Reasonably Priced PCIe Card ? ? ?

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Ðavïd

I am looking to upgrade my computer using an Asus P5GD1 mainboard
with a P4 3.0G 530J 800MHz FSB and 1G (2x512) PC3200 ram. The cost of
these components is around $430.10 as I'm watching for the prices to
come down.

I am undecided on which video card to use as the mainboard requires
PCIe. I won't be gaming, just general web surfing and DVD clips. I am
considering an Abit RX600PRO-256. Newegg has it priced at $132.00
plus $1.99 S&H.

What has piqued my interest in this card is a review
fromTom'sHardware Guide.

What I'm asking, as this newsgroup is familiar with video
cards,isthere a better choice for a reasonably priced PCIe video
card?

Thanks in advance,
David
Greenville, NC


http://www.abit-usa.com/products/graphics/techspec.php?categories=2&model=194 http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041129/tft_connection-15.html
 
If you never game then a Radeon x600 card is overkill. Instead, save some money and just
get a Radeon x300 series PCIe card. It will cost substantially less and do everything you
could want, short of modern gaming at higher resolutions.
 
Alternatively you could get a nvidia(shhhhh) 6200. That way if you ever take
up gaming it will treat ya little better than an x300. Plus you could get a
"TC" version which shares some of its memory with your ram making it even
cheaper, and not taking too much of a performance hit.
 
Todd wrote...
If you never game then a Radeon x600 card is overkill. Instead,
save some money and just get a Radeon x300 series PCIe card. It
will cost substantially less and do everything you could want,
short of modern gaming at higher resolutions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion.

Here is a Newegg search of X300 PCIe cards. If saving money was my
primary objective, the Jetway looks like the way to go. Is this
really my best choice among this group? I know nothing about Jetway.

David
Greenville, NC

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1
 
Veritech wrote...
Alternatively you could get a nvidia(shhhhh) 6200. That way if you
ever take up gaming it will treat ya little better than an x300.
Plus you could get a "TC" version which shares some of its memory
with your ram making it even cheaper, and not taking too much of a
performance hit.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion.

Here is a Newegg search of 6200 PCIe cards. The prices are similar
to the X300 results. I hate to ask a tired, worn out question, but I
don't know the difference between ATI and nVIDIA. I have looked and
tried to make sense of this. The only thing I conclude, it is like
Ford verses Chevrolet. Both companies make good and bad cars; it
depends on what an individual likes. Maybe a more specific
explanation of "treat ya little better" will suffice.

Memory sharing is something I'd like to avoid. The days of the
WinModem broke me of that. 256mb of memory is what I'm considering. I
prefer the card to utilize it's own power.

David
Greenville, NC

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1
 
I'm not familiar with the TC Technology in the nvidia card but ATI have
announced something called Hypermemory which sounds as if it does the same.
They're releasing it on their lower end PCI Express cards such as the X300SE
and Mobility Xxxx series items. Here's a link:
http://www.ati.com/products/hypermemory.html

Paul
 
Personally, I don't think the nVidia 6200 series would be noticeably different than a
Radeon X300 card, especially if the nVidia card was using shared system memory.

One thing ATi has always had over Nvidia is 2D quality, that is very sharp rendering of
fonts on screen. Matrox has long been the undisputed champ in this arena but having used
both ATi and Matrox I can say that I have not found any appreciable differences between
them for about the last 3 years or so.

Nvidia, on the other hand, has definitely been playing catchup here and some of their
partners still cheap out on simple components in Nvidia's stock specs and produce cards
with fuzzy 2D, especially when you hit say 1280x1024 or higher.

Almost any ATi based card, (where ATi makes the chip), will be very good to you. Jetway
I'm sure will have a fine x300 card for you.

But if you really want to check out the Nvidia cards, go to one of their fan sites and
make specific enquiries about what I've mentioned here. The majority of nVidia based cards
are, I'm sure, pretty good nowadays.
 
From my understanding the only difference is ati's cards tend to have
slightly more detailed textures, than nvidia cards, plus nvidia cards tend
to run a lot hotter then their ati rivials, hence the double height coolers
on the higher end nvidia cards.

Currently Nvidia pretty much rule in the performance stakes(Geforce 6 series
vs ati X series). while the ati ruled with there previous series(ati 9xxx vs
nvidia fx5xxx).

Toms hardware website is great for this sorta stuff(google it)

How that was helpful.
 
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