Need a new card for an old system...

[StephensDad]

Okay, don't laugh. I bought my PC in December 2000 as a "top-of-the-line" consumer model... back then. It's been upgraded a little since then, so here is my current setup (the relevant parts anyway):

ASUS A7V 200MHz FSB with an AGP PRO/4x slot
AMD Athlon 800 MHz processor
256 MB RAM (PC133 SDRAM)
ATI XPERT2000 video card (32MB Rage 128 architecture)
SoundBlaster Live! sound card
Windows XP Home edition

When you're done laughing, here's my question:
What current video card under $200 will give me the best performance with this system?

I'm sure I could probably pay big bucks for an ATI Radeon 9800 256 MB card or the like, and end up wasting a lot of money on features that my system can't even use. I'd like to avoid that! So help a guy out... What card would you recommend?

(The impetus for this upgrade, if you're wondering, is that I just bought a game--Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2--and it plays like a stop-motion video. I just want that game to run smoothly with whatever I get.)

Oh, and ditching this motherboard for something newer is out of the question for at least the next couple years. Wife and kid at home, ya know...

 

[Spitfire_x86]

IMO, 64 MB GeForce4 Ti4200 is the best card for you

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[StephensDad]

Thanks for the input!

Would there be ANY benefit to stepping up to one of the 128MB cards?

 

[RRAMJET]

From the bench marks i've seen the benifits are minimal but there. If your saving a considerable amount i wouldn't bother.

If he doesn't die, he'll get help!!!

 

[Woodman]

I think that depends on what kind of games you play. If it's just NFS:HP2, then 64MB should be fine. If you also play other games, for example games that are texture/polygon/etc... intensive, then 128MB is definitely necessary. You would'nt want your system turning to your slow PC133 system memory when it runs out of video memory now would you .

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I'm going to get you.

 

[StephensDad]

Good point. Thanks for all the responses... I'll start pricing a GeForce 4200Ti with 128 MB vs. 64 MB and see what I find.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

128 MB video memory is useless for GeForce4 Ti4200 cards. You will only need this ammount of video memory if you run modern games with 4x AA or 1600 x 1200 res. GeForce4 Ti4200 is simply not powerful enough to run modern games at these settings.

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[phial]

true~

if you get the 64meg version it will be clocked slightly higher than a 128meg version. and prolly a few bucks cheaper

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[XafGoat]

I doubt you even need a geforce 4 ti. I know you can find radeon 8500/9000pro's for under 80 bucks and they will do nicely on an older rig. i bought a 9000 pro with 64 mb ram for 62 bucks shipped from gameve.com and it runs nicely with my pentium 3 at the moment. I can play wc3 in 1600x1200 no problem and it runs quake 3 beautifully. So id say save yourself 50+ dollars and go with a radeon.

[bold]Best pickup line ever:[/bold]
<font color=blue>Are your parents retarded?</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Because you are sure special</font color=red>

 

[daddywags214]

The 4200 is a terrific value card. I can run NFS:HP2 on my Radeon 9600 Pro at 1280x1024 4xAA/8xAF at a decent 30 fps. Without the AA/AF I get about 60fps. So the Ti4200 should give you about 30-40fps without AA/AF at a decent resolution.

These days, no matter what company you like, be it <b>nVidia, ATi, or whatever,</b> no matter how logical your reasons, you're labeled an <b>idiot</b> or a <b>fanboy</b>, or <b>both.</b>