second hand graphics card advice needed

ManFromMars

Distinguished
Jun 12, 2002
2
0
18,510
Hi
a friend is getting a GeForce 4 to replace his Kyro 2 card... and he'll sell me the Kyro 2 for £40. He's only had it a couple of months.. I'll just get the card and drivers, no other software. Do you think this is worth it? At the moment I have an Athlon 850, 384MB 133mhz ram, VIA mobo chipset and a TNT2 ultra, although I'm thinking of upgrading in the future (certainly changing the mobo). Also, I plan to do audio recording on this system... does anyone knoiw if there are any hardware conflicts between the Kyro 2 and the m-audio delta 66 audio card?
Thanks v much in advance,
ManFromMars

Watch out for flying ice-creams.
 

baldurga

Distinguished
Feb 14, 2002
727
0
18,980
I don't know (for good or bad) about conflicts. But I can say something about Kyro 2.

It's good that has an arquitecture design that only work with the pixels/surfaces are going to be painted in your monitor. This is good because don't do unusefull calculations, waste if bandwith, etc. For detailed information and benchmarks please see around the web for articles about it (THG has one).

But it doesn't have T&L implemented. In other words, the CPU has to do the work. That means:

a) The better CPU, the better in games. Good progression.
b) Your CPU has to do A LOT of work.

Meaning A LOT, means that probably in todays games is really bad even with a powerfull CPU. So, THAT's the reason your friend is selling this graphic card. Probably he has "tasted" and wasn't what he expected.

My suggestion: it's not worth even at 40. Stay with your TNT2 Ultra (that probably it better with your CPU!) and save your money.

If you need it, invest in a good card (if you have budget contrictions, at least I would recomend a Geforce3; I bought one in eBay for $95 everything included an offers respectably performance, 6000 or more in 3Dmark2001), or better, wait until you upgrade your computer.

Are you in a hurry for any reason? Maybe some game going slow?

DIY: read, buy, test, learn, reward yourself!
 
The performance difference between the TNT2 Ultra and Kyro2 is not that significant. Save your money and go for a decent upgrade to your system.

Sex is great but it's no substitute for the real thing.....
 

ManFromMars

Distinguished
Jun 12, 2002
2
0
18,510
Thanks alot for the help everyone... he's actually given me the card but I haven't payed him yet! I'll say there's a hardware conflict or something...
With my summer upgrade, how does getting a v fast Athlon (one of the new ones coming out maybe or when the prices drop one of the XPs) with some new DDR ram and a n-Force mobo (so I can use the onboard GeForce 2 MX) sound? I will probs upgrade the graphics again after that at christmas... how would this type of system (say, AthlonXP 2000+, 512MB DDR RAM, Geforce2 MX) cope with todays games (specifically Morrowind cos it has v v sexy graphics!)? I dno't want to get a via mobo because I have heard there are a lot of problems with pro audio cards (especially the one I plan to get the Delta 66) and have heard there aren't any problems with the n-Force. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers,
ManFromMars

Watch out for flying ice-creams.