Hi,
I’m purchasing a video card for a client I’ve narrowed it down to two both made by Galaxy (based on the Nvidia platform) I’m confused while they seem to be basically the same card the feautres seem considerably different if the specs are accurate… Can someone tell me which is better? Here’s the links:
I can’t tell you which is better, but I do have one piece of advice: before picking a card, make sure that your computer’s power supply is adaquate for any hypothetical card you might purchase. Some of the better cards recommend power supply capablities that might necessitate you replacing the power supply as well as the card.
Both of those cards are terrible, especially for $40-$45. The Geforce 8400 GS is an old budget card, while the Geforce 210 is a newer budget card. The Geforce 8400 GS has 8 Stream Processors, while the Geforece 210 has 16, IIRC. I wouldn’t reccomend either of them.
They are cheap to make garbage cards that Nvidia came out with to sell to people who don’t know any better. If you need to low profile card, then something like this Sapphire Radeon 4650 will massively outperform both the cards you listed, while costing about the same. If you heart is still set on a Geforce 210 for some reason, please go to Newegg and get one; you can get a brand new one for less than what that guy on Ebay is charging for a used one. It is amazing how much computer stuff is more expensive used on Ebay than it is brand new at Newegg or Zipzoomfly.
PS - while comparing Stream Processor counts is useful when comparing Nvidia cards to other Nvidia card, and AMD cards to other AMD cards, due to radical difference in their GPU design, don’t use them to compare Nvidia to AMD cards.
On the other hand, depending on what you were using the computer for, I definitely could recommend either of them.
Neither of these cards are any good for playing modern 3D games, but they are great for general computing, watching HD movies, and playing web-based or general interest games. They are low power, low heat, low noise, and just work without hassle. As a basic video card or as a step up from onboard video, these are nice little cards.
You should be able to find either of these cards in the $20-30 range. If you are going to pay $50, however, there are certainly better cards, as RandomLetters notes.
The “any card will be OK for general computing, don’t sweat it” advice used to be valid, but if you are going to run the aero desktop on Vista or Windows 7, you need to worry about the 3D support. The lower end “vista ready” cards may just barely function in this regard.
ok all advice is noted, I guess I’ve been staring at this stuff too long and it’s cooking my brain, I don’t game myself and I hardly ever look into cutting edge video card tech. So I guess I’m making some poor choices but in my defense. This card is going into an old dell dimension 9200
the PCI-e 16x slot is perhaps a 1.1 version slot but I can’t be certain and I’ve read about issues with the 2.0 version PCI-e video cards vs 1.0 slot compatibility. I don’t look forward to looking like a fool in front of this lady. She plays Second Life as far as I know it’s the only 3D game she would be running with this card.
So she just needs an inexpensive Nvidia card ( she prefers Nvidia) to run some light 3D stuff and maybe some HD media.
That is a valid point. I believe that both of these cards give Aero scores between 3.4 and 3.8. That is certainly good enough to run the interface, but it might not be silky smooth.
Back to the OP, the 8400 GS and 210 are effectively the same in terms of performance. The 210 has an edge in that it is newer, requires 25% less power, has newer directx support (DX10.1 vs DX10), and slightly better HDMI support. The 8400 GS has an edge in that it is often cheaper and its design has been vetted over the years, so it is theoretically more reliable.