[Dranon]

Due to recent cooling fan failure, i will be needing a new video card.  My former card was a GF2 GTS 32MB one, and it worked just great for me.

I currently have 4 options for a new one, and i would like your opinions on them.  Please try to keep the Nvidia and ATI arguments to a minimum

Option 1: GeForce2 TI 64MB DDR (comes with a few games) $129.99

Option 2: ATI Radeon 8500 64MB DDR $119.99

Option 3: GeForce4 MX440 64MB DDR $99.99

Option 4: GeForce3 TI200 128MB DDR $139.99


Discuss.

Oh and if you are wondering where i can get these cards for these prices, check out www.infotechnow.com

[vadar_1]

allow me to eliminate three options for you with my ignorant claim:

GeForce sux, im running GeForce 2 MX, and I know those arn't the best of quality, but it still royally sucks bad in terms of stability.

[Stealth]

I agree with Vadar_1... if you're going to get a video card, get the Radeon.  Radeon is known to haev awesome performance,

the Radeon may only have 64MB Ram compared to GF3's 128, but 64MBs is more than enough to run today and in the near future's games

i'd say choice #2

[Thorn]

Radeon... I'm running one of those.. and I love it... it has much better texture quality than the other cards imho... not as many frames out of say JKII, but it looks a helluva lot better...

[Ryx]

I'm a little biased against ATI, but from the list, it's the card that should provide most bang for the buck.

Although, gf3 ti 200 with 128 Mbs... could be worth considering.

[Dranon]

That's kind of what i was thinking.

My first vid card was an ATI Rage128.  Not very good, but best i could afford at the time, and it did well for me, and still does for that matter.

My GF2 was a great card, with no problems with it.

Guess i will just go back to ATI.

[Stealth]

In my opinion Radeon has done nothing but improve in the last 4 years.  My neighbor has upgraded his video card 6 times in the last 2 years, and every time it's been a Radeon... he's never had any problems with it, and the one Radeon i've had i've had no problems with either

[Fineus]

Originally posted by Stealth
In my opinion Radeon has done nothing but improve in the last 4 years.  

That can be said about the performance of almost every graphics card or piece of hardware ever

[Kazashi]

I agree with what seems to be the consensus and say to get the Radeon 8500. Since their introduction they have continued to improve moreso than most other cards. It easily handles the GF2 Ti, outshines the GF3 Ti200 and GF4 MX, and gives the GF4 Ti series a run for its money, especially the 128MB versions. Drives can still be an issue, but ATi have advanced leaps and bounds in this respect. And at the prices listed, well you can't go past that.

My next choice, for arguments sake would be the GF3 Ti200. It is able to handle the extra 64MB of RAM reasonably effectively when it is called upon, and has a number of DX8 features which the GF4 MX lacks. In third spot comes the GF4 MX, little more than a glorified GF2 and a bad marketing ploy on the part of nVidia (the name, not the card).

[wEvil]

wait 2 months and you'll be paying half the price for everything.

[Redfang]

Originally posted by wEvil
wait 2 months and you'll be paying half the price for everything.

 
Maybe... R300 should be in the shops by then.
 
From those options, Radeon is definitely the best choice, and that 128MB doesn't help at all in todays games, and it's not going to help in near future. Geforce 4 Ti4200 could be a good choice too, but it's more expensive.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Thunder

That can be said about the performance of almost every graphics card or piece of hardware ever

I should have worded it like he did:

Originally posted by Kazashi

Since their introduction they have continued to improve moreso than most other cards

Originally posted by Kazashi

Drives can still be an issue, but ATi have advanced leaps and bounds in this respect. And at the prices listed, well you can't go past that.

i could think of a few exceptions to graphic cards that have actually gone down!

[CP5670]

I would probably recommend the Radeon out of that list, or if you have about $50 more to spend, the GF4 Ti4200 is definitely the best deal around.