Budget ATI card recommendation

[NoRemorse]

My friend is in the process of building a new computer for himself (for the
first time) and he asked me for a video card recommendation.

Right now he's planning to get the following:
GA-8KNXP motherboard
P4 2.8GHz cpu
512MB or 1024MB of RAM
Audigy 2 Gamer sound card.

He says he doesn't like playing computer games. With these components, I
recommended that he get a Radeon 9700 Pro (I doubt he'd ever go for a 9800
Pro) or a 9500 Pro. Are there some other alternatives? He said he would like
to buy a good video card around $150 with tv-out. Does anyone have any
better recommendations?

 

[Metaphoid]

A 9600Pro will likely overclock to achieve better results than a 9500Pro.
Will also run cooler and quieter, and should cost less as well.

Good mid-range option.

A 9700Pro isn't exactly a budget card though, and 9500 and 9600's aren't
much better. A true budget pick would be an 8500 or 9200, although they'll
be a definite bottleneck in a system like the one you've listed.

 

[J.Clarke]

My friend is in the process of building a new computer for himself
(for the first time) and he asked me for a video card recommendation.

Right now he's planning to get the following:
GA-8KNXP motherboard
P4 2.8GHz cpu
512MB or 1024MB of RAM
Audigy 2 Gamer sound card.

He says he doesn't like playing computer games. With these components,
I recommended that he get a Radeon 9700 Pro (I doubt he'd ever go for
a 9800 Pro) or a 9500 Pro. Are there some other alternatives? He said
he would like to buy a good video card around $150 with tv-out. Does
anyone have any better recommendations?

Not enough information to give a really good answer. If he's not into
gaming and doesn't need high 3d performance for some other reason, then
there's no reason to spend a lot of money for a video board. What is he
planning to do with the machine? What constitutes "goodness" in a video
board for him?

Also, what OS is he planning to run? If it's not Windows then driver
support can be an issue.

And, just a suggestion, but unless he's a serious audiophile or has
some specific application that requires the Audigy he should try the
onboard audio before paying for an add-in sound board. If he hasn't
listened to current-generation onboard audio he's likely going to be
surprised at how good it is.

 

[NightSky 421]

And, just a suggestion, but unless he's a serious audiophile or has
some specific application that requires the Audigy he should try the
onboard audio before paying for an add-in sound board. If he hasn't
listened to current-generation onboard audio he's likely going to be
surprised at how good it is.

No kidding. I used to scoff at on-board audio (for good reason), but I was
totally blown away at how good it has gotten in the last 15 months or so.
When I first bought my Asus P4B533 motherboard last year, I immediately
disabled the on-board sound and proceeded to use my trusty old sound card
because I thought on-board sound hadn't evolved over time. It took for a
friend of mine to convince me that the on-board sound was good. I didn't
believe him at first, but I tried it for the heck of it one day not
expecting much, and I was very surprised at how good it was. Best of all, I
had no compatibility issues with any of my games. Not long afterwards, I
ditched my sound card. It's my understanding that on-board sound has only
gotten better since I bought my motherboard.

 

[NoRemorse]

No kidding. I used to scoff at on-board audio (for good reason), but I was
totally blown away at how good it has gotten in the last 15 months or so.
When I first bought my Asus P4B533 motherboard last year, I immediately
disabled the on-board sound and proceeded to use my trusty old sound card
because I thought on-board sound hadn't evolved over time. It took for a
friend of mine to convince me that the on-board sound was good. I didn't
believe him at first, but I tried it for the heck of it one day not
expecting much, and I was very surprised at how good it was. Best of all, I
had no compatibility issues with any of my games. Not long afterwards, I
ditched my sound card. It's my understanding that on-board sound has only
gotten better since I bought my motherboard.

I did the exact opposite. When I got my Gigabyte 8INXP several months ago, I
wanted to use the integrated audio instead of my old Sound Blaster PCI128.
In some games, I started having choppy sound in some games. I figured it was
a driver issue, but I didn't want to bother with it. I went out and bought
the Audigy 2 Gamer and never looked back. Your board probably has a
higher-quality audio chip on it, however. I just wish they would stop using
host-based solutions on motherboards that use the cpu to crank out the
sound.