Video Card.

[gdorf]

I currently have a 533 celeron Processor with 196mb of Ram. and $100 - $150 dollars to spend on a Video Card.

I was thinking of buying the Radeon 8500, but I have heard it is not ideal for lowend systems. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[DukenukemX]

For $100 to $150 I would suggest looking for a Geforce 3. The Geforce 3 would be a good because it would be in that price rang and has Pixel and Vertex shaders.

If you can find a Radeon 8500LE in your price rang then thats the card you should buy. It has 2 Pixel Shader Pipe lines that give it a edge in performance. The only reason you should go with a Geforce 3 is because the drivers are far better optimized.

The Geforce 4MX is also in your price rang and has kick ass performance but no Pixel or Vertex shaders. You would won't those features for future games.

Go to www.pricewatch.com and search for those cards. You'll be surprised how cheap they are. :D

[Menokh]

Go with a Geforce card.
Radeon drivers can be iffy in windows, and Linux support for 3D acceleration(with Radeons) leaves something to be desired.

If you have only PCI slots, I'd go with a Geforce 3 PCI with 64 megs of VRAM. I know Best Buy carries them. However if you have an AGP slot in your computer go with a Geforce 4(if it meets your price range).

[Lone Wolf]

Originally posted by Menokh
Go with a Geforce card.
Radeon drivers can be iffy in windows, and Linux support for 3D acceleration(with Radeons) leaves something to be desired.

If you have only PCI slots, I'd go with a Geforce 3 PCI with 64 megs of VRAM. I know Best Buy carries them. However if you have an AGP slot in your computer go with a Geforce 4(if it meets your price range).

:computer: I suppose thats the one too get.

[DukenukemX]

This web site did a huge benchmark with every known video card and CPU. The benchmark is the Unreal 2003 benchmark. So if your looking forward to future games then take a look at this site. It will show you which cards perform well.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1650

[vegeta1215]

Originally posted by Menokh
Go with a Geforce card.
Radeon drivers can be iffy in windows, and Linux support for 3D acceleration(with Radeons) leaves something to be desired.

I know. I have a Radeon 7k PCI, and I don't have any 3d acceleration, and it blows :(

But, this is because ATI simply releases specs for it's cards so others can write the drivers. nVidia however writes their own drivers for Linux. But, things will get better.

[MottZilla]

Get a GEForce 2 or 3. It should be all you need for now, as in time you will need to upgrade the cpu anyway or buy a new pc entirely. I hae a geforce 2 mx for my celeron 500mhz. I can play UT, Warcraft 3 and such. However it's the cpu colck speed that will hold me, and you as well, back. If you can upgrade you cpu (i can't, it's intergrated) then you should upgrade to a nice p3 chip.

[PalaDemon]

This sounds a lot like my dilemma as well. I was personally looking at a GeForce2 or a GeForce3 myself for my 600 Mhz Celeron. It'll do better than my crappy Intel AGP card, that's for sure (11.5 MB Shared). Both companies have some great info of their cards at www.nvidia.com (http://www.nvidia.com) and, if you want you can get some street prices from vendors at www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com). Just remember to look at where you're buying the card and all it has VERY CAREFULLY. Happy hunting and may your games be lagless and your gameplay be fly!

[gdorf]

Mozilla: My Motherboard is only a socket 370.. or I would deifnately upgrade. As it is I am trying to save up for a new motherboard/cpu combo.

And, I think I may go with the Geforce4 MX440 w/ 64mb.

:)