Geforce 6200 good upgrade for a friend....help?

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imported_crypt33

Member
Jul 26, 2005
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I'm thinking about buying a friend of mine a low cost video card (Geforce 6200) upgrade...he has an AGP mobo / w/ an AMD64 3000 I believe + 1 gig or ram..his current vidoe card is an old Ti4600....will the 6200 be a significant upgrade? I assume it will just from the core change & new shader support, but mayhaps there's a better option you folks can give me...cost is the BIG issue here...gotta be under 75$, preferably less :) thx in advance
 
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MercenaryForHire

Lifer
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
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Save/pool your money and get at least a 6600GT in that rig. You may even be able to get a vanilla 6800 off FS/T, and that'll be a world of difference.

- M4H
 
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DanielHerrmann

Member
Dec 31, 2005
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Everyone told me to get a Radeon 9600 pro 128mb. Its $66 on newegg. Not sure if that will be as much of an upgrade for him.
 
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VIAN

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2003
6,575
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A 6200 isn't worth it. Neither is a 9600 Pro.

You'll want either a 9800 Pro, 9800, 9700 Pro, 9700, 6600GT, X800, 6800. Look for exactly these. They aint cheap tho. The cheapest I saw was a 9800 Pro for 104 dollars at newegg. You might be able to find something better in the FS/T Forum.
 
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shimsham

Lifer
May 9, 2002
10,765
0
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if you can find an older nv43 6200 that will unlock that might not be a bad idea for his budget. i paid 60 in the fs/ft around 4-6mos ago. you could probably pick up a 9800 for around 75 now though, which would be a better option.

doing a search in fs/t it seems 90 is the average price for a 9800pro. surely he can scrounge up another 15?
 
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imported_crypt33

Member
Jul 26, 2005
67
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thx for the ideas guys, but keep in mind the budget of 75$ is STRICT, as I am the one doing the buying here....we both agreed to NOT get anything each other for Xmas, as we were putting what little $ we had toward the wives/gfriend, but he went & got me something anyway, the bum! so i feel bad....
I know all to well that the 6200 is not gonna be awesome, I just need to know what sort of performance increase he can expct over a Ti4600...i would think it would be a lot of improvement, but i dont know for sure...he basically only plays Guild Wars anyway, but i want him to try some newer stuff/other stuff like HL2...he doesnt need any res over 1024x768 & it seems he will not be upgrading for a LONG time, so no PCI express or faster procs for a LOONG time, & i can't afford to get him anything super-fast
by all means keep the opinions coming though!
 
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v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
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The 6200 will not be any faster, if that's what you mean by upgade. It has the exact same pixel fill rate, half the texture fill rate, and about 12% less memory bandwidth than the ti4600. Expect slight to moderate frame rate drops on games the ti4600 can play. A 9600Pro is a better choice for the money -- it'll keep up with the ti4600 in most things, be faster in a couple, and have DX9 support as well.

Neither one of these cards is going to stomach stuff like FEAR, so pixel shader 3.0 support won't do you much good -- you won't have the processing power to look at eye candy anyway.

Wait for the X1300Pro to hit 75. That card almost has the power of a 9700, and will be a bit of an upgrade. A 6200 will be a downgrade, and if you get the wrong one (64 bit or something) could be a drastic downgrade.
 
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Wentelteefje

Golden Member
Dec 6, 2005
1,380
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Unfortunately the Radeon X1300 Pro isn't really that good... Second-hand stuff looks like the solution here...

This one looks promising if you don't care having to unlock some pipelines... However, success isn't guaranteed... If it cannot be unlocked, you'll end up with a 9600Pro, only with a lot more bandwidth...
 
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v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
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Yeah, it's not good, but it's not completely and utterly asstastic, like the 6200. But I forgot it's PCIe only.

Other than a 9600Pro (or 9800 sucker edition), there isn't much in the way of the ultra bargain basement cards that has a prayer in the world of running new games, never mind at any kind of resolution with eye candy.

Just don't bother. Keep the ti4600, give each other money, and mow some lawns or skip some lunches until you can get a more or less worthy video card. Those start at around $100.

The cream of the bottom of the barrel just isn't that good.


 
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Wolfshanze

Senior member
Jan 21, 2005
767
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Agreed... the 4-pipe 6200 is no faster then the Ti4600 he already has. Remember, the 6200 is the cheapest, budget, non-gaming card out of the entire GeForce-6 lineup, while the Ti4600 was a top-end GeForce4 designed for gaming.

You'll be pissing your money into the wind if you get a 6200 to replace a Ti4600... the only differance is that the 6200 supports DX9 features and SM3.0, but of course, the card is so slow, any attempt to use those features would turn a game into a slide-show... remember, the 6200 was NEVER designed to be a gaming card. It's a low-cost "stick this in my office-computer" kind of card.

Crypt33, I'd rethink your entire gift purchase here. You either need to cough-up some dough and get him a better card, or (if you have a DEFINATE budget-cap), you'll need to consider a USED good card from E-Bay, or just dump the whole idea of getting him a video card and get him something else all-together.

If you value your friendship (and it sounds like you do), don't tick him off by having him swap out a high-end GF4 for a bottom of the pile GF6 which will be a lateral move at best in gaming on his PC.
 
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Wentelteefje

Golden Member
Dec 6, 2005
1,380
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A 6600GT will be a great card if he wants to game at 1024x768... Shops all over the web sometimes have auctions where these cards are pretty cheap, so if you can cough up just a little more, that would be the sweet spot...

eBay seems to have a couple of cards that are still well priced, so keep an eye on those maybe...

You could take a X700 as well, but seeing that he's not going to upgrade very soon, it might not be that smart to take a SM 2.0b card... Besides, this card isn't as powerful as the 6600GT, so for the money it is best to take the latter...

EDIT: Make your friend really happy and spend the extra 25 - 30 bucks...
 
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IlllI

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2002
4,927
11
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i'd say a radeon 9800 minimum, or a 6600. a 9800 you can probably find around 85, a 6600 if you are luck maybe 100 a/r somewhere. check the fs/t forums here. i'm sure you could find plenty of 9800s going for around that price



 
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Wolfshanze

Senior member
Jan 21, 2005
767
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A vanilla 6600 would be a step-up from a Ti4600, but they're like $10 bucks cheaper then 6600GTs a lot of the time, and the GT is well worth the few extra bucks. The vanilla 6600s would be a good deal if they sold for $60 bucks or so, but they're too pricey for what you get and not cheap enough compared to the 6600GT to be a good buy.
 
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imhungry

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2005
1,740
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You can get 9700pros in FS/T forum for $50 - $75 easily...

And they usually OC to 9800pro specs.
 
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hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
7,326
2
76
Does anyone do research around here? the 6200 kills the ti4600. The highest 3dmark03 score I've seen with a Ti4600 was under 2500...the 6200 on stock settings gets close to 4000....and that thing is one hell of an overclocker, so the score can be boosted even higher.

Not to mention, you can likely find a used 6200 with 4 of the pipelines unlocked, which would make it even nicer.

Or, you could look for a used 6600 somewhere. That should be within your price range.
 
Avalon

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
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Considering the 6200 would probably be slower than the 4600 if the 4600 could run in DX9, and even more slower since the 4600 will be running games in DX8 mode...you're making a small downgrade. The only saving grace is if you get a card that unlocks and overclocks well. Then you're looking about 9800/9800pro speeds depending on the overclock.

Does anyone do research around here? the 6200 kills the ti4600. The highest 3dmark03 score I've seen with a Ti4600 was under 2500...the 6200 on stock settings gets close to 4000....and that thing is one hell of an overclocker, so the score can be boosted even higher.
Click to expand...

Do you even understand how 3dmark03 works? It has DX9 tests the 4600 can't run, so its score is going to be artificially lower. I'd still put the 4600 as faster than the 6200, unless the card unlocks.
 
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hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
7,326
2
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Originally posted by: Avalon
Considering the 6200 would probably be slower than the 4600 if the 4600 could run in DX9, and even more slower since the 4600 will be running games in DX8 mode...you're making a small downgrade. The only saving grace is if you get a card that unlocks and overclocks well. Then you're looking about 9800/9800pro speeds depending on the overclock.

Does anyone do research around here? the 6200 kills the ti4600. The highest 3dmark03 score I've seen with a Ti4600 was under 2500...the 6200 on stock settings gets close to 4000....and that thing is one hell of an overclocker, so the score can be boosted even higher.
Click to expand...

Do you even understand how 3dmark03 works? It has DX9 tests the 4600 can't run, so its score is going to be artificially lower. I'd still put the 4600 as faster than the 6200, unless the card unlocks.
Click to expand...

Strange, when I ran 3dmark03 on my 9200 (not a DX9 card), it never gave me a score since I couldnt run all of it. So how could a ti4600 get a score then? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Ok, 3dmark2001. The 6200 gets 12000, and the ti4600 gets 9500.
Not to mention, I've seen benchmarks on Far Cry and HL2, and it can run both games at playable framerates (over 40 at least) on 10x7. Doom 3 gets 40fps on high quality at 10x7.

I dont think a ti4600 can do that. Not to mention, thats with the card not OCed.
Nvnews got 60fps on doom 3 (10x7, high quality) with their OC.

Also, the stock 6200 gets ~1600 in 3dmark05. If you can unlock the pipes and OC it, I've seen scores ~3000.

So I think people are underestimating the 6200. OC it, and it will be a nice card for the price...even better if the pipes are unlocked.

Better yet...look for a used 6600 and OC that...that will be even better.

 
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Wentelteefje

Golden Member
Dec 6, 2005
1,380
0
0
I never said anything about a 6200 being worse than a Ti4600... You're right about it not being so... But that doesn't really change much to the fact that a 6600GT would be even better (and even more when that one's overclocked)... The regular 6600 is getting a bit "outrun" with the new games...

BTW The Unreal Engine 3 was said to run fluently on a 6600GT... Remains to be seen, but nonetheless... :p
 
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imported_crypt33

Member
Jul 26, 2005
67
0
0
thank you all very much..I am clearly gonna have to rethink my idea about what to get him :) the help is very much appreciated tho...cheers!
 
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hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
7,326
2
76
Originally posted by: Wentelteefje
BTW The Unreal Engine 3 was said to run fluently on a 6600GT... Remains to be seen, but nonetheless... :p
Click to expand...

Thats what i heard too. apparently some demo footage at a conference once was all run on a 6600gt.
 
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