Video Cards?

[Arjay]

This is probably a common question so i took the time to search the forum first. I'm building a new system that i want to dual boot Windows + Linux (Windows for games). From what i have read NVIDIA seems to be the card that most people recommend. My question is which one would be best for games, for example games like 'Medal of Honour' and games like it. I looked in a magazine that i have and a place sells these...

NVIDIA GEFORCE 2 MX-400 64MB AGP
NVIDIA GEFORCE 2 MX-400 64MB TV-OUT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 4 MX420 64MB AGP
NVIDIA GEFORCE 4 MX440 64MB AGP

Also why are these cards so cheap when all the other cards from different manufacturers charge £100+? Anyway i'm just looking for a card that will handle games well.

Thanks for any advice.

Arjay.

[rapture]

well according to xfree86.org it doesn't look like there's any support for any geforce 4 cards, someone correct me if I'm wrong. So I would go for geforce2 or 3 cards.

[Daedra]

Well I also agree that Nvidia is the way to go, and yes, the Geforce 4 is not natiely supported in Xfree86 4.2.0 but you can download Nvidias linux drivers and use them like I did and they run fine, however I would not recommend the Geforce 4 MX cards all they are are basically a glorified Geforce 2 with faster clock speeds, I would get the Geforce 3 or 4 depending on your budget, because both cards have Pixel Shaders and other features that are quite nifty for games

P.S. I fogot to mention that ATI's new video card the ATI Radeon 9700 is being realeased in about 2 weeks and Ive heard that Nvidia is going to be dropping prices on there cards because there new competiting cards wont be out for a couple months so there going to drop the prices to compete, also use www.pricewatch.com for the lowest prices

doh! one more thing I would recommend either the Geforce 4 ti4200 or the ti4400

[Timothy L. Miller]

I'd recommend either a Geforce4 TI4200 or an ATI Radeon 8500LE. Both are pretty cheap (the 8500 is cheaper), and both perform fairly well. Either one, if you are going to be playing games, get the 128 MB version.

[Arjay]

Thanks for answering my question, it's greatly appreciated.

I have one more thing to ask. I was under the impression that NVIDIA were the actually manufacturer but now understand that the cards for sale are actually based on NVIDIA for example...

ASUS GEFORCE 4 Ti 4400 128MB DDR
CREATIVE GEFORCE 4 Ti 4400 128MB DDR

Others include MSI, SPARKLE, PNY VERTO. So my questions is now what manufacturer should i buy from? Does anyone recommend any one in particular? Sorry for my lack of understanding, i'm used to using an integrated motherboard.

Thanks again,

Arjay.

[fancypiper]

You might want to look at The Ultimate Linux Box update (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ultimate-linux-box/update.html) for his opinion.

[Daedra]

The manufacturer really is not that important becuase the performance will be so close on all of them because they use the same chipset, however the pny vertigo, evga, and powercooler are usually the cheapest