NEED ADVICE FOR PURCHASING GOOD GAMING VIDEO CARD

[niwi7]

Hey everyone i just joined up with the forums--- rite now on my PC i have--

AMD Athlon 1800+
512 DDR RAM
Geforce2 MX400 64mb

Suprisingly...a tremendous amount of games run like total crap on my system, such as Nightfire, Madden ,NBA LIVE, Carmageddon etc etc however some random games such as Counter-Strike run great!

AnyWHO i thought id go out and buy a new video card...actually im going to ask for one for my birthday---however I dont want to spend too much (or have sum1 spend to much on me lol) so im lookin around 100-175....definately not over 200

Now it seems clear that u either go with an ATI Radeon or a Geforce4---- now some of these models have more memory than others like 64 vs 128...wuts the diff and will i notice a difference? Also what are other factors to look for? Any1 wanna point me in the direction of a specific card? Im really confused right now casue theres so much out there and I dont really know how to rank them....thanks alot for your time and support.

-NiWi

 

[nick1985]

everybody will recommend the ati 8500...yadda yadda yadda. geforce 4 ti-4200 is the best bang for your buck and it is right in your price range. the card kicks ass, nobody i know regrets purchasing one

 

[nick1985]

this might help you decide

 

[harbinger52]

Welcome to the boards!

In your price range look at the ATI 9500 you can get a non-pro OEM at Newegg for $162 or the Pro version at $199.

 

[xSauronx]

if i were you id prolly get a 128mb gf4200

but im not, so i had to settle for a radeon 8500, still a good card, but id rather have the 4200

 

[BoberFett]

How does everybody recommend the GF4 4200 as the best bang for the the buck. It's slightly faster than the ATI 8500/9100, but also costs 50% more.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
How does everybody recommend the GF4 4200 as the best bang for the the buck. It's slightly faster than the ATI 8500/9100, but also costs 50% more.

slighty?? it beats it pretty bad in most of the tests. and it is more stable and thats a fact

 

[kylebisme]

well that is if you dont use af much, but then again that level of card will be past its high qualty setting days soon anyway and brute force will be more important. another vote for the 4200.

 

[harbinger52]

Why is everyone saying 4200? Is it the price. Why not spend the $200 and get the 9500pro? DX9, on par if not better than the Ti4600

 

[nick1985]

because thats the extreme end of his budget. the 4200 fits his money situation better

 

[niwi7]

thank you everyone!

im going to look into the 4200...and based on that chart--- my current video card is way low on the list== so im guessing you all agree that it is time to upgrade

 

[Lonyo]

How soon is the money going to be spent? You might do well to wait a bit for the 15% price cut that's coming from ATi which could put the 9500PRO in your price range.

 

[BoomAM]

Make sure you get a 128mb version of the Ti4200. The extra room for textures will benefit future games that have large textures.
Dont forget to OC it as well!!!

 

[nick1985]

do not OC it. why the hell do you need to???

 

[BoomAM]

Pay for a Ti4200, OC it and get a card worth $50+ more.
Plus it`ll perform better in games, and if he uses AA/AF. It`d last him slightly longer as well.

 

[niwi7]

sry for my noobishness but what is OC?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: niwi7
sry for my noobishness but what is OC?

Overclock.
It involves upping the speed of the core of the card, and the speed of the RAM to increase performance.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: harbinger52
Welcome to the boards!

In your price range look at the ATI 9500 you can get a non-pro OEM at Newegg for $162 or the Pro version at $199.

Only problem is, you can't get one of these cards. They are never in stock. I have been waiting since December for my 9500 pro to get here. Still waiting. NewEgg keeps pushing back their ETA for the card.
First it was 2/10. then pushed it to 2/20. then 3/3. Its nuts. You are definately better off getting the GeForce4 Ti4200 128 MB. Just because you can.....
EDIT: I gave up and cancelled my order for the 9500 pro. I went and ordered a GeForce4 Ti4600 8X (Ti4800) and got it in two days. And happily gaming I might add.....
Keys

 

[Skibby9]

I dunno about you guys, but if cash was tight I'd kick myself for wasting money on a DirectX 8.0 card when there was a perfectly good DirectX 9 card that fit my price range...

The Radeon 9500 non-pro is no slouch... and it can be modded using software to 9700 Pro levels and beyond. No guarantee, but even at stock speeds it is a great value.

 

[novice]

While the newer, more potent cards (ATI 9500 Pro, etc.) are certainly superior to the current middle of the pack cards (Geforce 4 Ti4200, Radeon 8500/9000 Pro), they do cost a lot more money. It is possible to pick up a 64 mb Ti4200 for just over $100 delivered form any number of sources, while the 9500 Pro will be at least 50% more money and probably more like 60%. (If you can find one...) Remember, guys, he is upgrading from a Geforce 2 MX 400, so even a Geforce 3 would be a very significant boost in performance and a Ti4200 will blow his old card completely away. Also his cpu is an XP 1800, so I wonder if a 9500 Pro would even show its' real stuff with his current system. I am also considering a video card upgrade and have set an arbitrary limit of $150 and will be even happier spending closer to $100. But considering I am coming from a Geforce 3 Ti 200, would a Geforce 4 Ti 4200 even be worth the trouble and added expense, or should I wait until the 9500 Pro drops to an acceptable price? System specs:
MSI KT3 Ultra 2
XP 2000+
512 MB Crucial PC2100
Win2K

Maybe Niwi7 should just pick up a Geforce 3 for around $60 and wait for the 9500 Pros to drop in price.
Chuck

 

[IdBuRnS]

ATi 9500 Pro > GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB

 

[Skibby9]

Here is the deal:

No matter what anyone says,

A KICK-ASS VIDEO CARD EVEN WITH A MEDIOCRE CPU STILL ROCKS!!!

Even a TBird @1333MHz runs modern games (just beat Unreal 2) just fine. With the 9700 Pro there is absolutely no performance hit when running games with aniso filtering and anti-aliasing wide open as opposed to otherwise. What other video card would allow that?

Looking at Tom's CPU comparison, I know i would realize a 100% fps increase with a top of the lind CPU, but I am telling you:

JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE FASTEST CPU DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T ENJOY THE FASTEST VIDEO CARD.
Just look at Unreal 2 or NOLF 2 or JK2, etc with and without FSAA and AF. Tell me you would go for without and I would call you a liar!


thanks! had to get that off my chest! Ok, here we go: upgrade from GF3 --->GF4 = waste of $.
The point is to be able to run with FSAA and AF. GF3/4 don't do it well. Radeon 9500/9700 don't even break a sweat.

 

[Blimp]

Hey Niwi7,
I had many of the same Q's as you.
For overclock info try overclockers.com or extreme3d.com. One of the serious types may even linkify them for you.
Both the ATI 8500(LE) and the GF4 4200 are big steps up from what you have. Either will be worth the $$$. Just remember that if YOU are happy with the result it is a good deal, no matter what the forum wise-men say.
Hve fun, game your butt off. It's all good!
Blimp

 

[novice]

The point is to be able to run with FSAA and AF. GF3/4 don't do it well. Radeon 9500/9700 don't even break a sweat.

Well, they may be able to run FSAA and AF without breaking a sweat, but paying $100 more than a Geforce 3 for a 9500 Pro, or $150 more for a 9700 than a Ti4200, certainly makes me break a sweat. I don't question their performance, it is just that their performance per dollar isn't enough to justify the investment, for me, at least. More power (pun intended) to those who purchase these top flight cards, and their P4 3 Ghz processors, $200 sound cards, etc. But for people on a budget (remember the start of this thread? It mentioned something about $100 to $175 and not wanting to spend too much) one of the more mainstream cards make a lot of sense. I bought my original Geforce 3 for about $95 back in June (made my 13 year old pay for half, since he was dying for it) and picked up a pair of retail boxed Visiontek Geforce 3 Ti200's for $165 shipped off Ubid auction site. So I basically upgraded 3 different sytstems from Geforce 2 GTS class cards to Geforce 3 class DirectX 8 capable cards for less than a single Geforce 4 Ti or Radeon 9700. Maintaining multiple systems forces compromises on components and makes you seek out best bang for the buck. It seemed to me that was sort of the purpose of this thread. Maybe a Radeon 8500 LE would be an even better option for the original poster. But clearly a Radeon 9500 Pro or 9700 is out of his range, at least at this point in time.
Chuck

 

[kylebisme]

exactly novice, sure there are more fancy cards but the 4200 is no slouch by any means. also i have a need to respond to this:

Originally posted by: nick1985
do not OC it. why the hell do you need to???

why the hell do you ask???