Which video card should I buy? Radeon 9100 vs. GF3Ti200 (or Mad Dog 4200?)

[Eugaet]

I can get both cards for the same price (~$85). Which one do you guys recommend and why? Anything better than these would be overkill...I'm upgrading a Asus P2B w/ 1Ghz Celeron and 768MB PC100 RAM. Please post your reason for choosing one over the other. Otherwise, I'll have to assume you are either a fanboy or rep for the respective company.

Product links:
VisionTek Xtasy 9100 64MB AGP
Gainward GeForce3 PowerPack!!! Ti/450 TV 64MB Golden Sample

 

[Interfire]

I'd go with the 9100 thats probably your best bet out of those ones, should give you the best performance. You say you are upgrading but what is your new system going to be?

Anyways the 9100 is essentially a 8500 which outperformed the ti200 anyways.

 

[InFecTed]

I have an ASUS Ti200 that works like a charm at 250/520. I like it better than the 8500 (9100) ATIs. If you're into games get the GF3, if not ATI has better tv-out and 2d quality at high resolutions.

 

[Eugaet]

Stupid question time: how do I see the vote results without voting myself every time I want to check?

 

[CurtCold]

Why not go Here and get a 128MB 9100 for the same price as the GF3?

The 9100 performs between the TI500, and the 4200, For the price I personally don't think the GF3's are priced very well. Considering there age and performance. Which is still ok. But the 9100 is the better 2D-3D value. Just watch out for low clock speeds.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: CurtCold
Why not go Here and get a 128MB 9100 for the same price as the GF3?

The 9100 performs between the TI500, and the 4200, For the price I personally don't think the GF3's are priced very well. Considering there age and performance. Which is still ok. But the 9100 is the better 2D-3D value. Just watch out for low clock speeds.

Generally, a plain GF3 is comparable to a 9100. The 9100 only bests the GF3 Ti200. The 9100 usually loses to the GF3 Ti500.

 

[nemesismk2]

Originally posted by: CurtCold
Why not go Here and get a 128MB 9100 for the same price as the GF3?

The 9100 performs between the TI500, and the 4200, For the price I personally don't think the GF3's are priced very well. Considering there age and performance. Which is still ok. But the 9100 is the better 2D-3D value. Just watch out for low clock speeds.

Isn't the 128mb Radeon 9100 clocked much slower than the 64mb version?

The Radeon 9100 performs slower than the GF3 Ti500 and usually slower than even a Radeon 8500 which it replaced. However with either of these video cards unless you also upgrade your cpu your going to be limited by your cpu.

 

[CurtCold]

There generally neck and neck according to toms VGA charts. The GF probably has slightly better drivers, and slightly less 2D quality. Either cards will be nice with your Celeron setup. If you had a faster CPU I'd say go with the GF, because they seem to scale better than the ATI cards.

 

[Eugaet]

Someone on another board has recommended the Mad Dog Raptor Ti4200 for the same price ($80 after $60 in rebates). This card would definitely be overkill for my system (Asus P2B r1.10 w/ Celeron 1Ghz and 768MB RAM). Is it worth it to 'future-proof' a little and run this card in my current rig? Anyone own this card? Any comments?

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Eugaet
Someone on another board has recommended the Mad Dog Raptor Ti4200 for the same price ($80 after $60 in rebates). This card would definitely be overkill for my system (Asus P2B r1.10 w/ Celeron 1Ghz and 768MB RAM). Is it worth it to 'future-proof' a little and run this card in my current rig? Anyone own this card? Any comments?

If you really can get that card for the price, that would be an excellent card to get. It would be overkill, but it would still be a small improvement, for the same price. I would ask around to see if it has good 2D though.

By the way, I run an Asus P2B r1.10 with Celeron 1.4 GHz Tualatin (100 FSB). Your system would take a 1.1A at 1.47 MHz (133 FSB), with the right slot adapter and the right RAM, if you don't mind overclocking the AGP bus.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Eugaet
Stupid question time: how do I see the vote results without voting myself every time I want to check?

You need to vote yourself.

 

[Eugaet]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
You need to vote yourself.

Yeah, I finally figured that out yesterday...I tossed in a fake vote for the V550.

 

[rdh]

GF4 ti4200's are dropping like crazy.... usually available somewhere for under $100 after rebate. CompUSA had one this week for $80 after rebate. I suspect that they will be generally available for under $100 (no rebates) very soon.

At your pricepoint, I'd get a GF4ti4200 (either now with rebate or wait for a non-rebate sale)

 

[Boobers]

<BEGIN RANT>

The sale on TI4200's at CompUSA is a total scam. The day the sale started, all the TI4200's were sold in a matter of minutes. I went to three stores in my area (Detroit) and couldn't get one. I think they only had a couple per store.

It's a total scam to get people who usually buy parts on-line to come down to the store, where they will try the bait and switch. I hate CompUSA and will NEVER buy anything from them again. I'd rather pay more at Newegg than give CompUSA one single dollar of my money.

It is very unethical and deceitful to advertise products on sale that they don't actually have in stock. OfficeMax is the same way, but that's another story...

<END OF RANT>

On the upside though, Newegg has a Gainward TI4200 64Mb for $119, but that's more than you want to pay...

 

[Priit]

That Gainward's GF3Ti200 is overclocked by default to 200/450 (uses 4ns RAM) so basically you get card exactly as fast as "original" GF3 . Also, Gainward cards are one of the best ones in Nvidia realm when talking about 2D IQ...

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: Boobers
<BEGIN RANT>The sale on TI4200's at CompUSA is a total scam. The day the sale started, all the TI4200's were sold in a matter of minutes. I went to three stores in my area (Detroit) and couldn't get one. I think they only had a couple per store. It's a total scam to get people who usually buy parts on-line to come down to the store, where they will try the bait and switch. I hate CompUSA and will NEVER buy anything from them again. I'd rather pay more at Newegg than give CompUSA one single dollar of my money. It is very unethical and deceitful to advertise products on sale that they don't actually have in stock. OfficeMax is the same way, but that's another story... <END RANT OF>On the upside though, Newegg has a Gainward TI4200 64Mb for $119, but that's more than you want to pay...

I'm a little late getting to this thread...

I was lucky enough to get in on the deal. I was at my local CompUSA that Sunday when the doors opened. I went there (a 30+ minute drive) expecting them to be out (even though their web page said they were in stock). I got in, bought one of the only 2 they had, and was out the door in less than 5 minutes without being suckered into buying anything else. Been running it overclocked since then. Played all the way through Unreal 2 and now I'm almost done with Splinter Cell. Card has been working great with absolutely no problems! I was a little curious because I'd never heard of Mad Dog and the box just looked like some cheesy back alley design but I've been real impressed. Now I just have to wait and see if I get the rebate

But I'm with ya...I hate CompUSA.

 

[Boobers]

I ended up getting a Gainward TI4200 64Mb Golden Sample (Ultra650/TV) for $108. Been running at 300/600...

(BTW, I hate rebates. Especially the ones that never come!)