DescentBB

Trying to snag a several computers for a LAN setup to play D3 (maybe a little Re-Volt too). Assuming they are 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo tower units with middle-rated 350w power supplies and running one hard drive and win XP, what would be a good video card to put in the systems? Need something good enough to run at medium resolution and quality on non-widescreen LCD monitors. Something that doesn't take too much power or create to much heat. Willing to buy used from ebay or such.

I have seen suggestions for Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS, 8600 GT, GT 220, GT 620
I think the 8400 GS might actually take more power and run hotter than the new cards.
Also have to consider which cards (and related drivers) are more compatible with older D3 game.
I don't know much about the Radeon cards (ie HD5670).

I think in the old days I started with a Geforce 2 card (D3 demo days) and ended with Geforce 5900GT card.

Thanks!

D3 is pretty forgiving, even a Geforce 6800 GT is sufficient to run D3 cranked up to maximum at high resolutions. An old PCIe Geforce 7900 or 7950 GT would probably work perfectly for D3, and running XP you would probably be able to use a legacy driver that doesn't have the annoying glitches / black screens that happen after D3 changes resolution on modern drivers.

Finding one shouldn't be that difficult, there should be a pretty good supply of them on ebay that would still be in serviceable condition.

I was able to snag a couple of dell machines (core 2 duo, windows xp pro). I was going to disable the on-board video and install video cards in them. I know the nvidia GT 610 card is not really a gaming card, but will it handle the likes of D3, Unreal Tournament (99/GOTY), MW4, and Revolt Racing. Would it being a new card with new drivers cause display glitches like Krom eluded to? Or would I be better off hunting down some of the older cards and using older drivers. I am trying to keep the costs down and I was able to get the 610's for about $30+ each. Thanks.

More details:
Dell Optiplex 745,
305w PS (though I have read it rates higher than that)
I have 19 inch 5ms 1280 x 1024 (1.25) monitors (Dell UltraSharp1908 FP)
Would like to run at 800x640 or higher resolution

those 610's are MORE THAN PLENTY of power for D3. your talking 5 or 6 generations ahead of D3 hardware.

Don't know Revolt Racing, but the others I do, and the resolution you're looking at is very forgiving of low-end hardware (people are worried about 1080p these days which is something like 4x the pixels...).
D3: Should be fine even on max. I had a little trouble with a Radeon 7500 from like 10 years ago, but not a GeForce 6600GT from 7 years ago. A GT 610 should be more powerful than either.
UT99: Trivial. Going to be nearly impossible to slow the card down with this.
MW4: This one was slightly newer, and the really bad third-party maps might give you a little stutter, but I wouldn't sweat it. I saw it running on a GeForce 6200 (low-end card nearly 10 generations older than the one you're looking at) without much trouble.

P.S. If you haven't bought the GT 610s yet I'd recommend trying the onboard video actually. It may be weak by modern standards but as long as it still supports 3D you may find it's enough for these games.

Thanks Sirius,

I did try the on-board video and found it to work quite well. I have several 19 inch non-widescreen monitors (1280 x 1024, 1.25 aspect) and can run D3 on them at full screen at max resolution. Frame rates are locked around 60 fps (seems to be locked at the rate - but that is another thread some day). I tried Unreal Tournament and Revolt and no troubles. So I am shocked and pleased by the results. Thanks again for the reply and feedback. Everyone on this site has been very helpful. Having my first LAN party this weekend - have 6 machines ready to go. Hope to get up to 8 in the near future.

Awesome, glad we could save you some money