Hi all, I'm planning to upgrade

[phirst]

Hi all,

I'm planning to upgrade my machine...
Athlon XP 1600+
MSI 6380 Pro2
256Mb DDR
but my big question is which graphics board?
As I don't have the money to buy Geforce3 I'm hestitating between:
Geforce 2 Titanium 64Mb DDR TV out (Hercules, Leadtek ?) and
ATI Radeon 7500 64Mb DDR TV out.
I use my computer for a bit of everything:
Work (programming)
Web
Games (3D and educational for my son)
DVD, DivX
Thanx for your comments,
phirst.

 

[paparazi]

Both very good choices!! and both have very similar performance! but at the moment the Nvidia board (G/force) has better driver support and looks to stay that way so I would go G/force Ti.
Look out for Golden samples that have slightly faster memory but price is the real issue as all G/force Ti's will perform within a whisker of eachother but prices of differant makes vary considerably. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[dakota81]

I really want to say go with the Radeon video card, but I still have to agree with paparazi, ATI just does not know how to write the drivers for their hardware. In terms of performance, the Radeon boards can perform just as fast as the top GeForce3 cards, but if the drivers are buggy, then the hardware is useless.

With your motherboard choice, MSI makes high quality motherboards, but just beware that MSI is one of those companies that does not offer technical support directly. If for some reason you have a problem with the board, you will have to take it up with the company you buy the board from.

 

[paparazi]

Hey! I'd love to say ATI, I like the under dog!! Nvidia has had it'd own way for too long!
If you had of said ATI's Radeon 8500 against the G/force 3 Ti500 I probably would say RADEON!!!
It might be of interest to you Toms Hardware guide have reviewed the MSI 63082PRO2.
They have the Soyo Dragon SY-K7V as Best
Soltek SL-75DRV2 second
Chaintech CT-7VJDA Third
Asus A7V-266E
MSI somewhere in the middle, but it's all relative!
I'd love one if only I had the money!! Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[phirst]

Thanx Martin & dakota81,
I'd heard ATI had driver problems so I guess NVidia is the way go.
Cheers!

 

[ceh4702]

I saw an add for a Pine Geforce3 TI 200 for $139.00 at

http://www.tigerdirect.com?

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[cdogg]

From what I hear, Visiontek's Xtacy 6964 is one of the top GeForce3 Ti-500 boards out there! It has blown away the ATI Radeon 8500 in just about every benchmark (3DMark2001 and Quake III), even with the latest revised ATI drivers.

I've also always been a huge fan of Hercules boards, although you can save yourself some $ by going with Visiontek or Leadtek. The difference is usually the amount of software that comes bundled...

 

[phirst]

Thanx again for your comments, there seems to be a definite swing for NVidia.
But what if I say "MPEG decompression"? (DVD, Divx...)
ATI does hardware decompression, but Geforce2 does not.
Then again the Athlon should take care of it!?
Comments welcome...
Cheers.