On Monday 20 December 2004 8:38 pm, B. Stia wrote:
On Monday 20 December 2004 18:53, Richard wrote: ...............<snip a bunch>............
Nvidia has probably provided the best "manufacturer" video card support for Linux over anyone else out there.
<snip even more>
So given these facts, here are some conclusions:
1. If you want a "solid AGP video card" for $50-75, the GeForce Ti4200 (Ti4200-8x or Ti4800 -- which isn't too much different) is still good. Aim for 128MB for a few bucks more.
2. _Avoid_ the GeForce FX5200, 5500 and even 5600XT, even if they have 256MB of RAM. They _suck_. In the "best case scenario," about the only place they can "match" the GeForce 4 Ti4200-4800 is in Doom3 with _all_ of the options _jacked_up_ (including Isotropic Filtering). But then you're running at 10fps, so it doesn't matter. ;-ppp
3. If you can find a "true" GeForce FX5700 for AGP for cheap (like $125), and not the overwhelming number of FX5700"LE" cards (which is 40% _slower_), then that will be near-equivalent in older titles to the Ti4200, but faster in more OpenGL or when you use FSAA.
4. If you really want a "higher-end" card, you've got two options: AGP: Start with the GeForce 6800LE or 6800 for $250-325 PCIe: Buy a new, "regular" nForce4 mainboard (due in January) for about $125, and then a GeForce 6200, 6600 or 6600GT for about $75-175 (your choice)
The 6200-6600 are not quite a 6800, but they are _far_closer_ than a GeForce FX5700, and even the FX5900 series is not quite any 6000 series card. ----------------------------------------------------- Bob S.
Wow. Answered questions I didn't even know I had, and gives me some pretty good direction. And far more concise than what I might have finally come up with after hours of searching thru current and old Anandtech articles, usually my source for techie reviews, even tho I know these get dated very fast and don't show how cards/chips/boards perform over time, or stack up over time. Thank you very much for the info and time you put into finding this. Richard