Value of integrated graphics on mobo

On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 12:41:40 +0100, Lem wrote:

Approximately what would it cost to buy a seperate graphics card
offering the same sort of quality as the integrated graphics on a
quality motherboard like:

Asus A7N8X-VM (nVidia)
Asus A7V8X-VM (Via)
Gigabyte 7VN400M (Via)
MSI-K7M2G-L (nVidia)
etc

Depends on where you live.

Frankly all the integrated graphics are barely OK.
The best I think Ive seen was the 400 MX level
since thats recognizable - one of the most popular chipsets for video
cards a while back so its still widely supported.

The other ones - you just dont see anyone buying a card with those
chips on it nowadays .

The 400 mx level is still very usable though even that is outdated in
the sense it cant run some games anymore. Im not just talking speed
though there is that aspect - it cant run some new games like Silent
Hill 3 etc that support some features in Direct X 9. If running games
isnt that important its still usable on most apps.

And the TV cards I bought run with the 400-420 mx and even my ATI
9800. While a neighbor bought an emachines with an integrated
graphics savage chip set and that went bonkers with a ATI TV card.
I gave him an ancient VOODOO 3 card I had and that worked perfectly
with the TV card. The problem with that card though is its far more
ancient than the 400 mx card and refuses to play a wide variety of
games since it has such little mem onboard.

What I dont like about the other graphics stuff though even that is
probably OK for users who have really modest needs - since its not
that well known I wonder about driver support , conflicts with other
stuff (like TV tuner cards) and going a bit too low in overall design
( really measly memory or shared memory etc) .

Its hard to get a card below $30-40 thats even standable - unless you
find a big sale somewhere or refurb. Thats kind of the cutoff point.
You usually see some really old ancient cards sold here and there or
some oddball design. If you are a real deal hound you can find refurbs
and rebate deals. So overall you can save a fair amount of money in
the real low end - if you want to put together a really low cost
system.

I bought a Leadtek refurb recently for someone from Newegg because it
had 400 mx graphics and was a nforce2 chipset with a fair amount
slots - for $50. I was actually waiting for the ASUS nforce2 chipset
with 400mx rufrb to get in stock but it rarely is - the one for $41 I
think. THere was the free motherboard after rebate deal from SOYO at
Mwave but it only has 3 slots and some weird graphics and I think its
only a 266 board or 333 board.

Eventhough the 400 and 440 mx are outdated they are still regularly
sold for $40 after rebate and $40-60 at most retail outlets.

A few times Tiger Direct has had the 9000 I think with the lowest
amount of mem for $29 after rebate. Office Depot had a clearance sale
on the 7000 ATI 32 megs for $14 a while back. I missed that one but
got a 420 mx for $20 that was there. If you really look you might be
able to pick up.

Lem wrote:
Approximately what would it cost to buy a seperate graphics card
offering the same sort of quality as the integrated graphics on a
quality motherboard like:

Asus A7N8X-VM (nVidia)
Asus A7V8X-VM (Via)
Gigabyte 7VN400M (Via)
MSI-K7M2G-L (nVidia)

$30-40USD, at most.