need help buying a video card

robin801 · May 27th, 2003, 10:12 PM

i am thinking about getting an

epox ep-8rda+
anthlon xp2600/333

i don't need top of the line but i would like something decent.

i don't game.

i watch dvds and i use my box for my stereo.

i would like to be able to overclock this system

robin

JPMiller · May 27th, 2003, 10:23 PM

You will get a dozen posts that suggest higher end cards, but my suggestion based on what you do is to go cheap.
A GeForce 4 MX card with T.V. out is overkill for what you use it for as is.
http://www.amamax.com/amamax/vdinob555g4m440a308.html
$53 with free ship ...(better of the two)
http://www.buyxtremegear.com/pal.html
about $39 w ground shipping.
These will allow you to do light gaming...watch DVDs well, and wont break the bank.
You could go much lower end for your purposes but you may regret it later.
Good Luck!

VHockey86 · May 27th, 2003, 10:52 PM

Just curious, if all you do is watch movies and presuambly surf the web/instant message/email etc then why are you interested in overclocking?
Do work with editing videos/ripping dvds?

darrelld · May 27th, 2003, 11:17 PM

Quote:

These will allow you to do light gaming...

I've got a Gf4 MX440, and it plays every current game in 1024x768 without any problems.
I agree that this would be a good card for your purposes.

If you're interested in overclocking, I would suggest saving money on the CPU and get a 1700+ instead of the 2600+, and apply those savings to an Nforce 2 board. I've had 3 of the 1700's and they would all easily Overclock to 2600+ speeds. In a KT133 board they get to 1810Mhz stable, in a Kt266 board they get to 2075Mhz, In the Nforce 2 board they reached 2400Mhz and were stable around 2200 Mhz. These were all air cooled.

Omardeth · May 28th, 2003, 06:40 AM

the epox 8rda+ is nforce 2 board . and yes if you want to oc and wanna go cheap then the 1700 for 42$ is the way to go , more than half the price of the barton , and should go from 1.4 gig ( default ) to about 2gig with ease as long as you have the ram to handle the fsb speed . also nvidia has a newer nforce chipset that is out or close to being out you might want to wait a few and see if it is anybetter . think it is called ultra 400???

as for video i am with jpmiller if you aren't a hard core gamer then that should work great .

robin801 · May 28th, 2003, 03:34 PM

let's see where to start.

i do do dvd ripping. i have a dvd burner.

and i want to overclock because the board can and what the heck i just want to do it. lol

i was thinking about the matrox video card.

would this work on the epox board?

robin

JPMiller · May 28th, 2003, 03:46 PM

The matrox line of cards are a good one...they are solid and I have had good experience with them.
They are not known for their gaming abilities but that is not one of your concerns.
Make sure the one you get is recomended for dvd applications.
What made you consider Matrox?
Im just curious because most people talk about NVidia / ATI.

robin801 · May 28th, 2003, 03:47 PM

it was recommend by someone else at another forum.

robin

btw---does the video card have to be 8x to work with the epox board?

robin

JPMiller · May 28th, 2003, 03:52 PM

No...the 8x just shows that it is 8x capable...It is backwards compatible with most or all AGP graphic cards.

robin801 · May 28th, 2003, 04:15 PM

thanks for your help

robin