above 800X600, also noticed the image quality wasn't its best at higher resolutions...

Visiontek gladly took it back and is shipping me a new replacement.

[FerrariF50]

I guess more $$ does not mean better...