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01-19-2004, 08:49 PM | #1 |
Syndrome of a Down
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Location: West Chester
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Video cards
I'm in the market for a new PC, but I also want to juice up my current PC a bit for gaming purposes. It's an Athlon 1300 with 256MB RAM and 98SE, which should do for the time being.
My video card is a 32MB GeForce2 GTS, which has served me well, but there are a lot of newer alternatives out there. I'm looking for something that's a reasonable bargain (read as: is far from state-of-the-art) but is a measurable upgrade from what I've got. GeForce 3s, lower-end GeForce 4s, Radions. Enlighten me as to what're the best <$100 buys out there. |
01-20-2004, 05:47 AM | #2 |
Not a urine monkey
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Stankonia, GA
Posts: 89
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A decent video card that will get the job done is the Radeon 9200 from Crucial: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspe...cat=Video+Card
No guarantees for full linux perfection (ATI drivers are a bit spotty sometimes on that platform), but for Windows, with a sub $100 in mind, this should handle all of your needs. I've been happy with all of my ATI cards from Crucial.
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Anticipation is a killer |
01-20-2004, 01:19 PM | #3 |
Intouch with his inner sheep rider.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 603
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You have 256Mb ram and you think a video card will help?
First, get 512. 2nd. Get a Geforce3. You don't need a Radeon 9xxx, your CPU, bus, ram will be the bottleneck in that PC anyway. |
01-20-2004, 01:41 PM | #4 |
Syndrome of a Down
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1) I'd get 512 if I could figure out exactly why my system's memory (PC133) costs time-and-a-half MORE than DDR memory that's newer _and_ faster. What is this, an antique shop where older products appreciate in value?
2) Show me where I can get a GeForce3 new-in-the-box at a price low enough to make buying an older card worthwhile. (I'm staring hard at a $125 ASUS GeForce4 Ti4200 on Newegg.) |
01-20-2004, 02:20 PM | #5 | |
dar512 is now Pete Zicato
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Chicago suburb
Posts: 4,968
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Quote:
I've got 512 in all of my machines, but that's 'cause I'm working on a Java product at work. |
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01-20-2004, 03:33 PM | #6 |
Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
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My 2 cents = for what it's worth
98SE = more memory won't change as much ti4200 = in my system now and does the job nicely Your real need = probably anything that will be able to run the doom 3, half life 2 engines that will be the basis for those and many future 3d games The good news = the xbox target has reduced the low level playability so that even geforce 2 may be able to run them decently The bad news = both games will take advantage of geforce 4 level capabilities to improve the overall experience Final recommendation = get the ti4200 |
01-21-2004, 12:12 AM | #7 |
no one of consequence
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Arkansas
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Why do you still use Windows 98? Windows 2000 and Windows XP are SO much more stable.
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01-21-2004, 06:03 AM | #8 | |
Syndrome of a Down
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Location: West Chester
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Quote:
It's sort of like how I resisted moving from WfWG 3.11 to 95 and from 95 to 98SE. My old PC across the room is still running 95, because it doesn't need to be running anything more modern than that (and with its specs, it'd probably run 98 like a constipated wombat). |
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01-21-2004, 10:25 AM | #9 |
Intouch with his inner sheep rider.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 603
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*cough* eMule it *cough*
What game doesn't require 512? I have 1gig and had 1 gig for the past 2 years... Lets see, MaxPayne 2, Need For Speed Underground, Chrome, Day of Defeat. I could go on.. Ram is cheap as dirt these days. Hell my laptop has 512..just because it can. But yeah..I'm a gamer. I can't help it. |
01-21-2004, 10:41 AM | #10 | |
Syndrome of a Down
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Quote:
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01-21-2004, 11:21 AM | #11 |
Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
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(half that price on the 'bay, btw)
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01-21-2004, 11:25 AM | #12 |
Syndrome of a Down
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Location: West Chester
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Half price, but is it NIB, or is it likely to have been static-zapped somewhere along the line?
(I've bought memory from eBay before, but they were 1MB SIMMs for my wife's family's old 486. That was a very different price range.) And why are people asking $15 for shipping for an item the size of a pocket comb? Last edited by vsp; 01-21-2004 at 11:31 AM. |
01-21-2004, 11:28 AM | #13 |
Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
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I searched for crucial pc133 256mb and then clicked on completed items and saw a whole range of prices between $25 and $53.
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01-21-2004, 11:29 AM | #14 | |
no one of consequence
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 2,839
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Quote:
As far as the money, I'd just pirate it. But I can understand if you are against that. Last edited by juju; 01-21-2004 at 11:31 AM. |
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01-21-2004, 11:41 AM | #15 |
Syndrome of a Down
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Location: West Chester
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I could suspend my ethics long enough to pirate Microsoft products... if I knew that I wouldn't end up getting whacked by the Product Activation thingy, if I knew that I was getting an accurate copy of the CD that didn't include some diabolical bug that'd turn my hard drive into chop suey or forward my PayPal password to Mongolia, and if I hadn't been unimpressed by XP's performance on both PCs I've seen it running on.
At the time that I bought my current PC (2 1/2 years ago), 98SE was a no-brainer compared to Windows Me. |
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