What kind of video card should I buy?

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » November 30, 2002, 6:45 pm

I'm looking to buy a new video card for my computer. My current is an NVidia Vanta, which has a 16mb capacity. I need something with a bare minimum 32mb, preferably more. What models work well for you all, and where did you find them? Thanks a lot for replying.

Lindain · Post by **Lindain** » November 30, 2002, 9:36 pm

Ummm Nvidia GeForce 4? /shrug It has 64MB or 128MB..I can never remember

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » November 30, 2002, 9:37 pm

Try a Geforce4 like the Extasy card. Its pretty powerfull and last time i checked was selling pretty cheap too. Like 99$ Very good value, but with eq, processing power > all

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » November 30, 2002, 10:03 pm

Well, the most important thing, what price range are you looking for?

The best on the market right now is, I believe, Radeon 9700 Pro (~$400). NVidia is releasing its newest card soon, which will drop the price of Radeon. I plan on waiting until the 9700 drops in price, then picking one up myself when I build my new computer.

Dreadnaught · Post by **Dreadnaught** » November 30, 2002, 10:04 pm

you want a geforce 4 Ti 4600 .128 megs '0 ram.
stay away from the geforce 4 mx .

Aruman · Post by **Aruman** » December 1, 2002, 12:40 am

GeForce 4 Ti 4600 is highly recommended.

While the ATI Radeon is considered faster, I will stay away from ATI until they attain the compatibility success of nVidia cards.

Karae · Post by **Karae** » December 1, 2002, 1:04 am

Compatibility of nVidia? nVidia has as many compatability issues (if not more, due to the large variance in quality caused by the larger number of manufacturers) as ATi. I've been running ATi with no problems because of compatability issues with my old GeForce 3 Ti 200.

9700 is a superior card in EVERY respect. Buy that if you can afford it. If not, nVidia GeForce 4 Ti cards are the next best (4600, 4400, 4200). I wouldn't buy anything that isn't one of those two at this point.

Or you could wait for the GeForceFX which is scheduled to start shipping Feb. 2003...

Asheran Mojomaster · Post by **Asheran Mojomaster** » December 1, 2002, 6:59 am

Yep, Geforce 4.

Aruman · Post by **Aruman** » December 1, 2002, 1:18 pm

Karae wrote:Compatibility of nVidia? nVidia has as many compatability issues (if not more, due to the large variance in quality caused by the larger number of manufacturers) as ATi. I've been running ATi with no problems because of compatability issues with my old GeForce 3 Ti 200

Hmmm... This is interesting Karae... because I have seen the exact opposite. I always see issues with ATI cards and have seen very little if any problems with nVidia.

I was a die hard Intel and couldn't imagine myself buying AMD. I saw the Athlon specs and performance ratings and I gave one a try and now would recommend the Athlon versus the Intel for game systems. People can change their minds, even me

/shrug

Go with a Radeon 9700 or a GeForce 4600.

Ahmik · Post by **Ahmik** » December 1, 2002, 1:38 pm

/shrug

I have a Gainward GeForce2 Ti/450 64MB card that runs just wonderfully.

I am also looking for a new video card to install in my new computer...
My current choice is a toss up between a Radeon 9000 Pro (128mb) @ $100, or a GeForce4 Ti/4200 (128mb) @ $140.

http://www.pricewatch.com/ is your best bet for looking around for the best deal...

Neroon · Post by **Neroon** » December 1, 2002, 1:51 pm

Just to re-iterate. If money is no object, the ATI 9700 Pro is the way to go. It eats all other cards right now, even with full anti-aliasing on. You can get it as low as $310 online.

For the budget-minded, the Geforce 4 Ti 4200 is the best "bang for the buck". You have to be very carefull though, some 128MB cards run slower than the 64MB ones due to the different types of RAM and clock speeds. You will be looking at around $150 for a nice namebrand card, and you really want to go with the name brands here.

They just came out with a new Ti 4200 series, that supports 8X AGP, and runs at 600Mhz RAM clock speed. But, they are tanking on the benchmarks for some reason. I would stick with the normal 4200....

Currently, I use a Geforce 3 64MB. It still runs EQ great, but runs DAoC like crap, so it all depends on the application. If you only play EQ for high-end stuff, you can probably find these for free in the trash bin behind a computer store!