pinkpanther718 Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 Ok, the time has come for me to buy a new video card, Fiinally! Ok, here is what my situation is. I am willing to spend 100 bucks at the most. My system is older, P3 550 mhz, so I don't want to splurge on a card just yet. So what should I go for? I want an nVidia Geforce, thats all I know. I know the geforce 4 MX jsut came out, should I go w/that or a GF 3 or a GF 2? I want at least 64 mb of DDR RAM. So there it is, which card do y'all think i should go with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Ninja Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 the amount of RAM on a video card doesn't really matter - its an advertising trick! it only makes a very small difference which will be barely noticeable, so don't bother with a 64mb card. i'm not sure about US prices, but i'd go for any type of GeForce 3, preferably some sort of Ti, but try and get some sort of GeForce 3 (even if you have to stretch your budget a little). Failing that, a high spec Geforce 2 is within your budget (i think - i work in £, so i don't really follow US prices) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylilin Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 I bought a GeForce 2 MX 400 not too long ago for about 90 bucks off of ebay, its a decent card for a pretty low price in my opinion, I also have a PIII 550 mhz and it works well for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediDante Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 Well I have a Geforce2 MX 400 too and it's a good card that will run JK2 well for the price of $100 dollars or under, I have a P3 766mhz and 512MB ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamebooger Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 Go for the geforce 2. It'll get the job done and won't break your pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Yoyo Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 I just bought a Visiontek GeForce3 Ti 200 two weeks ago and works great with my PIII 550. I had to pay $150 for it but I thought it was worth it. I was going to pay $100 for the GeForce2 Ti but I asked myself I would pay $50 for a GeForce3 Ti wouldn't I? So I paid the extra $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 26, 2002 Author Share Posted February 26, 2002 Ok, I decided if I can get the Geforce 4 mx440 for as cheap as it is on pricewatch.com I found a PNY version of the card for 104 dollars, its from a company in OH. WHat I need to know is, has anyone ever bought from any pricewatch.com, what kind of success? Also, has anyone bought a PNY card, are they good quality? If the answer to either of those is no, I need to know if going with SD will matter much if I end up going with the Visiontek or Asus version of the 420 instead. Thanks for all the help folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 oh man, pricewatch is a godsend.... its where i tell people to buy anything computer related.... i dislike ebay for sensitive computer equipment... rather have new!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanke4252 Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 Visiontek > all. I got a Visiontek Geforce3 Ti200 and it has ALOT of bang for the buck. Personally pinkpanther, I would have waited for the Geforce4 4200 or whatever they are that are or did come out recently after the release of the GeForce4 chipset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 26, 2002 Author Share Posted February 26, 2002 I know Visiontek is good, but I need to know if PNY is because thats the only brand I've heard of that Pricewatch brings me for a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 Basicly all the cards are (almost) identical. Now, PNY is a good brand, no worries, no hassle, just a good card. Now about Pricewatsh. Pricewatch isn't a company that sells computer parts (retailer). It's a list that other companies/retailers use to put their prices on, so people can find the cheapest price. So if you find a cheap price on pricewatch, it doesn't mean you're dealing with a good retailer. I've only used New Egg (http://www.newegg.com) and I have had no problems with them. They're cheap, fast and deliver all the ordered goods in tip top condition (good packing material). If you have any further questions let me know. BTW the GeForce 4 MX is a souped up Geforce 2. So if I were you I would go for the GeForce 3 Ti200 which has the nFinity engine in it. More abilities and memory bandwidth than the Geforce 4 MX (which means Faster than the Geforce 4 MX) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 26, 2002 Author Share Posted February 26, 2002 I might just go for the Geforce 3 Ti200 if I can get it for 100 or under. However, consider the fact that I'm only running a p3 550 so that card might just be too fast for my proccessor. Will that card live up to its potiential with a cpu of this speed? I've been told your card is only as good as your cpu, an overpowered card will be nothing with a lower end computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 not entirely true... your 550 should be able to push a GF3 about as far as it needs too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNNER Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 Isn't most of the cards on Price Watch OEM units? Not that it matters. I bought an OEM Geforce 2 GTS card and loaded the detanator drivers for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanke4252 Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 The main reason i opted for the Geforce3 Ti200 was for the nfinity engine. I believe thats the one that lets you cast shadows on your characters. Pretty cool if you ask me. And on that company, search for some reviews for that particular make of the card. There are bound to be some out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 27, 2002 Author Share Posted February 27, 2002 So the Geforce 4 MX does not have this Infinity engine? I am still torn on which one to go for. What other advantages does the GF3 have? Wouldnt the 4 be more advanced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 Most of the cheap hardware on pricewatch is OEM. But with a Geforce (1,2,3 or 4) that is not a problem, because all the cards have the same nVidia chip on them and are basicaly the same. If you're worried about paying too much for a GeForce 3 Ti200 buy a GeForce 2 Ti with 64MB for under $100. Don't buy the FeForce 4MX. You'll only pay more for a souped up GeForce 2 with a number 4 on it. Save your money for your next big upgrade (nForce board and an Athlon XP ) Edit, just saw your post. nVidia messed up their naming convention with releasing the GeForce 4 MX as a GeForce 4. It's not a GeForce 4. The GeForce 3 is faster and has the nFiniteFX engine. So it has the latest and greatest technologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 27, 2002 Author Share Posted February 27, 2002 Afirmative, I will def. not be going with the 4 in light of this new info. I think what I'll do is go for like you said either the 3 TI or the 2 TI. Can anyone give some clearifiication on what the Ultra Pro, and GTS are? Is the TI still the best Geforce 2? Also what is OEM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanke4252 Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 I dont remember what I was looking for for when I bought it, but all I remember is it wasnt much different in price from the better Geforce2 and it had better features, there are some good sites out there that explains it all in detail. I cant remember any of the addresses of the top of my head, but search in yahoo for "GeForce3 ti200 reviews" or "Geforce2 reviews" etc or something like that and you should find all the information you looking for. But I do think that the NFinity engine was the deciding factor when I got mine since I got it when I heard that JK will take advantage of it. Casting shadows on characters is just something I was strangely excited about, dont ask why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 An OEM (original equipment manufacturer) is a company that uses product components from one or more other companies to build a product that it sells under its own company name and brand. So an OEM videocard is a video card that's brandless and that GateWay or Dell uses and sells under their own name. Here's a good review that shows the advantage of the Geforce 2 Ti200 over the older models and tests the Geforce 3's too: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1581 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanther718 Posted February 27, 2002 Author Share Posted February 27, 2002 Ok, I've been looking at specs. The Gf3 ti 200 has a much lower cpu speed than the 4 MX 440, also a lower memory clock speed. Wouldn't this make a really big difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 GeForce 4 MX 420: Core Clock 250MHz RAMDAC 350MHz RAMDAC 2.7GB/second memory bandwidth GeForce 3 Ti 200: Core Clock 175MHz RAMDAC 350MHz RAMDAC 6.4 GB/sec. memory bandwidth <- twice as much bandwidth!!! Maybe it is the best deal for you. It is pretty cheap. But I still think a Geforce 3 Ti 200 is a better deal... look at this deal: http://www.enpc.com/cgi-bin/enpc/724150.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanke4252 Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 All I know is that I can run most programs at top resolution with my GF3 Ti200. Of course i have 512mb of ram and a p4 1.5ghz. I noticed a huge difference from my Radeon 32mb DDR though. I could only run things at like half the resolution I can now. Core clock speed doesnt mean everything, I think of it like a small computer. You can have a processor with big big mhz numbers, but it wont matter if you have little ram or some other component is lacking. I dont know, shows you how much I know about the detailed workings of a graphical processor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Yoyo Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 The GeForce3 Ti 200 is the way to go. It works great with my PIII 550 and the first week of April it will work great with my newly upgraded Pentium 4 1.7 ghz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanke4252 Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 I got my GeForce3 Ti200 for like $140 like a week before the GeForce4 Chipset was announced. I hear people are getting them a few bucks cheaper now. The GeForce2 will still be cheaper, but I think spending like $20 more or so on the GF3 Ti200 will benefit you on the long run. Most people ive talked to who've had them seemed to be extremely happy with its performance if that means anything to you. I think as long as you have at least a p3 and are above 500mhz youll be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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