Im looking for a video card and need some help

Yeah im building my own PC and I pretty much have everything I need except for the video card...

Im looking at a GeForce 2 Ultra 64 Meg card...but what are your suggestions?

[Clark Gilbert]

AGP
more than 32mb
and perferably Nvidia



ps..

also look at places like ubid.com for cards....u can get really good ones for very good prices....(Ken Leung showed me this awhile back)

[gniticxe]

what is your price range?
what will you be using it for?

dont use toms hardware.
buy it off of newegg.com for excellent service/delivery
buy it off of pricewatch.com for cheap

What are the specs on your PC? Some vid cards arent too happy with SMP, esp w/ AMD.

[Dan 550]

Go with a 64Mb + GeForce 3 at least, DJ. 2 isn't exactly the best working cards under XP. But nVidia is definitely the way to go.

[Gope]

I recently spent a week looking and ordering a GeForcee 4 Ti 4200...so i know a little bit about the current market....First if you wan't the Absolute Best you have to get the new Radeon card that is 251% faster than the GeForce 4 Ti 4600,, BUT it is way overpriced

If you have a around $400 i suggest a GeForce 4 Ti 4600cause its amazingly fast and decently priced

However, if u a man with a budget like me, i suggest a GeForce 4 Ti 4600...it gives you 85% of the power of the 4600 and is more like $200...

Another thing to remember is that the new GeForce 4 cards have TV/Out built in, which is very nice for recording all your favorite Simpsons Episodes

Oh yeah, Look on ebay for ur card, make sure it's BUY IT NOW...u can get cheap stuff there

[FotoPlasma]

Wait a little bit and get a Radeon 9700...

[Rob Ribaudo]

A note about using Ebay.com, make sure that you are sure that you are getting what you see. and make sure you check to see if the seller has recieved alot of negitive grades compared to thier positive grades. See how reliable they are before you bid/buy anything. See if they have had problems shipping their items late, not sending at all, if they send they wrong item. I have seen items on Ebay.com from sellers that I do not think I would ever trust.
Just something to keep in mind if you want to use Ebay.com

[gniticxe]

Lost Circuits recently put out this review of a bench between the Ti 4600 (a la ASUS Ultra Deluxe), the Ti 4200 (again, a la ASUS Ultra Deluxe), the Radeon 8500, and the ASUS v8200 Pure (GeForce 3 Ti 500). I just happen to own the v8460 Deluxe...and the results are pleasing.

Of course you could wait a bit, save up, and get a newer better card. But by that time, there will already be talk of the next gen card...so its really a matter of how soon you want to play Unreal Tournament at 1600x1200 with playable framerates

edit

please post your new box's specs, so we can get an idea of what your video card will be living with. Getting a ti4600 might be overkill with anything less than a 1.3GHz proc.

Also, there is some fun stuff out with the nVidia Ti series, you can use a prog (which will remain nameless) to adjust some lowlevel settings, and turn your Ti into a Quadro 900 XGL. Which run about $1000 - $1500. Performance increases in CAD/MAX has actually been observed.

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by Rob Ribaudo
A note about using Ebay.com, make sure that you are sure that you are getting what you see. and make sure you check to see if the seller has recieved alot of negitive grades compared to thier positive grades. See how reliable they are before you bid/buy anything. See if they have had problems shipping their items late, not sending at all, if they send they wrong item. I have seen items on Ebay.com from sellers that I do not think I would ever trust.
Just something to keep in mind if you want to use Ebay.com

:1,$s/Ebay/amazon/g
(my appologies if you don't get the geek reference)

Remember that according to Dean at Nationals, amazon.com is the premiere auction site on the net, not ebay. I guess this shows how uninformed Dean is about popular culture. Or maybe he said that because Bezos was right next to him with a big check in his pocket

Mike

[ChrisA]

anything nvidia is good. if ur looking for just an average graphics card that is not too pricey but can run pretty good graphics then i would recommend a geforce2 ti or maybe a geforce4mx card. right now theyre around $100, run well, and can produce very good graphics. if u want u can go to almost any online store and find a geforce2mx400 for about $50 or less. the geforce2 ultra is a good card and would also be a good buy.

[Ian W.]

i've heard the GeForceX mx cards (x as in 2, 3, or 4) are bad, and you're better off spending the extra few bucks to get the Ti version. i don't know if this is true, just what i've heard.

[FotoPlasma]

Originally posted by Ian W.
i've heard the GeForceX mx cards (x as in 2, 3, or 4) are bad, and you're better off spending the extra few bucks to get the Ti version. i don't know if this is true, just what i've heard.

The entire MX series is crippled.

GeForce#MX:GeForce#:GeForce#Ultra::Duron:Athlon:TB ird::Celeron:Pentium:Xeon

Or... that's my take on the situation, correct me if I'm wrong...

[gniticxe]

You forgot SMP

[ChrisA]

im a little upset to hear u say all this bad stuff about the geforce mx series of graphics cards. im not sure where u get ur information but its untrue. the mx series is the average type graphics card that u can spend say 50 to 100 dollars and get something that can run most everything. being a computer game enthusiast i know much about graphics cards and have used many myself. ive used geforce2mx 200s and 400s and both are very good cards that run smoothly and can display graphics well enough to do most anything. i right now have a geforce4ti 4600 and it shows amazing graphics (most consider it a rip off but i use every aspect of it to its full potential so for me it is not). i have friends who have geforce4mx cards and they have had absolutely no problems with them and tell me that theyre great.

sure, if ur going to do some really really super heavy graphics processing ur going to need a super heavy duty graphics processor such as a geforceti card. this i agree with but for the average user an mx card is way more than necessary. in my house at this very moment i have a server that is using a voodoo3 which is very out dated even more so than the geforce2 line. also might i add that it is running dual xeons. this server works perfectly and is fast (accept for the hdd).

also maybe u could be a little more clear on what u plan on doing with ur computer. do u play games or do any heavy graphics processing or is it just mostly for text editors and web browsing?

[Wetzel]

I tend to buy graphics cards one product cycle behind.
The Ge3 was the biggest baddest out there 4 months ago, so I got a Ge2. So now it would be a Ge3/equlivilent Radeon.

From what I have seen, MX cards do have significanly less power, but also at a significant price cut. In the future, I won't get a MX.


Wetzel
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/me is listening to E:\Dire Straights\Dire Straights - Sultans Of Swing.mp3