What video cards are better than S3 Graphics ProSavage8 onboard video??

Megan · 12-05-2003, 08:19 PM

Hi,

I am running a Duron 1100 on a Gigabyte GA-7VKML board with 256MB PC2100 DDR Ram, running Win 98. I would like to upgrade my video from the onboard S3 Graphics ProSavage8 but need some advice as which cards would offer improved performance.

Obviously I don't want to spend $$ on a card that gives no better quality than the onboard video but I also don't want to spend too much! The PC is used mainly for office apps, surfing, email, programming and DVD watching - I am not a gamer at all which makes many of the reviews that are gaming-focused not very useful to me!! The main area where I notice the video is a bit slow is in watching fast action on DVD.

My board has a 2x/4x AGP slot.

Any advice appreciated.

cheers
Megan

whetu · 12-05-2003, 08:25 PM

well if you want longevity/quality, then you'll want to look at something from the Matrox stables.. even something second hand...

But probably a gF4mx-440 will be more than enough for you and will be cheap too

the highlander · 12-05-2003, 08:38 PM

A cheap low-end solution would be an mx440 agp vid card in either 64 or 128 meg flavour (with ddr ram). MSI have a very cheap card but I would suggest a leadtek product which are marginally dearer. Haven't checked pricespy for a while but my local shop does them for a hair over $120. This card would perform substantially better (putting it mildly) than your onboard video and free up main memory. I am sure someone else will rubbish this card as a crippled geforce 4 wannabe but its cheap and reliable. A more expensive choice would be the Ti 4200 which performs subtsantially better again at a steeper price but probably overkill for what u want.

Megan · 12-05-2003, 09:52 PM

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I've been doing some research online since posting and have come to a similar conclusion that the GeForce 4 MX440 looks good. The Radeon also look interesting given their onboard DVD decoding but will have to do some more research there to make sure they are compatible with Linux... also am after a card for my second box Celeron 466 which is currently dual boot Red Hat 8 / Win98 and will shortly be the 'entertainment' PC in the lounge running the stereo and dvds........... this one definitely also needs a video upgrade from my ancient 8MB Vanta LT card!

Thanks again
Megan

Craigb · 13-05-2003, 08:30 PM

Hi there
Just ditched my S3 Prosavage today. Put in a Leadtec GF4 MX440 64DDR. So far so good. Much improved on the old card. Things seem to be flashing up on the screen faster anyway.
Cheers
Craig