Help selecting budget Video Card

[mikeb]

I’m looking to purchase a ‘budget’ video card to put in my rather old Gateway Pentium II PC. I’m running Win98 and do have an AGP slot with about 160MB of RAM. I’m not looking to do any high end gaming, in fact the main reason I’m upgrading is that some of the recent games (Lego’s Studio’s and Lego’s Racers) I’ve loaded on for my son don’t work, because my old 4MB card doesn’t support DirectX. I just didn’t realize there would be soooooo many choices to pick from. Basically I’m looking for a 64MB AGP card that has good driver support, is easy to install, is compatible with most of the current/future graphics standards (OpenGL, DirectX, etc) at a reasonable price (in the $40-70 range). It seems like there are a ton of different companies selling the same types of boards…are there really any differences, for example between two different manufacturer’s GeForce4 MX440 cards? I don't want to pay for capabiltiy (I realize I'm limited by my motherboard) I can't really use, but would like to get something that can give me the most performance I can reasonably use. I’d appreciate any recommendations you all could give me to make my decision process a little simpler. Thanks!

 

[knowan]

First off, there are 4 different versions of AGP. There's AGP, AGP 2x, AGP 4x and AGP 8x. You won't have the 8x since it just came out, and you probably don't have the 4x on a P2 motherboard. That leaves 2x or 1x.

If you AGP slot is 2x then you're fine, since 4x cards (about 90% of the market right now) can downgrade fine into a 2x slot. On the other hand, if you have an origional AGP port (what I call the 1x) then you're in trouble. The vast majority of 4x cards won't run in a 1x slot. I'm told it's a voltage issue.

So your first step is to find out what type of AGP port you have.

Assuming it's 2x then you can put just about any card into it. I would recommend a Radeon 9000 (or 9000 pro), a GeForce 2 or 3 or 4Mx. Anything else will be overkill for your system. I give the Radeon a slight edge over the Geforce cards mostly because it is Directx 8.1 complient. If this system is just for your kids to play childrens games then any old card will do, but the Radeom is likely to be a bit more futureproof.

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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[flamethrower205]

Dude, he's talking about a P2 here. A lot of people seem to lose the reality that CPU speed still is important in games, so if he has an old P2, he WON'T be able to use a R9000 or GF3 to its fullest potential (plus, a GF3 is better performing than a R9000 fyi) nor will he come close to running games that utilize those card's features. IMO, he should get a "solid" card like a GF2 Pro that has very capable processing power but not necessarily all the extra "features" that he won't be able to use anyway. He can get a Leadtek GeForce 2 Ti 64MB for $65. Just make sure agp slot is compatible....

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti

 

[BastardTom]

flamethrower205 has a point about the cpu speed, although I think a GF2 PRO still is overkill. I've built many systems for people with your expected usage and a GF 2MX is quite adequate and much cheaper. I played Need For Speed 5: Porsche Unleashed (a newer game) on a similar system with a GF 2MX and was pleasantly surprised at the framerate and quality. It should even downgrade to a 1x, but don't quote me on that.

To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

 

[Crashman]

A GeForce4 MX440 would work fine in there, as would a GeForce2 GTS (almost the same card), or Radeon 8500LE. All are compatable with any Gateway PC that has an AGP slot.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Quite scaring people with this crap or proove the existance of this so called AGP1x slot. And no, I don't mean AGP 1.0, which is 2x. Even the very old LX chipset supported AGP2x.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Oh, and if you show me a page that has a list like this:
1x AGP slot
4x PCI slot
3x ISA slot

You and I both know that means the NUMBER of slots, not the compatability of the slot.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[mikeb]

Thanks for all the advice! Couple of further questions though...sounds like the geforce4 mx440 or the geforce2 gts would fit the fill nicely and the prices seem resonable, but there are a ton of different manufacturers for each.
Are there certain ones I should stay away from, and preferred ones? I thought I'd seen that PNY cards have a lifetime warrenty, would they be one of the better ones? I've also read some people saying that most of these cards don't have heat sinks or fans onboard and thus run hot. Is that only if your playing a graphically intense game for hours at a time, or just from leaving your pc on? Do I need to worry about that? Finally, will this be as simple as just pulling my old card out, popping the new one in and loading the drivers...I won't have to mess with any BIOS changes or anything will I? I have installed a cd burner, pci card and additional harddrive recently, but not real computer savvy. Thanks!

 

[Crashman]

Just pop the old card out, pop the new one in, and load the drivers. As far as differences between the cards, they are all pretty much the same, with the exception of certain enhanced (costlier) models that come with faster than standard memory.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Get Radeon 9000 (non-Pro)

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