Hello, folks. I've just finished reading this entire thread (3 years worth!), and it's been very helpful. Thanks to everyone who posts helpful info/comments to it.
My situation is a bit different from most. I have an AGP 4x slot, but it's occupied by my Wildcat Realizm 200 CAD card which I need for other purposes. I recently decided to game a bit, which requires me to install a PCI gaming-suitable card. Fortunately, my mobo allows me to select PCI or AGP graphics at startup. Here's what I've gleaned from this thread:
The best options right now are: Radeon 2400 HD; X1550; X1300. Nvidia 8400 GS; 8500 GT. (Other cards announced but not yet available in the US include Nvidia 9400 and 9500.)
All these cards come with 256 M memory, except the 8400 which can have 512. The favorite seems to be the 8500. However, there's a price penalty: as someone on here noted, you can get a new 512 M 8400 for $30 (microcenter.com; $40 with a $10 rebate, but hurry! it ends 12/28), but an 8500 will cost $100.
Two questions I've not seen definitively answered:
1. Does the advantage of twice the onboard memory of the 8400 (512 vs 256) make up for the other, lower, specs over the 8500? Or, are they close enough to justify the $70 price savings?
2. Does the data transfer bottleneck of PCI negate the advantage of the 128 over the 64 bit bus? I've seen this question answered both ways: the PCI so restricts data transfer that it doesn't really matter what the bus speed is...or (the other side), that of COURSE a twice-higher bus speed means better performance. So, which is it?
I'd like to buy the 8500, but frankly I wonder if it's worth 70$ more. I suspect I'd be very happy with the 8400 or the X1550 (I can get it for @40).
(My computer: MSI 694T; full tower; P3 Tualatin OCed 1.6G; 1.5G SDRAM; 400w power; LOTS of cooling. This system is WAY faster than the P4 2.2?G setup I use at work.)
My situation is a bit different from most. I have an AGP 4x slot, but it's occupied by my Wildcat Realizm 200 CAD card which I need for other purposes. I recently decided to game a bit, which requires me to install a PCI gaming-suitable card. Fortunately, my mobo allows me to select PCI or AGP graphics at startup. Here's what I've gleaned from this thread:
The best options right now are: Radeon 2400 HD; X1550; X1300. Nvidia 8400 GS; 8500 GT. (Other cards announced but not yet available in the US include Nvidia 9400 and 9500.)
All these cards come with 256 M memory, except the 8400 which can have 512. The favorite seems to be the 8500. However, there's a price penalty: as someone on here noted, you can get a new 512 M 8400 for $30 (microcenter.com; $40 with a $10 rebate, but hurry! it ends 12/28), but an 8500 will cost $100.
Two questions I've not seen definitively answered:
1. Does the advantage of twice the onboard memory of the 8400 (512 vs 256) make up for the other, lower, specs over the 8500? Or, are they close enough to justify the $70 price savings?
2. Does the data transfer bottleneck of PCI negate the advantage of the 128 over the 64 bit bus? I've seen this question answered both ways: the PCI so restricts data transfer that it doesn't really matter what the bus speed is...or (the other side), that of COURSE a twice-higher bus speed means better performance. So, which is it?
I'd like to buy the 8500, but frankly I wonder if it's worth 70$ more. I suspect I'd be very happy with the 8400 or the X1550 (I can get it for @40).
(My computer: MSI 694T; full tower; P3 Tualatin OCed 1.6G; 1.5G SDRAM; 400w power; LOTS of cooling. This system is WAY faster than the P4 2.2?G setup I use at work.)