Ok...OPF won!......Im gonna get a new Video card

[jedisalf]

From Venezuela (sorry my english)
OK......OPF and Max Payne had decided that I should get a whole new computer.....Im going for a P IV, now Im having problems choosing the best video card....
could you give some advice?http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif
Please my budget doesnt pay for a Gforce3, so that reduces the options...

[RN Malboeuf]

dont bother with a P4 if your going to just game, it's actually worse for gaming and too expensive

go for a Atholon, you'll see that many have it
the asus A7V266 IS the BEST board for this


after that I'll cut and paste a email I just sent

-------
ATI is made in canada here where I live (for distubution in North America)
so that way ATIs are cheaper for us, I've sold 8 7000 and 4 8500s do far and
have had no complaints

I have the radeon 32 Meg DDR and actually see no reason to even upgrade
since I can run 1600x1200 32 bit res in any game I want, and that card is almost two years old

In the past you have seen many sites compare both the Geforce and the Radeon

you'll have seen two things

1) ATI does not dupport it's drivers
 this WAS true 3 years ago, not to day in any way, ppl have just the same
amount of problems with both cards, it's just that many were burned by ATIs
crappy cards in the last few years and are not open minded, they dont
understand that technologies change

I have one of those very old cards in the Compaq I'm writing from up north (Visting Grammother on the week end) and it IS crap (ATI Rage Turbo 8 meg)

2) Geforce Out performs Radeon
  This has never been true, I have seen 1 too many sites that have tested
the wrong cards at the wrong time

they use the Radeon All in wonders or TV in/out (VIVO) cards thinking they
produce the same frame rate as the Radeon with out. They do not!
in the case of the Radeon VE SDR 32 meg (S-video out and can handle two
monitors) it actually has HALF the FPS as the Radeon 32 meg DDR, the
reason it has have is because the card divides it's proccess between both
monitor regardles if only 1 is being used
They had the nerve to say Geforce had twice the Frame rate, it was actually
funny when I wrote the site and told them of thier error, the Geforce Card
they uses was the SDR version with Video in outs, they said it did not
mater but it does, the Radeon 3 meg DDR  was the True Hard Core ATI gaming
card, the one they (Rad VE SDR) selected is used for companies that really need
two monitors for things like video editing

The same goes for the new AIW Radeon 8500 cards, they are more atuned to the
DVD/TV out features, but this time even though it can suport two monitors it
does not divide up it's proccessor like the old Rad VE SDR did

the Rad VE DDR was of the last to come out befor the 8500s, and this card
supported two monitors but now that it had DDR Ram it was almost twice as
fast as the older SDR VE and also did not divide up the processor

We sell ALLOT of these cards
Radeon VE 32 meg DDR $130 CND

now like I said the Radion 32 meg DDR was the pure gaming card and sells now
still for $260 CND

both cards are cheaper and faster then thier GeForce 2 counter parts

Now Geforce 3 Cards are REALLY sweet, but once again due to the prices we
dont get many sales for them $550 CND and the Radeon 32 meg DDR almost
matches this card for half the price

the Radeon 8500 is fully loaded, and cost $460 CND or you can even go with
the 7500 wich matches the Geforce3 and is only $370 CND

in the end, both companies know that they have to stay on top, ATI saw this faster and simply dropped thier prices and waited a little long till they
knew they could out perform the GeF3s
they came just last month only because ATI now knew thier cards were faster

Speed = ATI
Cost= ATI
Better Driver support = ATI/GeF

thats the best way to look at it



(Edited by RN Malboeuf at 5:14 pm on Nov. 25, 2001)

[Satchel]

The Geforce 2 MX series are usually low budget cards with adequate performance, however, if you´re going for a PIV 1.4GHz + you should consider a Geforce 2 TI/Pro/GTS 64mb, otherwise a Geforce 2 MX might become the bottleneck in your system.
Up to 1 GHz the Geforce 2MX is usually a good choice, beyond that you need a bit more horsepower on your GPU.

[Munkejens]

ATI Radeon 7500 or maybe the GeForce2 MX 400.
you might go and get a GeForce 2 GTS or Pro maybe, but they are ofcorse more expensive.
A KyroII is also a cheap choice. it performs well under Direct 7.0 games, but isn´t as 'future proof' as a GeForce.

[jedisalf]

about the Athlon or PIV thing.....I not gonna buy it just for game, I worka lot with visual aplications like AutoCad, 3D Studio or Photoshop.....but of course..I love gaming!!! so which video card or CPU (athlon or PIV intel) will work better for those programs...and games as well??

[M79]

Geforce 2 , any of the range will be good enough to game with , the more you spend on a G2 the better it will get http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

But I would go for the GTS 2 64mb one.

[RN Malboeuf]

I have never seen a Geforce 2/3 out preform my Radeon 32 DDR

how many GeF2 cards have you seen run OFP at 1600x1200x32 and not lag?

NONE

yet my Radeon 32 meg DDR does it on a 800 mhz or 1.4 ghz every day

Ati Radeon 32 DDR is faster, always has, even some Gef3 can bearly run in that mode

cheaper and faster

any one who complains about ATI drivers and has to understand that it's not been like tht for atleast 2 years

[WisdoM]

From personnaly experience, P4 is way over hyped. Your paying extra money for no real extras. IMHO one of the New Athlon XP's would suit you well http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif I personally just bought a new AMD Athlon XP 1900+, with a EPoX 8KHA+(which is rock stable I might ad http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ) I previously owned a P3 933MHz, and this new setup blows it out of the water.

As far as cards go, there are so many different options. The two Best, fastest, onthe market are the Radeon 8500, and The GeForce3 Ti500. And I think the 8500 gives a good run for it's money as it's a #### of alot cheaper, but the Ti500 is still a faster card overall. Alot of people won't admit it, but it's true. Also the 8500 does outperform the Ti500 I think in a few of the many tests. One of the upsides of the 8500 is it's feture rich. And IMHO gives a better picture quality, it's no tmuch to the naked, but you can tell teh difference when paired by a Ti500 pics. I personally went with the LeadTek GeForce3 Ti500, as I'm just an Nvidia fanboy http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif well actually I stick with Nvidia b/c I've never had a problem with them, and I heard some stories of ATi's drivers not being very good http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif But I suggest you look around and read some reviews. Below are somw links

www.hardocp.com
www.sharkyextreme.com

[WisdoM]

Also some people say the 8500 is doing better in benchmarks is because teh drivers a re speciffecally enhanced to do so, heres more reading material to check it all out http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

www.hardocp.com/reviews/vidcards/ati/8500/quack/

(Edited by WisdoM at 4:16 pm on Nov. 25, 2001)

[ScreamingWithNoSound]

Oh for *God's* sake...

If you're going to buy a new computer, based around a fast CPU, there is NO point buying a budget card!

Buy the fastest you can afford, whether it's Radeon 8500, or GeForce 3 Ti500 makes less difference than if it's Top of the Range or budget.

If you have a CPU over 1gig, improving you graphics card will give a bigger performance increase than improving your CPU.

[BoonieRat]

DO NOT BUY A P4!!!, if you HAVE to buy a Pentium, get a P3 Tualtin, but then again dont!, get an AMD XP1600+, an 18-1900+ if you're not bothered about the Ł$, with the money you'll save you can buy a G3Ti500!!!,:o

Just my tuppeny' worth http://www.flashpoint1985.com/ikonboard3/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[MrLaggy]

I'd go for an Athlon were it not for the lack of thermal protection; the last thing I want is to burn my house down just because the heatsink fell off my CPU... AMD really need to fix that.

As for graphics boards, I'd get an old GF3: it's part-way between the GF3 200 and 500 in performance, and as an old part the price should be dropping a lot. I bought a Radeon-64 for OFP and am perfectly happy with it (other than poor OGL drivers), but it's doesn't properly support any DirectX8 features and games will soon start coming out which use them.

As for running 1600x1200x32 on a Radeon-32, you are aware that you've only got 9MB left for textures at that resolution, aren't you? Even 1280x1024 will take up over half the card's RAM for framebuffer and Z-buffer.

[Hidden]

Why are none of you AMD fans mentioning the incredible noise from the super powerful cooling fans that you need to keep the Athlon CPU from melting?

I am about to build a new PC in a month or two, it MUST be silent because I will use it to record and make music plus gaming (mainly OFP). I believe most of you know that any AMD CPU is a lot hotter than the P4 series, hence you have to spend a lot more on cooling fans, then you get a system noisy as a car engine on full throttle (ok probably not, but..).

If I can build a new PC using a powerful AMD CPU, 512 mb DRR RAM, 60GB IBM disk e.t.c. and keep the noise leve to a minimum so it won´t bother me even when I pick up my acoustic guitar to record a song, tell me how to do it. I know about NoiseKiller and will use it. Thanks.


Am not bad mouthing and I ask you to not flame me for this, just answer me, and I would appreciate if it is any helpful at all, not just another "AMD rocks, Intel sucks" line, that is nothing but childish behaviour.


Hidden

AMD rocks, Intel sucks! Oh, sorry, I mean, yes you're probably right about the sound, it is a lot louder, but it doesn't really bother me at all. The games I play rin smooth as ####, and that's what counts.

[RN Malboeuf]

>>>>>Why are none of you AMD fans mentioning the incredible noise from the super powerful cooling fans that you need to keep the Athlon CPU from melting?


HUH?

you do realize that with Socket A MB there are hundreds of CPU FANS, depending on how/where you store gets them, they should know which Fans are better

We Use the COOLmaster (cools up to) 1.7 ghz Fans on our 1.4 ghz Athlon chips, I don't even notice my fan, at my Grand mothers we have a 1 ghz AMD and it is Very loud, but that was made by my Uncle, and he just used the 1st Fan he found

We Sell these fans for $12.80 CND ($7 US) most other stores sell them for $25-$35 CND, and this is a Top of the line Fan, the Next one up would be the Copper Metal Version (extra $10), but thats just the heat Sink, it still uses the same FAN, we never Mark up 50% any Products we sell.