Cheap video card

[rugger]

I shouldn't even be asking this here.

At the moment, I am pretty low on cash, and can't afford a really nice, expensive, video card. (like a parhellia, or ATI Radian 9700 PRO) However, I still need to replace my aging Geforce 1 DDR. Which of the following 2 cards would be the least worst choice:

1) Gigabyte Radeon 9000 (Maya Radeon 9000) for $169
2) Elcheapo Geforce4 MX 440 with TV out (64Meg) for $125

I am interested in:

1) Playing some/many games, prefereably with higher graphics settings, but I can live on lower detail if needed.
2) Watching Divx video's on TV out, since my old amiga monitor is much brighter and smooths out Divx content better. So preferably, I need to be able to display an overlay surface on the TV out of the card. It doesn't matter if it is simply a clone of my monitor or a separate display. It would also be good if the TV out is sharp.
3) I don't need parhellia quality monitor output, but would prefer better monitor out quality.
4) I am not terribly worried about driver efficency. I have a fast CPU.

I am currently leaning towards the Radeon 9000 card because it is DirectX 8.1, but has there been any showstoppers stoping me from doing the above with this card.

[lecter]

How about a GeForce3 Ti200? It supports DX8.1, has no real driver problems and is very overclockable....

[Slougi]

GF3 to watch divx movies using TV-out? forget it!

[Wombat]

I was thinking the same thing, but once I looked in to it, I see that the GF3 Ti200 and the GF4 4200 are the same price. Why not one of those? $120 US.

A GF4 MX will have crappy 2D quality.

[rugger]

hmm,

While I would like a geforce 3 or geforce 4 TI, I really can't justify spending lots of money on a video card anymore. There are too many other things for me to spend money on, and I am simply not interested enough in the frame-rate race to spend extra money on it anymore.

The Geforce 3 Ti200 cards start at $269, and the Geforce 4 ti 4200 starts at $289. If I was after a video card in that price range, I would by a Radeon 8500 for $299. But that is about $100 over my limit.

I would happily stay with my current card, if it had TV out.

[Dogbert]

No way man, check those prices again. I don't believe computer stuff costs in Australia more than here.

I recently bought a Gainward Geforce 4 4200 128MB (650XP Goldensample) with vivo for 224 USD.
I could get the 64MB version for around 200 USD.
A Geforce 3 Ti500 is about 150 USD.

[Dogbert]

Checked local prices here:

Saphire Radeon 9000 pro 128MB - 121 USD
Gainward Geforce 3 TI500 - 133 USD
Asus A8420 64MB - 194 USD
Leadtek Winfast Geforce 3 Ti200 - 166 USD

All prices are for retail packs.

[rugger]

Dogbert,

All my figures are in Australian dollars.

For appox US dollars, simply divide by 2.

[Dogbert]

Oh, now it looks much better

[rugger]

The Geforce 3 Ti200 isn't much more powerful than the Radeon 9000. (about 10-20% in most cases, and not worth an extra 60% or so)

[lecter]

The GeForce3Ti200 is more powerful than the radeon 9000 PRO...the radeon 9000 is clocked a bit lower than the PRO...plus, all the Gigabyte Radeon's I've seen so far (VE, 7500, 9700) sucked big times....they don't make good cards. I dunno, maybe you should scout around for a BBA Radeon 8500LE or smthn, one that has the Rage Theater chip, because the newer Radeon's don't have it anymore and the chip's internal TV output system is crap (i.e. similar to the GeForce's)

[az]

The ONLY radeon 9000 card (except the original ATI one) that has a good primary VGA out is the sapphire one. apphire also makes the best 9000 Pro in terms of visual quality. The secndary out is bad on ALL 9000/9000 PRO's. Unfortunately, the reason for this is the design of the second head/TV-out.

AZ

[Tempest]

I think your best bet for gaming speed, TV-out and affordability would be finding a Radeon 8500LE with Rage Theater and 2 RAMDACs, like one of the PowerColor ones. The overall most balanced solution would probably be a good quality GF4 TI4200, but the price is higher.

[Gurm]

I concur with Tempest. Get a Radeon 8500LE - it'll run faster than the 9000, and also be probably cheaper.

- Gurm

[RC Agent]

Radeon 8500LE from www.crucial.com costs $109.79