Hi I have a compaq presario with 256 megs ram,700 mhz pent 3 and would like to improve the graphics.What easy to install and easy to configure card would be an improvement over the stock system.Mainly play RPGs and a few ist person shooters..Thanks for any info...John

If you want a reall powerful card then you can get GeForce 3... you can install it and easy... [img]smile.gif[/img]

The latest "Bang for the buck" awards have been going to the GeForce3 TI500 not the fastest and not cutting edge anymore...but darn good anyway.
I have the original GF3 from Hercules and still havent found a game to slow it down. (of course I don't do FPS or RTS).

after all i heared from my friend's and after all the test's if seen i would recomend a Hercules Geforce 4 or Hercules Geforce 2 pro because the test's.
showed that the Hercules Geforce 2 pro was preforming beter than the Hercules Geforce 3 and the test's also showed that the Hercules Geforce 4 was beter thante Hercules Geforce 2 pro

I just picked up a PNY GF4 4400 for $259.00. I love it so far. I got a 3D Mark 2001 score of 10500.

<font color=skyblue>The XBox is running a Geforce III, 500. I have a 200. They have recently made a GeForce IV. It is the most beautiful thing you ahve ever seen! I would not recommend anything else. Definately one of these three.Whatever you pick, make sure you go to their websirte and download the most current drivers. I bought my GeForce a couple months ago, and it is a fairly new card...but they already had updated drivers for it online for free download to help with Windows compatibility. </font>

I have a similar system--Athlon 800, 256 MB RAM--and I too play mostly RPGs. For the price, I went with the Visiontek Xtasy 5564. It comes in AGP or PCI with 64 MB RAM, and it's a GeForce2 MX400 chipset. Babbages is clearing them out for $60. For that price, I couldn't justify spending double or more for a GeForce3 or 4 card, especially since my primary interest is RPGs. It does a beautiful job with all the RPGs I've tried, and is just fine with some of the FPS games I have--Serious Sam and No One Lives Forever run smoothly. I'm about to try Might & Magic IX and I'm certain that it'll be just fine for Morrowind. The best? Probably not. But I didn't need or want to pay for the best. It's all a matter of what you want/need.

With the release of the GF4s, the GF3 cards are cheaper now than ever. I gave a VisionTek GF3 (not Ti) and I am very happy with it. Unless price is a primary concern over performance, I would stay away from any cards that say "MX" on them. They are neutered versions of the regular cards (lower performance, not all the features), and not worth your time (think Celeron vs PIII). Most games now, including FPS, RTS, and RPC (including MM9) are totally 3D (not 3D chars on 2D backgrounds like BG2 or D2), which means you should have a good graphics card to support them. especially since you don't have a P4 processor to back them up.

GF2 is so two years ago...the cards you should buy in order of performance (least to best)(but probably not price) are GF3 Ti200, GF3, GF3Ti500, GF4 4400 and GF4 4600.

Depends on how large your screen is and at which resolution you wanna "play"?!?!?
I myself use a 17" monitor with a Asus Geforce2 MX 400 (at 1024*768 resolution)as a graphic card and it works perfectly.
It also depends on the budget you want to spent for a new graphic card?!?!
One last thing though, do you know for sure you can put in a new graphic card in a Compaq, cause it's a shitty job to do that.

[ 03-30-2002, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Mirac Honorguard ]

Oh I forgot... it is a Compaq Presario... I have this PC where it is practically nameless... it is assembled I suppose... easy stuff [img]smile.gif[/img]

Then they are right. If you are looking for the bomb right now, GeForce 4 is it, if you are looking toward the economic side, GeForce 2 will be good enough to do the job... since you havee a powerful processesor and all that, it really won't be a prob ;)