PCI CARD - HELP!!

[Guest]

I've started working on building a new computer... but the cash is low. I'm going to have to use my current computer for an indefinite amount of time. In the meantime, I need a new video card for it. The computer I have now is a P3 650mhz and 128mb ram. Since it doesn't have an AGP slot, i'm in trouble. I need to get a PCI video card. Which one should I get?? The only possibilites I can find are the Voodoo5, a geforce mx card, or the radeon 32mb pci card (there IS a radeon 32mb pci card that ISNT mac-only, is there?). Here's where I need help: which one should I get? I'm leaning towards the Voodoo5, which also costs more than the other cards. Does anyone think one of the cards is better??

 

[mpjesse]

GF2 MX PCI is probably the best choice.

-MP Jesse

"Signatures Still Suck"

 

[noko]

The pci Radeon is available for the PC now. In fact at Best Buys by me it was on sell for $99 which is cheaper then what is on line. A number of people at Rage3d.com have a number of positive comments about it, here is the link:
<A HREF="http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15772" target="_new">http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15772</A>
The Radeon SDR beats the MX cards in high resolution 32 bit resolutions in most benchmarks done. Havn't seen any reviews of current pci cards out. Wish Tom would do a multi pci card review.

 

[Guest]

Voodoo is no longer in business, bought by Nvidia I think, don't look for much support in the future with that one.

1.11G DURON air cooled!

 

[phsstpok]

I just installed a Radeon PCI (SDR) card in my friend's Dell L800. It works about as well as I expected. OpenGL and DirectX games all worked. (Sorry no benchmarks on these). The card scored only 3560 for the default benchmark of 3DMark 2000 without any overclocking or tweaking. (This is about the same score, 3581, I saw for a voodoo5 PCI. I have a pic of a graph from a review for the Voodoo5 PCI but I don't have a link). 3DMark 2001 had some missing textures and crashed. I think it was due to heat problems. I rearranged the PCI cards for better ventilation but did not have time to retest. The Serious Sam Public Test #2 had run for 20 minutes prior to this at 640x480, normal rendering quality. 1024x768 was too slow. When I get a chance I will test some of the beta Radeon drivers vs. the driver that was included with the card. That was version xx.xx.7075.

A review, I once read, said that the Geforce 2 MX PCI takes between a 10% and 45% performance hit vs. it's AGP brother. A different review said the Voodoo5 PCI only takes a 10% hit vs. the AGP version. (The 3500

The Voodoo5 is big, nearly full-size, so you need a lot of room. It's also power hungry with its two 25watt GPU's and two cooling fans.

Can't tell you much more.

If I find any links I will update.

p.s. We picked up the Radeon PCI at CompUSA for $130. I think it is about $106 via the internet.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 04/15/01 03:11 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[rcf84]

Radeon PCI is the best choice. The MX has problems in the PCI bus. So i would go radeon PCI. Go get a 486 cooling or blue orb and some Heatsink compound for cooling it.

Check out my RIG <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/rcf84/home.html" target="_new">Rcf84's celeron machine</A>

 

[Guest]

I too am looking for a PCI card. I have found 32 mb geforce 2's, 64 mb geforce 2's, and 64 mb vodoo 5's. This I think sums up the choices. Haven't heard much about Radeons. I haven't chose one yet though, because of conflicts views on which is best. There is no clear "best card" Let me know which one you get.

 

[rcf84]

lancer5000 the radeon is the currently the fastest PCI card. Alittle faster then the voodoo5 but in the long run T&l will make the radeon a better card. Geforce MX is a bad choice for PCI

Check out my RIG <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/rcf84/home.html" target="_new">Rcf84's celeron machine</A>

 

[Guest]

Since you are on PCI slot, I would storngly suggest Radeon. Radeons have a very good performance on PCI slots. I honestly have not used it, but what I have read and seen among other users.

 

[lamer_gamer]

I, personally have given up the idea of getting a PCI card for my machine. I'm kind of in the same boat (i.e. not a lot of $ to work with). But what I've finally decided is to get a mobo with an AGP bus, pull all the parts possible from my current system (RAM, HD, CPU, sound card, PCI video card, etc.), then plug them into the new board. After all that, I'll pick up an AGP graphics card. I'm really, really surprised @ the quality of card you can get for relatively little $. But, still, it's a matter of preference. I just decided it wasn't worth the money to buy PCI when obviously it's a fading technology. AGP is the way to go to get the best performance nowadays.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lamer_gamer on 04/29/01 03:53 PM.</EM></FONT></P>