Hi,

Can someone help me choose between these video cards:

HIS Radeon X700 IceQ / 128MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] &CatId=880


PNY Verto GeForce 6200 / 256MB DDR / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] &CatId=935


Asus Radeon 9550 Gaming Edition / 256MB DDR / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] &CatId=935

My computer has an AGP 4x slot so these will work, right? Obviously, only light gaming and my cpu is 1200mHz. I don't know anything about video cards at all, so any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks!

well from what i seee your best choice would be the x700 it has GDDR3 ram and is a pretty good card... the gf 6200 card and is just crap... even if it has Shader Model 3.0 which you wont even notice... as for the 9550GE is a good card but is old and is about equal to a 9600 which has 4pipelines and wont do you any good..
can you show me your system specs also what games do you want to play?

Well, my system is a Gateway 1200CL, it has an Athlon 1200mhz processor and an AGP 4x slot and a 20gb hard drive. Right now it has Windows ME and 128mb RAM. My plan is to install 512mb RAM, a Video Card, reformat the drive, install Windows XP and see how long I can use it for. For games, I'd like to play Silent Hunter III and Microsoft Flight Sim, and maybe something like a flight combat game like Falcon 4.0 (actually I already own that one...)

Do you think the X700 would do this? I did another search for AGP 4x at Tiger Direct and found a couple of X1300 cards for a hundred bucks.

Diamond Radeon X1300 / 256MB DDR2 / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] &CatId=935

Diamond Radeon X1300 / 512MB DDR2 / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=2234

I didn't want to spend quite that much, but we're only talking 20 more bucks and if it's really the way to go for me, I guess I could pony up a bit. Anyway, what do you think? Thanks!

As far as I know, the X1300 is fairly slower (see Tom's VGA chart) than the X700. It just adds floating point HDR, I think.

The X700 is your best bet, here - except if you can find an AGP 6600 GT for cheap, because those still can kick some ass.

Out of those the X700 would be your best bet.

Well, my system is a Gateway 1200CL, it has an Athlon 1200mhz processor and an AGP 4x slot and a 20gb hard drive. Right now it has Windows ME and 128mb RAM. My plan is to install 512mb RAM, a Video Card, reformat the drive, install Windows XP and see how long I can use it for. For games, I'd like to play Silent Hunter III and Microsoft Flight Sim, and maybe something like a flight combat game like Falcon 4.0 (actually I already own that one...)

Do you think the X700 would do this? I did another search for AGP 4x at Tiger Direct and found a couple of X1300 cards for a hundred bucks.

Diamond Radeon X1300 / 256MB DDR2 / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] &CatId=935

Diamond Radeon X1300 / 512MB DDR2 / AGP 8x/4x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=2234

I didn't want to spend quite that much, but we're only talking 20 more bucks and if it's really the way to go for me, I guess I could pony up a bit. Anyway, what do you think? Thanks!
well yes you will need the 512mb ram are you just going to put i 512 and take the 128 out i would keep it all the more the marier. also the x700 is the best choice the x1300 i crap and is equal to a gf6200... i belive you will be able to play these games also is amd 1200mhz or is it like an athlon 1800+ at 1200mhz?
what is your budget also agp 4x slots can also handle agp 8x cards just so you know

X700 for sure.

Yea, the others are plain crap to say least.

Well, X700 is crap also, but not as much as the others.

OK, you guys are giving me some good stuff to work with. I'm kind of new to this, learning as I go. Sounds like I may want to step up a bit from the 700 if I hope to make it a year on this pc, so let me throw a budget at you all. Let's say the 120 - 145 neighborhood. I went to newegg and found cards such as the X1600 Pro, 7600 GS, and the X800 GTO. I read the info and they all look just perfect...Help!

Oh yeah, you wanted to know about my processor, I recall it just says AMD Athlon 1200mHz, it does list a processor name. I'm not on that machine right now so I can't look it up. I'll send a note when I get home...

Yea, the others are plain crap to say least.

Well, X700 is crap also, but not as much as the others.

If an X700 is crap, then where does my X600 fall?? The X700 is the ebst, by far.

The 7600GS is an excellent card for the money, my few cents

as nice as the x1600pro and the 7600gs and the x800 would be for you and trust me they are all great cards there is one problem your CPU it will bottleneck which means it will just not be able to handle them i would get he x700 and save the rest of the cash for ram ... can you tell me your mother board model.. cus we can see from there

7600 GS or X800 PRO. Both are great.

Don't bother with the X1600 PRO.

OK, got some info for you. The system is called a Gateway Select 1200CS, and the motherboard is a AMD (Keystone) Motherboard - 1.2-GHz [Part #2514354] Thanks!!!

well i was searching to see if there was any other type of CPU you could upgrade to but i really dont think there is any in which you would notice a difference.... all i can say is get the x700 and mmm 512 SDRAM PC 133 and just use it up... do you plan on upgrading soonn .... cus as much as i hate it when ppl go you need to upgrade.... this time i think it will be for the better if you do... you could get a desent system for about....mmm $400 if you get some second hand or refurbished.

Yea, the others are plain crap to say least.

Well, X700 is crap also, but not as much as the others.

If an X700 is crap, then where does my X600 fall?? The X700 is the ebst, by far.
Crapier than X700.

well i was searching to see if there was any other type of CPU you could upgrade to but i really dont think there is any in which you would notice a difference.... all i can say is get the x700 and mmm 512 SDRAM PC 133 and just use it up... do you plan on upgrading soonn .... cus as much as i hate it when ppl go you need to upgrade.... this time i think it will be for the better if you do... you could get a desent system for about....mmm $400 if you get some second hand or refurbished.

Yeah, I'm practically spending that on upgrading my old war-horse... Maybe it's time. I was fully prepared to run this one into the ground though, no matter how long it took! Thanks for the help! While we're talking, what kind of PC is HP putting out these days? Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down?

THUMBS WAY DOWN just dont get PRE-made pc's ... dude you can make a pc that is twice as good as an HP for the same price..... what is your possible price range?

To be fair, very small form factor PCs made by Dell are impossible to make for a competitive price. However, if you're not afraid to have a mid-size tower and a full-size ATX board, then do so: these usually are the cheapest yet most tweakable systems you can get.