WHICH ONE? You decide and Why?

[3dfx]

Well a friend of mine is in the market for a new card and has no particualar use as he does a bit of everything and he has managed to get it to 3 cards
Radeon 9700
Matrox Parhelia
Geforce 4 4600(not the FX as he needs it now to be honest)

This is not for me as I'm happy with my Parhelia but for my m8 Dave aka Wack^

[Tempest]

I vote for the Radeon 9700, just because it will provide performance far into the future. I do a fair bit of "everything" myself... But for that <5% of the time that I play games, I want all the eye candy at 60+ fps if possible! On the desktop there really isn't a difference... Unless he wants multi-monitor, in which case the choice is Matrox.

[UtwigMU]

If he does pro 3D stuff either parhelia with DVI TFTs or try b4 you buy for banding or softquadro hacked Gf4 4200-4600.

For gaming clearly Radeon9700.

[WyWyWyWy]

I'd say Parhelia, coz its MURC and I've got one (you've got one too!)

Is he multi-headed at all? If so, no competition really...

[K6-III]

You haven't told us what his needs are....

...the choice shall depend upon them...

[Novdid]

Take away the Geforce from the equation as it doesn't do anything better than the 9700, and that means "not only performance".

The choice between the Parhelia and the 9700 depends on what he plans to do with his computer. What is his needs?

[3dfx]

Ok I spoke to him today and he was interested in the multi monitor support of the Parhelia as he does a lot of web design etc. Though he is also a very avid gamer as he uses his PC for that also I suggested the Parhelia and he is swaying towards it but is not to sure. Though he was literally blown away by the reef demo on 3 monitors ..lol . I couldn't recommend the 9700 as I have not used radeon since the 8500 which was in my opinion a good card. Let me know what you think.

[GNEP]

"A lot of webdesign" - A P with 3 screens.
"Avid Gamer" - A 9700 for performance; a P with 3 screens for the surround experience.

Can he also afford the extra screens?

How avid is avid? FPS freak? If so, then 9700. If not, then the P should be good enough in games and has the other benefits of multihead, 2d quality etc (although here most 9700s are OK too I hear).

[Admiral]

Either a Parhelia as a long term quality investment (a banding gamble on CRT though) or a cheaper Ti4200 followed by a GF FX or R350 after Doom III 's out.

[3dfx]

What you said there seems to be sound and the way to proceed. He does have a CRT (21 inch viewsonic) and is aware of the banding and that does put him off the Parhelia a little but he likes the idea of 3 monitors So I dont know. Personally I like my Parhelia but I also use the card for gaming and the banding can be a little distracting but to be honest I think the Parhelia stands on it's on merits and he recognises this and I think he might be going for one

[Admiral]

Good luck to him then

[Wombat]

Have him get a 9700. If he <I>really</I> decides he wants more screens, it's nothing a cheap PCI card can't help with.

[3dfx]

So as a Parhelia user Wombat would you have prefered to have taken that route yourself ?

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Wombat
Have him get a 9700. If he <I>really</I> decides he wants more screens, it's nothing a cheap PCI card can't help with.

You just took the words out of my mouth.

[dbdg]

too right....

----- see sig ------ (PCI card £12.00 and that was too much )

currently trying to find a 'cheap' G400, G200.