Help me upgrade from the dark ages!

[Gillbot]

ok, My GF3 Ti200 has served me well but I plan on upgrading to dual monitor soon and this model doesn't support twinview.

I was thinking about something cheap (say $30 or so used) and perhaps in the FX5200 area. How do the FX5200 and ti4200 cards compare to the ti200 of old? ALSO, It will be going into a SN45G so power consumption is a concern and no, don't bother tellink me why I need a new 256MB 6800GT or whatever. I just don't care to spend that much, nor do I need it to help me open my email.

Keep in mind the only games I play are Total Annihilation which has a minimum requirement of a P233 MMX and Unreal Tournament (Yes, the original). So long as it can handle those fine, I'll be happy. I'd just like to get a little better resolution and framerate in UT if I'm gonna upgrade and anything later than what I have should do better. I'm just trying to decide which is the best bang for my low buck.

 

[A5]

Ti 4200 is a legendary value card around these parts...the 5200 sucks pretty hard though.

 

[ElFenix]

4200 is faster than the 5200 in all situations.

this one is new for about your price

although it is probably a bit between the geforce 3 and the ti4200

 

[Gillbot]

I've never really been an ATi fan. Have they gotten their drivers stable? I used to have horrific times with my old system and the ATi drivers always crashing.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
I've never really been an ATi fan. Have they gotten their drivers stable? I used to have horrific times with my old system and the ATi drivers always crashing.

yes, they're stable.

last time i dealt with an unstable graphics driver was the detonator 8s or something like that.

 

[tuteja1986]

geforce 3 ti 200 isn't the dark age garphic card ... fx5800 was or geforce 4 mx440

 

[fibes]

if you want to go refurbished and spend a little more than $30.00, you can get a 9600PRO

 

[tuteja1986]

i use to use a 9600xt on my lan pc.. i could play games like farcry , doom 3 , hl 2 , cs:S , bf2 , bf1942 , rome total war and more ... even fear too . so that 9600pro is a good deal for $30

 

[Cawchy87]

I would go for the 9600pro or 9600xt. ti300 -> ti4200 isn't as big of a step up imo.

 

[RichUK]

i had a GF3 Ti200 on an old PC i used (about a year ago), this is the best card evah, cant believe how long it lasted me

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Hi Gilbot,

That's my old GF3 right? Good to hear it has served you well.

I have been using ATI cards since then (a 9700pro and now and X800XL) and IMO the ATI drivers are not as good as the NV drivers used to be (the GF3 drivers seemed to be bulletproof), but overall my X800XL has been very stable. My 9700pro had some stability problems with CoD 1, but the X800XL seems to be good. Both cards were pretty loud though, especially the X800XL.

The only problem I am having with the X800XL is that it will sometimes not atl-tab out of World of Warcraft properly. I'll get out of the game, but the screen will stay black as if the card is still trying to draw the game instead of the desktop. That's a minor and rare issue though, so overall I am very happy with the ATI cards.

I'd give you my 9700pro, but I already gave it away. It would probably be a good choice, or maybe a used 6600GT.


Anyhow, good luck with the new card.

-D'oh!

 

[fliguy84]

im still using a gf2 mx in my old pc
but the machine in mostly for internet and MS Office

if you're calling that gf3 ancient, i dunno what to call mine. prehistoric?

anyways, get a dx9 capable card for now. that 9600pro deal looks good

 

[imported_Rampage]

Maybe a 6200 or 6600 non-GT?

$30 limits you to the cards people already listed though. If you are stuck on $30, I'd get the 9600 Pro.

If you are running dual monitors, I find nvidia the better choice, I'd invest in a plain 6600. Yeah this one is $90 but its got dual outputs, supports all the latest stuff.. has Purevideo, DX9C, and nvidias exceptional Nview dual display.
Nview is pretty tough to beat for out of the box multi monitor support

 

[jlbenedict]

here you go.. Geeks has a 9600XT, for $62'something
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid...n=CJ&cm_pla=0038437214&cm_ite=redirect

**Edit**...

This didn't last long.. Sorry.. its out of stock

 

[Gillbot]

Yeah, I actually have two GF3 ti200's. The fan went on my old one and it was easier to find another card than a replacement fan.

Will the 9600 do twinview (or whatever ATi calls it?) where it can display on two monitors, one using the Analog connector, the other using the DVI with a DVI to analog adapter of course.

 

[Wentelteefje]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
geforce 3 ti 200 isn't the dark age garphic card ... fx5800 was or geforce 4 mx440

LOL

9600Pro will be the best card at that low price point...

 

[Gillbot]

I'm willing to spend a little more but my cheapness overrides my need to accelerate an old game!

 

[Wentelteefje]

Look for these cards (refurbs or so):

ATI Radeon 9500/9550/9600 and higher (although you won't find a 9700 or 9800 for that price)...

nVidia GeForce 5700/6200/6600 and higher... Actually the first one (GeForce FX 5700) isn't that good, but it should be more than enough for your games... BEWARE of LE versions, as they truly s*ck...

EDIT: Beware of SE versions too... They s*ck even more...

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
ok, My GF3 Ti200 has served me well but I plan on upgrading to dual monitor soon and this model doesn't support twinview.

I've decided that whether or not I arrived late to this party, I'll reply without reading the answers already posted. If after that I need to edit to add clarity compared to any apparent conflict with another poster, I'll make the edit. First, I've never heard of "Twinview". Don't know why it should change anything.

I was thinking about something cheap (say $30 or so used) and perhaps in the FX5200 area. How do the FX5200 and ti4200 cards compare to the ti200 of old?

Slower than an elderly snail is how the FX 5200 compares. The Ti-4200 runs like a Cobra 289 compared to a Ti-200 or maybe to a Falcon Futura GT 260. (Kinda hot, kinda noisy, but pretty fast.)

ALSO, It will be going into a SN45G so power consumption is a concern and no, don't bother tellink{g} me why I need a new 256MB 6800GT or whatever. I just don't care to spend that much, nor do I need it to help me open my email.

What the heck is a SN45G?

Keep in mind the only games I play are Total Annihilation which has a minimum requirement of a P233 MMX and Unreal Tournament (Yes, the original). So long as it can handle those fine, I'll be happy. I'd just like to get a little better resolution and framerate in UT if I'm gonna upgrade and anything later than what I have should do better. I'm just trying to decide which is the best bang for my low buck.

Almost all of the gaming magazines that have a hardware editor have picked the Geforce 6600GT as the one that delivers the greatest bang for a buck. In the case of CGW, they literally divided FPS into dollars to get real world numbers. (I do not have either a 6600GT or a 6800GT.)

The primary reason I decided not to read the other replies is that I have direct experience with all but the newest video card that you mentioned. I used a Ti-200 for a year and a half, until the fan on it failed. It was nice for its age. I acquired it after the design was already about 2 1/2 years old, to upgrade a system with an older nVidia card, a TNT2 64 MB item that wouldn't handle DirectX past Dx7. The particular (old) PC it was in last still has a GF3 card in it, but it's a Ti-500 now.

I tested an FX 5200 in that same PC. It was slow, even in 2D. The overall sharpness was no better -- I would say that the TNT2 card was as good and as fast, if not faster. With the automobile simile's used above, the 5200 was a Yugo. The lowest on the FX ladder that is in my Ti-500's speed bracket is the 5600Ultra. The lowest on the FX ladder that is in the Ti-4200's speed bracket is the FX 5700 Ultra, and I'd give that one the nod for 5-10%, maybe a bit more, of advantage over the 4200. The reason I changed gears above about the 5600 Ultra is that my Ti-200 had already been retired for a year before I had the 5600U to compare with.

I do have a couple of newer and more powerful video cards than the Ti-4200, namely a Vanilla FX 5900, and a Radeon 9700 Pro. The 5900 is appreciably faster than the Ti-4200; on the order of 25-30% or so. However, the Radeon 9700 Pro jumps past it in a really big way - doubles its speed, probably.

One of the best ways to start comparing is to go to http://www.gpureview.com and start pairing different cards up against each other. This isn't an ideal comparison, because the Vanilla 5900 ends up looking a lot better than it turns out, for instance, if you just use the raw numbers.

 

[rbV5]

Will the 9600 do twinview (or whatever ATi calls it?) where it can display on two monitors, one using the Analog connector, the other using the DVI with a DVI to analog adapter of course.

Yup, the AIW versions only supports dual analog, but as long as the 9600 has 2 video ports, it will support at least 2 analog, and all the DVI ports on 9600 are DVI-I which include both analog and digital pins.

 

[Gillbot]

The SN45G is a Shuttle XPC SFF System and it's notorious for low power supply ratings. I'd rather have a slower card than buy a specialty power supply to suppliment a faster graphics card I'd rarely utilize.

Twinview is an Nvidia setup that allows cards like the Geforce to run two displays with the one GPU and card. It usually utilizez bothe the analog and the DVI (or TV-Out) connectors on compatible cards. I prefer the dual display setup as I do alot of specialty work and the extra display space makes it easier.

I'm just looking for a rather budget step up from my current card, which is sinking in the same boat as my original GF3 Ti200. The fan is dying and it's cheaper to replace the whole card for about $30 than it is to spend $20 or more on a new VGA cooler. I'm just looking for something that won't be slower than what I have and since I have not kept up with the newer stuff, I thought i'd ask here and get expert answers!

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Will the 9600 do twinview (or whatever ATi calls it?) where it can display on two monitors, one using the Analog connector, the other using the DVI with a DVI to analog adapter of course.

Yup, the AIW versions only supports dual analog, but as long as the 9600 has 2 video ports, it will support at least 2 analog, and all the DVI ports on 9600 are DVI-I which include both analog and digital pins.

I'll probably be using dual analog anyway so that's fine. I'd like to get 19" LCD's here soon to replace my monstrous MAG986FS but that will come later probably.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Rampage
Maybe a 6200 or 6600 non-GT?

$30 limits you to the cards people already listed though. If you are stuck on $30, I'd get the 9600 Pro.

If you are running dual monitors, I find nvidia the better choice, I'd invest in a plain 6600. Yeah this one is $90 but its got dual outputs, supports all the latest stuff.. has Purevideo, DX9C, and nvidias exceptional Nview dual display.
Nview is pretty tough to beat for out of the box multi monitor support

I'm not sure where people are seeing these kinda prices on used cards, but for $30, I'll take one! Let me know where the deal is!

 

[mrzed]

The radeon 9600 is the best performance/watt GPU of its generation by a good margin, so if power draw is a concern I'd go with that. It's also inexpensive, and will be a very noticeable increase in performance from a GF3.

The 9550 cards are a lower clocked versiopn of the same core (die shrunk IIRC), so they would also be worth considering.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: CraigRT

Originally posted by: Rampage
Maybe a 6200 or 6600 non-GT?

$30 limits you to the cards people already listed though. If you are stuck on $30, I'd get the 9600 Pro.

If you are running dual monitors, I find nvidia the better choice, I'd invest in a plain 6600. Yeah this one is $90 but its got dual outputs, supports all the latest stuff.. has Purevideo, DX9C, and nvidias exceptional Nview dual display.
Nview is pretty tough to beat for out of the box multi monitor support

I'm not sure where people are seeing these kinda prices on used cards, but for $30, I'll take one! Let me know where the deal is!

I can't find the stuff they are recommending for $30 so I guess i'll either remain in the dark or i'll have to pry my wallet open further!