Any opinions on ATI Radeon X300?

[kisrum]

I'm thinking of buying my kids (and me) a low to mid-range Dell and I see that they frequently come with this video card w/128 mb video memory. I realize this isn't PC magazine, but does anyone here have opinions/experience with these?

Won't be used for capture, maybe a little photo and video editing and some fairly challenging games like Far Cry. Unsubstantiated opinions welcome. Thanks.

[dun4cheap]

The x300 will do just fine for what you are saying.

[ungamunga]

I'm not sure now well the X300 will do with Far Cry (or other 3D heavy games). Should be ok at lower resolutions I suppose.

Should be fine for all the other stuff.

[kisrum]

Thanks very much

[Nelson37]

The difference would be only significant for fairly advanced games, or at least fairly advanced Right Now. How long will you be wanting to use this machine for "fairly advanced" games? 2-3 years from now, what will you want to do, in terms of where will games be then?

I'm going on memory here that the X300 was the budget card in ATI's lineup. Seems the dollar difference for the next better card was not that much. Depending on the system you buy, it may be a good match.

You are looking at spending a little extra for a fairly good gaming card. You could spend a little more and get a really good gaming card. Or spend a little less for a generic card now, then wait a few months and probably get the really good card for the price of the fairly good one today. Of course, by then there will be another card for just a few more bucks...

[kosekjm]

Here try this:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050524/index.html

This compares the various PCI Express cards that are available. The 300 would be low end (in my opinion) for gaming. I purchased a Dell through work in Feb. of this year and opted for the ATI 850. This card plays anything that I throw at it at any resolution. That being said though, it's normally a $500 dollar (or more) option. The price that I got through work though made this card about the same price as the 6800 that is usually the first upgrade option.

Take a look at the charts on Tom's. They compare the same game with various cards and you can see actual frame rate comparisons that they got.

[redwudz]

I'm running a X300 SE in my XP64 computer. I don't game, so it's fine for my uses. I use a Sapphire brand with the ATI chipset, which is even cheaper.

[kisrum]

Thanks Nelson37 and Kozekjm and Redwudz. Very useful link. I guess I'll either spend more on a video card or step back for a few weeks and think about it. One would think it would be pretty cool to have a wife who wants Half Life 2 but it just means more credit.