Video Card Recommendations

**Radical Dreamer** · February 22nd, 2002, 05:32 PM

I want to get a new nvidia video card for gaming (yeah ATI might be more powerful, but their drivers suck!)

I want to buy local, so what do you guys think would be a good card for <=$250? I have been looking at the Gf4, but I will settle for theG3 if its more bang for buck, right now I have a GF2 GTS/PRO 64mb DDR by powercolor.

**Matridom** · February 22nd, 2002, 06:41 PM

Save your money and stick with what you got. with that current card, you can play 99% of the games out there.

**Lycia** · February 23rd, 2002, 01:03 AM

Please explain why ATI's drivers suck? I have the Radeon 7000 and the only driver issue I had was when using the beta driver. The official release driver is rock solid so far.

**Major Kong** · February 23rd, 2002, 03:33 AM

Ditto Lycia. No problems here with my Radeon 8500 or 7200.

**Sowulo** · February 23rd, 2002, 11:02 AM

Yup. I know most of us have the "tweaker's mentality" and are always looking for updated drivers even when everything is working fine but of the dozens and dozens of "updated drivers" I've looked at over the years purported to be "ATI Beta", I've only seen a few offered by ATI. The rest are leaks or hacks that may well have been altered in one way trying to address a specific problem and have not as yet been tested to see that the changes are internally consistent with other features....I've seen few problems with any official release and since I use ATI in every system I build, have had experience with hundreds of their boards....

**homeostasis81** · February 23rd, 2002, 12:30 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Radical Dreamer:
I want to get a new nvidia video card for gaming (yeah ATI might be more powerful, but their drivers suck!)<hr></blockquote>

Carmack might agree with you on the drivers <a href="http://www.webdog.org/cgi-bin/finger.pl?id=1&time=20020211165445" target="_blank">comment</a>

There are a lot of things that ATI has done recently that have offended their supporters. <a href="http://firingsquad.gamers.com/features/changing3/" target="_blank">Heres</a> an excellent article on the three big graphics goliaths matrox ati and nvidia, although matrox bowed out of any graphics card wars. Its a great read from firingsquad.

Personally I use all nvidia chips. They always have great drivers and are constantly revolutionizing the market. Ive never ever had a problem with them.

Ive seen some benchmarks that say the value line of the geforce 4 can beat out the high-end geforce 3. However Id wait on getting a new card especially if you have a geforce 2.

**Radical Dreamer** · February 24th, 2002, 12:50 PM

I dont know personally that they suck, but friends and reviews have made me very shall we say 'uneasy' about getting the ATI, I have seen all the benchmarks and the ATI usually blow the GF away, but nvidia releases a new driver every other day so there has to be at least one good one.

If ya wanna know the real truth, I am a die hard 3dfx fan....always have been, and since nvidia owns everything that was once 3dfx, I like to go with them.

As for other matters, my question was never answered, whats a good recommendation? I have been looking at the GF4 TI 4400, its seems like a decent price for a very very powerful card.

**Six Eyed Smily** · February 25th, 2002, 12:09 PM

if you have your heart set on a geforce, there are several things to consider.

1. dont touch anything with an mx in its name

2. all geforce borads are not created equal. due to the fact that nvidia liscense their technology out to hundreds of third party manufacturers, the quality of the boards is not that tightly controlled. therefore, buy from someone reputable like elsa, who you know will have put thought into the design of the board, and used decent quality memory chips ect.

3. ignore the peer pressure to own the latest and greatest. think about what you use it for now, and how many new games you are likly to buy in the near future. if you are not in the habit of buying lots of new games, there is no point in getting something that will only really show its full power in games of the future.

4. nvidias naming conventions are not designed to be easy to understand. read up thoughroughly on the subject before buying anything. If you want a geforce 4, i recomend this article: <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1583" target="_blank">NVIDIA GeForce4 - NV17 and NV25 Come to Life (Anandtech)</a>

hope this helps. i myself would stick with your current card for a bit untill the geforce 3 ti 500 comes down in price and get that.

**MacGyver** · February 25th, 2002, 01:55 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Six Eyed Smily:
1. dont touch anything with an mx in its name
<hr></blockquote>

I have to inquire why you would advise avoiding the MX cards. Any reasons?

**Poseidon** · February 25th, 2002, 06:06 PM

[quote]Originally posted by MacGyver:


I have to inquire why you would advise avoiding the MX cards. Any reasons?<hr></blockquote>

I believe he is referring to a rumor that GeForce MX cards are Nvidia’s -low-end version. I read that somewhere as well, but at the moment I cannot find the article or thread.

**Mayet** · February 25th, 2002, 08:59 PM

The geforce Mx cards have worked well for me for what the customers have purchsed them for....there has been no complaints about the abilities of the cards or drivers...ok so there not the best cards but for the price and availability they do the job....

**Antimatter** · February 25th, 2002, 10:29 PM

Apparently the GF3 TI200 can be clocked as far as a TI500 while having lower price so that would be my recommendation as the performance and support for DirectX 8 extensions is sweet. The Leadtek cards have a nice big heatsink so are easier to overclock. From what I've seen of the GF3, quality and speed is pretty good.
MX chipsets are limited on the amount of support they have for DirectX 8 extensions, thereby having lower framerates and picture quality as well as being limited by lower memory bandwidth.
I would avoid GF4 cards until the price has dropped a little so you're probably better off waiting a month or two as your current card is pretty good for most games.

**BurnFEST** · February 26th, 2002, 01:07 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Antimatter:
Apparently the GF3 TI200 can be clocked as far as a TI500 while having lower price so that would be my recommendation as the performance and support for DirectX 8 extensions is sweet. The Leadtek cards have a nice big heatsink so are easier to overclock. From what I've seen of the GF3, quality and speed is pretty good.
MX chipsets are limited on the amount of support they have for DirectX 8 extensions, thereby having lower framerates and picture quality as well as being limited by lower memory bandwidth.
I would avoid GF4 cards until the price has dropped a little so you're probably better off waiting a month or two as your current card is pretty good for most games.<hr></blockquote>

RD - i agree with everything antimatter says here - go for a gf3 ti200...its the card i myself am saving for

I'm a die-hard 3Dfx supporter myself - but you knew that

Burn.

**Six Eyed Smily** · February 26th, 2002, 11:54 AM

on the mx cards, i have found them to be somewhat unstable under stress in the systems i have built, which is why i no longer touch them. also i do not belive the geforce 4 mx gives good value for money.

as for getting a geforce 3 ti200, if you plan to overclock, i would strongly reccomend the gainward GeForce3 PowerPack !!! Ti/450 (contrary to what the name suggests, this is actually a ti200 card) as this can overclock to beyond ti500 speeds.

**Jallentino** · February 26th, 2002, 12:26 PM

ATI all the way !

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