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I'm buying a new graphics card for my older computer but can't make up my mind.
Right now I find my graphics card to bottle neck my system and if its not now, it will be when I upgrade the CPU and RAM later.
Set up:
Athlon XP 2400 (2.1 real)
512Mb Ram
Nvidia 400 ish
Option 1-NVIDIA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187043
Option 2-RADEON
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102814
In my limited experience of such, I'd be inclined to avoid any ATI products like the plague, particularly since their (windows, possibly other) drivers tend to suck to be quite frank. On the other hand, I've heard Nvidia's drivers on Linux can be problematic. However, Nvidia gets my vote almost every time.
I'm not a big fan of ATI but for an older computer I really don't care about the brand. I just want the card to work well. My hang up is the speed difference.
thats my redcomendation.
if its and older PC try looking at a refirb card at Geeks.com for they have awesome prices
Got to talking to some buddys at work and they said that they would stay away from ATI like it was swine flu.
I do have a question though...
What is the rep of Geeks.com? I've never heard of it and i like to know what kind of company I'm buying from.
they are relitivly good with new products and have a wide variaty of payment options to fit your needs. its been hit and miss on used but the new stuff is quite good and afordable. i got a 24" IPS LCD 1920X1200 screen for 200USD. it works FABULOUS (*o*) i can watch mai anime in TRUE HD and have room to chat :3
as for my mishap a friend bough an HP workstation from them and the front headphone jack had a tip broken in it making it so there was no sound. they would not help him and it was too expensive to send back so i just disconnected his front port which turned off the onboard sound for some reason but that was resolved with the soundcard from his old computer which is far superior as its a Creative Audacity X-fi Pro card :3. too bad he has $H!* for speakers 
they are based in San Diego CA.
THKS for the insight. I found a cord from Geeks that I like way better than what Newegg has. I have to have a 128-bit card because this is a upgrade after all.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ASLMS5700U-R&cat=VCD
Update:
5 Minutes after I post I look at the Geeks site to see my other options again and this one just came in.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BFGS57256OC-R&cat=VCD
OC card or not OC card? This is a Question indeed.
BFG is a VERY good gaming card in my experience. for 3dcad its good enough and video editiong its just spectacular
I put a BFG in the family gaming computer. I'm very happy with it.
I'm pretty sure I've use the FX5000 series (sure I've got one lying around here somewhere!) and that was also good for helping an old computer get some new legs.
Naturally, you are going to run into a situation eventually where your motherboard/power supply or some other combination simply won't support a better graphics card, but once you've maxed out the RAM, a decent graphics card can definitely help.
Haven't maxed out the RAM yet but I would like to. I'm just waiting till I put a Athlon XP 3000 or 3200 into my system and the 3GB of RAM at the same time. Till then I figured that I need a better Video Card and that would speed things up alone. And I'm not kidding about that.
Putting in a good graphics card with a decent amount of it's own onboard RAM will definitely help, but only with graphically intensive applications like games. 
Radeon. Only other card I have is a intel and that's in my netbook.
Well crap. The FX5700 OC is out of stock and who knows when they'll get one back in. Is this a good one http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=FORSA-FX5500-AGP-256&cat=VCD or should I just wait. The only rush to get a new video card is the fire under me to play games.
Wouldn't know. But that's an nvidia card 
so often i cant answer you
It's anyone's guess from what I'm hearing.
In the end I got the "BFG Tech Asylum GeForce FX5700 Ultra 128MB DDR2 AGP DVI/VGA Video Card w/TV-Out" off Amazon. Still waiting for it to arrive so it looks like I'll install it after Halloween.
why are you going so low? thats bare minimum for Win 7.
Why spend excess money on a computer that is scraping by? Better to save up and eventually get a new computer. That card will be good enough for games a couple of years old or more.
I'm only going to run Windows XP on this thing because 7 would only install and never run (not well anyway). I do plan to buy a new computer after the school year when I have all the money (Phenom II X4 465). I got the card because 1. its fast for what I could find, 2. to watch DVDs and Movies 3. older games. The card I have now is starting to act up.
now i understand as you are staying with XP. if you where to go with Win7 you need 128Min for base graphics unless you get the gimped starter kit. that would be like running windows 3.1 
i would recomend waiting as from what i hear tell the AMD Phenom II X6 will go down drasticly in price to somewhere around 250USD and that the Intel Core I7 X6 will also be going down in price.
You can already get a Phenom II X6 for $209.99 at Newegg. The Intel 6-cores are ridiculously overpriced ($879.99).
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=B-X3-6150-K2&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-d...
AMD phenom X3 computer with all parts for only 189$
Now if I had $200 sitting in my pocket right now that kit would be coming my way in the next 5 min.
That's tempting! I just re-purposed my Desktop as a Home Theater PC, but the old, spare Desktop I put in it's place completely died on its @$$ just days after setting everything up (suspected motherboard failure).
I've had bad luck with Radeon in the past. I'd go with Nvidia.
with was the ATI Rage series
Stupid Lag created Double Post. I HATE DOUBLE POSTS. they make me go FFFFUFUUUFUUFUFUFUFUFUFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Every thing is running smooth. I'm able to run halo at full every thing (big woop) and another game at full everything. Plus movies look better an run w/out glitching. On the down side I found the my CPU fan is crap'n out and things are running warmer but hay, the basement isn't as cold in the evening because I leave my computer running all day.
Maybe that's why hardware keeps crapping out on you... perhaps it's time to start using a little power management.
if you want i can send you a 120MM fan
I found a fan and heat sink in a box that is made of a Athlon Xp 3200+ so I'm good to go just need to install it. I did blow some dust out of the current heat sink and temps dropped 5-8 degrees F.
i glare at my AMD Turon X2 64 2.0ghz which is currently clocking at 10% cpu and at 80C per core.
T___T
Haha, your turion runs hot to? That seems to be the general consensus.
it runs at a nice 40C at almost 100% cpu all the time (oldcpu is old)
also i have worked on 2 AMD Turon based laptops and both have died because of overheating and for somereason the GPU is way too close to the CPU wich only compounds the issue.
AMD makes nice chips but runs on the warm side. It's a price I'm willing to pay for a good CPU.
I think AMD is inferior to Intel in almost every way etc one that counts for a lot and that is performance versus cost. The times I've use AMD, I've never had any problems. I generally prefer to buy Intel when I can but the fact of the matter is an Intel chip of equivalent performance costs significantly more than an AMD, and for what I use a PC for, I don't need to absolute optimum performance of power consumption versus usage versus operating temperature etc etc.
If I was going to put together some hardcore video editing/recording rig then I'd probably go with Intel, but I think for just Internet browsing and moderate gaming then an AMD is just fine.
But if you live in a cold climate, you'll appreciate that they double as a space heater!
Also, the newer AMD chips use a lot less power and presumably run cooler. With laptops, it's hard to tell if the over heating is due to the processor or other causes. After I added a few diagnostic programs to mine and tested a few things, I realized that the hard drive was producing a lot of the overheating. Running the processor at 100% wasn't producing nearly as much heat as transferring large files to an external drive.
See I like AMD in my desktop for performance and power, and Intel in my laptop for cruising the Internet.
my amd runs hot at zero usage and at 100% usage. my HDD has a thermal sensor as well as the GPU and CPU. nothing gets close to the temp of the CPU. heck my netbook at 100% only gets up to 58C. and yes on the warm part as i always try and do video conversions on cold days
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