New Video Card Choices

Legend911

Member

​

Joined

Mar 18, 2003

• Apr 13, 2003

• #1

hello I was wondering if I should get a Geforce4 TI4400 for my second pc or a TI4200 8x or a Geforce4 FX5200 series. I don't know which one to pick to buy? I have 150 bucks to spends and I was having problems with my second motherboard which is a soyo dragon plus and I am getting a long beeping noise. I have a geforce2 GTS in it right now which is a friends that I borrowed and he wanted it back and soyo told me to try another video card to try to see if that fixed the beep code problem. This card works in my ECS but not sure about that soyo. I will switch my TI4400 from my ASUS to see if that is the problem. I have to buy a new video card anyway though. What do you suggest from those three. I will not go ATI though so no comments on that.

 

K

kestrel

Member

​

Joined

Apr 2, 2003

Location

Virginia

• Apr 13, 2003

• #2

Legend911 said:

I will not go ATI though so no comments on that.

Click to expand...

Well, that's too bad. You'll be missing out on a good thing with the 9500 non-pro which is perfect for your budget and very overclockable; you'd easily get better performance than even a Ti4600 card. As you've limited yourself to nvidia, however, go with the Ti4200, probably of the "golden sample" variety, and bump it up to 4600 speeds.

 

eaglescouter

Frustrating Senior SETI Nut!

​

Joined

Dec 9, 2002

Location

CA- Not far from the Allen SETI array

• Apr 13, 2003

• #3

Kestrel, what's the "golden sample" variety?

 

q149

Member

​

Joined

Nov 10, 2002

Location

Japan

• Apr 13, 2003

• #4

There is nothing wrong with ATI, the 128mb 9500 would be the best for your price for sure.

do not get the FX.

 

oops

Member

​

Joined

Jun 21, 2002

• Apr 13, 2003

• #5

yep, there is nothing wrong with ATI, their cards have way better image quality than Nvidia cards. go for Radeon 9500 non-pro if you are sure you want $150-. get a 9500Pro if you willing to spend $30 more. 9500Pro is better than Ti4400 and plus Directx 9.0 support.

 

K

kestrel

Member

​

Joined

Apr 2, 2003

Location

Virginia

• Apr 13, 2003

• #6

eaglescouter said:

Kestrel, what's the "golden sample" variety?

Click to expand...

Gainward makes a GF4 Ti4200 model that's designated: Gainward GeForce4 Powerpack! Ultra/650XP Golden Sample... it's consistently rated "best budget videocard" for the last 6 months or so by *moderately* computer-literate people such as MaximumPC magazine. It's a 4200 with better cooling and ramsinks, (I think... not sure about the sinks actually). They like it because they have no problems overclocking it to 4600 levels, and the 4600 was the best thing around... a year ago. I still like the 9500s better, as they're within $20-$40 of the price and you get DX9 support, and faster/better-looking graphics.

 

Lazlo Panaflex

Member

​

Joined

Aug 18, 2002

Location

Mean Streets Of Orange County CA

• Apr 13, 2003

• #7

Go with the Radeon 9500 non pro, in every single way its superior to those nvidia cards, in terms of lasting and performance. If u go with an FX card u will be hurting....

 

zabomb4163

Member

​

Joined

Apr 27, 2002

• Apr 13, 2003

• #8

if you don't go 9500 then 4200 is the best buy around at the moment. don't buy the fx, its crap.

4200 is usually bought in the 100-140 price range and the 9500 in the 160$ price range though. if you dont want to spend much then the 4200 is great, i'm just not sure why you still want nvidia when your spending 160.

 

OP

Legend911

Member

​

Joined

Mar 18, 2003

• Apr 13, 2003

• Thread Starter
• #9

ATI you say

So are you sure that ATI will not give me any driver problems on this nforce2 chipset??? that 9500 pro does look pretty sweet too. I will see what kind of prices I can check out since everybody seems hooked on that card for the price.

 

ninthebin

Member

​

Joined

Mar 24, 2002

Location

Liverpool, UK

• Apr 13, 2003

• #10

well if I was to get an AMD system today I would get an Nforce 2 based mb and an ATI 9500 or higher card...I dont think Nvidia has yet resorted to messing up there cards through their chipsets (although I wouldnt put it past them in the future).

bottom line here is NV25/8 vs R300/50 and its no contest - yes with no AA or AF the 9500/9500pro performs very much inline with the GF4 Ti range of cards but this changes very rapidly when eye candy is turned on, also not to mention image quality is a fair bit better with the ATI cards - could go into DX9 support but the more I mention that the less I see its importance in these cards.

 

K

kestrel

Member

​

Joined

Apr 2, 2003

Location

Virginia

• Apr 13, 2003

• #11

Re: ATI you say

Legend911 said:

So are you sure that ATI will not give me any driver problems on this nforce2 chipset??? that 9500 pro does look pretty sweet too. I will see what kind of prices I can check out since everybody seems hooked on that card for the price.

Click to expand...

In the past ATI has had numerous driver issues, however the 9000 series seems to be exempt. It has been a while since I've heard anyone complain that a game didn't run on their (recent) ATI card. This includes those running AMD chips on nForce boards.

 

funnyperson1

Senior Member

​

Joined

Jun 16, 2001

• Apr 13, 2003

• #12

If you ,ust no go Ati then get the cheapest 4200 you can find imho it isnt worth paying more than 120$ for a Ti4200.

 

kfunk

Member

​

Joined

Jan 21, 2003

• Apr 13, 2003

• #13

First of all, dont get a 4400.

I got a TI-4200 for about $100 and running stable @ 325/620. Definitely worth $100

 

OP

Legend911

Member

​

Joined

Mar 18, 2003

• Apr 13, 2003

• Thread Starter
• #14

Final Decision

I have made my decision to buy a ATI 9500 pro. I have always wanted to buy a ATI but have been so intertwined with geforce that I was blinded! I am in need of some PC3700 ram too hehe. I wanna overclock like that big boys!

What were the prices again???? any good hints in the cyber deals forums???

 

CrystalMethod

Senior Band Wagon Jumper

​

Joined

Jun 9, 2001

Location

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

• Apr 13, 2003

• #15

Good choice. Nvidia's offerings have been a little dissapointing this past year. Hopefully, they'll want the "King of video" title back enough to start some really fierce competition, forcing both top companies to put out better and cheaper (cost wise) products.

 

Hurk

Member

​

Joined

Nov 9, 2001

Location

London, Ont

• Apr 13, 2003

• #16

Another nV..... person, jumped on the ATI bandwagon. Welcome my friend. We salute you.

 

ninthebin

Member

​

Joined

Mar 24, 2002

Location

Liverpool, UK

• Apr 13, 2003

• #17

nah we are just jumping on the realistic choice wagon - if this were the other way around I would be throwing the same slander I throw at Nvidia now at ATI...at least I hope we are

 

A

allen337

Member

​

Joined

Apr 8, 2003

Location

illinois

• Apr 14, 2003

• #18

glad to see you going with ati, you will see a big difference in quality, i went from a ti4600 to ati9700pro and it wowed me in 2 days, i have 3 other ati cards 8500 64meg and 2 64 meg vivos, i have never had a issue with drivers. ALLEN