Best PCI Video Card?

[Pitt]

Well, here's the situation. My brother purchased ( against my wishes ) a computer with onboard video. He only has pci slots, so i want to get him the best pci video card possible. I want him to be able to play quake III without being at a disadvantage because of his frame rate. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance

-Pitt-
pitt6969@mindless.com

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/GamerHeaven/

 

[nlm9802]

What is your current setup? ie processor, ram, hd (size and rpm speed), cd rom read speed. Upgrading your machine will likely entail buying the floowing:
1)A new processor. unless the one you have now is 800 mhz or better.
2)A new motherboard. if the one you have now doesnt support agp.. well you need a new one to play games.
3)A video card. an agp video card blows away a pci.
4)RAM. you might need some ram also. 256 mb will keep you running fast assuming you dont have a bottleneck somewhere else (like a pci video card)

for a gaming machine I would recommend buying a new motherboard. Depending on what you have in it now (AMD or Intel, pc 100 or pc 133 RAM) I would recommend the tyan trinity 2390 for an amd (socket a support), for intel get a farily new one with an agp slot. I'm not really an intel person, so i dont have any suggested models, but I would get one that supports 4x AGP and pc 133 SDRAM, RIMM is too pricey atm to be worth it.
You wont see any really good PCI Video Cards in comparison to AGP. For AGP cards, depending on what you need to do, I would recommend the 32 MB All-in-wonder based on Radeon if you need the alternate outputs/inputs. If not, the basic Radeon card should be sufficient. it will run you about $160.

If you are strapped for cash, I guess I would recommend any 32 mb card with full throughput (not MX) and an MX only if you must (they run about 60-70$). just remember you get the performance you pay for.

hope I helped some.

-Nick

 

[Pitt]

Just to clarify on the situation everyone...

1) it's my brothers comp: Micron 700mhz celery
No AGP slot
64 mb ram

2) I know about gaming rigs, i built my own:

700mhz T-bird
Asus A7V
256 mb pc133 sdram
30 gb quantum fireball
ASUS v7700 Deluxe
SBLIVE Platinum 5.1

So as you can see, i don't need to be lectured on the ins and outs of gaming rigs. I just need to to know of the best pci video card possible for a celery based board. I know all about the upgrade options, but my brother has no cash and i don't want to upgrade his comp for him, so i'm getting him the greatest video card possible for his system. Any help would be appreciated.

-Pitt-
pitt6969@mindless.com

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/GamerHeaven/

 

[SengokuJidai]

I think, the Voodoo3 3000 PCI would serve best for your demands. Of course, it cannot compete with the likes of a GeForce, but it is definitely fast enough to play any 3D Game currently on the market with sufficient fps.
As well, its quite cheap at the moment.

perhaps you might want to upgrade the memory as well - 128MB should be enough, though.

 

[ramer]

I agree Voodoo 3 3000 PCI has the best benches in it's class. A little more ram would help as well.

 

[cpuFAILURE]

I see your current dilemea. Buying a voodoo 3 3000 pci, is about the same price as the agp version. Once you get the pci, your still stuck with a non-agp card, rendering future upgrades, and a worse disaster. If he has money saved for the pci card, have him save about another 100 bucks or so and get a decent agp card, and a motherbaord that has the slot to accomodate. Its worth it in the long run.

 

[mbasic]

The fastest PCI graphics card is now the:

GeForce4 MX420 PCI @ £85 alternatively, try -
GeForce2 MX200 PCI @ £40 or
nVidia TNT2 Vanta @ £30 or
nVidia TNT2 Vanta LT @ £25 or
nVidia TNT @ £15

 

[paparazi]

PCI cards tend to cost about a third more than the equivelent AGP, which on a high end PCI card such as a GF4 MX440 would go more than half way towards a basic motherboard with an AGP slot.
The maths:
Geforce 4 MX440 PCI = £85 TOTAL £85

Geforce 4 MX 440 AGP = £50
Cheap socket 370 motherboard with AGP = £45
TOTAL £95
So for an extra £10 you will end up with a much, much,
much better system and better 3D performance.
I know the calculations are for the UK but it must be similar in the US. (probably cheaper)
Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.

 

[ceh4702]

You could buy something like an Asus A7N266 N-Force chipset motherboard for around $75.00-$80.00 with both an AGP PORT and integrated Geforce2MX200. Has built in sound and NIC. AMD Pocessors can be had pretty cheap. Best part is, it is not a via chipset.

You can also probably purchase cheap PIII/Celeron MB and a Celeron 1.2 Gig Processor for a pretty good price. I have an Asus TUSL2-C and a 1.2 gig Tulatin core Celeron with 256k L2 cache. It runs every game I have thrown at it so far using a cheap Visiontek Geforce2 GTS-V 32MB DDR video card. Obviously there are better video cards out there. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[paparazi]

Yes but everybody just looses the plot!!
The poor guy is trying to do this cheaply, and with what he's got, why not just say go out and buy a P4 2.8.
Your sujestions just esculate beyond reason.
What does make sense is a cheap Celeron replacement motherboard with a 4x AGP slot and a GF4 MX440, because it will have the desired result at the minimum cost to his brother. Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.