[thechat] PC buying: graphics cards?

[Lachlan Cannon]

Paul Cowan wrote:
> a) A good site which explains simply and clearly the difference between 
> the various chipsets that seem to be in most third-party cards -- the 
> different nVidia/ATI chips that are everywhere now. I can't find much 
> that seems very impartial.

http://anandtech.com/

> or, even better:
> 
> b) one of you who knows exactly what you're talking about telling me 
> whether I should go for a 9200se-based card, or a FX5200-based one: the 
> few comparisons I've found suggest the 5200 might be a better bet, but 
> I'd love someone with experience to tell me if that's what would be best 
> (assuming roughly equivalent price), or if there's something else near 
> that low-end price point I should be looking at. As far as individual 
> manufacturers go, do any have a better reputation? Leadtek? Gigabyte? etc.

Well, quite frankly they're both shit. Depending on how long you want it 
to last, and how much you can spend, I'd recommend either a Radeon 9600 
Pro (best price performance), or a GeForce 4 Ti4200 (can be found pretty 
damn cheap). IMO, these two cards are the best prices you'll get with a 
bit of forwards-compatibility built in.

Then again, I am a bit of a gamer.. it just depends how much you expect 
to play. Personally I refuse to buy nvidia because of the GeForce 4 MX 
debacle (calling rebadged Geforce 2's GeForce 4 MX's to sell them cheap 
to unsuspecting people who think they'll be buying a fairly decent card).
-- 
Lach
http://illuminosity.net/