Big difference between a TI4200 and TI4600?

[Barryj61]

OK, the video card on my kids PC has gone bye-bye......the budget is pretty tight now, so anything new that's halfway decent is out. Used TI4200's seem to be running about 50-60 bucks used with some careful shopping, while the 4600's are running 80 dollars or so. Is there a big enough performance increase to justify the extra 30 bucks or so? (And no, nobody's going to be playing Doom3 on that one.... )

 

[Insomniak]

My Ti 4400 plays Doom 3 quite easily at 800x600 Medium with 2xAA, FYI.

And as for the performance increase, probably not. Ti 4200s tend to overclock very well - although I would recommend you get a 128 MB version....64 is fasting becoming far too little.

 

[SneakyStuff]

TI 4600 is like 15% slower than a Radeon 9700 Pro on MOST games.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
TI 4600 is like 15% slower than a Radeon 9700 Pro on MOST games.

turn on AA and AF and the 4600 gets killed

 

[imported_oneiros]

Depends on the game, some games run pretty well on my Ti4600 with AA and AF enabled but I imagine a 9700 Pro would be a better choice anyway. Get a 9700 Pro if you can find it for less than $100.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
TI 4600 is like 15% slower than a Radeon 9700 Pro on MOST games.

turn on AA and AF and the 4600 gets killed

True, but i'm just trying to give him a general idea as to where the 4600 lies.

 

[Insomniak]

Where the hell are all these 9700 posts coming from?

 

[Brackus2]

i wouldnt get anything higher than a Ti4200 if you are going budget, look for a 9700 or higher in radeons, or maybe Nvidia 5700 and higher, anything lower is usually just crap and wont run the games you wanted to run that cant run on a Ti4200 anyway.

If someone has a 9700pro for under $100 show me it, i might make a purchase

 

[Delorian]

Here are some benchmarks with the GeF4 Tis at Toms Hardware Guide.
This will show you some various cards from GeForce MX's all the way up to 9800 XTs. Doesn't seem to make a big difference but difference enough to warrant the extra dough. Unless you OC the 4200 then the difference isn't really worth it.

GeForce 4 Ti 4200 8x 64MB 53 Refurbed @ newegg

GeForce 4 Ti 4600 8x 128MB 96 Refurbed @ newegg

This guy has a 128mb 9700 pro w/farcry for $135 shipped if you trust it You could sell the farcry copy for ~30 back and end up spending ~100 or so on the card, which isn't bad at all

 

[Barryj61]

Hey all, thanks for the advice. A 9700 Por would be nice, but it looks to be pretty tough to find one under 100 bucks. I'll still keep my eyes open though; might be a nice alternative

 

[rogue1979]

Refurb 128MB GF4 Ti 4200 are usually the best bang for the buck, if it has BGA memory chips chances are it will reach Ti4600 speeds.


There are several places selling Radeon 8500 128MB cards with BGA memory chips for about $65 new on pricewatch. At or approaching 300/300 they can get reasonably close to stock Ti4200 performance.
Of course, most Ti4200's overclock pretty well so.....

 

[Marsumane]

What kind of games does your kid play? If its doom 3, and hes not an 8 yr old, id try for the 9700. otherwise, if hes young and not picky, get the 4200 128mb.