How much video card do I really need?

[Malpine Walis]

I rarely buy brand new games for my computer. Usually, I wait for games to come out at some type of discount price. For example, the last two games I bought were "Diablo 2: LoD" and "Half Life" in a package with the first three versions shrink-wrapped together for around $30.

I will probably get around to buying "Max Payne" in 12-15 months and that will be at some type of discount from today's price.

Given that much, I can live without the best-of-the-best of video cards. When I hit a bottleneck, I can always upgrade.

So what I want to know is: I want a video card that will give me good performance for at least a year. When I need to upgrade, I will but if I can save some bucks in the meantime, I will.

[RangerJoe]

gainward golden sample gf3ti200, or gf3 (normal) would give you great quality, i recommend getting the ti200 because of features, and you can always overclock, these gainwards have really high quality ram chips, you can find them alot of places, you can look on www.pricewatch.com for the best prices, if i were you, i would get one with tv out/dvi, because you never know if you might need it or not

[Henry Rollins II]

You can get a GeForce2 MX(200/400 or just MX doesn´t really matter) for about $50. Really good bang for the bucks, as long as you play att 1152x854 or less.

regards,
Henry.

[rogue1979]

I would suggest the Geforce GTS-V for $56 shipped at Newegg.
If you want a little more power try a Geforce 2 Ti 32MB for $89 shipped, Inno3d brand.

[TASOS]

Geforce2 MX 400 32MB minimum.....

[Ebola]

well i would go the middle road and get what I have. oem radeon 7500. its a lot of power for $100 and it has the best picture quality of the cards mentioned.

[rogue1979]

Radeon 7500 is a good card. But I have to dispel the myth that it has better image quality than any Geforce. If you choose a high quality brand, Gainward, Inno3d or a few others the image quality is equal to any Radeon. This whole "superior Radeon image quality thing" stems from some board manufacturers not using top quality low pass filters for a Geforce. Seems since many different board manufactures utilize the Nvidia chipset it is required that these filters are used for quality control. On the other hand Ati until recently has always made their own boards and low pass filters where not necessary. For all Geforce cards a simple mod to remove the capacitors for the low pass filter rectifies the problem and the image quality is as it should be for all brands of Geforce cards. Like I said, not all Geforces have this shortcoming, some are perfect from the manufacturer already. I speak from experience, I have owned 6 Geforce video cards and 2 Radeon cards. Right now my father has a Radeon 8500 and I have a modded Gainward Geforce 2 Ti 500, he agrees that the image quality is equal in 2d and 3d.

[Staz]

For your needs a Visiontec GeForce2 GTS 32mb card from Newegg.com for $56 shipped would be a good choice.

Faster than an MX at about the same price.

EDIT:
I guess Rouge beat me to that one

[WeaponX]

If you want to play Max Payne, a Geforce 2 will barely cut it. In order to use AA and Trilinear or Ansitropic filtering, you will need at least a Geforce 3. If you use any of those an a Geforce 2, your computer will slow down tremendously and you won't be happy. So get a Geforce 3 Ti200 when the Geforce 4 comes out, that way the prices will be nice and cheap :D

[Staz]

check out my system in my sig.

I play Max Payne @1024x768 in high detail and don't have any visible flicker. Game looks absolutly great.

Trust me on this one, a $56 video card will fit your needs just fine. If you were already used to playing on a GF3 Ti200 with everythig set to hi with2x AA and triliner filtering then you would be disapointed with a GF2 GTS 32mb. If you are not an avid gamer then why pay for a gamers video card?

[Blue Jester_2112]

What's your budget and we'll tell you the best card for the money you want to spend.

[rogue1979]

My Geforce 2 plays Max Payne at 1024 x 768 x 32 at 2X FSAA and I don't notice any slow downs whatsoever with everything turned on full.

[Malpine Walis]

Originally posted by Blue Jester_2112
What's your budget and we'll tell you the best card for the money you want to spend.

Looking over what is out there, I know that I will not spend over $200. As my last graphics card was a Voodoo 3, even a $50 card would be an upgrade.

I would prefer to spend $100 if I can.

[rogue1979]

For $100 or less Geforce 2 Ti all the way!

[Blue Jester_2112]

For $100 I'd take a look at the Radeon 7500. A strong card for the price. I just built a system for a friend with it and I was really impressed. Go look around Newegg.com in the vid card section, check out the refurb section too. I'm sure you'll find something you'll be happy with performance-wise and price-wise.

[Arkaine23]

I've had a lot of fun with this card, and highly recommend it. It overclocks well and runs everything I've got perfectly. Even professional grapihcs apps! Lots of mods, just ask me or rogue.

[Staz]

Gotta agree with BJ

Radeon 7500

or if you are a diehard nVidia fan GF2 Ti

[rogue1979]

Arkaine, did you do the resistor mod for your card to make it a Quadro2?

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by rogue1979
Radeon 7500 is a good card. But I have to dispel the myth that it has better image quality than any Geforce. If you choose a high quality brand, Gainward, Inno3d or a few others the image quality is equal to any Radeon. This whole "superior Radeon image quality thing" stems from some board manufacturers not using top quality low pass filters for a Geforce. Seems since many different board manufactures utilize the Nvidia chipset it is required that these filters are used for quality control. On the other hand Ati until recently has always made their own boards and low pass filters where not necessary. For all Geforce cards a simple mod to remove the capacitors for the low pass filter rectifies the problem and the image quality is as it should be for all brands of Geforce cards. Like I said, not all Geforces have this shortcoming, some are perfect from the manufacturer already. I speak from experience, I have owned 6 Geforce video cards and 2 Radeon cards. Right now my father has a Radeon 8500 and I have a modded Gainward Geforce 2 Ti 500, he agrees that the image quality is equal in 2d and 3d.

Tell me why then do nearly all reviews comparing say a G2 Ti200 vs a 7500 give the edge in 2D video quality to the ATI card. First Matrox has the best 2 D then second comes ATI. I have owned Geforce cards as well and they had fuzzy 2D overall as compared to the ATI card, and these Geforce cards were from reputable name companies.

With the mod to a geforce card it will improve the 2D but not everyone wants to risk this , and why should they if the cards were built differently?

But a good choice for Malpine Walis imho is to buy a RAdeon OEM 7500 at around $91US. This will provide hime with more than enough of a card since he buys the games as he says around a year later than they came out. Next would be a G2 Ti200 or an MX400 they will all do the trick fine

Cisco Kid:D

[rogue1979]

OK Cisco, you said it, let's see the links to reviews that say the Radeon 7500 has better 2D than the Geforce 2 Ti. I haven't checked lately, but I will stand by my statement that Gainward or Inno3d has equal 2D with Radeon with no mods. There will be some cards that are not up to par, but a little reading online will insure that you can purchase a "good brand". Remember, Nvidia isn't the only one suffering a bad rep from card manufacturers hardware, not long ago the Radeon LE had cards made in China that were sub-standard and caused problems. As far as Malpine's choice he only mentioned playing games, so the Geforce 2 Ti will give him a little more gaming performance for his money.

[Malpine Walis]

Does anyone have any experience with the ASUS V7100 series?

I see a few of those for around $100.