best ~$100 card for non gamer

[rmbelson]

I'm putting together a pc to be used hardest when burning cds, vcds and eventually dvds. I play no games. Which video card should I look at in the $100 or less range? I'm squeezing pennies here -- can I survive with 64mb and 4xagp? System will have Asus A7n8x deluxe/athlon xp 2500/kingston 2x 256 7200 DDR/WD 120G 8mb HD.

Radeon 7500 has been suggested by shop owner.
Many thanks. rmb

 

[rmbelson]

One more thing -- I am not someone on a constant upgrade path. My current box is 4 years old and I expect to hold onto this new one as long as possible.

 

[cleeve]

For playing no games, the 7500 is great. It has excellent display quality and excellent motion compensation for viewing DVDs.

And if you absolutely had to play a video game, you probably could do it, too.

The card will last you a long time, and do very well unless you become a hardcore gamer someday.

- Cleeve

 

[phsstpok]

If you can stretch to about $120 you can get the All-in-Wonder 7500. You get 7500 features plus TV viewing with remote control and VIVO.

Otherwise, the 7500 is good enough for your requirement, or the Radeon 9000 if it's easier to find.

Matrox cards (G550, G450, even G400) are a good choice as well for a non-gamer, having the best visual quality of all consumer cards.

Don't know how the Matrox cards compare to the ATI cards in the DVD playback area.

If you aren't doing 3D games then 32 MB of video memory is plenty.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

You can also buy Radeon 9100/9200. AFAIK, in terms of video capabilities, they are equal to R7500 and have much better 3D performance that may be useful if you want to play some games later

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[TheCommGuy]

Radeon is a good card but I am going to say a Ti4200- especially since the price has dropped a lot. It's a proven performer and it's the price range you have. My honest personal belief is AMD boards (especially the Nvidia Chipsets) go with Nvidia vid cards. Intel go Radeon. But that is my personal stand point.

Also look towards the future- do you plan to upgrade? If so what to- because if you upgrade to an Nvidia card- stick with Nvidia line cause less hassle with drivers.

But the 7500 and the 4200 are both good cards- but I would go with 4200.

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[JimmyDean]

I think the Ti4200 64mb is about 80 now. I would get that

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[tombance]

Since your not playing games I recommend a Geforce 2 MX. Seriously, if your not playing ANY games this would do fine and will only cost you ~$30. You could then spend the rest of your money on improving other parts of your system.

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[Spitfire_x86]

This guy cares more about video than gaming. And video quality is better on Radeon

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[rmbelson]

http://www.memorymedia.com/
is selling OEM Radeon 7500s for $45. Any reason why I shouldn't buy OEM? Or from this dealer?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

My honest personal belief is AMD boards (especially the Nvidia Chipsets) go with Nvidia vid cards. Intel go Radeon. But that is my personal stand point.

I didn't carefully read your post first time, so I missed this BS. I'm using a Gigabyte Radeon 9000 with an AMD board and it is nVidia chipset based (nForce 420-D). I have ZERO problems with my ATI + nVidia combo. This is my honest personal experience

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[Spitfire_x86]

$45 is a good deal for Radeon 7500. Make sure that this card has DDR memory clocked equal to retail cards.

Dunno about the dealer....

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[James35]

Nforce2 and Ati 9700Pro no problems here.

Any 32 meg card will do the trick if you using it to burn cd's only then you wouldnt wanna watch a dvd on it at the same time as it will screw up the burning of the cd a tnt2 card will do the trick actually and you can watch dvd's on it. i did all the time on mine way back when and i never had a problem with it and u can bag that card for 16 bucks. go to www.pricewatch.com and have a look for a dirt cheap card.

 

[phsstpok]

Some of Geforce2 MX cards are complete crap, and I'm not talking about the dismal 3D performance. Some of these cards are so blurry they are unusable at even 800x600.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>