[Mosquito]

The best card is not always the most expensive. and why not just answer his questions, and let him decide if he has the level to understand.

Benchmarks are a series of tests designed to work a particular part of your computer to see how quickly and stabley it will run.

i.e.: 3DMark2001 tests the graphics subsystems of your computer to tell you how well you machine can handle graphic intensive applications (read games). It runs a series of tests, and at the end gives you a number, of which the larger the number, the better.

Benchmarks are often used to test 2 or more components to see which is "faster", or better. Video cards are often swapped into a system and tested so that they all run on the same platform. The card with the best benchmark numbers overall is usually the best bet, but you also have to factor in price. I.E. see www.tomshardware.com for a Geforce 3 roundup. Almost all cards run within .1% of each other, not enough of a difference to be even noticeable, and there is over a $100 spread in card prices.

GeneralGenitals is right though, to get a good idea of what you're looking for, look around at the sharkey extreme, or other hardware sites,(there are many) and read a bit.

I can't tell you much about those particular cards, as I haven't used or read much on them. I find the Geforce 3 Ti-200 capable of running anything I've been able to throw at it so far.... but DOOM III is coming, and that will need horsepower extreme!!!

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Remember Dieppe