Yeah, it’s that time again. Another component is ready for replacement. Lately, my Voodoo Banshee 3dfx 16 MB video card has been acting up: it’s not properly supported by Windows XP, and the third party drivers are iffy at best. I think it’s a little overwhelmed by all the input. The computer sometimes freezes, and upon reboot XP tells me the problem was the 3dfx card.
So, I figured it’s time for a new one. Here are the requirements:[ul][]The computer is a Pentium III 550 Mhz[]It has 384 MB of RAM, which is the absolute max for the motherboard[]The motherboard is an Intel SE 440 BX-2 one[]The sound card is a cool one, a Terratec X-fire 1024 with digital I/O for my MiniDisc player :)[]I use the system for regular stuff, like browsing and typing[]Some gaming is done, but I’m not looking for a top-end solution in that regard[]I was thinking, 64 MB of memory?[]Budget? Beats me… about EUR 100 or so?[/ul]Can you, Knowledgable Dopers, help a Clog Boy out?
If you want to go budget-style, I know in the US you can find OEM GeForce2 Ti 64MB cards for around $55-65, because I just got one so I could play Neverwinter Nights. Dollar’s about even with the Euro isn’t it? No reason to spend a big C if you don’t game all that often.
Still, it’s hard to price out PC components for people in other countries… the prices are too variable by region and international shipping fees are truly random.
Yeah, I know - just suggestions on what sort of card might work well for my system is good enough. I can use the local price comparison sites for further research.
I’m just looking for an “optimal” solution. I’m sure a 256 MB card will be useless for me. But I DO like the idea of hooking it up to cable so I can watch TV on it. What do you need then, a coax in?
Coax in with a tv tuner. You might want to check out something like ATI’s Radeon All in Wonder, which is built specifically with merging TV and computers in mind.
And Astro, the 4 MX is probably the worst price/performance graphics processer on the market right now. It’s not even a real Geforce 4, it’s more like a souped up 2 MX CITE .The 3 TI is a better choice for a similar price. The 4MX 420 is especially hideous with it’s slow memory.
I second the All-in-Wonder (assuming you really want to watch cable on the clogbox). You should be able to find an older model which should work fine for you at a reasonable price. A quick eyeball on Pricewatch suggests that you could pick up one based on the Radeon 7500 for ca EUR 120 or less…the tv-output would also be a plus for you (mmm…home theater…)
ATI is also getting a lot better about driver releases, so stability shouldn’t be much of an issue. Just my two cents.
I paid $180USD for a Chaintech GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128MB from newegg.com. You can get a 64MB version for $138USD. You’ll probably want to stay away from anything by Gainward. They just shut their doors. Using pricewatch.com, I saw a 64MB Radeon with VIVO (video in-video out) for $96USD.
Can’t go wrong with a Herc. They recently merged with Guillemot, another one of my favorite video card manufacturers. That’s definitely moving out of “budget” range, though.
Yeah, no kidding… about EUR 220 is what I’m getting at price searches. Hmmm. I also find a lot of TV-out cards, but it doesn’t say if they have a TV in, which is what I’m mostly interested in. The Hercules cards are getting great reviews everywhere, which bodes well.
There do seem to be some lower-end Hercules cards with 64 MB and TV-options, I just don’t know if they have a TV-in.
You could go with a cheaper video card and get a separate tuner card like a Hauppage (this is the route I took). That might be somewhat cheaper, although it’ll be a little more annoying to install.
I still think you should do some digging and see if you can find an older version of the All-in-wonder. I think I’ve seen Radeon 7500 based ones for fairly cheap–that’ll do the tv-in, tv-out and still be powerful to handle the occasional spot of gaming…not as fast as the current crop of cards, but still fairly respectable. ATI is also still pumping out driver releases for xp, so that’s a plus.
Unless it specifically says in big, red letters that it has tv-in, it probably doesn’t have it.
Hercules is a third-party manufacturer. They usually stick to very good Geforce boards, but they recently released the (also very good) board you found based on ATI’s Radeon 8500 processor. ATI also sells it’s own boards based on it’s processors, among which are ‘All-In-Wonder’ boards based on various processors that it makes. The (budget) card that slortar and I are talking about is manufactured by ATI, using the Radeon 7500 chip. So it would be something like ‘ATI Radeon 7500 All-In-Wonder’…I think there’s also a ‘DV’ version of the board, but all it is is the regular board with a firewire connecter grafted on. The regular 7500 All-in-Wonder retails for about $120 US.
Avoid any non-Radeon ATI board, as the drivers were crap as was the picture quality on TV-out. (Based on personal experience with a Rage 128 card, which made me disable graphics accelleraton if I wanted to run Printshop.)
