Please recommend a video card.

[jcmoran]

Hi folks. I'm building a system and need your recommendation on a video card. I'll try to give you all the info you may need to answer, but hope you'll forgive me if I miss something.
I'm running Windows XP Professional from a clean installation on a AMD XP 1700+ on a AZZA 366A-AV mobo with a Volcano 6cu HSF.
128mb DDR RAM.
Onboard sound (I have a sound card but what the hell).
Standard 57k modem.
Couple extra USB ports.
3 Hard drives.
CD Rom.
I'll be adding a DVD ROM as soon as I can.

Nothing is being pushed too hard and no overclocking here. I'm just looking for a reliable video card that will not make me say "Oh, that little glitch is just the video card".

I sure would appreciate your helpful suggestions.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

Gainward g3 ti200

 

[Hauk]

Really depends on how much video card you want. Gainward in my opinion presents the widest selection in regards to performance. Price and quality are both VERY GOOD.

You really should take some time to review all their products, figure out your budget, and shoot for Gainward...

 

[sirwinston]

I ust put a similar system together
Xp1700
gigabyte mb
and a Radeon 8500 OEM
Have played Ghost Recon
Diablo2
Return to Castle wolfenstien
Links 2001
so far all is flawless , I am running Windows xp on a clean install.
Can't recommend it enough.
Oh used powerstrip and bumped mem and clock to 280 with no problems and scored a 8314 3d2001 mark ( have turned it back down since then)

Darren

 

[m1ke101]

me thinks you need more ram than 128mb.

 

[oldfart]

What do you want from the video card feature wise? Do you play 3D games? Video capture? High res 2D work? Just general Web/Office/Photo apps?

 

[Jethro666]

V5 all the way! FSAA!

 

[Rand]

It would be purely ridiculous to recommend you anything without knowing what you intend to use it for.
What are your usage requirements?
Budget?
Any specific features you need?

Do you play 3D games? Video capture? High res 2D work? Just general Web/Office/Photo apps? CAD apps?

What is suitable for one task might be entirely incapable of another.

Any possible recommendation carries a distinct chance of leading you into a totally inappropriate purchase without knowing more of what you intend to use it for.

 

[jcmoran]

I appreciate all the great reponses. Thanks.
A few asked what I would be using my computer for and thanks for steering me a bit. I can see where that would be very important. I'm not much of a gamer, but I play a few. Flight simulators, Golf, a couple kill 'em and grin games. Mostly I work with MS Office apps and online. I spend a lot of time online. Right now I have a Savage 4, 32mb card with an S3 chipset. I know I need more RAM too. I plan on ending up with 512mb DDR RAM which should do me for a while. My budget was mentioned too, thank you. I can spend about $150. without feeling too guilty. Primarily I'm looking for a card that will provide graphics that will keep up with the rest of my system. Also something that will provide smooth DVD play back. If it has video capture even better so I can use my 8mm camera for a webcam.
Again, thanks to all who can take the time, and allow me the benefit of your experience.

 

[jfunk]

I'd go with ATI, since you list DVD playback as one of the things you want. Also, since you will spend a lot of time doing 2D office work, you'll prolly appreciate the better image quality of the ATI cards.

If you were mostly concerned with gaming, there would be argument between ATI and GeForce, but if gaming is secondary, I'd say ATI all the way. The 7500 is about $150 I think.


j

 

[jcmoran]

Thanks for all the help folks. Looks like I'll be going with an ATI Radeon 64Mb DDR. I think it will work just fine based on what everyone told me, plus I can feed video into it for movies or webcam.

 

[Jethro666]

JC
I had a Radeon VIVO for 3-4 mos. and loved it. If you're going that way though I would get the 7500 model, which will be a good deal faster at gaming due to much higher core and memory speeds. (and not much more $)
Merry Christmas!

 

[jcmoran]

<< JC
I had a Radeon VIVO for 3-4 mos. and loved it. If you're going that way though I would get the 7500 model, which will be a good deal faster at gaming due to much higher core and memory speeds. (and not much more $)
Merry Christmas! >>



I wasn't aware that the later models of the Radeon had video capture features. Thanks.