Best 3D card under 100 USD

[akif]

i want to buy a 3D card below 100 USD.
Whats the best choice (Both in ATi and Nvdia)
thx.

[95five-0]

do you want PCI AGP 4x or 8x

[pentachris]

For right around $100, you can get a Radeon 9600 Pro - one of the best "bang for your buck" cards out there. Newegg has a few priced right at $100, but those are out of stock (at that price, they're obviously hard to keep on the shelves). They do have this one (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-020&depa=0) in stock for $113.

[akif]

thx.
Well...
i have AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (just bought a week ago) and the mobo is MSI KM4AMV which i guess doesn't support AGP 8X. Can i still use the above mentioned Radeon 9600 Pro ?

Besides, what are other options; for example from Nvidia ? and what about Radeon 9550 ?

btw, my mobo has its bus speed as 333MHz.

[pentachris]

Your motherboard does support AGP 8x.

[akif]

Pentachris, the specs do tell that it supports AGP 8X but in the BIOS i noticed that the available options for AGP are 1x/2x/4x only.

The BIOS is Phoenix/Award on this mobo.

[saphalline]

The BIOS only lists up to AGP 4x because that's all you're using. The onboard video for the KM400A chipset is the same as the onboard video for the KM400 chipset, which wasn't made for AGP 8x, so the onboard video still uses 4x despite added support for an 8x slot. You can use an AGP 8x vid card, but your onboard video can't.

The best performer in your price range is the Radeon 9600 Pro. Then comes the GeForce FX 5700, then the FX 5600, followed by the FX 5700 LE and FX 5500 and Radeon 9600 (all pretty much tied). Last on your list would be a Radeon 9200 or FX 5200.

[akif]

thx a lot Saphalline.....
i was just curious about Radeon 9550. I guess it just lags in clock speed. Why it is not a good alternative for Radeon 9600 pro ?