I'm looking to update my video card- my current one is a GeForce 2 mx400... quite weak for things these days. I'd like to stay under $100. I might be willing to push it up to $125 if I could get a whole lot more card for the difference. So, what should I look for? Radeon? GeForce? How much memory should I be aiming to get? What do all the fancy numbers in all of the different product names mean? Specific card recommendations?
(System it's going into is a P4 2.4, 512 Ram- I'm upgrading for Far Cry and Core Decision- I don't care about having all the settings maxed out for Core Decision, but it would be nice to run Far Cry with high graphics settings.)
New vid card?
My usual recommendation for a first stop for new vid card info would be:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
It'll give you a great breakdown of the various cards and their capabilities. From there, since you already know what's in your price range, do the research using that site in conjunction with sites like newegg and any other online hardware retailers of choice to decide how to get the biggest bang for your buck. I'd do the legwork to come up with your best option for an ATI card, then do the same for an Nvidia card, then rely on feedback from those here as well as other places to let you know which brand will be best for you. Some things you didn't initially think about might influence your decision, like whether owning a vid card that will continue to provide supported binary drivers for Linux, for example. Best of luck!
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
It'll give you a great breakdown of the various cards and their capabilities. From there, since you already know what's in your price range, do the research using that site in conjunction with sites like newegg and any other online hardware retailers of choice to decide how to get the biggest bang for your buck. I'd do the legwork to come up with your best option for an ATI card, then do the same for an Nvidia card, then rely on feedback from those here as well as other places to let you know which brand will be best for you. Some things you didn't initially think about might influence your decision, like whether owning a vid card that will continue to provide supported binary drivers for Linux, for example. Best of luck!
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Immortal Lobster
- DBB Ace
- Posts: 367
- Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:25 pm
There are 7800GS's available in AGP 
GeForces are best in mid range, 600GT is still a formidable card, the 7300 I hear isnt bad, but I think, it like the 7600 is PCIe only. 6800s are still a tad expensive.
However, flat out, unless you get a good rebate, you will not find a good card under 100bucks.
Brand-wise, Id recommend EVGA, one hell of a lifetime warranty, you can just about mod anything on that crd, overclock it, etc, it will not void the warranty, and their cards are usually blazingly fast straight out of the box. xfx is also a good brand, but the warranty isnt as forgiving.
GeForces are best in mid range, 600GT is still a formidable card, the 7300 I hear isnt bad, but I think, it like the 7600 is PCIe only. 6800s are still a tad expensive.
However, flat out, unless you get a good rebate, you will not find a good card under 100bucks.
Brand-wise, Id recommend EVGA, one hell of a lifetime warranty, you can just about mod anything on that crd, overclock it, etc, it will not void the warranty, and their cards are usually blazingly fast straight out of the box. xfx is also a good brand, but the warranty isnt as forgiving.
