Budget Video Cards

[iratecanadian]

I'm in need of some help. I've read a few reviews, and have been lurking around here for a while. I'm still not 100% sure on what to get.

You see, the problem is, my Matrox G400 + My motherboard + Win2k/XP decide to reboot themselves randomly. I've borrwed other video cards, and the problem dissapears. Thus, the solution (at least to me - without going back to Windows 98) is to get a new video card.

My choices are as follows:

Chaintech GeForce 2 Ti 64MB TV out
Forsa GeForce 2 Ti 64MB TV out
Radeon 7500 64MB DDR TV out
Hercules Prophet 4500 (Kryo 2) 64MB TV out

Now, out of these, what would be the best for my system, as follows:

Classic Athlon 700
256 SDRam
Soyo K7AIA Motherboard

I don't think the rest is important.
I do play a lot of games, and this is the reason for upgrading my current Video Card. (I can't play games without it rebooting)

Anyways, I'll be checking this thread tomorrow just before I buy. I hope some of you have some suggestions for me! Thanks


Cheers,
iratecanadian.

 

[jfunk]

I'd say choose the Radeon. Best image quality / dvd playback / speed out of all three, (unless you want to consider adding GF3's into the mix, then they will have speed over Radeon).


j

 

[arynn]

This review that was posted at Ace's Hardware may be of use. It compares different video cards on a Celeron 667, Duron 650 and an Athlon 1333.

Ace's Video Card Review

If you don't plan on upgrading your cpu for a while, I'd go with a GeForce 2 and get the latest video card when you upgrade your processor. (I remember reading an article - I think it was at Ace's but I can't find it - that went through a detailed discussion of whether you'd benefit more from upgrading your CPU or video card given different system configurations. From that article, I remember getting the impression that the GeForce required a lot of memory bandwidth [i.e. PC100 or PC133 SDRAM system would not be able to make use of its power].

Hope this helps - I recommend browsing through the video card articles at Ace's Graphics Articles at Ace's Hardware

 

[iratecanadian]

Heh... After reading some more posts, I tried 3d Mark 2001 - just to see what sort of performance increase I would get with each card. Sure enough - I wasn't able to complete it, on two seperate tries.

Try 1 - before the first screen came up, it rebooted.
Try 2 - Made it all the way to a spinning horse before it shut down.


Yup, definately time for a new video card.


Cheers,
iratecanadian

 

[BFG10K]

I'd definitely get the Radeon 7500 from that list of cards. It's the fastest one of the bunch.

 

[Daovonnaex]

Radeon 7500 or Kyro II

 

[Rand]

From the cards you listed I'd definitely go with the Radeon 7500.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< From the cards you listed I'd definitely go with the Radeon 7500. >>

FYI, while the Radeon 7500 has amazing graphics quality, the GF2 GTS, Pro, and Ultra are all faster than it.

 

[Rand]

<<

<< From the cards you listed I'd definitely go with the Radeon 7500. >>

FYI, while the Radeon 7500 has amazing graphics quality, the GF2 GTS, Pro, and Ultra are all faster than it. >>



The Ultra is definitely faster in most situations. the GTS is almost always slower then the Radeon 7500, though it is faster then the previous boards based on the original Radeon core.
The R7500 and GF2 Ti are pretty close in terms of performance... either one could be a bit faster depending upon the individual game but overall I'd give a very slight edge to the R7500.

 

[iratecanadian]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to pick up the ATI 7500 - even tho I loathe ATI. I have a TV Wonder, and they havent been the best with driver support.

You guys seem to think it's the best of the bunch tho. Thanks again.

Cheers.
iratecanadian.

 

[bluemax]

Hey, how could a fellow Canadian loathe a Canadian company like ATI?
If you really don't like ATI for some reason, buying one may not be for you.
The quality should be excellent as well as speed - better than that of the GTS Pro/TI, but a slight advantage to nVidia for more trouble-free performance.
Just bear that in mind...

Don't pay more than $200 CDN + tax for the 7500 retail... they have sales all over the place.

 

[iratecanadian]

Me and ATI aren't the best of friends. I'm all for second chances tho.
And yeah, I'm looking at about $200 cdn plus tax for that card.


Cheers,
iratecanadian

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to pick up the ATI 7500 - even tho I loathe ATI. I have a TV Wonder, and they havent been the best with driver support.

You guys seem to think it's the best of the bunch tho. Thanks again.

Cheers.
iratecanadian. >>

Those Canadians don't know how to write any damn drivers.