PCI what do i do !?!!?!??1

[romstar]

this is my problem i have a dell with a pIII 800 running on a 15 inch moniter... main problem is the video card is integrated so i have to go for a PCI 3d card... i was almost going to pick up a voodoo5500 pci and end of dtory but with the recent problems with 3dfx i think i should stay away for that product. creative labs has a 3D annihilator2 MX in pci form which seems pritty good i think. also on the ati web site here http://www.atitech.com/na/pages/products/pc/radeon32/index.html there is a radeon 32 non ddr video card which looks good tooo.. no i was in love with th voodoo5 5500 pci with fsaa but i dont know about getting it... i play quake3 and most of the easports games some unreal and some times i play racing games... still i taught the voodoo5 5500 pci would have been perfect .... so with the system i have which video card would be the best??? and how much of a hit do the annihilator2 mx and radeon 32 non ddr pci take in pci form???

one problem i can not find any body selling the radeon 32 pci so it may be a problem getting one..

finally any canadians who know of places with the best prices on video cards please help, i know onvia canada has a coupon thing so if you have a coupon # help out a fella canadian...

again i am looking fo the best video card to take advantage of my pIII 800..... thanks

 

[BFG10K]

and radeon 32 non ddr pci take in pci form???

I don't think the Radeon comes in a PCI flavour. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure they don't exist.

 

[oldfart]

Check it out. Radeon SDR PCI

 

[romstar]

what do you think of the radeon 32 sdr pci version...... will i have a performance hit due to pci.. and the card dose offer tv out i assume looking at the link???

 

[romstar]

also how would the performance of the ati card be under windoweME caz the performance under windows2000 is crap so will performance under windowsME be bad due to lack of good drivers...

 

[Deeko]

Geez I don't see why people are afraid to buy 3dfx now. The cards are still just as good as they were. I would get the V5.

 

[BFG10K]

Check it out. Radeon SDR PCI

Thanks Oldfart!

 

[romstar]

deeko>>>> it is a problem to buy v5-5500 for one reason in a few moths a game comes out and the voodoo lines of cards are not supported that is a problem... i am not sure if it really would be a problem the game may or may not work but i am not willing to put money down for a 3dcard that may not work with the new games... also i have read a few reviews of the gforce2 mx pci version the card is pritty fast the pci version looses out a bit but at least it will be supported in the future and some cards come with tv .... so alll you 3dfx lovers give me one reason why i should ge the v5-5500 over the mx pci... oh yah both cards do fsaa but the v5-5500 dose it better...

 

[Hawk]

I don't know if the PCI version is avaiable, it might be on the website, but it's gonna be hard finding one. [edit]Yeah, even the picture is AGP (I think).[/edit]

And romstar, WinME drivers are the same as the Win98 drivers (hence the Win9x drivers). And the Win2k drivers don't really suck that bad anymore.

 

[Aboroth]

Well, I'm not a "3dfx lover" but I'll respond anyway. I think the Voodoo5 drivers are more stable than certain other companies' drivers are or ever will be. I rather enjoy not needing to reset my computer at all while playing a game. It's nice.

Also I don't see how it won't work with new games unless everyone stops using OpenGL and Direct3D. I think the drivers are good enough that they should last a long time.

 

[romstar]

ok say if the drivers are all godd for the voodoo 5-5500 pci and new games work fine... there is still the option of getting the WinFast GeForce2 MX pci which seems to be a good card but very very very hard to find the pci version in canada... i have 2 choices get the v5 5500 pci or the gforce2 mx pci (which hase tv out and also duel screen options too) i think the performance is almost the same for both cards..... what do you think of the gforce3 mx pci vesion and where can i get the pci version here in canada???

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< i think the performance is almost the same for both cards >>


Heck no. Not at all. The voodoo5 will smoke the MX. Keep in mind the MX PCI card is much slower than its AGP counterpart, due to the fact that untransformed geometry must be sent via the slow PCI bus. It kills performance. Since the V5 is basically a PCI66 part, bus speed doesn't affect its performance very much.


<< deeko>>>> it is a problem to buy v5-5500 for one reason in a few moths a game comes out and the voodoo lines of cards are not supported that is a problem... >>


I have a voodoo2 and the only driver-related update was when I downloaded Quake3TEST. I needed newer OpenGL drivers so I used GLsetup to get the latest ICD from 3dfx (this was about a year and a half ago). I haven't had any combatibilites problems in over 2 years. With the latest drivers, you'll be set for some time. Don't let support problems hold you back from getting the superior card.

 

[apacide]

I also have a Dell... In my opinion, since PCI is pretty much dead and not being supported AT ALL by GeForce 2 cards (except one sub-par card), the Voodoo 5 is the best PCI card around, and it will probably stay that way.

 

[romstar]

before picking up a voodoo 5 5500 pci i have to see if i can pick up a gforce2 mx winfast caz i read a review and it clames that the performance loss due to the pci is minimal eg from 117 fps in quake3 with the agp to like 100 fps with the pci i dont know if this clame is real but if any body has any opinions please go ahead and post it would be even better if anybody with a pci version of the gforce2 mx card can post some fps... also the radeon comes in a 32 meg sgram pci version whcih would be nice if i could find a review on it ...... KEEP in mind that the pci versions of the gforce2 mx and the redean are very and i mean very hard to find i have tried to call all computer stores up here in canada and have had no luck.... so in the end even if the other 2 cards are better tthen the v5-5500 pci i would have no choice but to get the v5-5500 pci which is not a bad back-up....... also i think i should wait a month at least to see if prices drop for the 3dfx based cards... but i am not sure caz i am hearing that the stores are just getting rid of the 3dfx cards thay have now and not ordering any new ones so its a toss up wait and save or wait and just never get one!!!! any ways this is porbably the last time i will ever get a chance to get a good 3d card for my system since it has no agp caz i am sure the next generation of 3d cards willl 100% be agp.... especally since 3dfx died... long live 3dfx hope nvidi keeps the 3dfx name alive.... lates damn this one long post........ hope i get some replys foo this typing?????

 

[romstar]

just found this ad on onvia http://www.onvia.ca/canada/products/index.cfm?Task=ViewProduct&amp;IdCatalog=2587647

its a creative labs annihilator gforce2 mx pci for 187 (canadian) have you guys seen any reviews on this product and will the pci version be that much worse then the agp .... keep in mind this card is 100 (canadia) cheaper then the voodoo 5 5500 pci what do you think???

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< will the pci version be that much worse then the agp >>


Take a look at these benches right here for a PCI MX card.

And right here for a V5 PCI.

Edit: I just noticed you only have a 15 inch monitor. Odds are you'll be happy with either of these cards, since you'll be able to play at pretty much any rez your monitor supports. Just keep in mind the V5 will be much faster.

 

[romstar]

check out this review compairing the einfast gforce 2 mx pci vs agp...
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/leadtek_mx/introduction.shtml

it seems to me like the pci version of the gforce2 mx is as fast as the voodoo 5500 pci and also hase duel moniter and tv out and the card is very over clockable due to large fan on chip...

only problem is that he pci version of the leadteck is not mentioned on the leadteck web site and evey store here in canada dose not have the pci version,.,., even on the web its impossable to find the pci version.....

 

[Isaiah]

I whould get the VooDoo5 5500 PCI, it is the best pci video card out there