Is it time to spend $$$ ???

[cack01]

I have a TNT2 M64 entry level card from 99. I'm pulling scores in 3dmark2001 at 889. CS is really the only game that can keep a decent FPS (30FPS). I'm thinking about going all out and getting a geforce4 ti4400 and trying to o/c a little. With my system at its present specs is the geforce4 right for me. Or would I be better off getting a G3 ti500. Basically are my processors going to bottleneck the geforce4.
thanks

 

[cack01]

oh or is it possible that I may have to do a 180 and go towards the RAD 7500 or 8500

 

[Starfoxer]

with a ti4400 you CPU would bottleneck it some, maybe
not but i'd go with a radeon 8500. itll run any game today
and then some.

on my system in the sig i get an awesome 212 FPS with
1024x768 and all highest settings. to see your
FPS type timerefesh in the console. you cant
go wrong for 180$ make sure it's a retail, they overclock
nicely.

 

[cack01]

sounds good, i've been wanting to try an ATI for a while. but I'm just not sure if I want to go though the driver problems everone else is having...but hey 100$ less may be worth it

 

[SP]

Since your already running an Nvidia card I'd say go with the Ti4400 and don't worry about overclocking. Why? Because if your still running a card that old your obviously a person who doesn't want to buy a new card every 6 months. Nothing wrong with that. In fact that may be the more sensible approach. So, if you get the Ti4400 now it should last you a long time and if you don't overclock it you won't shorten it's life any. Beside there's really no reason to overclock a GF4 anyway. I don't overclock my Ti4600 and I can run any game I want at any resolution I want and get a very high frame rate. Why would I need to overclock it. Basically the only reason to overclock it is so you can brag about getting the highest 3dmark score possible.

Another reason I recommend the Gf4 over the Radeon is driver support. As I mention before you seem like the kind of person who may keep his card awhile. That means you'll want future driver support. As soon as ATI releases a newer better card the driver support for their old cards dissappears. That's the way they are. Nvidia continues to release drivers for their older cards. In my mind that makes Nvidia the better choice for you. Also, Ati has a history of releasing bad drivers for their cards.

Of course in the end the choice is yours but that's just my opinion on the matter and the reason I chose a GF4.

 

[cack01]

good advice SP I didn't know that ATI stops support for their older cards. To answer your question, I wanted to o/c so it could reach the 4600 level. But I have read over at toms hardware that I probably will not be able to o/c the ti series that much. I think they only got 12mhz extra out of the 4400. (don't trust me 100% on that I'm doing this from memory.)

I think I will be going for the ti4400 once it drops another $10-$20 but if anyone has anything that I should concider let me know. I don't think my processor will bottleneck the 4400 but if anyone knows anything, don't be a strager. Don't wana waste $250+. when I could go less then 200 for same porformance.

 

[JaY_III]

wait about 1 month if you got ATI, new cards coming out...
so the older ones should drop in price..

"ATI Radeon 8500XT is expected to be released in March (at CeBit - 13 to 20th March). The Radeon 8500XT is a higher clocked version of the Radeon 8500's R200 core with extra memory. The Radeon 8500XT is expected to feature a core and memory clock of 300Mhz and feature 128Mb of DDR SDRAM.

ATI Radeon 8800 (RV250) is expected to be released in March (possibly delayed, otherwise at CeBit - 13th to 20th March). The Radeon 8800 is built around ATI's RV250 core, which is expected to be a 0.15micron shrink of the Radeon 8500's R200 core. The Radeon 8800 is expected to feature a 350Mhz core and memory clock to compete with nVidia's GeForce4."

http://freespace.virgin.net/m.warner/Roadmap_now.htm

this guy does a pretty good job of reporting roadmaps

 

[MadMan007]

I think most R8500 users would disagree about poor drivers now. Yes at first there were some issues, but even nVidia had those infinite loop problems. I have a VisionTek GF3 Ti200 ($115 after the rebate last month ) which I expect to last me for a while, maybe a year or so. Previous card was an ATI Radeon 32MB DDR. Heck, for that price I won't mind getting a new card in the fall.

Anyway, for the lower price range (~$170) the R8500 is the way to go. If you want to spend more, go for the Ti4400. Either one will be a great improvement for you.

EDIT: oh, yeah, and ATI has gone to a unified driver architecture for their cards (Radeon and up), so please check your info before posting false statements. My Radeon was identified as a 'Radeon 7000/7200' in system info with the last ATI drivers I used for it.