budget video cards

policy11

Senior member
Aug 20, 2001
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Right now I am running a stock MSI GeForce 2 TI (250/200) with VIVO. I still play a lot of q3, rocket arena, osp, jk2, ut, tribes2, and recently picked up ut2k3. I would like to be able to play next-gen games (read: omfg i want doom3!) but dont want to spend too much on a video card. What's the best video card to get if I wanted to spend at most 150 and preferably around 100.

I was thinking about the 8500LE, 9000 pro, and the gf4 ti 4200. Which would be the best buy?
 

halkebul

Senior member
Aug 26, 2002
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Greetings. For that price range, a GeForce4 Ti 4200 with 128MB of memory is the best fit. May have to bump up that upper limit to $160 though. That is, don't settle for a 64MB graphics card. Future games will easily eat up that much memory, causing your performance to tumble.
 

ScrewFace

Banned
Sep 21, 2002
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I went with a MSI GeForce4-Ti4400 because it overclocks well. Even past GeForce4-Ti4600 levels. It's only a few dollars more. How about going with one instead?:)
 

Eagle17

Member
Nov 23, 2001
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yeah, you might be best seved getting a best buy black friday bfg4200 with 128mb, it should be like $170 in the store with an 80 mail in rebate... there is probably only 10 at each store and usually a few emplyees can pilfer these so you need to be in line to get in when they open.

that is by far your best bet, other than that if you can wait a couple of weeks you can pick up a 9500pro for the $180 range.
 

spanky

Lifer
Jun 19, 2001
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i've seen threads saying newegg refurb had the 8500le for $70 shipped. only question is.... is it in stock? and if not... when will it be back in stock. if nvidia is ur thang... then rumor has it that BBs black friday sale has a 128mb ti4200 for $90 after rebate. so if u do not mind waiting for rebates (ppl said last years rebates from BB's black friday sale took up to 9 months to get back)... then camp out at BB.
 

policy11

Senior member
Aug 20, 2001
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Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try and get that card from BB, but if I can't I'll probably just hit newegg or something.
 

tart666

Golden Member
May 18, 2002
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googlegear has 8500LE retail for $94 shipped. Comes with a couple games (cs I believe) and a DVD player

Or, in the $150 range, get a Ti4200 if you need it now. If you can wait, get a Rad9500 for about the same next month. Full DX9 baby.

Doom3 has Ti4200 and 8500 as minimum requirements. Depending on what res and how much eye candy you like, you may have to spend more money than that.

PS: Damn that was a fast product cycle. From brand new to minimum requirement in less than a year!
 

EglsFly

Senior member
Feb 21, 2001
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Get one of the new Ti 4200's with the faster ram.
At newegg.com

$149 - Aopen GeForce4 TI4200 Golden Version FAST! 128MB *3.6ns 550Mhz* w/ TV OUT - Retail Box
$185 - ALBATRON GeForce 4 TI4200P TURBO 3.3ns 550MHz+
 

Keltron

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2000
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TI 4200 is a gift from NVIDIA guranteed to be overclockable. I bough MSI GF ti4200 for $135 from new egga and overclocked the chip to 300, and memory to 590 i think. only stock cooling
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
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Out of the 3 you show, the Ti4200 is for sure the best.
also look out for Radeon 9500 when it becomes available. I'd pick up either that or a Ti4200 for a budget gamers card.
 

GoodToGo

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
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When is the ATI 9500 pro exactly coming out and where will it be available? Also I have heard its quite similar to the 9700 in many aspects. Is this true?
 

Beater

Golden Member
Jan 9, 2001
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8500 LE is easily overclocked to Retail speeds and is very reasonable............course who knows how it'll do with Doom 3. Sure as hell does well with UT cranked to the max:D!!
 

NEVERwinter

Senior member
Dec 24, 2001
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ya.. from those you show... the best bet would be Ti4200. You'll be happy with that...
Actually, i just bought a Radeon 9000 recently. Yes, it's slower than 8500 or Ti4200.... but it's REALLY impress me.. wow! o__O
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
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Originally posted by: GoodToGo
When is the ATI 9500 pro exactly coming out and where will it be available? Also I have heard its quite similar to the 9700 in many aspects. Is this true?

from what I have seen it's similar. seems to be basically a slower clocked version of the 9700 which makes sense cause it's called the 9500.

it's like the geforce4ti line... 4400 is just a slightly slower version of the 4600.. they run the same core at different speeds.. :D
 

policy11

Senior member
Aug 20, 2001
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Originally posted by: EglsFly

$149 - Aopen GeForce4 TI4200 Golden Version FAST! 128MB *3.6ns 550Mhz* w/ TV OUT - Retail Box

wow, that looks good. thanks!

edit: not in stock =\

edit #2: what do you guys think of this:

LEADTEK Geforce4 TI4400 128M TV/DVI AGP Video Card Retail for $186 shipped. The card itself looks really cool.

edit#3: 4400's are pretty rare it seems...
 

policy11

Senior member
Aug 20, 2001
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you know what? i might as well get a 4600 for the extra 100 compared to a 4200. what do you guys think?

i would probably get this:
Chaintech Geforce4 4600 "GT61" VIVO Retail with games for $249 shipped. i would be spending way more than I had planned for but I think it would be worth it.

i should really collect my thoughts and post one message instead of edit 50 times. =P
 

policy11

Senior member
Aug 20, 2001
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Just wanted to let you guys know that I got a gf4 ti 4200 64 mb for $99 from best buy today. So far(20 minutes), I'm happy with it.
 

revvy

Member
Jun 22, 2001
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if you're budget is between the 100 - 150 price range.. I'd recommend going with an ATI Radeon 8500 LE 128 mb version or a GF4 Ti4200 64mb..

You'd have to weigh the costs on whether you want more video RAM or less.. it's up to you..
 

revvy

Member
Jun 22, 2001
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Originally posted by: Beater
8500 LE is easily overclocked to Retail speeds and is very reasonable............course who knows how it'll do with Doom 3. Sure as hell does well with UT cranked to the max:D!!

the 8500 LE (64/128 MB) will be demolished in Doom3... right now, the only video cards that are available that will be able to yield even reasonable frame rates in order to ensure maximum playability are those based on the ATI R300 line of VPU's (R9500 Pro and above I'm assuming)
 
Dec 3, 2000
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How important is the extra 64MB for new games like UT2k3? Or will a 64MB card perform exactly the same? Also, how important is AGP 8x, becuase you can get a Ti4400 which has 3.5ns memory now for $185 or you can get a Ti4200 with AGP 8x and 3.6ns memory for like $195. The Ti4200 in this case is essentially the Ti4400+AGP8x and minus probably 10MHz on the memory.
 
Dec 3, 2000
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Originally posted by: EglsFly
Get one of the new Ti 4200's with the faster ram.
At newegg.com

$149 - Aopen GeForce4 TI4200 Golden Version FAST! 128MB *3.6ns 550Mhz* w/ TV OUT - Retail Box
$185 - ALBATRON GeForce 4 TI4200P TURBO 3.3ns 550MHz+
Too bad that whenever you find one of these sweet boards, they don't support AGP 8x too. How important is AGP 8x?
 

spanky

Lifer
Jun 19, 2001
25,716
3
81
that ti4200 u got is a good card. i'm glad u did not spend an extra $100 for the ti4600... i really don't think its worth it.