When I started playing lots of 32-bit color 3-D games, I realized I needed a newer graphics card with more memory. Linux compatibility was also important to me. The exact model I purchased was the 64 MB DDR VIVO Radeon card.

I compared this card to the GeForce 2, which cost about the same, and decided this card would be the better value. The reason is that this card also offered TV output and in-card DVD decoding.

Installation was pretty painless. I removed my older card, plugged in the new one, and ran the installation CD.

The image quality in 2-D is excellent, the drivers are very stable, and the 3-D game performance is outstanding---the card is meant for 32-bit colors and produces very smooth framerates in Unreal Tournament.

The DVD decoder is a wonderful bonus, since my CD ROM drive died and I replaced it with a DVD-ROM drive. The video card plays back DVDs in partial or fullscreen with virtually no slowdown of other tasks. The playback is very high quality.

In Linux, once you upgrade to the latest XFree86 server version (be sure NOT to overwrite any configuration files if you upgrade an existing install!), the card performs very well and faithfully in 24-bit color mode.

Although it may not have the fastest gaming performance on the block, this card provides a lot of stable features as well as excellent 2-D and 3-D performance.

This card is the combination Cadillac (in terms of features) and Toyota (in terms of stability) of graphics cards.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 200