View Full Version : Albatron ti4280p on the way
Brundle Fly
12-08-04, 09:23 PM
...I just bought this card, http://www.compuvest.com/Description.jsp?ItemID=121800,
which is now somewhere between TUKWILA, WA, and Barrie ON, Canada, on a UPS truck. I'm mobo limited to 4X AGP, so this is an upgrade from my FX5200, which blows. I'm not worried about DX9, so that doesn't enter the equation...
...I took some advice I got in here, and bought the ti4200, as I was told it was an improvement over the 5200, and THG vidcard comparo says the same, although my card is 4X, not 8X like one THG tested, so I know mine will be slower. Anyhow, it left WA yesterday, and should be here tomorrow or Friday. I don't wanna screw around swapping out drivers till I get something that works well with this card, I just wanna slap it in, OC the puppy, and start gaming...
...so, I got a few questions, and any suggestions/tips, are more than welcome...
1) Rivatuner: been using it with my 5200, worked better than anything else I tried, should I use it with the 4200, or is there a better program, such as hard page?
2) Coolbits: I use it in conjunction with Rivatuner on my 5200, stick with it or not?
3) Over-clocking: the ti4280p comes stock @250/350 core/memory, any idea where I should start my OC? Forget the 10% thing, my 5200 has a 315/461, 26%/14% OC. This card has a good HSF and ramsinks, and I have a 120 Panaflo blowing directly on the card, so heat shouldn't be a problem. Where do these cards typically max out?
4) Drivers: probably should have been first, but, should I use the latest and "greatest" from nVidia, or older drivers? While I'm talking drivers, should I dump DX9, and go back to 8.1? I got the tool for dumping DX9, and it works, so losing it isn't a prob, question is whether I need to or not, and would older drivers, and DX8.1, work better with this card?
...here's my system specs, old and tired, but it will last till spring when I upgrade...
DFI CA64 TN VIA 4.43 drivers
1100 Celery
320meg RAM
ASUS FX5200 128/128 crapola (4 months old, fan on heatsink died about 2 months ago)
80G WD Caviar 8meg
XP Pro SP1
...any suggestions that will get me up and gaming fast when it arrives will be greatly appreciated. TIA... :attn:
ryanmartini
12-09-04, 10:45 AM
the Ti4200 is a great card, and easily overclocks to Ti4600 Speeds.
i would have recommended you to get a 9500 pro from ebay and flash to a 9700 pro ... =\
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 05:10 PM
the Ti4200 is a great card, and easily overclocks to Ti4600 Speeds.
i would have recommended you to get a 9500 pro from ebay and flash to a 9700 pro ... =\
...cool, so I'll hunt down ti4600 speeds. You have a 4200 in your sig, what are you using for drivers?...
Use older drivers, the new ones are not as good as the old ones were for the ti series, i use the 44.03 and I got a 1k over the newer ones, also the fact that it is a 4x card won't slow you down don't worry, not even a 9800pro will be slowed down by a 4x. Oh and by the way I oced mine to 335core and 675 mem.
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 05:55 PM
Use older drivers, the new ones are not as good as the old ones were for the ti series, i use the 44.03 and I got a 1k over the newer ones, also the fact that it is a 4x card won't slow you down don't worry, not even a 9800pro will be slowed down by a 4x. Oh and by the way I oced mine to 335core and 675 mem.
...bonus, just scooped the 44.03's from Guru3D, and now I know what to aim for on my OC, yeah, I know, mileage may very... :D
...thanks AVG, I was under the impression that the 8X 4200 would be faster than my 4X, but I have no choice. I know older boards are goin the way of the dinosaur, but why don't more manufacturers add 4X support, does it cost that much more?...
4X and 8X only come into play when the memory on the Video Card has been used up and the textures need to be stored on your system RAM. the 4X/8X is just memory bandwidth between the graphics card and the RAM.
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 06:11 PM
4X and 8X only come into play when the memory on the Video Card has been used up and the textures need to be stored on your system RAM. the 4X/8X is just memory bandwidth between the graphics card and the RAM.
...even better, I'm liking this card more and more, and haven't even got my grubby paws on it yet... :D
And the reason why 8x is not a big boost from 4x is because if the card needs to use the system ram the system ram is still much slower then the onboard ram. And another thing most if not all modern video cards will work in 4x mode instead of 8x. Check this spreadsheet with oc from every Geforce card, http://www.mbentley.net/oc/oc_forum_geforce_survey.html .
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 06:59 PM
And the reason why 8x is not a big boost from 4x is because if the card needs to use the system ram the system ram is still much slower then the onboard ram. And another thing most if not all modern video cards will work in 4x mode instead of 8x. Check this spreadsheet with oc from every Geforce card, http://www.mbentley.net/oc/oc_forum_geforce_survey.html .
...beauty, looks like I should be able to get a decent OC on the core, and a really decent OC on the memory. I was under the impression that a strictly 8X compatible card ran at a different voltage than 4X cards. I thought that if I stuck an 8X card in my mobo, I'd either fry the card, or it just wouldn't work. That was a risk I didn't want to take...
capmuffin
12-09-04, 07:01 PM
...beauty, looks like I should be able to get a decent OC on the core, and a really decent OC on the memory. I was under the impression that a strictly 8X compatible card ran at a different voltage than 4X cards. I thought that if I stuck an 8X card in my mobo, I'd either fry the card, or it just wouldn't work. That was a risk I didn't want to take...
No performance difference really,but 4x/8x is the same thing 2x i am pretty sure is oto
Wasn't your FX5200 8x, I ran a 8x FX5200 no problem for about five months.
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 07:10 PM
Wasn't your FX5200 8x, I ran a 8x FX5200 no problem for about five months.
...my 5200 was 2/4/8X, and I had to hunt for it. Even hunting down the ti4200, that was 4X, was a pain, most are strictly 8X, that I could find anyhow...
Brundle Fly
12-09-04, 07:40 PM
...okay, found what I was talking about. My mobo is AGP 4X, and runs at 1.5V, with a 1.5V signal, 8X vidcards run at a 0.8V signal. This explains it better, have a look...
http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html
Brundle Fly
12-10-04, 11:16 PM
...well, my card was in Hodgkins, Il, as of 3pm this aft(UPS tracking), about 450 miles to go, probably won't see it till Monday at the soonest, man I wanted it today... :cry:
...got rid of DX9 already, back to 8.1. Ran 3dMark2001, got 4083(800X600, where I play with this card) with sidecover off, 4110 with sidecover w/120mm on. With the DX9 drivers, same OC core/memory, I maxed out at 3921. Okay, I'm runnin the 67.03's as opposed to the 66.81's now, but it's an improvement. A "curiousity" here, both Airstrike3D and Airstrike II picked up about 6-8FPS with DX8.1, maybe the games don't like DX9?...
...my wife gets this 5200 when the 4200 gets here, so I wanna get it runnin at it's best before I drop it in her system. Man Man!!! I'm goin nuckin futz here!!! I just want the card. I hate buying online, and I hate tracking something, but like "rubber-necking" at an accident, I just gotta look. I prefer to walk into the store, drop cash on the counter, and walk out with my purchase, not wait a week, and then the whole time bore people in here with meandering diatribes, cause I'm bored waitin for my card... :D
...I'm up at 5:30am tomorrow for work, so I'll bootup my system, go straight to ups.com, and check the tracking. It's a freakin disease I say!!! I'll shut up now... :bang head
EDIT
...Livonia, Michigan, 8:30am. I need a life...
Quailane
12-11-04, 05:49 PM
Use older drivers, the new ones are not as good as the old ones were for the ti series, i use the 44.03 and I got a 1k over the newer ones, also the fact that it is a 4x card won't slow you down don't worry, not even a 9800pro will be slowed down by a 4x. Oh and by the way I oced mine to 335core and 675 mem.
You know the only reason you do better with the 44.03's are that nvidia plugged in "optimizations" that increase the 3dmark score, which was frowned upon, and never re-released in their drivers again? These drivers have no difference, and actually probably a little worse as they are old, in all other applications besides some of these benchies.
I didn't know that, I searched online for a good driver for my ti and they said that these were best because the new ones were made for the new cards. So are the one ones better, it's not a big deal to me since I rarely ever game on that pc but I like to know just so I don't give wrong advices here you know.
Brundle Fly
12-11-04, 06:08 PM
You know the only reason you do better with the 44.03's are that nvidia plugged in "optimizations" that increase the 3dmark score, which was frowned upon, and never re-released in their drivers again? These drivers have no difference, and actually probably a little worse as they are old, in all other applications besides some of these benchies.
...ah, is this the time of the "nVidia Scandal"? Question here about this "scandal": did the drivers only improve 3D Mark scores, or did they improve frame rates too, in real games? If they did improve frame rates, in "real" games, was the cost in image quality noticable to the naked eye? Personally, I feel if a cheat/tweak makes gameplay better, who cares? Isn't every driver revision just a tweak/cheat over the last one, provided it doesn't "downgrade" IQ?...
Brundle Fly
12-14-04, 05:44 PM
...update, my card has finally arrived, well, it's in Barrie now. My wife and I both work, so I'm gonna snag it myself at the UPS office tomorrow, kids are at school, so no one is here when the UPS guy comes by...
...I'm lookin forward to droppin this into my system tomorrow night, early Christmas present for myself... :attn: :santa:
football
12-14-04, 06:29 PM
I'm very happy for you, nice to see people express good emotion. Hope it all goes well for you, and post us if you have any problems.
Most in the nvidia forum had a TI one way or another, and should beable to give tips when needed.
Take care, and Merry Christmas to you and your family! :thup:
Brundle Fly
12-14-04, 07:23 PM
...thanks football, and the best of the season to you and yours too... :santa:
...these forums rock when it comes to getting help, great bunch of people. It helps that the mod/admins run it right, makes all the diff in the world... :D
Brundle Fly
12-15-04, 11:47 PM
...well, I finally got it today, picked it up at the UPS office myself, screw the missing deliveries BS. Grand total, after $44.07 "Customs Brokerage"(read: armed robbery), cost me $151 Canadian...
...since 5pm I've been tweakin, best drivers I've found for my system are the 42.30's, DX 8.1, clocked @275/551 (stock 250/513), scooped me almost 600 extra 3D 2001 marks, not that THAT means much, but it's doubled the frame rate in the games I play. The core won't do any more, it crashes 3D mark, and I get artifacts in my games. I imagine pulling the HS and slapping some real TIM on there would help, but then again, my CPU and RAM are holding me back bigtime...
...all in all, I'm very impressed with this card. I forget who suggested a 4200 a few weeks back, but lemme say "Thanks Man!!!, good call", this just smokes my 5200, and I know it can do even better than it's doin now. I love it. Colour me happy... :clap: :attn:
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