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Video Card Recomendations

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Dangerous Dave

Registered
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Video Card Recomendations

I am putting together a new computer system and have ordered all of the components except for a video card. My prime goal with building this system is stability, first and foremost. It will run 24 hours a day seven days a week. I have overclocked in the past but none of the components in my new system will be overclocked. Probably most of the machine's time will be spent on the internet/email, gps mapping programs, and small amounts of word processing. I think I might like to get into a few games but that is not my major past time. I saw a game called Medal of Honor the other day which I was interested in and might try that out. I really don't understand what the big deal is about running games at high resolutions as I run my current computer at 800 x 600. Maybe there's a big advantage I'm not aware of. The card I am running now is a Diamond 32 mb Riva TNT 1 and it meets my requirements so far along with my celeron 300. I even ran Quake 1 on it and it seemed ok although I've never played the game more than twice. I was initially leaning toward a GeForce 4 TI 4200 but now I'm wondering if something even less than this will meet my needs. The Radeon 7500, 8500, 9000 seemed to be priced well while the the GeForce 4 MX 440 128mb is about as high as I think I will go as far as price. Like I said....stabilty is the most important aspect of this new machine and I have read about driver issues with Radeon cards. I am suffering video card review burnout and will probably buy a video card based on what is recommended in response to this thread. I appreciate any advice.

:)

Here is the system I'm putting together:

Win 2000
Asus A7V333
1 GB pc 2700
Athlon XP 2100:)
 
I would go for a Radeon 8500 or 9000. The Le version of the 8500 is a little bit cheaper, but also has less performance. The 9000 doesn't perform as well as the 8500, but also costs a good deal less. I think you would be more than happy for all of your needs with either one of these cards.
 
Do not get the MX440, my GeForce3TI200 is faster and supports more technology. THe TI500 is a good card also.
 
I just happen to have a Rad9k Pro and I ran MOHAA at 1024x768 highest details and it ran flewently without any stuttering. I wouldn't get an MX or a non-Pro Radeon 9000, but a 9000 Pro is a really good bang for the buck. It will run all the games out right now at playable framerates, and won't cost much at all.
 
Well I decided on an MSI TI-4200 128MB card. I also sprung for the 8x AGP which won't do anything for me now but might keep my card current for my next motherboard. There are faster cards for sure but my gaming will be very limited. I appreciate the advice from all of those who gave it.
 
If you don't wanna spend a lot of money, go for Ti500, or Ti4200 (64MB versions). The 64meg versions are generally faster at typical resolutions of 1024x768. Only get 128MB if you are planning on running things near the 1600x1200 size or if you absolutely have the urge to spend that extra dollar.
 
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