Video Card

[Penguin]

I am looking to replace my video card for playing video games.

Any recomendations?

I have been reading alot about the nVIDIA GeForce 2 MX. I looked at the specs for this on thed web and it said it is an accelerator. Does that mean it needs to work with an existing video card, or can it run by itself?

[Tiretool]

It's a stand alone video card. It is a good card, but why settle for the MX? The GeForce 2 GTs isn't a whole lot more money and isn't crippled.

It will also put your ATI card and your two Voodoo 2 cards to shame (especially in any Direct 3d and OpenGL games).

[HAL9000]

Personally, I'm more of a fan of the ATI Radeon cards. Yes, they're a bit slower than a GeForce, but I feel that they have a far better picture quality and pricing is comparable. The Radeon LE can be found for quite a bit less, tand he Radeon tweaker downloaded for free to enable the "disabled" Hyper-Z function.

[mike breck]

You're lucky Tiretool.

In the UK the GTS is still about two to three times the price of a MX.

So the MX is the best bang for buck here.

[Penguin]

Hey I just saw the GeForce2 64mb MX400 in a local store for only a few dollars more than the GeForce2 32mb MX200. Does any one know if there is a big difference in porformance between these two cards? Also it is only $30 more, so is it woth the money to get the MX400?. This card is made by pny. Also does anyone have an opinion on this companies cards?

I am looking for a good gameing card, that isn't too expensive.

[DvT_Scorpion]

I'm not telling you what to buy, but, I'm building a new pc, this thing is gonna kick a$$!! I can't wait, I feel like a kid a couple days before Christmas, hehe But anyway, I went with the ATI Radeon 64MG (Not the All-in-Wonder), ATI is a great company, and this is a solid video card, there isn't too many better out there, the 64MG is a little faster than ATI's other cards too, and for the money ($150 - $200) you won't find a better card Sure, Geforce may be a little quicker as far as numbers go, I'm pretty sure everyone will agree that ATI's graphics are smooth as glass.

But, doing the research for video cards, I found that the Creative Labs Annhialator2 Ultra was the best card for gaming, but the price was through the roof! So I went with the ATI, I never had a problem with them as far as glitches, or crappy graphic, my best friend loves ATI, he said he has NEVER had a problem with ATI cards. Funny, I look through these forums especially in this thread, look at all the problems peeps are having with Geforce cards.

If I were you, go with the Radeon 64MG, you'll have this card for a long, long time, before you will need to upgrade.

PS-This is my opinion of course

[Tiretool]

Does any one know if there is a big difference in porformance between these two cards?

Here is an excerpt from a Tom's Hardware article.

Graphics boards based on the GeForce2 MX400 are shipped with different memory configurations, usually 32 or 64 MB Single Data Rate SDRAM. Basically, the GeForce2 MX family also supports DDR memory, but if DDR memory is actually used, then the memory interface is narrowed to 64-bit. This means that a board equipped with DDR memory will have exactly the same performance as a board with SDR memory. Since DDR memory is still more expensive than SDR chips, almost all manufacturers are staying with the SDR type.

Also you asked if it's worth the $30 extra dollars to get the MX400 card. In my opinion, no. You'll only get very miniumal extra performance out of that card. Go one step further and opt for the GeForce 2 GTS card somewhere online and you'll get a much better video card that isn't scaled down or crippled and you won't be upgrading it nearly as soon as you would the MX card.

[mike breck]

If I were you, go with the Radeon 64MG, you'll have this card for a long, long time, before you will need to upgrade.

In the Gaming world a long, long time is six months.

[DvT_Scorpion]

Originally posted by mike breck In the Gaming world a long, long time is six months.

Hehe, actually, in the gaming world, it's more like 3 months, lol

[Penguin]

Thanks to everyone that replied. After doing some of my own investigation and all of your opinions, I have decided to go with the ATI Radeon 64mg card. One of the reasons for this is that in my old machine I had the ATI All-in-Wonder Pro card. I never had any problems with it and it worked well with my two monster accelerator cards.

So to make a long story short I think ATI is the way to go.

Thanks again for everyone's help. I just found this site about two months ago and I love it. Everyone is so helpful, even to the not so intelligent people that want to try and build or upgrade their own computer. For everything that I have read throughout all the forums I never ever saw a negative comment about a question that may be trivial to others.

My hat is off to everyone who takes the time to answer the questions with great personal attention.

I am now a regular to this site just to read what questions people have and the insight that is available. Hopefully in the future I may be able to answer some of the questions that come across the forum.

Thanks again for all your help.