Aqua-Soft ForumsIm stuck between at and nvidia on this one but i like to side with ATi. I need to know if ATI radeon 9000 has hardware TnL
[help] Does Ati 9000 Have Tnl
What's TnL? 
its hardware transform and lighting, its what halo and tron and other new games use
Im not sure if im to get an ATI radeon 9000 (66$ online), A gefroce 5200(Same price) or a Gefroce MX 400 (58$ at wallyworld)
I would suggest getting the GeForceFX 5200 instead: it has DirectX9 compatibility (while the Radeon is stuck with 8.1) and because of this should support all the cool stuff coming in Longhorn (for full visuals MS said you need a DX9-compatible card). The MX is out of the question, it only supports DX7, which means no nice pixel&vertex shaders, which are actually being used in modern games...also, it's old and slow.
hmm but which of those cards is the better contender for my:
20GB Hard Drive
256 MB of ram
900 mhz duron processor
current s3 motherboard with onboard video card (crappy and needs replacement)
Windows Xp pro
Direct X 9
1 - ATI Radeon 9000 with tv stuff 66$
2 - Geforce 2 5200 80$
3 - Geforce MX 400 58$
or maybe another cheap card that will be able to play these new games like halo and tron. Plus, can my computers specs match the games requirements or will it lag?
does the 5200 have TV stuff?
Well, some do, some don't 
Do you have a link to the specific one you're considering?
When you say "TV stuff" do your mean TV-out or a TV tuner?
I very much doubt any 66$ vidcard can have an onboard TV-tuner 
Oh yeah, as for the other question, the rest of your system will drag you down, but in any case, it will be a lot better than having that onboard sh##e.
Acually your best bet is a Radeon 9500pro (r300 chip) or a 9600pro (r350 chip).
DX9 support
Sub $150
WILL work in Half-life 2 and Doom3 with descent speeds.
Faster than the 3 previously mentioned cards.
Radeon 9000 is a r250 chip, and virtually identical to the Radeon 8500, and usually comes up slower than the 8500.
GF MX 400 is not much faster than a GF2 ULTRA.
GFFX 5200... i'll just laugh...
for a tuner... ATI TV Wonder PRO...
I would recomend NOT going with a card w/tuner onboard... I went this route... and regret it, because... what do you do when you want to upgrade again... have to buy another card w/tuner... if you want to keep the same ability.
invest in a good standalone tuner/capture, and it will last through MANY upgrades.
But to answer your question... they all have HW TnL.
Id go for the Geforce4MX440.
Simply put, you're not playing any DX9 games on that system, the video card won't be the bottleneck, it will be your processor.
Save your money, any other card is a waste.
Definately stick with the ATI. I have systems with both ATI and nVidia chips, and I prefer the ATI cards hands down. Not only so they offer driver releases more frequently than nVidia, they're generally cheaper, and usually include a standard DVI port incase you ever upgrade to a digital LCD in the future. Plus, the ATI has a TV out as well. Sounds like the geForce doesn't have too much going for it.
Originally posted by contrasutra@Oct 8 2003, 02:37 AMId go for the Geforce4MX440.
Simply put, you're not playing any DX9 games on that system, the video card won't be the bottleneck, it will be your processor.
Save your money, any other card is a waste.
so you think that the mx 400 (the one with the weird box at walmart) is the best one for my system. i need everything to work in harmony. if i got another processor like an atlohn xp would a mx 400 be slow or what?
I have a Geforce4MX440 and it plays UT2003 at 45FPS in Linux, on a 2Ghz P4, w/ 256MB-RDRAM. Thats at 1024x768, 2x AA and lots of details on.
So you'd be fine with that card. By the time you upgrade the rest of your machine, any of those cards will be "out of date". Dont pre-emptively buy technology. Get what you need today, which is a GF4MX. When you upgrade, you can upgrade to a better card.