> It's for the game computer, so it needs speed and great 3d graphics. The last time I bought one, you had to either get two cards, one 2d and one 3d, or the only combo card available - the one based on the voodoo banshee chipset. Is it still like that, or do all the 3d cards handle 2d now?
>
> I'm looking at prob. a 64 meg card. . .TV out would be REALLY nice, especially since my monitor's only a 15 inch and my TV's a 27 inch ;)
>
> Any advice?

I haven't heard of any 3D-only cards since the Voodoo2, so you should get both 2D and 3D with just about anything currently on the market.

Right now, the biggest powerhouse graphics cards are being made by nVidia. Here's a run-down of the current cards:

GeForce 256 -- Debuted last Fall. Features hardware Transform & Lighting. Fill rate: 480MPixels / 480MTexels. Supports antialiasing via supersampling. Performance limited by slow memory.

GeForce 256 DDR -- Same as GeForce 256, but with Double Data Rate memory, which opens up the memory bottleneck.

GeForce 2 GTS -- Debuted this Spring. Features faster T&L engine, still supports antialiasing. Double Data Rate memory. Fill rate: 800MPixels / 1600MTexels. Severely limited by memory, even though it is DDR.

GeForce 2 MX -- The "budget" version of the GeForce 2 GTS. Slower clock speed and memory, and narrower pipeline to memory, but performs as well as or better than original Geforce 256. Fill rate: 350MPixels / 700MTexels.

GeForce 2 Ultra -- A $600 card, but the fastest thing currently out there. Faster core and faster DDR memory to open up memory bottleneck. Fill rate: 1000MPixels / 2000MTexels.


Also in the game:

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP -- The best card for Unreal Tournament; is handily beaten by the GeForce 2 (any variety) in Quake III and other games. Features antialiasing via the T-buffer. Fill rate: 667MPixels / 667MTexels.

ATI Radeon -- Performs at the level of GeForce 2 GTS at low screen resolutions, drops off a bit at higher res. Great at 32-bit color. Features hardware T&L and antialiasing via supersampling. Same graphics core available in All-In-Wonder card (lots of graphics I/O features). Fill rate: 366MPixels / 1100MTexels.

Imagination Tech / STMicro KYRO -- The KYRO takes a different and more elegant approach by eliminating "overdraw", which eats up half or more of a typical graphics card's fill rate. It performs at GeForce 2 MX level or better. Supports antialiasing via supersampling. Fill rate: 250MPixels / 250MTexels.


nVidia sells chipsets only, so 3rd party companies manufacture the cards themselves. It's up to the manufacturer to decide whether to include TV-out and similar features, but there are plenty of nVidia-based cards with TV-out available.

I'm not sure whether the Voodoo5 5500 AGP features TV-out or not. I'm pretty sure the KYRO (which may not even be available quite yet) does not have TV-out. However, before you get a card with TV-out, make sure you don't need some other stuff to get it working. My Leadtek TNT2 card supports TV-out, but my TV has no interface that would accept the jack supplied with the card. I've inquired about it and apparently some additional hardware is required.

Ask more questions if you've got 'em!

Iss "graphics PHREAK" achar