guys I need a kick bellybutton video card. which one is the one?

[bloom25]

A couple of things:

A Gf3 will gain him 0 (yes 0 )  more fps than a GF2 Ultra with his system.  A GF2 Pro or GTS with 32 Mb of ram will be almost as fast as the ultra.  I did not suggest getting a 64 MB card because Ah does not require that much video ram at this time.  Thus the 64 MB card will not be any faster than the 32 MB card.  (Most current games are this way.)

I also strongly advise people buy the "latest and greatest" when it comes to computer stuff.  Usually what happens is that by the time applications catch up and finally utilize what you've got, the piece of hardware you purchased for $350 is only $100.

Unless Citibria plans to build a new computer with a >1 GHz processor I would not waste money on a GF 3.  AH does not make use of DX 8, and so will be no faster than a GF 2 Ultra for the most part.  

While it is true that a GF 3 is not going to be obsolete as fast as a GF2, I can guarantee you that I can buy a GF 2 now, and a GF 3 a year from now for less than a GF 3 now.  Unless you just have $400 burning a hole through your wallet, why throw it away on something your system cannot utilize?

[Hobodog]

SHARKYEXTREME.COM

[715]

Bloom25 makes excellent arguements.  AH won't make use of any of the advantages that a GF3 has over a GF2 for quite some time, with a single exception.  FSAA (full screen anti aliasing) is not implemented very well on the GF2 and it slows the FPS way down.  The GF3, I believe, has a much better FSAA implementation that might be faster and look better.  This might be important, expecially to someone who's used to a VooDoo card (some of which, at least, do a much better job than GF2s at FSAA).  Regarding memory: my 32MB GeForce 256 won't even do FSAA at 1280x1024x32bit color, it doesn't have enough memory for the subpixel rendering needed in FSAA.

There's no doubt that the GF3 is the card for the future: enhanced 3D geometry processing and programmable special effects shaders.  But software will take a long time to make use of those features.  AH (unlike CFS2 and WBIII) doesn't even make use of hardware 3D geometry acceleration that was first available in the now 'ancient' GeForce 256.

[Wlfgng]

My pref is GeForce 2 GTS DDR w/64mb RAM.

I use it for AH and love it.
Frame rates between the 40's and 100's
at 1600 resolution.

great color and clarity.

[CyranoAH]

I've got a Prophet GeForce 2 GTS 64Megs, 256 RAM and Athlon 800MHz, and from what I've heard, the card is important, but even more important is the CPU... I get a much lower framerate than a guy that has an Athlon 1GHz and a GeForce 2 MX at 1600x1200 (this is the resolution I always use).

My FR is always around the 40s, dropping to 10-20 when near fleet ack or smoke, with no FSAA, Vsync disabled, and the latest drivers.

Daniel, aka Cyrano