GeForce Questions
<div class="IPBDescription">'cause i'm too lazy to ask elsewhere</div>Yeah, that's me. Lazy. Anywho...
Ok, all this stuff with the GeForce 4 has me confused... there's MX, TI, 420's, 500's, and all kinds of other weird numbers.... I -think- the TI is better, and obviously the higher the number the better, but I don't want to spend too much money on something I don't need.
Which of the GF4's better series (TI, right?) would be the most bang for my buck?
Next question... Where can I get one that isn't all weirded out by the manufacturer? The graphics card I have now is an ATI built by -Gateway- (ick) and in order to install the standard ATI drivers I have to jump through weird hoops (and the Gateway drivers are about two years old).
Ok, all this stuff with the GeForce 4 has me confused... there's MX, TI, 420's, 500's, and all kinds of other weird numbers.... I -think- the TI is better, and obviously the higher the number the better, but I don't want to spend too much money on something I don't need.
Which of the GF4's better series (TI, right?) would be the most bang for my buck?
Next question... Where can I get one that isn't all weirded out by the manufacturer? The graphics card I have now is an ATI built by -Gateway- (ick) and in order to install the standard ATI drivers I have to jump through weird hoops (and the Gateway drivers are about two years old).
Comments
--Scythe--
<a href="mailto:the_only_scythe@subdimension.com">the_only_scythe@subdimension.com</a>
I just bought a <b>Visiontek Gforce4 Ti 4200 128MB</b>. It was the best performance of a Ti without crossing a major price boundary. I only paid $229, and that was at a Best Buy, not me finding some special deal online. To give you an idea about performance in real life, I can play a game of Natural Selection at 32-bit color, 1600x1200, in Bast's particle filled ventilation system by the marine spawn with several players in there with me, and get 100FPS. It would go faster, but HL is artifically capped on frames. I would be getting 199FPS in the Quake3 demo001 - if I owned Q3!
So, it's good. I also bought it because it was the card Carmack said would run Doom3 near full detail.
<!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
I would recommend against getting a 4600 due to expense, or an MX due to the massive loss of processing power.
<!--EDIT|MonsieurEvil|Aug. 02 2002,10:29-->
Oh, and <a href="http://www.newegg.com" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com</a> has great prices, fast shipping time, and with all 3 orders from them, they've wrapped it in so much packing, a freaking A-bomb could go off next to it and not hurt it much.
<a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020409/index.html" target="_blank">Big Little Sister - The GeForce4 Ti4200 </a>
I always found them a little biased towards Intel, but hey...
Thanks for the links anyway. As soon as I get a decent job, a GF4 is going in <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Legion's suggestion to buy hardware from newegg.com is valid. I'm a freelance system builder, and I almost exclusively buy parts from them.
<edit>actually, the Geforce4 Ti4200 seems to be selling for cheaper than the Geforce3 Ti500. hmm.</edit>
<slightly off-topic>I think the heatsink on
<a href="http://65.119.30.151/productimage/14-122-144-01.JPG" target="_blank">this</a> particular Geforce4 Ti4200 is really, really, cool looking. Here's some <a href="http://www.essencompu.com/nupplysingar.asp?ID=2085" target="_blank">more</a> information about that card, from another very reputable online vendor.</slightly off-topic>
remember, ebay and www.pricewatch.com
MX - budget line
TI - premium line
so the MX is cheaper cards that have less features and perform way worse than the TI series, which are at the head of the pack (except for that new ATI 9700 card, which is 2x faster than the ti4600!)
As far as manufactor goes, most gf cards only differ by maybe 5 FPS at the absolute most. So instead look for things like quality of construction, warranty, features (some gf's have video INPUT or tv-tuners if you want that sorta thing), etc.
I recommend Visiontek brand because their cards are barely modified from teh nvidia reference card, and for drivers, they do NOT have their own crap like other card makers, they just point you to the nvidia reference drivers. There's also not any software bundles of games you don't play or already have because htey are a year old, so its cheaper since you're not paying for that. High quality card too.
I have a Visiontek GF4 ti4400 and i am nothing but elated with it. I love it each and every time I play anything, whether its warcraft3, dungeon siege, gta3, or even little old half-life. Quake 3 at 180fps is quite fun ya know ;)
as far as the 4200 vs the 4400, speed and cost are the main consideration yes, but also take note of the things said about the 4200 having less features and whatnot. if you feel these are gonna be important to you (they probably won't heh) then get the 4200, or if you want the speed increase of the 4400, go for that. If they sky is the limit and you like to throw away $100 for an extra 12fps, then get the ti4600 :P (but if you're spending that kinda money, wait on the ATI 9700 instead, as its same price but faster).
Just *DO NOT* get the gf4 mx, as it is slower than a GF2 Ti, which you can find for way cheaper.
I recommend you check out the <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1647" target="_blank">Anandtech UT2003 Video Card Benchmarks</a>. They're quite nice for showing the performance of cards in a handy chart. Make sure to check the 1600x1200 performance charts too to see where the cards start to have a bigger gap between them, as at low res, EVERYTHING is gonna run fine and dandy :P
[edit]
those benchmarks don't include the new 9700, you can find a comparrison between it and the gf4 ti4600 (and they threw in the matrox card to make you giggle and laugh at how slow it is too!) <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1656&p=18" target="_blank">here</a>.
<!--EDIT|DOOManiac|Aug. 02 2002,13:21-->
Phear meh!!! Not like I dropped 200 bucks without doing a little research, ya know! <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
And, GeForce cards have built-in OCability in their drivers...
Nvidia=win!
the Gf3 Ti is faster than a Gf4 MX.
actualy the gf4 MX is just a overclocked old chip with some new software with it
Other than that, GF4 MX chips aren't that bad. They're just GF2s in pretty new packaging. Want a new card? Get a GF4 Ti. Or a radeon.
Oh, and whoever said that thing about ATI chips not having native overclocking support: They're like that for a reason, that reason being that they're already clocked very, very high and any further pushing could damage the basic workings of the chip. There are 3rd party OC tools for Radeons, but ATI's message is clear: Overclock at your own risk. We won't help you break your own video card.
You know, it doesn't run to bad, but I KNOW I could be getting better framerates and graphical performance from a newer card. Say i'm on a budget...whats the Geforce 3 ti worth ?
<edit> Nevermind, this question was already answered in another post I found <edit>
<EDIT AGAIN> Hey I have a new question: I am on Price watch .com and I see a Geforce 2 TI for 50 bucks, which is nice and probably alot better than my card eh? But whats better a GTS or a TI? <EDIT>
And yeah, I definitely made sure to not get a computer with anything built on-board. Gateway is good about doing stuff smart, except apparently for their driver setup.
The GTS and TI are almost equal, with the TI having a measly, unnoticable speed advantage.
Pricewatch.com shopping is a little more difficult than it seems. Here are some tips to keep you out of trouble:
Never buy the cheapest item on the list. Even if it seems like it's exactly like the next one.
Never buy anything branded as "generic" or "house brand".
If a deal appears too good to be true, it probably is, and you're just throwing away your money on any of the following:
1)Broken parts
2)mislabeled parts that you don't want
3)they take your money, but don't ship anything, and don't respond to emails, phone calls, or inquiries by the BBB.
My suggestion would be to go with <a href="http://www.enpc.com/cgi-bin/enpc/VISGF2TIOEM.html?id=8RH4TXmv" target="_blank">this one</a>, because it's a good brand and on a site that I've ordered from and know they're good.
sales guy said to me that the some of the older agp mobo's could create probs.
i have a old agp slot but no probs here
*erhm* You do realize that's a GF2, right? I have an ATI Radeon (VE, I think... Gateway never was very clear about what kind of Radeon it is) and I want the GF4's pixel shading and such...
Anyway, cool. Hope you find a card for you soon, Molec.
and that never happand
Sure, at low resses it has high framerate, but who is gonna run the game in 640x400 anyway, if they can do 1600x1200 w/o blinking?
*erhm* You do realize that's a GF2, right? I have an ATI Radeon (VE, I think... Gateway never was very clear about what kind of Radeon it is) and I want the GF4's pixel shading and such...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was talking to Gen()cide. That's why I quoted him in my post.