P3B-f and better graphics?

[Ørjan Langbakk]

Hi!

I'm currently running an Asus P3B-f using a GeForce 2 Ti card - I'm
looking for a card with better 2D quality, but preferably without
compromising the speed when playing games.

I could of course buy a used Matrox G400 or better, but the 3D /
gaming-speed of these cards leaves a lot to be decided...

So, I'm wondering what card I should try to find, that will work in this
old motherboard?

The AGP-slot is only 2x, but I've not really come to thermes with the
difference between AGP 2x, 4x & 8x, and wether or not one can use new
cards in old AGP-slots etc.

All advice is appreciated!

 

[Donald White]

Hi!

I'm currently running an Asus P3B-f using a GeForce 2 Ti card - I'm
looking for a card with better 2D quality, but preferably without
compromising the speed when playing games.

I could of course buy a used Matrox G400 or better, but the 3D /
gaming-speed of these cards leaves a lot to be decided...

So, I'm wondering what card I should try to find, that will work in this
old motherboard?

The AGP-slot is only 2x, but I've not really come to thermes with the
difference between AGP 2x, 4x & 8x, and wether or not one can use new
cards in old AGP-slots etc.

All advice is appreciated!

I won't claim my answer is your answer, since I don't play games. I use
a p3b-f and recently bought a large LCD display. I wanted to upgrade my
video card to support DVI at 1600x1200. There didn't seem to be many
choices for the 2x AGP slot. I ended up with an ATI 9000 Pro OEM from
newegg.com. The card is for 2x and 4x AGP, DX8.1. It does what I want
and was about $75. It replaced my Matrox G400 without DVI.

Don

 

[id]

I've been using an ATI 9000 pro 128 on a P3B-F for two months now
without a problem. That's the built by ATI version. Far better than the
Voodoo 5 5500 it replaced, and runs much cooler. It doubled the frame
rates on MS FS 2002.

Ian

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

Hi!

I'm currently running an Asus P3B-f using a GeForce 2 Ti card - I'm
looking for a card with better 2D quality, but preferably without
compromising the speed when playing games.

"Better quality" is relative - which monitor, resolution and refresh
rate? If your current GF2TI (make/model?) has the miserable output
quality of the GF2MX I used here until today (1152x864 at 85 Hz slightly
blurry, 1280x1024 at 60 Hz OK-ish), then any card with a half decent
analog output should be noticeably better.
For example, what I now have on my P2B-D is a Sapphire Radeon 9000
Atlantis, basically about as close to "Built by ATI" as it gets for the
European market (HIS/Enmic also makes good ATI based cards). c't
magazine rated the primary output to be "good" at 1280x1024 and
"moderate" at 1600x1200. I also have a P3B-F based box that uses the
very same graphics card; have had no trouble with the AGP clocked at 89
MHz, but the TMDS transmitter appears partly defective on that one (that
was quite a disappointment, given the DVI out had been one reason to
choose this card; fortunately, the new one does not exhibit any DVI
related problems, so the first one was apparently a lemon). The current
successor to the Radeon 9000 is the Radeon 9200, a chip dissipating even
less heat and supporting AGP 8X (though I have no idea how that would
affect the overclockability AGP wise in a 3.3V-only board). I haven't
seen any signal quality tests of a 9200.

A Radeon 9000/9200 (not the castrated 9200SE) should be in the same
ballpark as your current GF2TI performance wise, but its 3D feature list
is better.

If you want 3D performance that is a class better than that, you may
want to look out for a GF4TI4200 based card with good signal quality.

Another graphics chip that springs to mind is the ATI Radeon
8500(LE)/9100, somewhat above the 9000Pro 3D wise (actually, the 9000 is
a stripped-down 8500 with 2 instead of 4 texture units).
Guillemot/Hercules used to make 8500(LE) based cards with good signal
quality. Apart from that, the FireGL cards based on the 8500's CAD
relatives (8800 and 8800LE) seem to offer excellent image sharpness.

You may find this table helpful, from German tecChannel mag:
http://www.tecchannel.de/tecdaten/s...=989&sort=signalabfallzeitvgans&sortorder=asc

Stephan

 

[jimbob]

I have 4 computers with the P3B-F in them one is running my 3dfx Voodoo
3's and 4 - 5's here. others I use Asus Geforce 3 ti200 (woks great for
games) also
I own Asus Geforce 4 Ti4200, (Works Great again for games) no complaints).
this has always been my Favorite chip set 440bx. I have TONS OF GAMES
and stuff that will run on this board,. love 'em,. I now thismuch nows a
good time to be buying these cards for the older chipset,. in a year or two
I think it maybe get
harder to get a video card that will run in older systems, time move super
fast, I don't like to buy used video cards on ebay, but sometimes you might
find a good deal.

Awhile back I tried an ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video card, Return is it to the
store,. tried a few dos games, for get it,. I had problem with closing the
dos game,.
and I would still have some colored line on my screen,. but this was done on
my Asus P4PE BP 845E system. ATI, as I am still not convence there do for
me until
I try another and test,. I would love to another,. I'm sure there could
cards.

 

[Ørjan Langbakk]

In

"Better quality" is relative - which monitor, resolution and refresh
rate? If your current GF2TI (make/model?) has the miserable output
quality of the GF2MX I used here until today (1152x864 at 85 Hz
slightly blurry, 1280x1024 at 60 Hz OK-ish), then any card with a
half decent analog output should be noticeably better.

Currently running the GeForce 2 Ti on 1920x1440 or 2048x1536 so I need a
card that gives good 2D output in that range, preferrably at 80Hz or
better. (I'm running an Eizo F930 21" screen).

A Radeon 9000/9200 (not the castrated 9200SE) should be in the same
ballpark as your current GF2TI performance wise, but its 3D feature
list is better.

If you want 3D performance that is a class better than that, you may
want to look out for a GF4TI4200 based card with good signal quality.

Another graphics chip that springs to mind is the ATI Radeon
8500(LE)/9100, somewhat above the 9000Pro 3D wise (actually, the 9000
is a stripped-down 8500 with 2 instead of 4 texture units).
Guillemot/Hercules used to make 8500(LE) based cards with good signal
quality. Apart from that, the FireGL cards based on the 8500's CAD
relatives (8800 and 8800LE) seem to offer excellent image sharpness.

I'll look into these cards. How about the Radeon 9600? How does that card
compare to these others? And does a 9600 work on AGP 2x?

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

Currently running the GeForce 2 Ti on 1920x1440 or 2048x1536 so I
need a card that gives good 2D output in that range, preferrably at
80Hz or better. (I'm running an Eizo F930 21" screen).

That's a really high resolution. Not all 9000/9200 cards have good
output quality at resolutions that high. Some reviews include signal
quality measurement, but right now I can't remember where I saw these
tests - they could also be problematic because it might be possible that
not all cards (same manufacturer/model) might be equally good. Best
thing would probably be if you could try out some cards.

I'll look into these cards. How about the Radeon 9600? How does that
card compare to these others? And does a 9600 work on AGP 2x?

The 9600 is a much better card (3d features/performance wise), but it
supports 1.5V/0.8V signaling only and doesn't work in old 3.3V ("AGP
2x") slots. The same is true for the Matrox P650/750.

Roland

 

[Roy Sharif M. Sison]

Stephan,

I would recommend that you buy high-end graphic cards since you're using it for very high
resolutions.
NVidia has high-end series of cards, the ones being used by graphics companies.

HTH.

Roy

 

[Coolasblu]

Just out of interest, what cpu r you using? I loved my p3b-f til it burnt !

 

[Ørjan Langbakk]

In

Just out of interest, what cpu r you using? I loved my p3b-f til it
burnt !

I'm currently using a 1.4 Ghz Celeron, on a Slot-T adapter.

 

[Ørjan Langbakk]

In

Stephan,

I would recommend that you buy high-end graphic cards since you're
using it for very high
resolutions.
NVidia has high-end series of cards, the ones being used by graphics
companies.

Those are probably _very_ expensive, and also probably not able to run in
an AGP 2x slot?