Ti 4200 or Radeon 8500?!!

[Gilgamesh]

Recently i've decided to upgrade from my GF2 to a better card, i don't know which one of the two are better, the GF4 seems pretty fast in the bench but the ati also have nice features can anyone help me, thx.

 

[WillysNut]

Is cost a factor in your decision? If not, I would go for the 4600. However, with the drop in price of 8500 offerings, sure seems to be the best bang for the buck.

 

[Bacchana1]

I think it would be worth waiting for the 4200 to come out. If the price is in the $150-200 range and the if the 4200 is really just a lower clocked version of the 4400, then it should be a really good deal. Obviously the 8500s are great cards for the money, but at higher resolutions or with newer games i think the 4200 would have a slight edge. At least that's what I would gather from the benchmarks I've seen. Also I'm assuming you wouldn't care to spring for the 128mb 8500s as you could just get a 4400 at that price range. Anandtech has a good review, which includes benchmarks of a gf4 clocked at 240/500. According to MaximumPCs article on the gf4 the 4200 is 275/250 with the 4400 being 275/275 and the 4600 at 300/325. Now, it just seems odd that there would be a $100 difference in the 4200 and the 4400 for 25mhz worth of memory clock. I'm not sure if complete and official specs on the 4200 are floating around yet, but they may show a more significant difference between the 4200 and 4400.

*Edit* Definitely check out that 4200 review at FiringSquad. It looks like the 4200 may be a really great buy indeed.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Hmm if the difference of clock speed is only 25mhz from ti4200 to ti4400 then this last one will be a good choice since i can get ti4600 specs if i overclock . ATI is lagging behind i would not get their card because of their drivers issues.

 

[plague]

I'm in the same position, I have a GF2 and I'm between a 4200 and and 8500. I'm really leaning towards nvidia, though. They should easily overclock to at least 4400 specs. It's silly that nvidia just releases the same card at a bunch of clock speeds, but very good for overclockers that can spend under $200 and make a card run the same as its $300+ counterpart. I'm not complaining though

 

[GoldenTiger]

Almost all of nvidia's customers don't overclock and don't know what it is, so it doesn't hurt them at all to release lower clocked cards with the same components (other than RAM rating) since it lets them get rid of cruddier chips that wouldn't run at 300mhz (Ti4600). At a $179 launch price, the Ti4200 with DUAL MONITOR support and VIVO (AIW-like capture card/tv tuner) is going to kick ***!

 

[Zuck Gou :)]

I'd love to recommend the Radeon but the 4200 looks way to good to pass up...it'll definately be my next card as is stands now.

 

[Obayme]

i have a ti 4600 but the 4200 would be my advice to u my card oces like crazy so yea the 4200 is the way to go

 

[ReTiCuLeX]

Does 4200 have 128 Mb ram ? as the 4400 and 4600 does , if so it will be worth a deal. Also a question if you overclock say a 4400 for instance to 4600 speeds with the bandwith level be the same as the 4600 ?

 

[Istari1]

The 4200 is not just an underclocked 4600. It ues different memory chips, so dont expect it to OC to the 4600 level. Have seen a review that showed it getting pretty close to 4400 thoguh.

Josh

 

[funnyperson1]

4200 definately unless its priced at 200+$ then an 8500LE does look much more attractive at around 130.....

 

[#18]

.

Why even bother to buy a geforce4 Ti4200? It is NOT going to be any better than RADEON 8500 retail. Think about this, everyone knows that RADEON 8500 and geforce3 Ti500 are in the same range on 3DMark2001 score, and a geforce4 Ti4600 is about 2000 points higher than them. A geforce4 Ti4400 is only within 1000 points range higher than RADEON 8500 and geforce3 Ti500. Then it's easy to imagine What a geforce4 Ti4200 is going to be?? It's probably just about the geforce3 Ti500's performance or just a little higher. I can say the difference between Ti4200 and Ti500 is going to be just like geforce3 Ti200 and GeForce2 Ultra.
Don't say you can overclock Ti4200, because RADEON 8500 is also good for overclocking.

UNLESS Ti4200 is going to be about the same price as RADEON 8500, other wise there is NO reason to spend the extra money on something is about the same performance.

If you really only care about the performance, go for Ti4600. It does make a difference which you can notice compare to the RADEON 8500.
If you cannot afford it, just go for RADEON 8500.

And for most of you, don't cry when you cannot afford a top line nVidia cards anymore by the time the ATI is defeated.(once nVidia beats its last enemy, you can imagine the price of its products). So don't buy "name".

So final answer-------------Ti4600 OR RADEON 8500!!(don't even bother to think about Ti4200 and Ti4400, they both are NOT much better than RADEON 8500.)

 

[Zuck Gou :)]

#18 you should take a look here, you're a bit wrong, because there's a fairly large gap here.

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/ti4200/page8.asp

 

[Zuck Gou :)]

4200 definately unless its priced at 200+$ then an 8500LE does look much more attractive at around 130.....

Exactly, however I believe the MSRP is about $170, but we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Zuck Gou :)]

Sorry for the spamming but here's another good (p)review

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/vidcards/nvidia/gf4ti42/index.html

 

[#18]

#18 you should take a look here, you're a bit wrong, because there's a fairly large gap here.

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/ti4200/page8.asp

I am sure that test resault is fault!(FAKE probably)
First, the Ti4400 and Ti4400's gap is TOO small.
Second, from every test I know, Ti500 is higher than 8500, AND when the resolution gets higher, the gap gets SMALLER! But on the test resault you provided, it is OPPOSITE.

That "test resault" is FAKE!
(those two sites probably work for nVidia)
Cannot you see the purpose of those "test resaults" is for letting people buy Ti4600/Ti4400 OR waiting for Ti4200. And for ATI, even a few months order shortage will cause big problem.

 

[WarriorII]

Here is a link to an article with some great benches.
I had it in a post a while back.Here
Plz check it out B4 buying.
IF I could of held off, I would have bought a 4200.

 

[Zuck Gou :)]

I am sure that test resault is fault!(FAKE probably)
First, the Ti4400 and Ti4400's gap is TOO small.
Second, from every test I know, Ti500 is higher than 8500, AND when the resolution gets higher, the gap gets SMALLER! But on the test resault you provided, it is OPPOSITE.

That "test resault" is FAKE!
(those two sites probably work for nVidia)
Cannot you see the purpose of those "test resaults" is for letting people buy Ti4600/Ti4400 OR waiting for Ti4200. And for ATI, even a few months order shortage will cause big problem.

TomsHardware maybe you can say has biased tests, but the [H] and FiringSquad and Anand have always been very good sites for telling you the truth with no bs.

 

[CSaddict]

My buddy has GF 3 and I have a Radeon. Radeon is faster in most instances. Keep in mind his card is an OG GF3 thd not a ti 500. My 2cents. My radeon runs 8974 on 3D Mark 2001se and thats not all that bad. The DVD playback is very good as well in case you care.