Voodoo3, what's "significantly" faster?

[RoadWarrior]

Since I can get such a good deal on other parts at www.anitec.ca I can just get this GF3 ti 200 in budget....
http://www.msi.com.tw/products/multimedia/vga/spec/8850.htm
Seems like the best option to me given what I have to spend and what I would like in a card.

It has the philips video out chip which is meant to be the best quality one in the GF3 boards, only does up to 800x600 output, but you're not going to a hell of a lot more detail at 1024x768 on a TV anyway. Does the wide screen and hdtv modes. Also get some video capture ability as a bonus, so that's kinda nice, can use an old VCR as a monitor stand and have TV in a window or something. Yeah, I don't really watch TV much, but it's kinda like a baby monitor to the world, if it still seems not to have fallen apart quite yet, you can get on with what you're doing

Also that card has been shown to overclock to 500-520 for the RAM and 215-250 for the GPU in reviews, so should be good for ti500 performance.

And hey, get a free game with it, hmmm dunno if it's good, but it will do for a swapper maybe

plus it's RED!

So you've probably got a couple of days before I get the order finalised to warn me of impending doom.

So the 8500 is "just" $50 more from that place but;
i) I don't got another $50, not for months. I'd have to trade down on the motherboard (KT333) RAM (333) and CPU (XP1800) to get it, and I think I've got the spend pretty well balanced right now.
ii) I've read a hell of a lot of reviews, and I am not convinced that the ATI 8500 is any better overall, it's good, maybe technically superior on a couple of points that may or may not get better support, overall, I'm thinking the GF3 wins.
iii) To get any capture ability on a Radeon I'd have to go to the $$$ all in wonder. It's kind of a freebie here and probably not of the same calibre, but to me, who basically just wants to screw around with it, it's a bonus point.
iv) The packaging from the 8500 will scare my cat


Road Warrior

 

[DaddyB]

Just thought i'd let u know that right now future shop has a geforce 2 mx on sale for $129 (canadian) with a $30 mail in rebate thats $99. BUT if you want the best price on any card or computer component (in my experience they are always cheaper) check out www.pccanada.com (radeon 7500 for $139) maybe you could get your new mo/bo there too. they are in toronto and i live near TO but i couldnt believe how fast their shipping was, i ordered at 4:00 PM and my athalon XP showed up b4 i woke up the next morning!!! (12 noon)... had to drive to purolator to pick it up I gotta start getting up before 3pm...should get to bed its almost 8 am... and im rambling....

 

[RoadWarrior]

Well that's a nice site with a good price on the Radeon, but their 8500 is the LE and nothing else is all that cheap. 144 for DDR333 vs 135, 175 for a decent mobo vs 159, 219 for the XP1800 vs 199, so since I have to pay PST on them too, and shipping from BC for 800 worth works out less than the taxes, I think I'll pass on them this time, but I'll bear them in mind if I need something in a hurry. Thanks for the tip on the mx btw, might know someone that wants one.

Road Warrior

 

[Tracert]

Sounds like you should have a lot of fun with that GF3! Nice one to play with overclocking with and if it's cheaper but still has all you want in a card... go for it.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[RangerJoe]

what is better than a voodoo 3....damn near anything...less rage pros and such...i suggest gf3, gf3 ti200/500, gf4, gf2 ultra, gf2 pro....all of those would be huge improvements

 

[RoadWarrior]

Heh RangerJoe, I guess the title made sense when I only wanted to spend 100 CDN.

 

[RangerJoe]

for $100 CND, you can get a gf2 pro...good card, i highly recommend it. or even a 64 mb gf2 ti200, thatd also be good

 

[Tracert]

for $100 CND, you can get a gf2 pro...good card, i highly recommend it. or even a 64 mb gf2 ti200, thatd also be good

No need to do that when he can do this

I can just get this GF3 ti 200 in budget

Why stoop to a GF2 level when he is in favor of as GF3?

I just wanted to put in my 2 cents tho. I went from a Radeon VE to a GF3 just recently and to be honest... I have been kind of dissapointed. I guess I always expect too much from an upgrade and although my BM might have tripled, my gaming experience has stayed pretty much the same. I know maybe with the newer games that will come out I would be happier but for right now, I would have waited until I could aford the 4600's. But then again I have heard a lot of complaints about those with framerate problems in real games. But does that matter when you get BM's over 10000?

Just something to think about.

One thing I have learned... try before you buy. If there is anyway possible to borrow a simular card before you actually buy it, that would be the best. Of course you can always buy and return but that is a pain and cost shipping and restocking fees usually so I know that isn't a real good option. Even pay more at a retail store (like Best Buy) and then return it so you can try it for 30 days and then get all your money back.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[RangerJoe]

well, if he can get a gf3 ti200, then get it, i dont know the exchange rate from $100 CND --> US dollars, so i dunno what he can get....thats why i said gf2 pro/ti200

 

[woscarr]

I was in somewhat the same boat as you... if you will.

I also just upgraded from my old AMD450k6-2/Voodoo3 2000 pci to a 1000 Duron/Geforce 2 mx 400 agp. Now I didn't upgrade in one shot, first I bought the Geforce 2 and ran it with my AMD450 for about 6 months or so. Now if I haven't already gave my Voodoo3 to my son for his pc (p200mx) I would have went back to the Voodoo3 card because I was very dissapointed with the Geforce2 running on my AMD450.

To say the least... I was running games like Test Drive and FlightSim 98 and getting frame rates in the low 100's with the Voodoo3 and then I upgraded to a Geforce2 and frame rates dropped to the MID 20's ?!

Just comparring the two cards by watching what they were doing I could see the Voodoo's smoothness while the Geforce seemed bottle necked.

Well now I can tell you after upgrading to the Duron1000/K7S5A the Geforce bottle neck is gone It's just as smooth as the voodoo was on my AMD450... Very SWEET !!! and @32bit color now. The frame rates still not back up in the 100's like my ol' Voodoo but still very smooth, awsome detail.

Now my son get's the AMD 450 to go with the Voodoo3 which is a very nice combo.

edit: The Geforce2 MX 400 goes for around $100 CDN, but I guess you already know that

Hope this help's.

Cheer's
Wayne

 

[Tracert]

if I haven't already gave my Voodoo3 to my son for his pc (p200mx) I would have went back to the Voodoo3 card because I was very dissapointed with the Geforce2 running on my AMD450.

I can understand that, I'm not sure I would have considered an upgrade to a MX card, much of an upgrade. But at the time I am sure it was the only price conscience option you had.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Thanks for all the comments guys. The order for all my new toys is in now, the 64Mb card was out of stock so, to prevent me talking to her about it for another 2 weeks while I found another supplier with such good prices and the card in stock, my wife found me $30 to go up to the 128Mb version......

128Mb sounds crazy at the moment, I'm using a 64Mb computer at the minute for goodness sake. My main harddrive used to be smaller than that! Ah well, I don't expect I'll regret it in five years time. I mean I've still got a 486 board around I still use and I keep cursing it for not having 4 72 pin SIMM slots, I got the one with 4x30 and 2x72, cheaped out on that one because I had these 30pin SIMMs. Also I curse a basic graphics card I cheaped out on with only 512k of mem instead of 1Mb, so these things seem to hang around for years to haunt me. So in 2007, I'll probably be glad I got the 128mb version. . . . . . . . . Guess it will keep it up with the GF4s for a while anyhow, since they're coming with 128Mb mostly. Should also mean that AGP8x cards don't leave me completely for dead, when textures etc get real large, because it won't need to use that old slow 4x AGP so much as the 64Mb cards would.

So all I've gotta do now is wait.....
patiently.....
was that the parcel guy?....
or not......
anybody for a game of tic tac toe?

Road Warrior

 

[Tracert]

LOL.

I know your pain.