Designtechnica's 2003 video card buyers guide Guide

[dang]

Checkout our latest Guide: Designtechnica's 2003 video card buyers guide (http://reviews.designtechnica.com/guide17.html)

[Ioman]

For me, I never purchase a top ofthe line card. Most software is months from supporting the new hardware capabilities so why buy a cutting edge card without the software support? I typically buy a generation old card since the prices are cheaper and it will support the games currently on the market.

[questionlp]

For someone who doesn't care much for PC gaming, I would also never buy any top of the line card... they are too expensive and don't give me any additional benefits to a card less than half the cost. What I care in a video card is image quality (both 2D and 3D) and driver stability... those two should always be considered in recommending video cards. A card that can run Q3 at 10000FPS (whoop-de-doo) that has all-around crappy drivers wouldn't do me any good. I also don't want a card that sounds like a banshee (or leaf blower) or pumps out even more heat in the case.

For the gaming section of the guide... I think the GeForce 4200 is definitely too scrawny to be considered a high-end card (unless if the buyer is going to overclock the bugger to 4600-levels). The 4200 is perfect for the mid-range section, though I would replace the ATI Radeon 7500 with the ATI Radeon 9000 at the lower-end (though I'm not sure if it would be $100 or less).

As far as the video edition section is concerned, I think the ATI AIW Radeon 9000 is missing from the line-up as it fits in perfectly between the AIW 9700 Pro and the MX400. The RT2000 and the RT2500 are prosumer/professional level cards rather than higher-end consumer cards (like the RT.X10 or the RT.X100, but both are just video capturing boards, no video card included).

[Archon]

the only time I'll buy a top of the line GPU will be this coming winter, when HL2 and Doom3 come out. (and when the "rumors" say the next "best thing" is some ways off).

my major problem is that I am a gamer, so Im stuck buyin this stuff :)

and one question from the guide... why GeForce4? Thats like so... just no. :)

[RageSlave]

I always buy the best (not always the newest) for myself. But then agian, I make more money than you guys and I am spoiled to boot. I am always gaming and playing around with stuff so I have a slight advantage in that area, if you can call it that. I have also refarmatted my hard drive more times than most of you for all my experimenting and what not also. There are disvantages to your advantages I guess you could say.

This particular guide will grow over time as new reviews are added and new products become available. Originally there were about 46 cards to include in the guide, but it was too difficult to analyse all the features of all of the in the space provided. This is just a beginning. post your suggestions and from time to time we will be adding things as we go. Any ideas for the video editing section will be much appreciated especially.