ti4200 128MB or 64MB

[wetcat007]

I'm planning on getting a new vid card sometime soon, I'm looking for something around 100 bux that'll give me plenty of UT2003 performance, and work on the upcomming Doom3, I currently havea GeForce 2 Ultra which isnt cuttin it anymore. So would a ti4200 be a wise upgrade? I know that there are 128MB and 64 MB versions, I found a nice Aopen one (64 MB) for 108 dollars, but I was wondering if it'd be better to put another 30 bux into a 128MB version, (I know it's clocked lower but it can be overclocked as far as I know) well anyways if anyone has any advice I'd much appreciate it!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[sash1]

get the 128Mb version, if you will be playing Doom III on this card, you will msot definitely need the extra RAM.

 

[88637]

I got a chaintech 128 meg 4200, OCed up to 290/584. Does pretty well in UT2003. Cant say anything about Doom3 as not much has been released regarding it. Only stock thing out in the market right now that can beat an OCed 4200 is a 4600 or a Radeon 9700 though, both of which arent in the price range were talking about.

 

[Deeko]

128 no question.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Deeko
128 no question.

People seem to like the Albatron brand card - fast BGA RAM - it can usually overclock to Ti4600 defaults and above.

Lovin' my eVGA brand Ti4200, 128MB.
Can't quite OC as good as Albatron's tend to, but it does the job.

 

[MrC4]

It is a clean sweep for the 128! I too am looking to upgrade my GF3 Ti 200 (of course I don't know why since it runs all of my games fantastically!)

 

[wetcat007]

Now u got me drooling over the Albatron GeForce 4 ti4200 Turbo, that thing is sweet as hell, overclocks to outperform a ti4600, just plain awesome, it goes for 185 though, which sadly as of now is a little out of my budget. Oh yeah i also forgot to mention my system specs before, I got a AMD Athlon 1700+@2000+ Shuttle AK31A kt266a, 384 ddr mem, and a 17 inch moniter so i wont be usin anything higher than 1024x768 (bigger moniters are even more ridiculusly annoying to haul around to lan parties). Well anyways, thanks for the help, so you think if i busted $185 on a Albatron Turbo4200 128MB, I'd be set for at least a year of liquid smooth gaming? Well anyways thanks for the help, i need to get rid of my old geforce 2.

Oh yeah will i even be able to completly take advantaeg of these fast cards with my CPU? It's not the fastest thing but not bad either so i was just wonderin.

-Mark

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: MrC4
It is a clean sweep for the 128! I too am looking to upgrade my GF3 Ti 200 (of course I don't know why since it runs all of my games fantastically!)

Ti4200 runs games even more fantastically

Seriously though, there is a noticeable difference in recent games. You may have been satisfied before, but I have seen a noticeable difference in the games I've been playing a lot lately (mostly WC3, but I've fired up SoF2, AA and all ran much, much smoother).

wetcat007, I just upgraded from the gf3 ti200 to the Albatron Ti4200 Turbo. The card does rock, but yah it is a bit steep, closer to ti4400 prices. But I didn't buy it thinking it was a ti4200, I bought it thinking anything less than ti4600 speeds would be a major disappointment. Needless to say I'm not complaining about its performance I bought it keeping in mind it easily performed as well as the ti4600 (and in some ppl's cases exceeded it), cost anywhere from $45-$75 less, and managed to stay under the $200 barrier. A few of the higher-end Ti4600's offer a few more features like VIVO, but I knew I wouldn't be using those features.

If its out of your budget now, I would wait. I'd wait to see how much the Radeon 9700 costs and see what it does to GF4 prices. Its gonna rock performance-wise, way above any nv25 card and just slightly below a 9700pro, but its price should be around the current ti4600 prices. That should only drop the prices of existing gf4 cards, making the ti4200 turbo easily attainable at a price that may fit your budget.

Chiz

 

[fluxquantum]

heard a lot of good things about the Albatron Ti4200 Turbo. hopefully the price will drop in the near future. i really want one of these but can't afford it at the moment

 

[Megatomic]

If I didn't already have a very overclockable VisionTek 4200 I'd get the Albatron. And to answer the original question posed by the thread: go for 128MB, it is futureproofing your purchase.

 

[techfuzz]

It has been said time after time in video card reviews that the 64MB limit is not currently being pushed by games on the market today. Then again they have stated that Doom 3 might be the first game to push the 64MB limit to its breaking point.

That being said, the Ti4200 series are pretty cheap and Doom 3 is still a ways off. You should think about how much money you'll save by buying the 64MB version now and then buying a new video card down the road when it's time to upgrade for Doom 3. Current nVidia production cards will most certainly come way down in price after the NV30 chipset goes into production next year.

I'm really happy with the MSI Ti4200 64MB I bought last week. Then again I don't play games all that often.

techfuzz

 

[wetcat007]

Well I can wait for prices to go down, buy something now, which pricewise would have to be 64MB, although I would rather not have to replace my viudeo card all that soon after I get it, like someone segested, I'm looking for it to last me a while, I think for now though I'll wait too see if prices drop. I was also wondering, how overclockable would something like EVGA or Visiontek cards be was far as with the GeForce 4 ti4200? Well anyways thanks for all the help!

-Mark

 

[chizow]

Well the consideration is this:

You will want to future-proof your card some and get 128 MB DDR. The standard ti4200's with 128MB DDR all have slower 4ns RAM. Some of the 64MB ti4200's OC well b/c they have faster RAM, just less of it. 128MB isn't necessary for today's games, but it certainly will be for future games like Doom3. ti4200's with 4ns RAM will overclock, just not to the extent a 128MB ti4200 Turbo, ti4400, or ti4600 will reach. So essentially you would be getting a 128MB card to future-proof yourself, but at the same time buying a slower card that may not cut it despite of the increased memory.

Also, I would steer away from Visiontek now that they are out of business....their lifetime warranty is kinda worthless now

If you can wait...wait. In a month or two, you'll have a much better selection of cards at much better prices. I can't wait to see how much the 9700 is gonna cost..that card is gonna rock at a reasonable price.

Chiz

 

[DoubleL]

Well just me but I would go with the 64MB, I have about 4 laying here and have never seen much diff. in the 64MB from the 128's and I would say with the way the cards are going you would be upgrading in a year or so, On the Albatron 4200 trubo I think they are way over priced for what you get and the over clock you can get out of them, You can take a cheaper 64MB card put a fan and memory heatsinks and clock it 330/600, But like I said that is just me

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: DoubleL
Well just me but I would go with the 64MB, I have about 4 laying here and have never seen much diff. in the 64MB from the 128's and I would say with the way the cards are going you would be upgrading in a year or so, On the Albatron 4200 trubo I think they are way over priced for what you get and the over clock you can get out of them, You can take a cheaper 64MB card put a fan and memory heatsinks and clock it 330/600, But like I said that is just me

The ti4200 turbo is only ~$40 more than the standard 128MB ti4200 turbos with 300/600 being the absolute minimum you should expect. People are hitting 700+ with their memory. The 128MB standard ti4200s with 4ns ram rarely crack 600mhz memory. The GPUs are all the same, so you can expect the same speeds there. There are some games where 128MB does improve performance at higher resolutions, and the 128MB will absolutely be necessary in games like Doom3, which can be expected in the next 6 mos. I didn't want to have to add anything to the card to get it to OC, but then again, I didn't have to considering the ti4200 turbo has the best heat sink/fan ramsink package of any GF4

Chiz

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

IMO this is not an ideal time to upgrade video unless you are really hurting (because you have a GF2 or below). I have a GF3ti200, and to me it makes more sense to wait for NV30 to come out, see how it stacks up, and choose then. NV30 will definitely drive down the prices of all GF4s, and by then the 9700 will be cheaper as well, not to mention that ATi may have superceded it with something even better.

My GF3ti200 still does fine for today's games. The jury is still out on what exactly Doom 3 will require, but I plan on an upgrade within the next six months (probably to NV30 or a 9700) to accomodate it.

 

[BoomAM]

I agree with Don_Vito, unless you are in desperate need on a video card, then wait for nv30.
If you are desperate however, get a Ti4200 128mb.
The albertron one that everyone is on about is called "medusa" and ive only ever seen the 64mb version around, im not even sure that they do a 128mb version of it. check the albertron website to make sure though.

 

[KGB1]

The new Geforce 4 ti4200 128 MB 8X has faster memory now. If you need a card for NOW, get the newer 4200, I know 4x AGP and 8 x AGP does not have much of an impact, but the 128 MB version has better memory, (the 250 DDR compared to 222 mhz in the original) And the 250 MHZ Ram can easily be overlcocked to 600. You really dont need the Albatron, for that price I can buy a ti4400 and overclock to ti4600 levels. A ti4200 is there for a reason not to compete with the 4400 and 4600. But again I stress the AGP 3.0 version is much better.

 

[BFG10K]

128 MB cards are definitely the way to go as 64 MB cards get absolutely mashed in the bulk of today's games.

It has been said time after time in video card reviews that the 64MB limit is not currently being pushed by games on the market today

Whoever wrote these reviews was outright wrong.

I agree with Don_Vito, unless you are in desperate need on a video card, then wait for nv30.

I usually agree with waiting but the problem in this case is that the NV30 is now due in the first quarter of 2003 which means it could be as late as March 03.

I wonder if the Radeon 9500 Pro would be a better choice? It'll be faster than than Ti4200 and it should be here much earlier than the NV30.

 

[Beandog]

Well If your price range is $150 or less, you need a new Vid card now, and You won't be upgrading for about a year...then I would consider the GF4 4200 128MB Standard Versions Like the Albatron 128MB TI4200P for $147 shipped from Newegg, or If you can squeak out another $31.40 you could get that great Albatron TURBO 128MB TI4200P Model with the faster memory and clockable up to 4600 speeds from GoogleGear for $178.40 shipped. If you absolutely must stay as low in price as possible now and want to play most games out now at max settings, I would opt for the MSI GF4 TI4200-TD 64MB Model 8870-030 for a mere $131 shipped at Newegg! and check out that Bundle that comes with the MSI Cards!!!...but before you buy that 64MB card, take a look at this Sharkey comparison ran in Sept 2002 comparing a Standard GF4 64MB Card and a 128MB Card, and you can see that the 128MB hangs close to the 64MB version at Stock speeds, but Look near the end of the analysis when he uses the standard Nvidia OC Coolbits to Overclock both boards and the the 128MB version beats out the 64MB in alot of the tests at higher resolutions even though the memory on the 64MB can clock higher. Interesting, although this is just one test and results can vary. The fact is the 128MB will fool proof you for a good year at least given the larger Texture Games coming out in 2003, and you should have the speed to play all games now at Max settings, and if you have to next year turn down a lil of the eye candy for those games if you need to like Doom3 etc...I think having the 128MB for the larger expanding textures in newer games next year will be more important than the speed of a 64MB version for games that exceed 64MB textures. So if you can squeak out the $178.40 for the Turbo 128MB Albatron Model now then you have the best of both worlds OC speed of a 4600 and 128MB of memory to cover all those new games. I am in the same boat as you now, my GF2 Pro aint cutting it anymore unless I turn all the fun stuff off I need to upgrade now, my budget says I should do the Standard 64MB Version, but then I thought more of 128MB, and then I saw that Turbo thing and the price dropped at Googlegear making my decision even tougher. I am no expert though, so others with more knowledge feel free to chime in, I am just stating my observations after reading reviews, forums, tech sites, etc for over 2 weeks now. Decisions...Decisions...feel free to help me make up my mind
Link to Sharky 64 vs 128

Link to Albatron Turbo at Google

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?
submit=manufactory&catalog=48&manufactory=1665&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1">Link to Albatron Cards at Newegg</a>

Link to MSI cards Newegg

Albatron TURBO review

MSI 64MB 4200 Review

 

[nemesismk2]

UT2003 just loves a fast cpu so make sure you get one or your new video card will be wasted.

 

[Superman9534]

uhh nobody has mentioned the 64MB XfX Ti 4200! I got one last week and I LOVE it! It uses 3.6ns Hynix RAM, so it overclocks like a beat, the fan/hs is great (no ram heat sinks though). I've hit 300/600 easily and am going for more. The RAM actually comes overclocked by 13mhz STANDARD (513mhz, 555mhz is the RAMs normal speed, so you actually arent even overclocking until u hit more then 555). Its a great card, i get 50-70fps in UT 2003 1024x768x32 normal detail.

 

[PCMarine]

I love my MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 128 mb DDR, got it for $125 a month ago. Right now, since I like to stay on the safe side, I have it running at 275/500 (stock 250/446 <<-- close enough). The DDR ram that MSI puts on its cards is rated @ 500 mhz, so OCing it to 500 doesnt tax the card at all.

 

[Mockmaw]

"128 MB cards are definitely the way to go as 64 MB cards get absolutely mashed in the bulk of today's games... Whoever wrote these reviews was outright wrong."

Nice job backing that one up.. where's your evidence? I've only seen a single benchmark show a significant difference in framerates in favor of the 128mb card.. and that's in Anand's Ti4200 roundup where the 128mb card does better than the 64mb card in 1280x1024 resolution ONLY.. the performance increase isn't apparent in 1024x768 nor 1600x1200.

My 64mb was $30 less than the least expensive 128mb.. $30 isn't worth a couple frames in a single resolution of a single game... show me some more benchmarks of the 128 cards decisively beating the 64 cards (I mean a difference of 5 fps or more.. which is even a narrow gap.. the difference between 120 and 125 fps is negligible.)

No games on the market show a marked difference between the 64 and 128 cards (in all of the reviews I've read at least.) Want to spend the money to potentially future-proof yourself, fantastic, that's your choice.. but no one can for certain yet that the games coming out will need 128 megs.. that's just speculation as a marketing tactic, and frankly, it's doing a pretty good job. I've seen zero proof so far that the 128mb cards are more 'future-proof' than the 64mb cards. My 64 card runs all the games I like to play at resolutions and details that are more than adequate.. I bought the card because I wanted the best bang for the buck now, I felt the Ti4200 64mb cards provided the best ratio of that.. when the next gen games are out that require 128, I'll buy one.

Anand article with 64mb vs. 128mb comparison

 

[faye]

64mb Ti4200 has a fast ram, but no way to get a faster ram over a "more" ram situation..

if u r playiing Doom3, 64mb for sure is not enough.

Albatron Ti4200 Turbo can even go beyond 4600. I think i saw it in Sharky...