Bluto

I am thinking about doing a major upgrade on my system and wasn't sure what to do about a video card... I only want to spend about $60 on it... any thoughts? Here's what I was thinking about going with besides that (feel free to tell me if you think I should get something else for about the same price)...

a 300Watt medium tower with 300W power supply for $50

AMD Thunderbird 1GHz 266MHz Bus Socket A processor 256K cache Retail Box Version with HeatSink and Fan for $160

Abit KT-7A - Via KT-133A Chipset 200/266MHZ FSB Sock A Motherboard with 6PCI 1 ISA 1 AGP slot -Retail Box-For AMD Processor for $122

I was thinking about getting it all from newegg.com.

Thanks for the help.

OC

$60 kind of limits you on a video card. My opinion is that a $60 card won't be much better than a $30 card. Given that I might go with an oldie - a 16mb TNT2. $30 from CDRExpress according to Pricewatch. If you plan on doing any gaming with this box, bump your limit to $70 and get a Radeon LE and use a registry hack to re-enable HyperZ.

-OC

__________________
But what is adulthood except a delayed end-run around our parents' better judgment?
-- Peter Egan

*cough*

cruelpupet

$60!!! all your gonna get for that is a 16mb tnt2 where if you spend just $30 more you can get a geforec2mx 32mb

__________________
Am I alone here? Is that it?
Am I the only one who sees.

Maybe we can learn to be just like him.
Wear a little uniform.
Yes, sir.
No, sir.
Thank you, sir.

Bluto

The reason I was going for the cheapo video card is that I don't really do anything with hardcore graphics, this is just for writing Visual C++ programs, surfing the net, and a few games...
What is an expensive video card going to get me? I don't mind raising the budget on it, but I don't know that it is really going to help me...
Any recommendations on a cheapo video card or a more expensive video card?
A few people suggested spending more on the video card, but I'm wondering what you guys are thinking about going up to? Like I said, I don't think the good video card will get me much, but I'm not set on that...

Thanks for the suggestions.

paulc

Going from $60 to $75-$80 will get a Radeon LE 32MB DDR which, with a simple registry hack, will give you the full Radeon features (Hyper-Z). If you do play games, even ocassionally, you'll want a stable, supported card with decent/good driver support. That pretty much cuts out the usual cheapie video cards like the Savage 4 or lesser ATi cards (Rage128, etc).

If you're really determined to just get a cheapie video card, the GF2 MX 200 (32MB, 64-bit memory interface) is under $60 from many vendors on pricewatch. It's faster than a TNT2 Ultra, but don't expect it to play well in anything high res or anything too demanding (UT, Q3A, etc). If performance is any bit important to you, get a regular GF2 MX, GF2 MX 400 or a Radeon LE. All are cheap and will last a while.

__________________
Sys Specs: Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB, 256MB PC1066, Radeon 9700 TX
Best $241 computer I ever bought.

cruelpupet

Im actually in the same situation as you...I dont play many games, which is why I opted for the Geforce 2 mx.

There are 3 reasons why I decided to go for the MX

1. I wanted the TV out option
2. Even though I dont play many games, you never know if you might want to in the future.
3. it wasnt much more than a basic video card

Jeffbx

All right - don't let the hardware snobs get to you. Go get yourself a nice 32MB TNT2 for about $50. I'm using one with my PIII 650, and I have no problems whatsoever playing any of the latest games (Q3A, Q3TA, UT). It's got 32MB, so it'll last a while. It has stable drivers for all the popular OSs, and if all you're doing is coding and surfing with the occasional game, it'll do you just fine.

I run a Geforce on my other PC, and the performance difference is not that significant for the occasional gamer. Now, if you're the type that puts a lot of stock in fps benchmarks, you may disagree. However, I believe that a TNT2 will be more than adequate for the tasks you mentioned.

Bluto

thanx everyone!

__________________