Advice needed for Video Card

[DavidJ726]

Looking for some advice... I built my PC about 3 years ago and AFAIC, it
still has some (halfway decent) life in it. I still plan on building
another PC next year but would like to experience the Aero capabilities of
Windows Vista now with RC1. Considering that I want to use the new video
card in a system I build next year, what should I look for as I begin
shopping for a video card. I do very little gaming and less photo editing
than I use to.

The main components are;

* MSI KT266A Motherboard
- supports up to 3GB of DDR SDRAM
- 4x AGP Video slot

* Athlon AMD XP 1900+ (1.60 GHz)
* 768MB PC2100 DDR RAM
* NVIDIA GForce2 Ti


Thanks,
David

 

[Sascha Benjamin Jazbec]

I can only speak for Nvidia, as my last Ati was a Radeon 9250 ( cheap and
bad - I turned to Nvidia then )
I do not recommend Ati at all- their drivers are a mess, for Windows as well
as for Linux.

If you just want to have the Aero new GUI of Windows and play only some
newer games like Sims2 and so,
then have a look for Geforce 5200 and higher in the 5xxx section - they are
cheap and Aero-compatible with the Nvidia-Drivers.

Geforce 5xxx series : from 5200 on Aero-comaptible, only core DX9
capabilities ( games run, but not all details ).
Geforce 6xxx series are the better ones for more gaming ( runs 3D Shooters
better )and Video/Photoediting.
Geforce 7xxx and 8xxx are the Mercedes-class ( will show your games with
everything enabled I guess )


In Europe a 5200/128 or 256 AGP cost about 30-40 EUR. I had this card a few
months and for its price it is more than ok.

I have a GF6200 / 128MB AGP with extra-cooling that was about 120 EUR..

I run Vista with Aero, do Poser 5 (3D-modelling) and play Doom3 with that
card on "Details medium and shadows enabled" at 1024x768.

( the Doom3-Meter is an indicator of what the card can display ..)

SBJ

 

[Michael]

Guess you'll have to wait for the final release of Vista if you want to run
full Aero3D and see what AGP 4x graphics card would fit the specs - if any.
The "new" mobos for Core 2 Duo si AMD are no longer AGP... so there's no way
you can buy a graphics card for your AGP mobo and reuse it in your next SLI
mobo. Also, there are future features - HD, DirectX 10 - that are not
clarified yet and surely not available in any AGP or SLI card on the
market - that you can reuse in your next machine.

There are some AGP cards - check ATI and NVIDIA websites, for ex - that are
"Vista Ready" but it's a minimal capability - even the 256MB - thus not
worth to buy just to experience some Aero in RC1.
Michael

 

[jwardl]

This is true -- I just bought a GeForce FX5200 128MB on eBay for about $15
shipped -- and it does the trick -- Aero working great. It's pretty cool,
too. Graphics are a bit slower than they were with my previous Radon 9250
256MB card, but I couldn't get Aero out of it.

I'd suggest a better video card if you plan to buy Vista and upgrade to it
after release, but the 5200 is a fine "cheapie" to get a feel for Aero.

 

[jwardl]

Oops -- forgot to add from my last post that after you install the 5200, you
must reboot, then turn on Aero effects -- they don't just start working
automatically.

 

[Dale \Mad_Murdock\ White]

Don't let the 4x on your AGP slow you down. You can of course buy an 8X card
and use it in a 4x slot. In fact, when PCI-E was coming out, there were tech
articles showing that the 8X AGP wasn't barely (if at all) faster than the
4x. Maybe some of the newer games and 3D programs up'd the difference, but
overall, I doubt it made more than a 5% change.

With that, your CPU is probably a bit lagging as well, so you coudl run into
a case, where you get a faster video card, but the CPU is the bottleneck.
Though this is mostly for 3D gaming. If you're just looking for some 3D
action with Vista, I doubt you have this to worry about.

Contrary to the other poster. ATI drivers are not a mess and I think it's
completely unfair to judge a video company based on their cheapest and
crappiest product. I think the Nvidia 5200 card is a complete joke, but I
don't condemn Nvidia for releasing it. I should note that I have both ATI
(X1900XTX) and Nvidia (6800GT) and I buy whoever is the fastest at the
moment.

Like the other poster started, none of the newer motherboards coming out
will support AGP. Asusrock has a mother board with both a PCI-e and AGP slot
and it's not a bad motherboard, just not that great for OCing I hear. So
you're probably looking at a $50 card for today, and then later grabbing a
DX10 capable card when you go to build your new system.

Looking at newegg.com you can get something along the lines of a ATI 9550 or
Nvidia 6200 for under $50. But note, that those cards are only good for
games like Freecell, if you plan to do any gaming

Just my thoughts

Dale

 

[andy]

An AGP video card won't fit in the motherboard you buy next year,
which would have a PCI-e video connector

 

[DavidJ726]

Thanks for the advice guys , especially concerning PCI express and the lack
of AGP in upcoming mobo's. I would of never spent enough time researching
furure requirements and would of spent more on an AGP card than I needed to.
I like the $15.00 e-bay solution!

David