Help: Which PCI card

[Guest]

Guys I need help badly. My work PC is a p3 733, 128MB Ram. Now the prob is the thing is a Dell, which doesn't have an agp slot on the motherboard. So I need a 3d graphics card in PCI format. Other problem is PCI 3d cards are really hard to come by in South Africa. Could you please suggest the best ... some of those that are on offer here is SA which I can get hold of are

Voodoo3 ???? PCI(What the numbers are I don't know)
Savage 4 Pro
Powercolour Sniper2 nVidia Rive TNT2
Voodoo 2 Banshee card....

Please advise anything better and the best out of those above. I just heard the Geforce 3 will be out in PCI, it would be a nice suggestion but at the moment my money is just a but tight...so the price range would have to be in the region of those cards I mentioned above.

 

[Pettytheft]

Take the TNT2.

You cant mail order to South Africa?

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.

 

[ajmcgarry]

poo.

The Geforce 2 MX is on its way in PCI format.
The Radeon 32MB PCI w/TV-OUT is out there now <A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com" target="_new">link</A>
You can get a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI but I don't know it is only for the Mac. Can anybody elaborate on this?

The advantage of the Radeon PCI is that because it is so efficient it is not affected too much by the slower PCI bus compared to AGP.

<font color=blue>Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. Just as well!</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

id say try the prophet 2 mx 32mb pci if you can get it. this is a very good card i would know i have one

never fear, the bdtman is here!

 

[Crashman]

I have a Radeon PCI card (new, retail box) with TV out, that I can sell you for $75 U.S. if you arrange shipping from Michigan, USA.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Kwonger]

Damn those integrated video chipsets! I have the same problem as you with my Aptiva. Um, here's a few...

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 64MB PCI (you can still find these, but don't expect much support)
ATi Radeon 32MB SDRAM PCI w/ TV Out
ATi Radeon All-In-Wonder 32MB SDR PCI
Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 MX 32MB DDR PCI

There are a lot more... PCI is just not advertised as much and I'm sure if you take an in-depth look into a manufacturer, you'll find that they almost always make a PCI version of their cards. PCI's not dead yet...

Good luck =)

 

[noko]

Here some links for either a 64meg Voodoo 5 pci or MX400 cards:
<A HREF="http://ocie.safeshopper.com/119/cat119.htm?860" target="_new">http://ocie.safeshopper.com/119/cat119.htm?860</A>

32 meg pci cards:
<A HREF="http://ocie.safeshopper.com/29/cat29.htm?860" target="_new">http://ocie.safeshopper.com/29/cat29.htm?860</A>

Radeon pci would be my choice in the matter due to the great 2d and DVD quality. At a local Best Buy they where going for 129.99 with instant rebate of $30, so your cost $99. On line the cost is a little bit higher, go figure.

If you do linux then a MX would probably be best followed by Voodoo last Radeon.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Guest]

there are already kyro 2 pci cards...
they are better than others cause they don't need much bandwidth..
a kyro 2 pci is the same in performance as a kyro 2 agp

 

[noko]

I think now the Kyro2 pci card would be the best hands down. So I recommend Kyro2 - Radeon - MX in that order. I also recommend a 64 meg card since you won't have AGP to transfer textures.

 

[lamer_gamer]

I've got a Voodoo3 3000 PCI & I think it's a POS! How does the radeon PCI or KyroII PCI rate in relation to my Voodoo? Will I really see improvements in pic quality and FPS? How much? I don't care if I have the best benchmarks, I just want to play cool 3D games at a usable frame rate. Will my Celery 633 mhz CPU negatively effect performance? And last but least, my understanding was that the PCI bus for graphics cards is pretty much dead. This is the rare place where people aren't saying "Better get yourself a mobo with AGP 'cause no graphics card using the PCI bus is gonna work worth a crap". So is my best option to upgrade my mobo to something with an AGP slot (in process), or try the radeon or KyroII PCI? I was quite disappointed in my Voodoo PCI (I thought it would work really good), and I don't want to fork out more money on an option (PCI bus) that isn't going to give me the performance that I want. Or should I just keep on moving ahead with upgrading my mobo to one with AGP? I just want to get more than 20fps!!!!!!!!!!

My brain has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lamer_gamer on 05/24/01 03:49 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ajmcgarry]

My mate has the Voodoo 3 3000 AGP 16MB and he is not a happy camper, so you must be even worse off. The image quality can be quirky at times and it struggles on the newer games, even Delta Force 3.
To add insult to injury a small D3D game that I programmed with him doesn't work properly on the card. The bottom half of the screen flickers, (totally weird, nothing on the web about it), and yet it works perfectly on my old STB Velocity 128 8MB (the origonal 128bit graphics chip).

I think you'll find that the image quality on both the Kyro and Radeon are a vast improvement on your Voodoo. The Kyro probably offers the best picture quality from the stills I've seen on the net, but you need to ask yourself if can live with the potential bug here and there until they get their drivers sorted.
If you are into DVD alot then this is where the Radeon shines. The Radeon is a good all rounder. Your 2D Windows will be the crispest possible on your monitor.

If it's out and out gaming your going for then get the Kyro if you can wait for the drivers.
If u want a good all rounder (and that doesn't mean it is average at games) get the Radeon.
I don't think I've seen many complaints about Radeons in this forum.

<font color=blue>Little Miss Muffet was arachnaphobic</font color=blue>

 

[ajmcgarry]

Are the Kyro 2 PCI cards for sale yet ¿
Have you got a link ¿

<font color=blue>Little Miss Muffet was arachnaphobic</font color=blue>

 

[trusnoop]

I had a voodoo 3 2000 PCI 16MB card and got a score of 1010 on 3dmark 2001. I replaced it with a radeon 32 mb sdr PCI and got a score of 1218. Most of the 32 radeons (AGP ones) run in the range of 2500 + or - few hundreds (depending on other factors).
Anywayz, I was disappointed to see a score of 1218 eventhough this radeon card can do better. The thing is that it is held back by the slow PCI bus.
What i'm saying is that radeon , ge force mx, or kyro would be good for u. ***********No point of getting a faster card than these ones if you cant really get the most out of it due to the slow pci bus.*************

I personally recommend radeon cause of its nice quality and much less of a drop from going from 16 to 32 bit when compared to geforce mx.
Plus, the radeon has a tv out.

the rest is up to u.

later.


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by trusnoop on 05/24/01 09:09 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Nice to see I sparked off quite a discussion. My unfortunate situation is dampened even more by the fact that no one in SA sells pci cards anymore. Believe me I've been looking...

Now the main question is this I need a link to a secure online site that sells pci cards AND will ship the card to SA. The site that was posted a few posts ago looked great but so far they haven't replied to my email asking them if they ship to other countries.

Thanks guys
If any of you are interested in Unreal Tournament then check this site out http://www.unreal.co.za and I'm sure you'll be impressed with the community you find there.

JayJ/ Zeus
Don't F$#! with me or I'll shove a lightning bolt up yo ass.
ps. I've got a Sammuel L Jackson voice pack for ut that is just perfect. It even has my favourite quote as above.