On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 04:07:33 GMT, kony wrote:

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 15:15:43 -0400, Frustrated
wrote:


I can't run anything above DirectX 7 because I can't get updated
drivers. (3dfx is out of business.)

My current card is a 3dfx Voodoo3 3500tv.

I was thinking of replacing it with an ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 or the
ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro. (The Pro is double the price of the 9000
and I'm not sure if it is worth that.)

My system is multi-purpose. I do video editing, graphics design,
programming, music composition and gaming.

It's important that the new card will run all my present software and
not introduce any new problems into the system.

I would like to get the same quality graphics, or better, as with the
3dfx card.

My system configuration is:

Gigabyte 71XE motherboad
Athlon 750 chipset
640 mb RAM
Viewsonic HighRes monitor


Thanks.

To add a little clarity to what a couple of other posters have
mentioned, your motherboard supports AGP 1.0, that is, AGP "2X", 3V
cards. These newer cards WILL work in your motherboard from a
physical and logical perspecitve, they will run on 3V and at 2X AGP
rate, not 4X or 8X, except that a very high-end card "might" draw a
lot of power from the slot, possibly more power than the motherboard
can provide. The odds are the motherboard can provide enough power
though, so long as the system power supply is also up to the task.

That is correct. The AGP slot is for 3.3V cards.

Putting an extra load on the power supply was also a concern.
I have an extra fan installed on the Voodoo card, so I'm not worried
about heat.


Now for many people a separate PCI tuner/capture card is a better
alternative, because they're more flexible and can be used independent
of the video card. ATI's multimedia software can also be
hit-or-miss.. if it works it works but if not you may have a lot of
hasstles with it.

Which would mean doubling up the cards on an interrupt. I already have
the Voodoo and modem doubled up on an interrupt.


Before I go on, are you sure the Voodoo card isn't compatible with DX8
or higher? The following page seems to suggest it is:

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/voodoo3/index.shtml

I checked out the third party pages for drivers. I couldn't really
find anything for the Voodoo3 3500tv card.

Another factor is video memory. Mine only has 16mb and I really should
go to at least 64mb.

I hate to make changes when a system is working well, but then it does
prevent me from running some newer software.

I wouldn't be opposed to a separate card for video capture. I don't
use the TV or FM functions that often.

So based on that, what cards would you recommend?

Thanks.



Dave