You will have to make a choice on what is more important here, and in this
case, it boils down to more than just price and quality.
1. On the cost issue, A TNT (1) based product or a voodoo 3 2000 would be
obvious choice, both can be purchased for around $75 - $105 if you look
around. Some would argue that the V3 is inadequate for today's games, but
that just isn't true for now. Tomorrow's games are a different story...see
point 3.
2. On the CURRENT quality/speed point, a TNT 2 Ultra based product would be
the obvious choice. They are solid as a rock (especially with Open GL)and
are screaming fast. You can nab one of the for around @190 - $250.
3. Future value: This is a sure thing on the hardware side and a bit of a
gamble on the manufacturer's ability to improve their drivers. I am of
course referring to the now infamous Matrox G400 MAX. This card is SWEET.
It can push 2 monitors right out of the box, at DIFFERENT
resolutions/refresh rates (thanks to 2 RAMDACS, one of which being 360 mHz,
the fastest to date in a consumer-level card) or it can push 1 monitor and 1
TV, etc. It has 32 MB of 5 ns memory (TNT 2 = 5.5-7) and offers the best
visual quality in 2d and 3d. The only worry I have is Open GL support. The
MAX already is the reigning king of Direct 3d (see the Quake 3 website for
the posted benchmarks on this thing!) but to accell in today's market you
need both D3D and OGL. The reason this card will last longer than a V3/TNT
2 is because of 2 features: the aforementioned "dual-head" capabilities (2
video outputs) and environmental bump-mapping...you gotta see this to
believe it. Check out www.matrox.com to see the screenshots of what this
feature can do to a game... I pre-ordered a MAX and it should arrive
today...I paid $250 direct from Matrox's website...I always love a good
gamble.
Brad Boutwell
Tulsa, OK
*****************
I am in the market for a new video card for my K6-2 300-400 pc. It will be
running Win98 and possibly Linux/Unix. I will mainly be using business apps
such as Office 97-2000 and drawing programs (Corel Draw, no cad), as well as
Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc. I am also interested in 3D games, and
would like the card to last me for a while. Right now I am using the
"original" Voodoo 1 Rush chipset, and feel that is aging quite a bit. Being
a college student I am always budget minded, but I realize the graphics card
is one of the more important parts of a computer. (Other components can be
skimmed on) :)Please any recommendations/comments/opinions/experiences would
be greatly appreciated, and might benefit others on the list as well. Here
are the "main" choices that I am considering (there may be others of which I
am unaware):
TNT2 (Hercules, Diamond, etc.)
Voodoo3 (3dfx)
Savage 4 pro+ (Diamond, Hercules, etc.)
G400 (Matrox)
*
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