Buy Geforce3 now or wait for Geforce4?

[bpt8056]

That is the question on many gamer's mind and I decided to make a chart that may help you decide which card to invest.

Here's my price performance ratio on the cards for those who aren't sure about buying a Geforce3 or wait for the Geforce4s to arrive in stores:

I combined the scores (in resolutions 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200) obtained from Tom's Hardware (cuz Ti4200 was included). The scores I used in the formula was Giants (DX7), Aquanox (DX8), and Quake III (OpenGL) and I used the current retail prices.


Performance (avg. framerate), [Price/Performance ratio] (Lower is better)


Geforce3 Ti200 ($199) - 66.11, [3.01]

Geforce3 Ti500 ($349) - 83.82, [4.16]

Geforce4 Ti4200 ($199) - 87.19, [2.28]
Geforce4 Ti4400 ($299) - 96.91, [3.09]
Geforce4 Ti4600 ($399) - 106.02, [3.76]

ATi Radeon 8500 ($299) - 79.34, [3.77]

I didn't take into account of what the Geforce3s would cost if the Geforce4s arrive because there is no way of knowing how much of a price slash we'll see. From the chart, the Geforce4 Ti4200 definitely gets the crown, but it'll have to wait till April. Hope this helps!

 

[bond007taz]

i wish i held out... anyways...

Hold out till the geforce 4 comes out - dam the $199 card beats the geforce3 ti500 - ouch... but sweet deal any way you put it!!!

 

[Gog]

True, in two months the Geforce 4 Ti 4200 will be the card with the most 'bang for the buck.'

But if you had to buy a card now, I think the best card to have would be the Geforce 3 Ti 200, which you can get on newegg for $136 (Chaintech). This card, when overclocked, performs in between a Geforce3 and Geforce 3 Ti 500, for a fraction of the price. I would stay clear of the Geforce 4 mx line completely because of they're lack of Directx8 implementation. The Radeon 8500 LE is also a good deal, but then again it costs about $40 more than the ti200.

 

[PinkPanther]

g4 of course, you would feel cheated out of your money in about 2 months when everyone on the block having fun with their 4200, and you, g3ti200....

 

[Maxpane]

nice chart bpt, I think I'll be putting a ti4200 in my new system.

 

[rondeemc]

wait until they are out then you decide between the new g4 or the discounted g3

 

[bpt8056]

Thank you for the compliment Maxpane. A discounted GF3 would be a nice pick if they remain on the shelves. You really can't go wrong either way....just be patient until March.

 

[BFG10K]

I would wait until more GF4s hits the shelves and the prices stabilise.

 

[mellondust]

That is the question I have bpt8056. Will there be much of a selection of discounted geforce 3 cards around? If they go down in price a lot, stocks might fly out the door with none coming in to replace them, just the geforce 4's. I hope they go really cheap like around $100, but who knows what will happen. Just wait and see, it will be interesting.

 

[Keen314]

Request: Could you add the 8500 cards to that list? I think that would help with those of us who are still not sure if we're gonna get a Nvidia card over an ATI.

edit: many thanks!

 

[Finality]

Very nice

You are of course exluding a future point that the Ti series will probably be 5-10% faster in the next 2 months thanks to driver updates. (and yes the same applies for the Radeon

)

 

[Wade]

Maybe in 2 months I'll feel differently, but right now, I'm happy as a pig in shyte with my Visiontek Ti200... one can go nuts playing the "wait to buy till the next tech release" game... sure, maybe in 2 months that Ti4200 will be the best bang for the buck, but I wanted a video upgrade now, not in 2 months... so, Ti200 it is, and I'm a happy boy!

Cheers,
Wade

 

[DarkOrca]

It's hard to keep waiting and waiting for the new tech to come, like wade said. Remember, Nvidia has a 6 months update cycle, so 3 months after the ti4200 is out, the "new" GF4 series will be around the corner, then u'll ask urself the same question "geez, should I wait further?"

Sure, if u can wait 2 more months, that'll be good. But if u're a serious gamers and suffering from low fps now, then it may not worth the 2 months wait, espeically when GF4 is more or less a faster GF3.

Just my 0.02

 

[Battousai1]

wait for GeForce4 to come out, that the right thing I guess, cause you'll never regret it hen GeForce6 comes out

 

[EdipisReks]

well, i have a geforce3 ti200 and i am planning on selling it and getting a g4 ti4200. i already have a buyer lined up. hopefully, i can get a good overclock out of the sucker like i did with my ti200.

--jacob

 

[merlocka]

Request: Could you add the 8500 cards to that list?

Digit-life has been doing just that for over a year. Here. They use a variety of games and their math is different but they compile a list of top cards in order of their "usability" (i.e. price/performace).

For this month, the top twenty are (followed by their rank last month).

NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 64 MBytes DDR (1)
ATI RADEON 8500LE 64 MBytes DDR (250 MHz)(3)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti 64 MBytes DDR (10)
STMicroelectronics KYRO II 32 MBytes (7)
NVIDIA GeForce3 64 MBytes DDR (2)
NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti500 64 MBytes DDR (4)
STMicroelectronics KYRO II 64 MBytes (14)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 32 MBytes DDR 5 ns (11)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti Golden Sample 64 MBytes DDR 270/500 MHz (6)
NVIDIA GeForce3 Golden Sample 64 MBytes DDR 220/480 MHz(5)
ATI RADEON 8500 64 MBytes DDR (275 MHz)(8)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 64 MBytes DDR 5 ns (12)
STMicroelectronics KYRO 32 MBytes (20)
ATI RADEON 7500 64 MBytes DDR (270 MHz) (-)
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV 64 MBytes DDR (-)
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 32 MBytes AGP (9)
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32 MBytes DDR (15)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 64 MBytes DDR 4.5 ns (16)
ATI RADEON 7500 64 MBytes DDR (290 MHz) (13)
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 32 MBytes AGP (17)


Here is their top twenty in raw performance...

NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti500 64 MBytes DDR (1)
ATI RADEON 8500 64 MBytes DDR (275 MHz) (2)
NVIDIA GeForce3 64 MBytes DDR Golden Sample (4)
ATI RADEON 8500LE 64 MBytes DDR (250 MHz) (3)
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV 64 MBytes DDR (-)
NVIDIA GeForce3 64 MBytes DDR (5)
NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 64 MBytes DDR (6)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti Golden Sample 64 MBytes DDR 270/500 MHz (8)
ATI RADEON 7500 64 MBytes DDR (290 MHz) (7)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra 64 MBytes DDR (9)
ATI RADEON 7500 64 MBytes DDR (270 MHz) (-)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 64 MBytes DDR 4.5 ns (10)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti 64 MBytes DDR (11)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 64 MBytes DDR 5 ns (12)
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 32 MBytes DDR 5 ns (13)
ATI RADEON 64 MBytes DDR (183 MHz) (16)
ATI RADEON 64 MBytes DDR (166 MHz) (17)
STMicroelectronics KYRO II 64 MBytes (20)
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32 MBytes DDR (14)
STMicroelectronics KYRO II 32 MBytes (21)