Best video card for $200?

[parkan]

As you might have noticed, I'm building a new PC and I need your advise on the best card for around 200. Dual monitor support welcome but not required.

[]-[itman]

Go with the Geforce3 Ti200. Great card for the price and it oc's well. If you want dual monitor support and a nice card you'll prolly end up spending around $250 for a RETAIL Radeon8500. If you don't mind not having retail(which has slower clock speeds and apparently doesn't oc very well) you could prolly get one around $200.

[Cisco Kid]

Well if you want under $200 (is this US , I am guessing so) I would say a Radeon 8500 OEM or a 7500. These 2 cards will give you the best 2d video and dvd playback as well as dula monitor.

Or your other choice is a Ti200 of some flavour.

Third choice if you wanna spend less For $125-$140 US you can get a Radeon 64 DDR vivo ( no dual monitor though) DX 8 support, overclock it and it should be decent for a while but it is a bit older now. Mine does me fine, and plays all current games well. Or a Geforce 2 GTS card or Ultra

cisco kid
:cool:

[wildone]

I got a PNY gf3 ti200 for about 200.00 at circuit city yesturday,I am impressed with it,my 3dmark score is 7618

http://gamershq.madonion.com/compare2k1.shtml?2071778

and it will go further I know ,coolbits will only OC it to 220 and 500.I also like the lifetime warranty deal ,for any overclocker that is always nice.It also has tv-out but I dont know if it will do dual display or not ,Have'nt really checked.I ,IMO ,love the way this card looks,you can see the pic below and tell me what you think.

wildone

[Bladerunner007]

hey that looks sweet. Put a nice fan on there and i'm sure you can oc that thing like mad!

[funnyperson1]

i would go with the Radeon8500 OEM, as it has the dual monitor support and im sure someone will come up with a bios flash to help it oc....

[]-[itman]

Originally posted by wildone
I got a PNY gf3 ti200 for about 200.00 at circuit city yesturday,I am impressed with it,my 3dmark score is 7618

http://gamershq.madonion.com/compare2k1.shtml?2071778

and it will go further I know ,coolbits will only OC it to 220 and 500.I also like the lifetime warranty deal ,for any overclocker that is always nice.It also has tv-out but I dont know if it will do dual display or not ,Have'nt really checked.I ,IMO ,love the way this card looks,you can see the pic below and tell me what you think.

wildone

now THAT card i like;). I'm sorry but in my opinion you can't beat that for the price! Still would like a Radeon8500 but i might get that because i'm trying to save everything i can but still get a good card. I agree w/Blade too. A bigger fan will prolly give you a good oc over what you already have.

[Captain Slug]

BestByte.net (http://www.bestbyte.net/) now has the Asus V8200 Pure Geforce 3 64MB DDR for $197

[wildone]

well ,I had it at 220/500 on that run of 3d mark ,and it showed no irregular flaws or anything ,the only reason I didnt go further was that coolbits only goes to that ,I maxed it out just seeing what iot would do ,and honestly I didnt think it woul finish 2k1 at that but it did with no problems at all,I think I will try nvmax and the like programs just to see how far it will go.

wildone

[]-[itman]

I just have 1 question Wildone. How is the image quality? I heard that Pony was supposed to have pretty good image quality for the GeForce3's not sure if it is true or not though.

[wildone]

Hye ,is there anyway that I can prove it to you ,maybe a screenshot or something because it would all be a matter of opinion I think,just give me an idea of what you want to see.

wildone

[parkan]

Hmm. This is quite a dilemma.

[funnyperson1]

if i were in your soes i would wait until after christmas to get a card.....hpefully someone will find a way to flash the bios to a retail 8500speeds....the Ti200 is a very good price/performance buy, but the 8500retail just goes miles over every card except the Ti500.....

[wildone]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
if i were in your soes i would wait until after christmas to get a card.....hpefully someone will find a way to flash the bios to a retail 8500speeds....the Ti200 is a very good price/performance buy, but the 8500retail just goes miles over every card except the Ti500.....

I wouldnt say miles

wildone

[funnyperson1]

yes but thats not a fair comparison unless you overclock the 8500 as well, also ive never trusted those 3dmark charts at all it says that my Geforce2Pro at stock settings is faster than an ultra, and i have a PIII...thats just carazy...

[wildone]

well you dont have to trust them ,but they still give you a rough idea.Also out of every geforce 3 ti 500 with a processor at 1450 or under I am in 7th place in scores,so its not to bad I dont think.

wildone

[funnyperson1]

hey parkan, now i can fully recommend to you the OEM 8500, with a bios flash, it can oc past retail speeds....check this out

http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?postid=363261&t=7644#post363261

[Bladerunner007]

Originally posted by wildone
Hye ,is there anyway that I can prove it to you ,maybe a screenshot or something because it would all be a matter of opinion I think,just give me an idea of what you want to see.

wildone

I'll take your personal opinion but a couple screenshots would be nice;) I'd prefer 3dMark or QuakeIII if you can. But, how do the graphics look to you?

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
i would go with the Radeon8500 OEM, as it has the dual monitor support and im sure someone will come up with a bios flash to help it oc....


The bios flash is already out!

cisco Kid:)

[]-[itman]

Originally posted by Bladerunner007


I'll take your personal opinion but a couple screenshots would be nice;) I'd prefer 3dMark or QuakeIII if you can. But, how do the graphics look to you?

just what i was about to say:p!

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by wildone


I wouldnt say miles

wildone


With the latest drivers the 8500 crushes the Ti200 and is on par and faster in certain areas than the Ti500.

What you have shown may be the 8500 on the older drivers and the Ti200 overclocked. Either way the Ti200 can not compete against the 8500 thats a fact!!!!!!

Cisco Kid:D

[]-[itman]

Originally posted by Cisco Kid



With the latest drivers the 8500 crushes the Ti200 and is on par and faster in certain areas than the Ti500.

What you have shown may be the 8500 on the older drivers and the Ti200 overclocked. Either way the Ti200 can not compete against the 8500 thats a fact!!!!!!

Cisco Kid:D

Don't forget though the Ti200 is about $100 less. Also, I don't think he was saying that the Ti200 beats the 8500 only pointing out that the 8500 didn't have a BIG lead ahead of it in the speed area. That's why i wanted to know image quality. Also Wildone, what kind of FPS do you get in QuakeIII with all settings maxed out and at default settings?

[Element-Xero]

i just gotta say parkan that your avatar is sweet......ah the days of text adventures..........no amount of 3d graphics could compare to those text adv. games.......

With no pictures what else did they have to make the game good?

[wildone]

Originally posted by Cisco Kid



With the latest drivers the 8500 crushes the Ti200 and is on par and faster in certain areas than the Ti500.

What you have shown may be the 8500 on the older drivers and the Ti200 overclocked. Either way the Ti200 can not compete against the 8500 thats a fact!!!!!!

Cisco Kid:D

I do know that I have a 600pt lead on every ati card up to 1450mhz , I also know tried and true that Nvidia releases drivers like they are going out of style and ati just dont.I also know that ati 's have been overclocking for a while bacause there is some 10000+ scores on madonion.

[parkan]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
hey parkan, now i can fully recommend to you the OEM 8500, with a bios flash, it can oc past retail speeds....check this out

http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?postid=363261&t=7644#post363261

That's great but why does the link lead to the bottom of the page :confused:

[parkan]

Thank you all!
Hmm, maybe someone can be nice enough to give me the dimensions of the card (height, width, length) ? You see, I'm buling a suitcse PC and I don't have much space... If it doesn't fit, I'll just find a bigger case. TY!

[wildone]

well here is pic of it compared to my gf2 mx ,hope this helps,I also want you to know that 3Dmark 2k1 will not let you use the Print screen command ,I have tried and tried.

wildone

[wildone]

Originally posted by Bladerunner007


I'll take your personal opinion but a couple screenshots would be nice;) I'd prefer 3dMark or QuakeIII if you can. But, how do the graphics look to you?

hmm ,sorry man but print screen doesnt work on 3dmark 2k1 ,I have tried and tried,but here ,its in jpeg and the real thing looks better trust me,if it will even post ,I had everything as high as it would go in quake and it was 169fps on the benchmark.

*edit* thats as big as I can get the pic ,sorry

wildone

[wildone]

and here is a UT pic ,the quality isnt relly too good ,I had to shrink it majorly ,just like the quake pic.

wildone

[jruthe4292]

You can get a msi g-force3 at newegg.com for around $238

[funnyperson1]

Originally posted by wildone


I do know that I have a 600pt lead on every ati card up to 1450mhz , I also know tried and true that Nvidia releases drivers like they are going out of style and ati just dont.I also know that ati 's have been overclocking for a while bacause there is some 10000+ scores on madonion.

yes, but if you plugged an 8500 in your computer, it would crush the scores you ave right now...

[wildone]

Originally posted by funnyperson1


yes, but if you plugged an 8500 in your computer, it would crush the scores you ave right now...


I will try to find out this weekend ,I am gonna go lanning with a few friends and one has the 8500 ,if he will let me switch for a bench or 2 I will let you all know.

wildone

[parkan]

I decided to get a 8500 but I need its dimensions! Can someone be so kind as to get into your case (you do that 100 times a day anyway ;) )and measure it or read the size from the box ;).