Wayne Posted June 20, 2000 Share Posted June 20, 2000 It's me again. I have a SiS 530 graphics accelerator with 4MB running with an AMD K6 at 450 MHz. I'm thinking that sometime I'll have to upgrade my system. What are some good choices in video cards on a tight budget. I want to bring my VRAM up to at least 16MB. Excuse me for being such a pest on this subject. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemo2 Posted June 20, 2000 Share Posted June 20, 2000 Wayne, there are generally two recommendations you'll get on this. Either go with a card based on the new GeForce 2 or Voodoo 5 chipset. I personally prefer the GeForce based card, but the Voodoo 5 cards are very good too. I've seen a few comments floating around here about issues with Voodoo based cards and CM so maybe do a search on these forums for the word Voodoo to track down those posts. As far as most of todays games go, I really don't think you can go wrong with either card. When upgrading your video card, if you're going to do it, then spend the extra money and buy a good one. Both these cards have 32MB of RAM along with some models of the GeForce 2 having 64MB. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrD Posted June 20, 2000 Share Posted June 20, 2000 If you're on a budget you can't go wrong with a TNT 2 based card with 32 RAM. On good example is the Diamond Viper V770 Ultra which you can get for $170. Of course you can't beat the full-screen anti-aliasing on the newer cards (or so I've heard) but they cost around $300! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 20, 2000 Share Posted June 20, 2000 Wayne - I think one limitation you are going to run into with your current motherboard is that you more than likely will not have an AGP slot. I could be wrong, in which case Hemo2's or DrD's advice should work (you may want something less expensive though). If you have the money then the 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI would probably be a good bet, but it will probably retail for just under US$300 (and it isn't available right now - just preorders). Being on a budget and requiring PCI I would suggest either a video card based on a NVidia TNT/TNT2 (in PCI) or an ATI Xpert 128 PCI 16Mb going for about US$80 (here's ATI's on-line store http://www.shopati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=1 ). Some people have had problems with the ATI drivers, so it is a bit hard to recommend something that is going to be absolutely problem-free given your system restrictions. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-20-2000).] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MantaRay Posted June 21, 2000 Share Posted June 21, 2000 I am sure he has an AGP slot, AMD-450's are not that bad!!! I had one. But going with a GeForce 2 or Voodoo 5 will be quite a bit of overkill for your system as your CPU can't keep up with those cards. Get a DV770 and it will run just fine, and they should be got for $100-140. Ray ------------------ When asked, "How many moves do you see ahead?", CAPABLANCA replied: "One move - the best one." MantaRays 5 Pages Hardcore Gamers Daily 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 21, 2000 Share Posted June 21, 2000 MantaRay - Wayne doesn't necessarily have an AGP port. His SiS 530 is a video controller built into the southbridge (?) of his chipset. I believe it uses a shared memory scheme where it gets its frame-buffer memory from the system memory. Depending on the board mfg. they may have decided to save a buck and not put in an AGP slot because they assume that the customer will be using the built in video ("value" oriented board design). Wayne - you need to check the manual of your motherboard (if you have it) and see if it mentions if you have an AGP SLOT (it will probably tell you that you have "AGP video", but that isn't what we're looking for here). If you don't have the manual, then you'll need to open up your case and look inside. An AGP slot will usually be brown in color and will be further away from the back of the computer than the PCI slots (which are often white in color). It will usually be the slot that is closest to your CPU. Whether you have an AGP slot or not will really affect what video card choices you have. Most of the current high-end cards are AGP, though some manufacturers are still making an occasional PCI video card, but not too often. By the way. Here are the latest drivers for the SiS 530. They're DirectX 7.0 compatible (v. 1.07). There are eight files that you need to download (get the right set for whichever version of Windows you're running) and copy into one directory. You'll need to extract each of the files (they're all self-extracting archives) and then run the setup program that gets extracted from the first one. SiS 530: http://www.sis.com.tw/support/download/530.htm [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-21-2000).] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschugaschwili Posted June 21, 2000 Share Posted June 21, 2000 Well, a Voodoo5 or a GeForce is definately overkill on your computer. I would go for a TNT2 in this case, although I don't know if there are PCI versions available if you haven't got an AGP slot. In this case a Voodoo3 might be the fastest choice (although I don't value this card very high). Dschugaschwili 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemo2 Posted June 21, 2000 Share Posted June 21, 2000 It is true that with the systemboard & cpu combo listed, a Voodoo 5 & GeForce 2 are overkill. You probably need a PIII-550 or better to realize the potential of these cards. So the question of whether or not Wayne will run this setup forever comes to light. If in the future the plan is to buy a 2nd new pc and keep this one in tact, then go with a less expensive card for this setup now. If the plan is to update the system board/cpu at a later date at just have this one system, then spend the money on the faster video card now, thus preventing having to buy another video card down the road. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted June 22, 2000 Share Posted June 22, 2000 Wayne, I'm running an AMD K6-2 450 W/128 megs of RAM, TNT-2 32meg (AGP) video card and win98. I upgraded from a 16meg banshee w/64meg of RAM and CM runs very very smooth now and the graphics blow away the older card. If you want a good and fairly cheap system this is what I would suggest with your cpu if you have that available AGP slot. If not then find a motherboard that has agp, super socket 7 boards are very affordable, I've used DFI and FIC, I like DFI better so far. ------------------ "It's a hardball world son. We've got to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted June 22, 2000 Author Share Posted June 22, 2000 [by the way. Here are the latest drivers for the SiS 530. They're DirectX 7.0 compatible (v. 1.07). There are eight files that you need to download (get the right set for whichever version of Windows you're running) and copy into one directory. You'll need to extract each of the files (they're all self-extracting archives) and then run the setup program that gets extracted from the first one. SiS 530: http://www.sis.com.tw/support/download/530.htm [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-21-2000).] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope Park Posted April 22, 2002 Share Posted April 22, 2002 I need to upgrade my card and see that GeForce 2s have come way down in price. However, the new game will probably demand more. So maybe I should just wait until it arrives before making that purchase? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted April 22, 2002 Share Posted April 22, 2002 CMBB won't demand more than 32MB of video card memory, I'm sure. Even so, a GEForce II MX/400 with 64MB of RAM is around the £70 ($110?) bracket, and it's got enough grunt to see you through 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope Park Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 Great stuff! (...but I thought £70 was ~$75?!) I've seen them advertised for <£45 minus VAT and P&P. Total ~ £60. Are there sub-types of GeForce 2? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 This supplier , who I use for all the PC's I build, has four different video cards, 32MB AGP, 32MB PCI, 64MB AGP and 'twin view' 32MB - and a 64MB AGP is £56.40 + VAT + delivery from them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope Park Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 Right, so there are different sub-types and I should go for the 64Mb version? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbs Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 From Soddball: CMBB won't demand more than 32MB of video card memory, I'm sure. Even so, a GEForce II MX/400 with 64MB of RAM is around the £70 ($110?) bracket, and it's got enough grunt to see you through I went searching back through old posts regarding CMBB and found a couple which may be relevant to Soddball's comment, above. Both Posts are from BTS administrators and are from the "(ahem) So what was that I recall about wanting a CMBB bone thrown???" thread, started on 3/1/02. From Kwazy Dog: Just to clarify, we cant do light and heavy damaged textures because we have already hit the 32mb VRAM limit (and then some actually), so this is a VRAM issue, not a time issue. and from Madmatt: CMBB will autoamtically down scale/sample textures if it detects you are running out of VRAM. Even so we have a HARD limit in mind when we design textures and this second set of damage textures would have pushed us over that limit. It's not as easy to just code an " empty slot" for graphics based on conditions as many people seem to think, thats a HUGE misconception about how things work. When we can do this we will try but more often than not it requires too much coding to implement. Madmatt I'm not sure what this means in terms of a 32mb vs. a 64mb card, but I think that I will get a 64 mb card just to be safe--unless I'm misreading something here?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gredeker Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 I seem to recall someone in the know (can't remember who or what thread) saying that a 32MB video card would downsample the textures one notch, implying that a 64MB card would be necessary for maximum graphic detail in CMBB. Since I'll be getting a whole new system very shortly, I'm looking to equip it with a 128MB GeForce 4 4200 or 4400 to stretch the timeline of the equipment a little further into the future. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agua Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 Originally posted by redeker: Since I'll be getting a whole new system very shortly, I'm looking to equip it with a 128MB GeForce 4 4200 or 4400 to stretch the timeline of the equipment a little further into the future.I've got the GF4 Ti4600 w/ 128MB DDR: as far as graphic quality, aside from the ability to increase the anti-aliasing, I've really seen no games that look any better than with the GF2 64MB DDR Ultra. I suppose as the capabilities of the GF4 are coded into more games, the difference will be apparent. But in any event, the 128MB does make a huge difference with regard to the framerate, even if the graphic quality is essentially the same. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope Park Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 My current card struggles with CMBO, so an upgrade is required. Besides CMBB, only GI Combat stirs any interest and I've no idea when it is due out. I'll be due a new machine in the new year so maybe 64Mb would do for now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry flashman Posted April 26, 2002 Share Posted April 26, 2002 you should find that the geforce 2 MX400 64mb version will cope more easily with higher resolutions like 1024x860 and over. and this card is quite cheap at the moment.ok, so it's not top of the range but it runs modern games well, runs quite fast and doesn't heat up the way the old geforces used to. heck, it doesn't even have a fan on it [tho i've put one on anywys]... not that it needed it... i just o/clock occasionally. hope this helps das 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope Park Posted April 30, 2002 Share Posted April 30, 2002 It does, thanks. One of my buddies is in the same boat as me - elderly graphics card; keen to play the new game. We have decided to wait for the new game to actually come out before making that purchase. That way we can be sure the cards we buy will cope; prices are falling all the time; and isn't the 1.0 version of *any* software worthy only of a wide berth? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 30, 2002 Share Posted April 30, 2002 Wow, cool old thread... Voodoo 5 5500's on pre-order & TNT 2 cards for $170! Gyrene 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted April 30, 2002 Share Posted April 30, 2002 Posted by WBS: From Soddball: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CMBB won't demand more than 32MB of video card memory, I'm sure. Even so, a GEForce II MX/400 with 64MB of RAM is around the £70 ($110?) bracket, and it's got enough grunt to see you through -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I went searching back through old posts regarding CMBB and found a couple which may be relevant to Soddball's comment, above. Both Posts are from BTS administrators and are from the "(ahem) So what was that I recall about wanting a CMBB bone thrown???" thread, started on 3/1/02. From Kwazy Dog: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just to clarify, we cant do light and heavy damaged textures because we have already hit the 32mb VRAM limit (and then some actually), so this is a VRAM issue, not a time issue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- and from Madmatt: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CMBB will autoamtically down scale/sample textures if it detects you are running out of VRAM. Even so we have a HARD limit in mind when we design textures and this second set of damage textures would have pushed us over that limit. It's not as easy to just code an " empty slot" for graphics based on conditions as many people seem to think, thats a HUGE misconception about how things work. When we can do this we will try but more often than not it requires too much coding to implement. Madmatt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure what this means in terms of a 32mb vs. a 64mb card, but I think that I will get a 64 mb card just to be safe--unless I'm misreading something here?? Those comments relate to Macs and their VRAM, and don't affect PC's. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjelinek Posted May 1, 2002 Share Posted May 1, 2002 I bought a GeForce2 MX/400 w/64mb for $85 on Ebay. It was new in a sealed box with a return policy. And this was about 6 months ago. If your patient you can find deals like this. I had to probably bid on 10 different boards over a 3 or 4 week period until I got the price that I wanted. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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