Nvidia or Radeon?

[queenbunnywitch]

I have a Radeon 9000. My friend wants to sell me his Nvidia Gforce4. He said its an upgrade.


He also is selling me 256k ram to install to up my motherboard to 512, which was all i really wanted.

He'll sell me both for 30.00, i kinda just want to buy the ram and keep my graphics card because im afraid to try to install the other card myself. Would it be worth it to just get both or just upgrade my ram and be done?

[queenbunnywitch]

heres the stuff about my computer, incase its needed

Computer:
      Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Professional
      OS Service Pack                                   Service Pack 2
      DirectX                                           4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
      Computer Name                                     STARRSCOMPUTER (starrs computer)
      User Name                                         starrs crap

    Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          AMD Athlon XP, 1466 MHz (11 x 133) 1700+
      Motherboard Name                                  Biostar M7VIQ  (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Video)
      Motherboard Chipset                               VIA VT8375 ProSavageDDR KM266
      System Memory                                     256 MB  (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
      BIOS Type                                         Award (10/08/02)
      Communication Port                                Communications Port (COM1)
      Communication Port                                Printer Port (LPT1)

    Display:
      Video Adapter                                     RADEON 9000 SERIES - Secondary  (64 MB)
      Video Adapter                                     RADEON 9000 SERIES  (64 MB)
      3D Accelerator                                    ATI Radeon 9000 (RV250)

    Multimedia:
      Audio Adapter                                     VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

    Storage:
      IDE Controller                                    VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
      Floppy Drive                                      Floppy disk drive
      Disk Drive                                        Maxtor 2B020H1  (20 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
      Disk Drive                                        WDC WD2500JB-00GVC0  (232 GB, IDE)
      Optical Drive                                     PLEXTOR CD-R   PX-W2410A  (24x/10x/40x CD-RW)
      SMART Hard Disks Status                           OK

    Partitions:
      C: (NTFS)                                         19532 MB (8331 MB free)
      E: (NTFS)                                         238472 MB (206079 MB free)
      Total Size                                        252.0 GB (209.4 GB free)

    Input:
      Keyboard                                          Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
      Mouse                                             Logitech-compatible Mouse PS/2

    Network:
      Network Adapter                                   VIA Compatable Fast Ethernet Adapter  (192.168.11.5)
      Modem                                             Communications cable between two computers
      Modem                                             SupraMAX 56i

    Peripherals:
      USB1 Controller                                   VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
      USB1 Controller                                   VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
      USB1 Controller                                   VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
      USB2 Controller                                   VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller

[GX1_Man]

$30 for all is a bargain, assuming the RAM works in your machine. You could try both cards to see which you like better. (Be sure and uninstall the existing drivers before you reboot and install the others!) You didn't say how much RAM was on each video card.

[soybean]

According to http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/radeon9000/default.asp:

"With ATI’s unique positioning in the value space with RADOEN 9000 PRO, what does it compete with? Officially, the answer is NVIDIA’s GeForce4 MX series. The MSRP of the RADEON 9000 PRO matches up very closely with GeForce4 MX 440, while the RADEON 9000’s equivalent would be the GeForce4 MX 420."

So, there may be no significant difference between the two cards. 

[patio]

Although it's still nice to have a spare vid card lying around...

As GX1_Man says if the RAM fits your machine it's a bargain...

[queenbunnywitch]

my friend told me to download the nvidia drivers, then swap out the cards. turn it back on. uninstall the ati drivers and install the nvidia drivers.

I just want my computer to run The Sims 2 better really. It takes like 40 mins before i can load 1 lot and actually play. If i want to switch lots it takes even longer and im better off just resetting my whole computer because itll be dragging the whole time. Will upgrading the ram at least help in that department?

[soybean]

Oh, we can practically gaurantee adding RAM will help.  As far as the video cards, you'll probably have to try the nVidia card and compare it to the ATI to know for sure which will work better, since they are of the same generation of video cards. 

Keep in mind both cards are older cards and will not perform well with the more demanding games.

[queenbunnywitch]

okay, well then that makes sense. thank you guys.