Author Topic: Buying a videocard...advice needed. (Read 384 times)

Wmaker · « **on:** July 15, 2003, 09:59:39 AM »

Hiya guys,

Here are my system specs:

Asus A7V133

256mb 133mhz sdram (had 512mb but the other 256 died on me...gonna another 256 when I buy the new card)

Athlon Thunderbird 1.4Ghz

So, what videocard gives the most bang for the buck? I'm mainly getting it for Aces High II and Forgotten Battles.

Right now I'm thinking of getting the Radeon 9500Pro. According to tom's hardware guide Radeon 9700Pro wouldn't be much faster with my cpu. They tested it with 1.0Ghz cpu. Do you think my extra 400mhz would skew those results much?

Here's the link:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030120/vgacharts-04.html

And how about picture quality? Any real difference between 9500Pro and 9700Pro?

Any opinions and/or comments on what card I should get are wellcome.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 15, 2003, 01:19:24 PM »

all the advice you'll ever need for todays VGA cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030714/index.html

SKurj · « **Reply #2 on:** July 15, 2003, 09:02:02 PM »

for the $$.... GF4 Ti4200...

Skurj

Reschke · « **Reply #3 on:** July 15, 2003, 09:16:53 PM »

Till you upgrade your motherboard and processor you might want to stick with the GF4 Ti4200, Ti4400, Ti4600 (if you can find a good deal) series or even go to the 9500 Pro like you mentioned.

Wmaker · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2003, 04:12:02 PM »

Thanks for the answers guys!

I was thinking about the GF4 cards. I have GF2 Ultra now but I think I'll go with ATI because of the image quality everyone's been talking about.

ebgb · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2003, 02:56:22 AM »

I own an ATI card, just replaced a GF2 with an 8500DV. Bought it for the A/V stuff. Given a choice between the GF's and the ATI I'd go for the GF only because I could Alt-Tab out of AH. With my ATI I cannot. Pic quality wise - it's a wash. ATI's smoothvision is nice but makes the icons hard to read. Textures are a bit smoother but the color pallete is no different. The clincher for me was I got a better card and TV and DVD and . . .

Estes · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2003, 03:21:54 AM »

reason you cant alt tab is the Catalyst driver, if you are using it.