Have a P3 866MHz, is it worth getting a Ti 4200 with this slow comp?

[MazerRackham]

Well, right now I have a GF2 GTS (32MB), and I'm thinking of getting a GF4 Ti 4200 64MB card, probably the ABit Siluro for $140 from newegg.com.

But is it worth it? I am having some performance issues playing Warcraft III at the resolution that I prefer (1280x1024) with most settings on. I know I need to upgrade my mobo/CPU at some point, but I also need a new video card, and am wondering if I should go ahead and get that now.

So, what should I do? 😀 Thanks-

 

[Snoop]

I would guess the gts is not the problem but the cpu. You could pick up a cheap athlon/mb combo for around the same price as the G4. Depending upon whether you want to spend the money on new ram, you could pick up a ECS K7s5a which supports either sdr or ddr.

Here is a k7s5a for 54.00 with free shipping.
Here is an Athlon XP 2000+ for 116.00 with free shipping.

 

[BFG10K]

I am having some performance issues playing Warcraft III at the resolution that I prefer (1280x1024) with most settings on.

A video card upgrade will help you a lot in that situation. You will still need a CPU upgrade eventually though because you'll still be limiting your video card.

 

[mellondust]

I would get one, I did and am very happy I did that than upgrade my cpu at this time. I have a p3 733 and got a gainward ti4200 128mb and love it. I can run every game I have at 1024x768 with settings almost always at max detail perfectly smooth with quincunx antialiasing enabled (does the job just fine for me), and sometimes upto 4x antialiasing. I can play warcraft 3 which is what you were asking about at 1024x768 perfectly smooth with all the settings maxed. Now I have not played at higher resolutions much becuase my monitor can't do 85hz above 1024x768 and I have to have at least 85 or it bugs me, so I would guess the results would not be as good at that point and your cpu would be more of an issue. But for 1024x768 and down I have had no problems at all. Believe me, your going to be a lot happier getting a better graphics card and keeping the same cpu setup that the other way around. I would also say that anything above a ti4200 would be a complete waste unless you were going to upgrade your cpu in the next couple of months.

 

[Whitecloak]

I have a p3-933. I am very happy at upgrading from gf2MX (~2500 3dmarks) to a gf4ti4200 (~6200 marks). There is no question that the gf4 is being pulled back by the cpu but the overall performance has increased enough for me to be happy with it. my next upgrade will of course be the cpu. 🙂

 

[Kulgan]

The GF4 will definately help you out in WC3. I had a P4-2400 shackled with a GF2 ti200 and sucked with WC3 at 1280X1024X32. After GF4 ti4200 I can play at 1600X1200X32 with no slowdowns at all. Looks so much better!!

 

[Bovinicus]

I wouldn't bother getting one. The 866MHz CPU will hold it back significantly. It might even be holding back the GF2 in some situations. The good thing about getting a faster video card is that you will be able to play in very high resolutions without losing any performance since the CPU will become the bottleneck very early on. Of course, I would just upgrade both at the same time. This is because the 866 is pretty closely matched with the GF2. Once you hit 1GHz, GF2s become the bottleneck. So you are pretty close to that threshold. Do both at the same time and you will notice a huge difference. On top of that, by the time you save money to get both you will be able to afford faster products.

 

[billandopus]

So, I guess that getting a GF4 is outta the question for me ... since i'm still running a AMD k6-3 400mhz cpu 😉

Maybe i'll upgrade someday ... over the rainbow ...