Asus K7N8x Deluxe and Hercules ati 8500?

[Belwarrior]

I have a friend who is finally thinking of upgrading his video card His specs are AMD XP2000+, Asus A7N8x Deluxe, 256 MB Ram Now the current card he is using is a G400 16mb (yeah!) which will continue its service in his sis's pc.

He is looking at either a nVidiot Gf4 MX440 128MB DDR or the abovementioned Hercules ati 8500 128MB DDR 275MHz/275MHz .. both are 4x cards as 8x cards are not his requirements.. which card to you guys is the better and frankly i suggested the 8500.. but i am not sure about the right order to install the drivers (directx 9 first and which drivers to use).

oh yah.. i can get 9000 at around the same price range..and am not sure which is better 8500 or 9000 and over here i can get cards by sapphire as well so which would be the wiser choice hercules or sapphire? He is also worried whether there might be compatiblity issues with ati cards and nforce2..

U guys got any suggestions..

[Marshmallowman]

A 128m 275/275 8500 would be excellent, that is ti4200 kind of performance, with all the nice eye candy. The 9000 pro is obviously a bit slower(at the same clocks) but is still good, and does have slightly better dual head support for win2k than the 8500.

I would not get the gf4 mx, no pixel/vertex shaders it really is very krappy, a gf ti 3 would be better than a gf4 mx.

While a lot of Benchmarks show GF4 mx faster than 9000's etc.., they don't point out they look a lot worse because they lack the dx 8 hardware stuff, and the ATI's filtering is better.

As to installation, install direct x 9 first and then the drivers(as recomended by ATI) as dx9 will work with old drivers.
The truth is the order really does not matter as plenty of people have done every concievable permutation of dx9/dx8.1 & cat 3.1 installes with minimal problems.

[Kurt]

I'd probably try and grab a 9500 (non-pro). it's not much more than the 8500/9100...or a g550 if games aren't the first use of the pc.

[Belwarrior]

Thanks marshmallowman & Kurt.. he has decided to get the 8500.. i have a doubt myself and rather ask here than start a new thread..

I am using A7V+Duron1.2GHz+256MB SDRAM with a G400DH32MB now after seeing my friend's rig, i am thinking of upgrading to the A7N8x-Deluxe but cant feel like letting go of my G400.. I dont play games that require high GPU power and i can stick to 800x600 for fps games that i do play. I am hoping that the G400 would scale up very slightly with the upgrade and my target is to get a new card end of this year hopefully from Matrox (Parhelia Single or Dual Head 64MB DDR anyone :P).

What i worry about is whether my G400 would burnout if i pluck it into the 8x/4x agp slot.. or worse the agp slot would burn?

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Hi. i was just wondering if the [b]K[\b]7N8X is a new mobo from Asus or was that a typo. the "k" just reminded me about the good old days

o yea.. who's up for K8M?

okay. nvm about the k7n

[Marshmallowman]

I don't think your g400 is going to scale much more, but it should work fine on an A7N8X, is yours a 4x g400?

I am waiting on improved linux support(currently no aqp support for non NV cards) & certified 400mhz ddr FSB operation, I know most nforce 2 boards are good for 400, but waiting for a revision or 2 to make sure it will run a 400mhz barton when they come out...I going to make sure my Last socket A board is a killer

[Belwarrior]

my sentiments exactly.. i intend to upgrade around May .. A7N8x should have been revised and any bugs sorted out by then. Currently A7N8x Deluxe is the best available IMHO but i am waiting to see sis746 offerings before deciding..

*grin* sorry chrono my typo mistake, hope u didnt went looking for a slotA MB :P

I read somewhere that G400 can autodetect and adjust to 1.5V by itself.. so wanted to know if anyone has tried plonking it into a 8x agp slot and see it work? I just made a mini-pc.. and wont have much cash to spend... esp if i do a uP+MB upgrade as i intend to... i wont have enuff to get a vga card till the end of the yr..

Dec 02 -> MiniPC, June 03 uP+MB upgrade, Dec 03 VGA card, June 04 -> Misc upgrade for both PCs...

*groan* dont think i will be saving up any money during this period...

[Kurt]

wait and see...new chipsets, new FSB speeds and new chips coming in April.

[Belwarrior]

It Works!!!!.. I tried out my G400 in my friend's MSI K7N2L and there was no problems... You really have to take your hats off to the Matrox Engineers. That is a very old card but it works like a charm on the 4x/8x slot while any other (manufaturer's) card of its generation would have refused to.

Couldnt get to try it on a Asus A7N8x Deluxe but the MSI board is based on the same chipset so there should be no problems. Thanks guys for your input.. guess i will keep my G400 for a long time .. at least until it dies.

Ragu.