Graphics Card Advice

[Dave's not here]

I am thinking about doing a little upgrading of my PC and was wondering if anyone has any advice about a good graphics card. I have a PII 300 and I am going to order 256 MB of PC133 and another case fan and try to OC to around 400-450. Right now I have a Matrox Productiva G100 w/ 4 MB of ram and no open GL support. I am thinking about upgrading to a GeForce2 MX400 32MB. Is this a waste of money with a PII? Is there another card that might offer similar performance for less $$$?
TIA.

[Pras]

I've got a PII 266. Just bought a GF2MX. It's ok, not that great. If you can get it for under $65-75 USD, it's probably not a bad deal. For me, the performance increase hasn't been massive. If you plan on gaming, etc. I think GeForce is good; again, don't expect any miracles. Besides that, ATI makes some great all around cards, but there is a wide range of products. You can also buy some of the Voodoo series - however they are defunct and prices may still be high.

Try www.pricewatch.com. (http://www.pricewatch.com.) Often, vendors that list there have a price specially for pricewatch customers. All you need to do is mention that you saw it there.

[Dave's not here]

Bump...anyone else?

[bdg1983]

I really don't like to recommend anything since it all depends on the persons taste and requirements.

Get the Matrox G400 32MB dualhead as it is very well supported in Linux and 2 behind the G550 and G450 so it can be had for a good price.

[recluse.]

Pras I think that your cpu could be bottle necking the performance of your geforce.

[Crixus]

Some friends are recommending the Nvidia cards.

A thread on slashdot had a LOT of people recommending the Matrox stuff, especially the G400. They didn't like the Nvidia stuff all that much.

But what about the 450 and 550? Are they better supported now with Xfree 4.1? Are they better performign cards than the 400?

I'm building a new box next month and need good advice here. :-)

Crixus...

[MBMarduk]

Well, according to tomshardware.com a regular GeForce2 GTS (the one that's a notch above the MX models) starts getting utilized fully when you have an Athlon 800-1000MHz.
So with a PII I reckon you won't be utilizing anything like 50% of the card's power because it'll constantly be waiting for numbers from the slow CPU.

No wonder Pras' "gain" from an MX card wasn't spectacular. I guess a Riva TNT2 or similar might be more appropriate for a PII.

Heh...I'M the one still using a 5 year old S3 ViRGE, ohh well :)
My 2 cents, FWIW.

[Crixus]

Everyone I talk to lately is telling me to do an Nvidia card and not Matrox.

Any thoughts?

-Crixus

[mstich]

I personally prefer Matrox, they seem to have much better drivers. My experiences with the nvidia drivers were bad.

I have a G450 now, and I love it. I used to have a TNT. It was a good card, but the drivers blew.

[Crixus]

A few people are trying to sell me on the 3-D acceleration of the Nvidia and saying that the Matrox just doesn't compare.

I still don't know what to do.

--Crixus

[kmar]

I've been extremely happy with my Voodoo III. It's a 16M card that hums right along with the most intense applications (UT flies at 60 fps - no lag).

Linux has never failed to recognize it when I've loaded different versions. The PII thing shouldn't affect it that much, though you may notice a little lag, but at least you can upgrade one piece at a time!

Personally I'd like to invest in a NvGF2, but for now, since I don't game or watch DVDs, this thing (VDIII) has been flawless in operation.

[Crixus]

Is it possible to even PLAY DVD movies under linux right now, and is a special video card required for this?

-Crixus