Radeon LE, IDE Raid, Win2K?

[zixxer]

I currently have a Viper 770 Ultra, 1.2 ghz Athlon, 384 Megs of ram, and most importantly 2 60 gig 5,400 rpm hdd's running raid striping. Now, I also have a 27 gig 7,200 rpm I'm not using. You guys think I should get a Radeon le, ditch the raid, and use the 7,200 27 gig and win98se, or get something else? Raid and win98se don't get along very well, and Radeon drivers and win2k don't get along either... suggestions? I have about $120, $140 max to spend on a new card...

 

[Bestill]

I'm not completely up to speed on RAID, but I can say that the Radeon LE is the best low budget video card on the market right now. It's performance is excellent and the price is even better. I own one and have no problems with it on Win98SE. Those who use Win2K even say that the problems with Win2K are pretty much non-existent now. You can read here in this thread for more info (LINK).

If you want to spend under $80, go with the Radeon LE. Newegg.com has it for $60 shipped for a refurbished card and $77 shipped for a new card.

If you don't mind spending the full $120-$140, then look for a good Geforce2 Pro or Kyro2 or even the 64MB Radeon DDR. They've dropped in price quite a bit over the past few weeks and are all good choices. If you are a 3D gamer, try the Geforce2 Pro or Kyro2. If you like 3D gaming and want good 2D, try the Kyro2 or Radeon. If you are only doing 2D, then skip these cards and get a Matrox Millenium G450. But again, if you wanna save the pennies and still get an excellent video card, the Radeon LE is your best bet. It can even be tweaked to run on par with the retail version that sells for $30-$40 more. Hope this helps!

Bestill

 

[Martijnos]

Good post Bestilll.

I would use the 7200 rpm drive to run my operating system and programms on and use the 2 60gb drives for storage. So no raid. Read Bestill's post for the videocard choice.

 

[zixxer]

Well, I watch dvd's frequently, and care about gaming, but not a whole lot. I'm not looking for the absolute fps max'ed out card, I want something that will let me play decent games, with 'good' 3d (17 inch a70 at 1154x)but I generally want the best for the money... that's why I considered a Radeon LE, however, I've heard that the Geforce2 Pro's are good for the money as well... but does it offer decent 2d and DVD?

 

[Martijnos]

I have the MSI Geforce Pro 64mb. Very fast for 3d, but not too great at high resolutions on my 22" Iiyama. I see you have a 17" monitor, so I think you won't have to worry about 2d problems. The Pro is fine for watching dvd's for me, but I've heard the Radeon is a bit better with dvd. I think it isn't a big deal, but for some people it might be.
Overall I think the Radeon Le is the best option for you. Cheap, good 2d quality, nice for watching dvd's and still great for gaming.

 

[Bestill]

If you watch DVDs and don't care about maxing out FPS in 3D-gaming, then you do not want a GeForce2. I've heard several people dissatisfied with 2D performance on a Geforce video card. The Radeon has better 2D than both the Kyro2 and the GeForce2. If you don't mind spending the extra money, then go with the 64MB Radeon DDR. The video-in/video-out might be something you find useful also. Otherwise, the Radeon LE definitely sounds like a good choice for you.

As for RAID, unless you do a whole lot of important critical work that you want to back up, you probably don't need it...unless you just want to play around with it. I think Martijnos is right on with the best hard drive setup for you.