Best -inexpensive- card? (~$30-40)

[Yknot]

Stop laughing! Okay, even I'm laughing...

I'm helping a neighbor's boy build a computer with his Xmas $$. He'll have a serious piece of H/W when we're done (Athlon, CD/RW, 128MB Crucial) but he has negligable interest in gaming (ie., in demanding graphics) and a $100 card (MX) is just not for him.

I haven't tracked graphics cards between Tseng chips and GeForce! Would some soul recommend a decent card, please?! Stable drivers and crisp 2D with some gaming possibilities (maybe testosterone will change his ways) seem the starting point.

Thanks!

 

[Playitagainsam]

An older ATI would do just fine...check pricewatch.com. Something like an ATI Rage Pro, B or 16 MB, should run at $30... Banshee-based boards and Voodoo 2 and 3 should be dirt cheap, too.

 

[Actaeon]

TNT 1 or 2 would work

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, it may be a little more than the $30-40 you are asking, but I would recommend something along the lines of a V3 or TNT2. You could get one used from the FS/FT forum for around $50-55.

I still have two V3's in my secondary systems, and they are a still a good card for gaming, IMPO. The 2D is excellent, and the overclockability of the these cards is good. If he is running any of the newer games like Giants, Alice, etc. or plans to in the near future, then staying with the MX is your best bet.

Even though 3DFX is in the process of going under, the latest version of the V3 drivers is excellent. I have no experience with the TNT2 line of card, so no help there.

 

[jliger99]

A Matrox G200 would fit the bill nicely, as well...

 

[Sunner]

How about a Velocity100 if those are still to be found?
Should fit the budget, good 2D, more than decent for gaming considdering the price, no drawbacks that I can think of.

 

[Mathias]

You might actually want to take a look at a banshee. The 2d is surprisingly good and the 3d will be fine for what he will do. Trust me when I say it can run Quake 3 and stuff, Im using a banshee in my pc and it runs those games. The drivers are pretty good (Although I have problems alt-tabbing out of 3d games) and there are some beta drivers out there that are better. It would be a much better investment that a voodoo 2 cause you need a 2d card along with the V2 card. You can probably get one for 40$.

 

[oldfart]

Do you have the mobo yet? How about integrated graphpics?

 

[duragezic]

I'd say a Matrox G200 or a Voodoo banshee. The Matrox has the best 2d but if you did want to play even a tiny bit of gaming, the banshee would do nicely. I've had mine for a while playing Quake3, Half-life, etc... and the 2d was actually good like Mathias said. My Radeon only has SLIGHTLY better 2d quality than the banshee, it's barely even noticeable.

 

[Mem]

I`ve to agree with the Matrox G200.

 

[Yknot]

(How clever of me to accidentally delete my reply with all the best-prices I'd found on your recommendations! )

Most products suggested were $45-$60 with s/h. The Banshee at $40 seemed possible, and I think I found a Rage Fury down there. Most products have held their prices far better than I'd have guessed: with MX's at $90, I can't see paying over $40 for any of these, but the gold has to be there.

'Gguess I'll recommend to the young fellow that he raise the dead (R.I.P. 3Dfx)... but I'll think long and hard about it!

Thanks for all your help!

 

[RacerX]

There is a guy selling an 8mb G200 for $35 shipped on the F/S forum here. Not sure if he still has it though ---> here

 

[Peter]

Think about using a mainboard with integrated graphics then.

SiS 730S mainboard PC-Chips M810LMR is in the shops, and the first VIA KM133 mainboard ECS K7VMA is on its way as well.

Regards, Peter

 

[Yknot]

RacerX - Thanks for the pointer -- should'a gone there myself. I'm ordering the G200 from that fellow (and other of his vidboards for other projects).

An integrated board occurred to me, but I'm loathe to recommend one I'm unfamiliar with and my instinct is to make the core of the system durable for upgrades. While there may be great integrated boards, the ones I glanced at had severe limits, so I went with a pricier product I was familiar with: the ABit KT7. For that, I feel slightly guilty of over-spending, but my limitations and reasoning have been expressed to Andrew and his parents.

Now that the m/b is in hand, I note ABit is coming up with a revision! Sic semper computers.

 

[RacerX]

Hi Yknot,
Hope it works out ...don't want to steer you wrong. Looks like he has good feedback, the only thing I was wondering about is whether you can run that G200 without a heatsink. I remember mine had one (not that it was a very good one though).

 

[Yknot]

RacerX - You're a font of interesting information. No lack of li'l ol' heatsink/fan-combo's in the parts bin. Maybe time to order some Arctic Silver epoxy! Saves fretting about mounting holes/clips.

 

[Peter]

Well ... the integrated-VGA chipsets for Duron and Athlon all sport a 4x AGP port as well. So you can use the integrated one for now (an SiS 300 in the 730S chipset, or S3 Savage 4 in VIA's KM133) and switch to a performance card later as you please.

ECS K7VMA btw is a full size ATX board with five PCI slots, directly derived from their no-VGA K7VZA.

Regards, Peter