Upgrade?

[CrazyBorne]

I currently have a Gainward Geforce 3 Ti 200. I am gonna be getting some money soon :D so I'm woundering what video card I should get. I was thinking either a Radeon 8500 or Geforce 4 Ti 4400. Whats the performance difference between all three of these cards. Thanks =D.

[Spahinator]

The Performance gain wouldnt be all that much with a Radeon 8500 and a GeForce 4 ti4400. If I were you i would ether save up for a NV30 or a Radeon 9700/Pro.

[Miknow]

geforce ti 4400 hands down

[Wommalong]

Originally posted by Spahinator
The Performance gain wouldnt be all that much with a Radeon 8500 and a GeForce 4 ti4400. If I were you i would ether save up for a NV30 or a Radeon 9700/Pro.


Here (http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=geforce4ti) are the specs of the GeForce 4 Ti range

Here (http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=geforce3) are the GeForce 3 Ti range specs

Here (http://www.kickassgear.com/Reviews/Take%20the%20High%20Road.htm) is a review between a GeForce 4400 Ti and a GeForce 3 500 Ti. (Keep in mind that the 500 Ti is abit beter thebn the 200 Ti

;)

[BaldHeadedDork]

I have a hard time recommending either.

The Ti4400 was my favorite of the GF4 line before the prices on the 4600's came down. In a lot of cases the 4600 is now only $20 more expensive, so the 4400 has become the answer to a question that no one remembers.

The 8500 isn't in the 4400/4600 league when it comes to performance. Its still fast enough to run anything you want to throw at it at up to 1024x768, but if you want to run newer games like UT 2K3 at 1280x1024, you want something with a little more horsepower than the 8500.

(And I'm presuming that you weren't talking about the 8500AIW. If you were, don't. That's a horribly overpriced card for what you get. Buying the card you need for gaming and then adding in a seperate $50-80 TV tuner is a much smarter investment.)

Back to the videocard, in the $200-250 range that you are talking about, I'm recommending waiting to see how ATI prices the Radeon 9500 and 9500 Pro. If ATI goes for the throat and pits the 9500 Pro directly against the Ti4600 at $250, that will be the the video card deal of the fourth quarter. That's not a lock, there is a good chance the Pro will come in at $280-300 while the base 9500 will take on the 4600 in a pretty evenly matched fight, but the possibility of getting a 9500 Pro for what you'd pay for a 4600 is worth waiting for.


BHD

[nut581]

seem like you better off waiting for the next NV30 to come out, this will definitely cut the price of current top of the line cards, and with that kind of money , who knows what you're gonna get in what ... 3 months from now?? (i'm not sure when's NV30 will be launched).

[Wommalong]

Originally posted by nut581
seem like you better off waiting for the next NV30 to come out, this will definitely cut the price of current top of the line cards, and with that kind of money , who knows what you're gonna get in what ... 3 months from now?? (i'm not sure when's NV30 will be launched).

Lets hope;) ...i want one

[wilhelm310]

dont upgrade prices are gonna drop when n30 is out

[snyper1982]

dude, how do you figure that a 9500 pro is gonna be 280 to 300? you can get a 9700 pro RIGHT NOW for like 310. i say just spend the extra right now and just be happy and get the 9700 PRO. thats what im gonna do, im tired of the geforce 4, i have had 3 of them and all 3 of them messed up within months. hopefuly the 9700 wont.

[nut581]

Wommalong .. my TI4200 card price dropped $20 last month alone :( .. guess ATI 9700 kicked it's butt .. hopefully NV30 will kick ATI's butt :) and drop the price.

[BaldHeadedDork]

Just checked at Newegg. You can get one 9700 Pro priced at around $310 (the Sapphire OEM at $316). The FIC is $325, the Gigabyte is $348 and the ATI is $365.

I stand by my prediction that if ATI decides to market the 9500 Pro between the 9700 Pro and Ti4600, their card will have a street price between $280-300. Guessing how third party builders (like Sapphire) will price their cards is like nailing Jell-o to a wall. Their versions of the 9500 Pro will be cheaper, but when and by how much is anyone's guess.

I also wouldn't expect a big drop in the price of cards using old chips when the GeForceFX ships. Or perhaps for a long time after that. There is a hundred dollars of room for nVidia to play with between the Ti4600 and the Radeon 9700 Pro right now. I expect the new models to fill up the top end of that gap, and for nVidia to keep GF4 chip prices at the current level for their new role as the bargain performance line, just as the GF3 Ti500 has for the last year.


BHD

[Wommalong]

Originally posted by nut581
Wommalong .. my TI4200 card price dropped $20 last month alone :( .. guess ATI 9700 kicked it's butt .. hopefully NV30 will kick ATI's butt :) and drop the price.

Since i got my Card (here in South Africa) the price has almost halfed. From R46## to R33##... not fair:( (Exchange rate is at 10:1 so it costs about $350 i i was to convert:eek: )

[snyper1982]

well i i thik that if ati is smart the 9500 PRO will cost around 200-250, if not lower.