"Besides SPEED, what does the GForce 4 have NEWER and BETTER than the 3?"

[DarkFudge2000]

Folks......I am really thinking about pickin up the Gainward's GeForce 3 450ti card for about $160 but before i drop the loot on a new card, I would like to know what OTHER advantages, besides just a few faster framerates, the GeForce 4 will have over the GeForce 3.


Does anyone know?......Does it bring newer better features to the table?.... does it FIX certain problems from the version 3?

 

[drogue]

ok, the GF4 adds some visual niceties such as vertex shaders, which basically allow for fancier rendering in equal or lesser times. furthermore, the architecture is mroe advanced and more likely to play DX8 and higher games much much faster. the sheer power of the GF4 (Ti line, not MX line) also allows for greater resolution, more detail, and a much better AA rendering quality AND speed. i was planning on buying a GF3/Ti200, but am planning to get a GF4/Ti4200 (and then overclock it) or 4400 instead. any price difference will be compensated by increased lifespan (hte $ diff shoul dbe minimal anyways unless you plan on buying the Ti4600).

 

[DarkFudge2000]

good point....but I was originally buying the GeForce 3 450Ti because it also came with the VIDEO OUT so I can run my DVD movies right to my 27' TV

Will the GeForce 4200ti have VIDEO OUT as well?

 

[Vegito]

the thing i like most is the dual monitor feature... better than ati..

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

<< the thing i like most is the dual monitor feature... better than ati.. >>



and you base this claim on what, may I ask?

-Ice

 

[AA0]

an nvidiot speaks.

Considering the RAMDACs are slower on the GF4....
or that the GF4 dual monitor solutions are inferior to the MX version... or... I won't go on.

 

[Vegito]

all the reviews..

i dont even own a nvidia product till last week

and it was a bunch of free geforce 2 gts cards

im a matrox g400/450 user that tried the ati 8500

still on my g400/450.


All i can say is, even though the g2gts is faster than my g400, I think my g400 plays smoother than the g2gts

Most of the review say the g4 dual is much better than ati, other doesn't even mention it.

Almost all review dont care jack crap about dual monitor users

Everyone cares about speed and frame rates

The only thing I care about is good dual screen video card and ati could't do that for me.

and dont go around calling me names.. i dont call you names

 

[Vegito]

Dual 350 RAMDAC , ATI has one at 400 and the other at 240.. end result is identical to hydravision but more user friendly.

It seems all the GeForce 2 MX has 1 single ramdac for 2 display, how is that better ?

Anandtech's review notes

One of the most useful features of the NV25 core is the inclusion of the nView multiple display core. Originally introduced alongside the GeForce2 MX as TwinView, nView is an extension of TwinView with much greater flexibility from a hardware standpoint. The NV25 core features dual 350MHz integrated RAMDACs thus allowing for dual CRTs without any external circuitry. Although the core itself doesn't feature any TMDS transmitters there is support for up to two external TMDS transmitters on the GeForce4 to drive dual digital flat panel displays.

nView setup is extremely easy to use

The hardware behind nView enables the technology but it is the software that exists that truly makes it a feature. From a software standpoint, NVIDIA managed to hire talent from the same company that ATI gained a lot of its Hydravision technology from - Appian. The end result is that nView is virtually identical to Hydravision in terms of features, but NVIDIA has made it slightly more user friendly by integrating a very simple 11-step setup process that can have any user up and running in as few as 11 clicks. The wizard clearly explains all of the major nView features and offers options to turn on/off features like multiple desktops

 

[Leon]

<< Considering the RAMDACs are slower on the GF4.... >>



ATI secondary RAMDAC = 240
NVIDIA seconday RAMDAC = 350



<< or that the GF4 dual monitor solutions are inferior to the MX version >>



Dual monitor capability is 100% the same on both cards.
Speaking of dual monitors, there is still no dual DVI card from ATI.

Leon

 

[FlamingPanther]

<< Speaking of dual monitors, there is still no dual DVI card from ATI. >>

If you want to go that route,there isn't one from Nvidia either , they just make the GPU's.
they don't even have integrated TMDS transmitters
It's up to the Board makers to put aftermarket TMDS transmitters on the boards
to be able to output to DVI

Now that ATI is sellings their GPU's to board manufacturers
We should see something long those lines from someone like Hercules,
If they think there is a market for it.

The Radeons have always had Dual DVI support.
as well as dual 165 MHz integrated TMDS transmitters.
(Up to 1600x1200)

And I think that the RAMDAC speed would have jack to do with anything if you were running flat panels
because there would be no Digital-To-Analog conversion going on.

The Radeons RAMDAC is at a perfect balance in my opinion because how many people have two CRT's capable of
2048x1536?
the only person that I know that uses dual CRT's (1600x1200) has a MAC!

 

[Vegito]

There probably wont be dual dvi for a while.. these thing are still expensive but when dvi flats panel are cheap, all these things will appear... I think matrox g550 has dual dvi, but not sure if it's native or it's through adapter..

 

[FlamingPanther]

A correction to my previous post,
according to several sites the GF4 does have integrated TMDS transmitters(up to 1280x1024),
(the GF3 does not)
but then why in every picture of the GF4 that I see, is an external Conexant Video Encoder on the
reference board?

*Edit The CVE must be for S-Video out. duh!

And why would several manufacturers already announce that their versions of the card will have extenal
TMDS transmitters?

I am confused now

 

[crawford]

<< good point....but I was originally buying the GeForce 3 450Ti because it also came with the VIDEO OUT so I can run my DVD movies right to my 27' TV

Will the GeForce 4200ti have VIDEO OUT as well? >>



You have a 27 foot tv ? whoa lemme come over and watch some dvds on that !

 

[UncleWai]

if you want to tv-out to your TV,
i wouldn't even touch a gf3 card.
Don't know about gf4's tv-out quality but the gf3ti200 i had definitely sucked.

 

[cmaMath13]

Besides the faster this and that, I think that main differences are the extra vertex shader and Dual monitor output. I am running a GeForce2 Ultra, so the GeForce4 4600 is looking VERY sweet to me.

 

[DarkOrca]

yeah, the major improvement is about speed, but t's not just a few fps improvement
With enough powerful for the vid card, u can crank up the res + using AA without scacrificing too much fps, that's what most of us want essentially

It also fixes the DXTC problem that GF3 is having.

 

[DarkFudge2000]

what is the DXTC problem?.....what does that stand for?


I am really considering getting the GainWard GeForce 3 450ti but now you have me worried

 

[TapTap]

Im waiting for the price drop on the Ti3-500's.

 

[FlamingPanther]

DarkFudge2000,
DXTC stands for DirectX Texture Compression,
the Problem with the GF3's implementation was that the GF3 only used 8 bits,
so, for instance, the sky in Q3 with DXTC on, (and yes I know Q3 is OpenGL, don't ask me!)
would look, well, like it was in 256 colors.
The GF4's DXTC is 16 bit if I am not mistaken.
I don't know what type of texture compression the Radeon's use.

TapTap,
Nvidia is Discontinuing the GF3 series, and replacing it with the GF4MX line of cards,
So you will see the GF3's dissappear before the high-end GF4's appear at most major retailers.
However some small shop's will still carry them while stock holds out.
But, don't wait to long!

Or just get a GF4-4200 or GF4-4400

 

[FlamingPanther]

Ok, now I see,
The MX line of cards will have DVD decoding and Integrated TMDS transmitters
But the TI line will not!

weird, that sucks.