I use Geforce 3 Ti200 in my 1ghz P3 system.

Seems to be a fairly good match, although a Geforce 2 GTS would probably also be a good match.

Failing that, one of the good Geforce 4 MX boards will also be a decent compromise ... although finding a good Geforce 4 MX board can be a bit of a challenge in a sea of "Special Edition SE" (aka Slow Edition) cards.

Quick survey of evilbay seems to indicate there's a lot of GF 2 MX for cheap, which is not a terrible choice if you're not trying to push beyond about 2003 for games. Certainly I'd be buying those for "trans-millenial" systems before I forked out for TNT2s. Then also the GF4 MX are only a dollar or two more. FX5200s come next, but my feeling is they're a bit marginal for less than 1.5ghz ish because the driver overhead seems more than GF3 or GF4. Surprise to me is that 9600s and 9550s are fairly cheap, but you can't delorean them back as far as a GF2. 1998 up I'd say. There's one 5700LE showing cheap right now, that's a bit of a weirdy, 64bit RAM but the engine has more grunt than 5200 or 5500. Maybe it would be alright for glide wrappers, the textures aren't gonna be too huge to need max mem performance, but the GPU has to do acrobatics to emulate Voodoo. Maybe it's not for this build though.

I personally went with a 3dfx Voodoo 3. I was able to snag mine for a cheap price, about $30 shipped.

IF you are patient and do some clever searching and find one that isn't marked as a 3dfx in the auction you might be able to do the same.

Otherwise a 128bit version of a MX card or even a Radeon 9100/9200SE granted it is a 128bit card as well can be had for cheap.

GeForce2 GTS for the win...

The GeForce 4 MX440 (stay away from SE - 64 bit memory bus) is a great choice for DX7 games and earlier (excluding glide). It can often be found for very cheap. At the time it provided better than GeForce 2 Ultra performance (in most titles, noting the GF2 Ultra had 2x the amount of TMUs so would win some benchmarks). I would get this over a GF1 or GF2 of any variant if your on a budget and don't care for collecting high end period correct cards.

If you're looking fora DX8 card, the Ti4200 is probably the best and cheapest option. It outperforms a Ti500 and you can pick them up for a reasonable price if you're patient.

As someone has already said, PixelPipes review of the FX5200 Ultra showed it was slower than a Ti4200 in most tests. Other models of the FX series, such as a FX5600 (stay away from the XT most have a 64 bit memory bus), FX5600 Ultra or FX5700 (again avoid the VE and LE models - 64bit memory bust) can be found for cheap too - hopefully other people can comment on their performance as I dont have much experience with the FX series.

jay_t_yo wrote on 2021-09-28, 04:40:

avoid the VE and LE models - 64bit memory bus

Not necessarily.

Putas wrote on 2021-09-28, 05:03:

jay_t_yo wrote on 2021-09-28, 04:40:

avoid the VE and LE models - 64bit memory bus

Not necessarily.

Yes there are 128bit variants, but its easier to just avoid rather than trying to find a 128bit variant

jay_t_yo wrote on 2021-09-28, 04:40:

The GeForce 4 MX440 (stay away from SE - 64 bit memory bus) i

While yes, most variants of the MX440-SE are 64bit memory bus and TERRIBAD yuck yuck, I actually have a 128bit memory bus MX440-SE. It only has a bit lower clocks than the NON-SE version.

Also, another rarity I found while digging in my AGP card collection, a 128bit FX5200 video card (leadtek A340 128meg). So yes, they exist as well in real life, and not just part of some fever dream!

While yes, most variants of the MX440-SE are 64bit memory bus and TERRIBAD

Still faster than GeForce 2 MX 400.

tomcattech wrote on 2021-09-28, 00:53:

GeForce2 GTS for the win...

GeForce2 GTS Pro is the way to go. 64MB, instead of 32MB gives a better performance (for example) in Quake 3 and 200 MHz (400 MHz DDR) memory clock speed. I had a 2 GTS Pro in 2001 with an Socket A Athlon 1000B.

canthearu wrote on 2021-09-28, 07:31:

Also, another rarity I found while digging in my AGP card collection, a 128bit FX5200 video card (leadtek A340 128meg). So yes, they exist as well in real life, and not just part of some fever dream!

Well, they aren't as rare as you might think... Many manufacturers produced both 64- and 128-bit versions.
I have Prolink FX5200 with 128-bit memory bus (like one here with bigger PCB: http://www.prolink-usa.com/english/product/vi … 5200-128ad.html). I've also seen 128-bit models made by Sparkle, Palit, Gainward and Zotac. They all are "regular", non-Ultra cards.

GF2 (GTS, Pro, Ti, Ultra)
GF3 (all)
GF4 (Ti, MX460)
Radeon 8500/9100
Voodoo 5500

For GF Cards make sure to take a driver from pre 2003, the others have too much driver overhead which unnecessary costs a small amount of CPU Power, especially the drivers for GF FX series and obove.

I am using a Radeon 8500 64MB (275MHz/275MHz) with my PIII 1000.

Bitwrangler, my favourite Vogon. You post is epic and I salute you.

But also so is my quadro 2 is epic. I read it can oc to a gf2 pro. *Does a Bronx cheer*

I don't have the computer with me yet, partly due to interstate travel restriction. This is Gateway flexatxstc so it might not have agp slot. Only PCI and it is sff/low profile. I guess my options are limited if I want to upgrade the graphics.

Then I think you want a low profile fx5200 PCI they also have DVI. But do not expect a speed demon.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-09-27, 15:15:

I personally went with a 3dfx Voodoo 3. I was able to snag mine for a cheap price, about $30 shipped.

Wow, I guess I'm gonna have to learn the ways of the 3dfx ninja purchase..

cyrixmediagx wrote on 2021-10-02, 16:37:

I don't have the computer with me yet, partly due to interstate travel restriction. This is Gateway flexatxstc so it might not have agp slot. Only PCI and it is sff/low profile. I guess my options are limited if I want to upgrade the graphics.

Joakim wrote on 2021-10-02, 16:45:

Then I think you want a low profile fx5200 PCI they also have DVI. But do not expect a speed demon.

Ah yep I've been down this path, and it's a tricky one. I was lucky enough to find both an MX440 and FX5200 in low profile PCI, both pretty cheap. Good god at the ebay prices now 😮 ...but patience and persistence can pay off.

I don't have the SFF system any more, but the MX440 is in service in a full size PIII 1ghz system for now. It's good.

mrzmaster wrote on 2021-10-02, 23:27:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-09-27, 15:15:

I personally went with a 3dfx Voodoo 3. I was able to snag mine for a cheap price, about $30 shipped.

Wow, I guess I'm gonna have to learn the ways of the 3dfx ninja purchase..

I was just lucky and did some searching by generic board model, not by "3DFX Voodoo" or anything like that.
The PCI card I snagged was a pull from a arcade cabinet, and was labeled as 3dFX but the seller had no idea what it was. These purchases were also about 4-5 years ago.

mrzmaster wrote on 2021-10-02, 23:27:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-09-27, 15:15:

I personally went with a 3dfx Voodoo 3. I was able to snag mine for a cheap price, about $30 shipped.

Wow, I guess I'm gonna have to learn the ways of the 3dfx ninja purchase..

I Ninja snagged a Voodoo 4 4500 AGP for $150 AUD off eBay recently, not sure if the guy even knew how much it was actually worth or not but Im super happy to have it in my collection.
Also grabbed two 12mb Voodoo2s yesterday for the price of one along with an entire P3 1ghz system they came in, also got three 256mb AGP 6800 GTs for $50 (for all three) AUD in a different auction.
eBay at times can be super good with its prices if you are willing to keep checking and have a little patience. (Unless its a Voodoo 5 5500 .. their prices only ever go up 🤣)

Now I just have to figure out a good match for the Voodoo2 SLI since the Stealth 3D 3000 isn't exactly a great DirectX GPU but is amazing for DOS. Cant decide between a TnT2 Ultra or a GF4 Ti 4800, the TnT2 Ultra feels more age appropriate for a Voodoo2 SLI setup.

For PIII 1GHZ or around that a GF3 is very good match both speed and feature wise (DX8 card). Prior cards and also GF4 MX lack several capabilities, for example in NFS Underground there are no spectatorsbefore and after the race. Unless one has some random graphics card laying around I would not see any reason not to go with GF3 or GF4 Ti despite being a bit CPU limited in some games.