I Need a Recommendation

[scorch]

Hey everyone, Happy Holidays!!!
I need some recommendations. My brother-in-law has a PC with no AGP slot and he desperately needs a new video card. A new PC is out of the question at this point in time so I want to get him a new card for Christmas. I had been nursing him along with my old Voodoo3 3000 card, but it is definitely time for a new card. He does play games and I understand not to expect much from the PCI bus as far as performance but the Voodoo card doesn't support OpenGL very well and I had to find third party poorly written drivers for it to support the newer DirectX versions anyway. Anyone have any suggestions? I looked at newegg and found a 64MB Rdaeon 7000 but I want opinions from the crew here before I pick anything up.

Thanx,
Scorch

[Alienware_Dude]

It looks as though that's about as good as you're gonna get with a PCI-based card. Not many video cards come in a PCI version, all I see at NewEgg are Radeon 7000/7500LE's, and some G2/G4MX's.

[morriswindgate]

Since the computer is so old that it didn't have an AGP slot or it had intergrated video, it will never be a bard burner in performance no matter which card you get. So I would just get the cheapest one of the above. Afterall if he finally breaks down and upgrades to a new computer, he will not want to use the PCI card anyway.

[scorch]

I get on him all the time about letting me put together a budget gaming system for him but my sister will not hear of it. He doesnt care anyway that he has to run games at their lowest settings as long as he can run them. Thanx for your opinions guys. I will probably go with the 7000.

[kittyfire]

Waaaait!

Hon there's some 64M cards that are better to handle gaming than the Radeon. I've gamed with the Radeon and spent many a day whining for my VooDoo before grumbling and going in to tweak it within an inch of it's life. And this point, I'm going back to a Geo2 with 32M because it handles game graphics so much better. I'm not saying it can't be done because it can... I game hard and depend upon my video card to not skip, jump, freeze frames on me. That card was just not meant to handle gamers.

I think you can get something more game oriented for the same money.

[glc]

The GF4 MX 420/440 and the Radeon 9000 are the best PCI gaming cards out there.

[kittyfire]

9000 ::nodnodnods::

7000 ::shakes her head nonono::

[i3OSS]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NOT MX!!!!!
whats ur bros cpu?
if its amd GET A a7n266-vm mobo for on $73 with onboard sound and video (video: geforce2 64mb)

[Alienware_Dude]

The GeForce4MX is very underrated. Can't beat it for a gaming card on a budget. Whoa, down ATI fans!

[glc]

i3OSS - down, boy! - we are talking PCI cards here! The GF4MX in PCI is as good for games as anything else that EXISTS - and is BETTER than the GF2 MX in the A7N266-VM - and will eat the Voodoo's lunch. As a note, the Nforce2 has onboard GF4 MX graphics.

Please keep something in mind when you post - not everyone here has or WANTS or can AFFORD a state-of-the-art system like you obviously have and we are here to assist these people make the best of what they have economically.

I have a customer that I built a system for last winter for his business - it's a Celeron 900 on an Intel D815EGEW micro integrated motherboard. Well - he sold the business this summer and took the machine home. He called me and asked what could be done to improve its gaming performance. The i815 graphics just wasn't doing the job well at all. We put a PNY GF4 MX420 PCI card in it and the difference was like night and day. Of COURSE a full system upgrade would have been even BETTER but my customer wanted to try a "budget" solution to his issue and so far he's very pleased.

[scorch]

Thanx for all the replies everyone and I know exactly what you mean GLC. There are 3 people in my brother-in-law's house and everyone else gets exactly what they want out of the computer except my bro because he likes to game, so there really isn't cause for building a new system.
Not yet anyways !!

Thanx,
Scorch

[glc]

From Newegg:

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9000 64MB DDR PCI CRT+DVI+TV $99.00 in stock

PNY NVIDIA GF4 MX420 SDR 64M VGA PCI Video Card Retail $82.00 Not in stock

Prolink MX 440 SE Video Card 64MB Model VTV-440SE-64PD Retail $69.00 Not in stock

[scorch]

Thanx again GLC, I think I will be able to satisfy him with one of those.

[Tuf]

I remember reading some tests along time ago on Sharkey's or Tom's Hardware that showed that a PCI card wasn't that far behind a 1X AGP. That may not be true anymore with the faster chipsets. But some of us are all old enough to remember before AGP was an option. We still has decent performing machines. Nothing like today but you can still have fun without spending a fortune.

[scorch]

I know I got a heck of alot of use out of that old Voodoo card before I ever had a PC with an AGP slot