hi, i''m finally getting a 3d card. Does anyone have any suggestions, i''m looking for a pci card less than or equal to $150. so far i think the voodoo 3 is probably the best choice, but does anyone have any other suggestions?

I agree with mathias, a TNT, TNT2, G400 or one of those new ATI Rage 128 cards are all better choices than the Voodoo 3. The ATI card offers DVD acceleration and is faster than a TNT, the TNT is a decent card, the TNT2 is awsome, the G400 is damn good too, the Voodoo 3 lacks 32 bit texture support and real DVD acceleration also you''d have to get the TV edition in order to get TV out but all the other cards come with TV out mandatory. The voodoo 3 is fast, but that doesn''t make up for everything it lacks.

I concur with the above posts. ATI and Matrox are very good overall performers, and 3Dfx is the fastest in 3D [well, 16-bit anyways.]
. I do want to add a few other notes, though. Matrox''s G400 comes in what they call SingleHead and DualHead. SingleHead is a plain old 3D card, but the DualHead provides dual-monitor support of the same card in Windows 98. This is great if you use many applications with lots of panels and have a second mointor to use. Having multiple monitors to work with is very nice in Photoshop and Cakewalk where windows can be large or panels can clutter up your space.
. VooDoo3 has the best 16-bit color rendition of any card I''ve seen. If you still play many games that only use 16-bit color [like Thief or the Final Fantasies for PC] this card can make it look like 21-bit or 24-bit color.
. ATI''s Rage 128 series has by far the most bang for the buck. It''s a cheap card with quite a bit of power. The video capture on the All-in-Wonders can be enticing, but keep in mind that it''s MPEG2 and is usually CPU and HDD intensive.
. Personally, I just bought a Marvel G400-TV. It''s jammed with features and is the cheapest card I''ve ever seen with MJPEG compression [that means it captures S-VHS / near-broadcast quality video.] This option is double your price point, unfortunately. Just research our recomendations a bit by going to the manufactures sites and read some reviews.

i did some research and found that the Ati Xpert 128 has some nice features and i am considering getting this instead of the voodoo 3. i couldn''t find any reviews so can anyone tell me if this is a good choice? (remember, i don''t have AGP and can''t afford anything above $150)

i don''t know the state of ATI''s latest OpenGL drivers, so quake2 and quake3 based game might not run so fast, but i think the Xpert 128 is based on the Rage128, which is pretty good for the price in Direct3D. plus at that price, you can''t beat the other features and 2D quality

if you don''t need or want a ton of speed, consider TNT1 PCI card. they''re prolly around $80 now. they''re not super fast, but they have good OpenGL support and nothing is faster for the price.

-Justin White

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thanks alot for the help guys,
I think i''ll go with Justinfinity''s advice and get the Creative Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT. It seems to be a very good card and has 32 bit color something the voodoo 3 lacks