Whats the best grahics card ....

zeemoud

i'll need all you help cause theres so many ones out their.i only have agp X2.Whats the best grahics card for under 120 pounds or so?

bugler

Have a look at the for sale board, some nice ones up for grabs.Look to grab a kyro 2 or a Gf1/2 DDR.For 120 you can do better than a GF mx..

_CreeD_

In that price range nothing beats a Kyro-2 (Hercules Prophet 4500 being a common brand).

po0k

Lay your hands on an origional GeForce 256 Dr if you can. i reckon they're better then the MX.
I remember someone posting actual benchmarks on these boards too w ahile back. Of course newer drivers may very well have changed allt hat.
The Ati Radeon is supposedly good too.

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astrofool

the gef2 mx is between the orinal gef1 sdr and gef1 DDR performance wise, it's performance is ALL based on memory bandwidth, and that should be your only real consideration when buying a geforce card, it goes in this order:

MX 200 - 64bit sdr bandwidth - 1.4gb/s

MX - 64bit ddr or 128 bit sdr bandwidth - 2.8gb/s

MX 400 - 64bit ddr or 128 bit sdr bandwidth - 2.8gb/s (core speed is 200mhz instead of the 175 of the MX, this makes NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL to benchmarks, differences being like .1 to 1 fps, the MX is memory bandwidth limited) this sometimes comes in 64 mb versions which will give a slight frame boost at 1280 or 1600, but frame rate will be so low it won't make a diff.

Gef2 GTS - 128bit ddr bandwidth 5.2gb/s

Gef2 pro - 128bit DDR bandwitch 6.4gb/s

Gef2 Ultra - 128bit DDR bandwidth 7.5gb/s

Gef3 - 128bit DDR bandwidth 7.5gb/s

the gef3 is slightly more efficient than the ultra as it uses a better more efficient memory controller.

the Kyro II is a very good chip, good performance and doesn't rely on memory bandwidth as it renders only what you see on screen, the others render everything (worst case scenario, in game you are looking at an intricate castle, but are covering your eyes with your hand, every other graphics card does everything, the kyro just renders what u c (the hand) and as a result can do it faster. Drivers however have been buggy for it, but are improving of late, and the technology doesn't give the same huge frame rates in older games that other cards get.

Radeons are as good as geforces, bar the driver support is terrible, and only of late has been getting good performance out of them, that and the fact that the only radeon worth getting is the NON OEM radeon 64mb ddr. + they are expensive.

Nvidia are releasing new cards this week and new drivers barring any disasters. the new drivers give a 5% boost to fps in most games and up to 30% on the gef3.

The new ATI chips are also looking lovely.

Wait a couple of weeks and c what happens a gef3 mx might be on the cards.

The kyro 3 should be the first REALLY competitve kyro card, the rest being decent but not mind blowing (the way nvidia can be brute force wise).

at 120 get an mx or kyro, if u can the gef 2 gts is going for about the same price right now if you can find them, and the gef2 pro is only a bit dearer

also a graphics card has VERY little effect in the fps you get in a game like half life or even q3 nowadays, follow this little rule:

Chip = fps

gfx = how nice it looks (res effects etc)

zeemoud

thanks ASTROFOOL ,

for that important info,i managed to secure a card (Geforce II PRO 64MB DDR-RAM) on e-bay for about £140 Including postage. hopefully it will do the job nicely

thanks mate