General AGP Card Advice

[ElijahBaley]

I have decided that I would like to go back to my youth and play some games on my computer, hopefully with a decent frame rate and am looking to buy a new VGA card for my machine AMD K62-500MHz / 192MB RAM / 32MB S4 Savage.

I can not afford the latest generation of cards so I wonder if anyone can recommend a card from an older generation that will significantly improve performance in games such as GP3, QuakeII, Unreal and Flight Sim 2000.

I do not really want to spend more that $100/70 UK Quid

Thanks for any suggestions...

Graham

 

[bergis]

I would recommend a nvidia geforce 2 mx card. They are quite cheap now (here in Norway around 70-80£ uk). I have a Gainward Cardexpert geforce 2mx myself, bought in february, and I am very happy with it. The 'steepest' game I have bought so far is Max Payne, recommended 700mhz cpu, and my graphics card has no probs with it.
Of course if you want to really push frame rates you need something else. I don't think one need 70-80fps to really enjoy a game, but thats my opinion....

Kjell

 

[teknikal]

An Asus v7100 Geforce MX 400 should run you between $100-110 and is fairly reliable. This is the 2nd generation of the MX cards. The first generation is usually states MX 200 or just says MX.

 

[ElijahBaley]

Thanks for your advice - I assume that the 2nd generation of Geforce is better than the first.

Graham
"r tape loading error"

 

[bergis]

I think that assumption is right, they also often have 64mb ram instead of 32mb as the first generation gf2mx had - at more or less the same price.

Kjell

 

[ElijahBaley]

Thanks KJell - its time to get going!!!

Graham
"r tape loading error"

 

[teknikal]

Yes, the 2nd generation is better. Both generations use the generic SDRAM memory, hence GeForce MX. However, the 2nd generation utilizes a faster core clock speed which trnaslates to faster frame rates...

It is important to note that Geforce 2 and Geforce 2 Ultra cards are getting much cheaper by the day. Both use DDR memory which has approx twice the thoroughput as the memory in an MX card. It's not necessarily twice as fast, but can be in some situations! I believe you can find a good Geforce 2 GTS card for around $165 new...

 

[ElijahBaley]

Thanks for all your advice,

My apologies that my third post had to be edited - it now sounds like a BBC edited Bruce Willis line...

Graham
"r tape loading error"