Bang for your buck Video card...

[Cuda1447]

I searched for a repost, didnt find one. Im not looking for advice, Im just curious which card out today, and then take into consideration the new Nvidia and Radeon cards that will be coming out, is the best card for you rmoney. Assume your a hardcore gamer. You want this card to last into the future.


Would you rather pay 120 for a 4200 and then pay another 120 down the road a year and a half from now for another card that is low end new technology but can run the new stuff well. Or would you want to buy that Radeon 9500 Pro for 250 (when it drops to that) and use that for 2 years and have a high end card for part of that time, and then buy another new big card when the 9500 doesn't cut it anymore?

 

[human2k]

$250 for a 9500 PRO? Newegg has it for $200, mwave has it for $180, but these are outta stock. The best bang for your buck video card has to be the 9500 PRO (if you can find it instock😉). With good ram and a lil overclock, 9700 performance should be attainable.

 

[novice]

While I don't consider myself a "hard core" gamer, my 13 year old son is. And since I do consider myself a hard core "bang for the buck" kind of guy, I just ordered a MSI Geforce 4 Ti4200 128 mb card for $147 shipped from newegg.com. Since the Radeon 9500 Pros are hard to find, and 40% more expensive, I went for a 128 mb GF4Ti4200 as being the best bang for the buck. It seems to be a concensus choice in the <$150 price range. I really thought they would have dropped closer to the $100 price by now (the 64 mb cards have appeared there occassionally), but the 128 mb cards seem to be staying closer to the $150 range, at least for the name brand quality cards. Maybe if FX had been released sooner and had better market appeal, the prices on the Geforce 4 lines would have dropped more quickly. I still have a hard time trusting ATI since their earlier driver issues were very well documented and it seems like every time I decide to try one, I see another slew of posts about people having all kinds of issues with their Radeon cards. While Nvidia is far from perfect, my personal experience with them has been trouble free with about 8 different Geforce 2 MX, GTS, GTS Pro, 3, and 3 Ti200 cards. hopefully the new GF4 Ti4200 will behave similarly.
Chuck

 

[Tol]

The 9500Pro is worth every penny extra it costs over the ti4200, and then some. It's unfortunate that prices have gone up...there really isn't a card that's easy to suggest for less than the 9500Pro. The 64MB ti4200 is probably the price/performance leader below $175, but it is a pretty big drop down from a 9500Pro.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: novice
While I don't consider myself a "hard core" gamer, my 13 year old son is. And since I do consider myself a hard core "bang for the buck" kind of guy, I just ordered a MSI Geforce 4 Ti4200 128 mb card for $147 shipped from newegg.com. Since the Radeon 9500 Pros are hard to find, and 40% more expensive, I went for a 128 mb GF4Ti4200 as being the best bang for the buck. It seems to be a concensus choice in the <$150 price range.

I just did the same thing. I picked up an Albatron 128 MB Ti4200 (8X AGP) for about $150. My GeForce2 Ultra lasted me 2 years and I figure this will too. I don't need the latest/greasest just for a few FPS. I won't upgrade again until games start taking advantage of DX 9.1 or whatever the standard is by then.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: novice
I still have a hard time trusting ATI since their earlier driver issues were very well documented and it seems like every time I decide to try one, I see another slew of posts about people having all kinds of issues with their Radeon cards.

I absolutely agree. I don't want a bunch of ATI fans coming in here telling me how THEIR card works fine, because I've heard of too many problems in the past and present to keep me away. But that's just personal opinion.

As far as price/performance, I think that the 9500 Pro and Ti4200 are pretty evenly matched. The 9500 Pro costs more, but it performs better too. Neither will be out of date in 6 months.

 

[arcenite]

I'd say the 9500NP modded to the 9700 Pro is the best bang for the buck ;-)

Bill

 

[human2k]

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe
I'd say the 9500NP modded to the 9700 Pro is the best bang for the buck ;-)

Bill

Agreed, but its a game of luck, my friend ordred one last week from gameVE.com and got a Red PCB with the "L" shaped ram arrangements. Artifacts mucho, he was sad🙂.

 

[bluemax]

Can't really beat a cheap 8500LE! About half the price of a TI4200 but almost as fast, then upgrade in about a year's time without making your credit card scream in pain! 😉

 

[Fingolfin269]

Isn't the whole DirectX 9 thing something that should be mentioned along side "a few fps"? 😛

Hey don't flame me or anything but I'm using a whip ass Geforce 2 MX 32meg... the original so it sucks worse than you might even imagine!

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Isn't the whole DirectX 9 thing something that should be mentioned along side "a few fps"? 😛

Hey don't flame me or anything but I'm using a whip ass Geforce 2 MX 32meg... the original so it sucks worse than you might even imagine!

Don't worry, the newer MX-200 sucks MORE with 50% less speed! :Q 😉

 

[Walleye]

well, sooner or later, i'll get a computer, and it'll have a geforce 3 ti

 

[elkinm]

The 9700Pro is now 299.99 at CircuitCity Best Buy and probably most major vendors. I you can get a 110% pricematch with a slow store then it will be great but 9500Pro can't realy mathch the 9700 dew to memory bandwith. So the 9700Pro is qute good for now. The 9500Pro and 9700 are in for a price drop then they will be good as well.

 

[bluemax]

Don't forget to check places like newegg for the OEM 9700 NON-pro. While a tiny bit slower, it's still quite a bit better than a 9500 Pro and not much more money. Or wait just two more weeks, tops. 😉