help on old graphics cards

[nOnAme43280]

I've got an older system with a 333 MHz AMD K6-2 processor, 192 MB of PC-100. I have no AGP slots so I have to go with PCI and I have a choice between a 16 MB Voodoo 3 3000 PCI card, or a 32 MB TNT2 M64 PCI card. Now I know the TNT2 has more memory to play with, but the Voodoo 3 has a slightly higher clock speed of 166 MHz compared the TNT2's 150 MHz, but I don't know anything else about the cards. I don't know which one is the better one. Somebody please help.

 

[Harvey]

You may get a lot of opinions on this, but I prefer the overall look nVidia cards. Considering the age of your system, I don't think the faster clock speed of the Voodoo card will give you any noticable improvement in overall speed, and more RAM on the nVidia card will give you better max resolution. Also, nVidia drivers are probably easier to find.

Hope that helps.

 

[Schadenfroh]

i would go with the voodoo3, the tnt m64 was the tnt2 lines value card. much like mx with a geforce2. driver development continued even after 3dfx went down. many diehard 3dfx fans have wrote voodoo3 drivers, and they are quite good IMO. grab them here. plus you will have GLIDE support for UT, Deus Ex, etc. The voodoo3s 2D image quality will own a tnt2s 2D image quality

 

[Conky]

I would take the Voodoo3. Like Schadenfroh pointed out the m64 is the mx of the TNT2 line. I would take a Voodoo3 over a TNT2 in any case. The lowest Nvidia card I would take instead of a V3 would be a GeForce.

 

[kurt454]

Agreed. The TNT2 M64 has a 64 bit memory bus. The Voodoo has a 128. Voodoo is better.

 

[sandorski]

I'd choose the Voodoo3 over a full blown honest to goodness TNT 2 Ultra even. Back in the day Voodoo3 was better with a K6-2 than anything else.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

voodoo3 > anything else from its time

i loved 3dfx.

anyone remember that quantum3d obsidian card? was sli in a single slot. i loved that thing. still have it around somewhere.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Voodoo3 is the winner here. Since you're going to be playing "Old School" games on that rig anyhow, the lack of recent 3dfx drivers is a moot point. Plus, as Schaden mentioned, the GLIDE support will allow you to run UT-engine games, since they didn't design them for much else in terms of APIs.

- M4H