I know the ATI Radeon 9700 is coming out next month, but my buddy is looking to sell his Gainward GeForce4 Ultra/750XP. And I can get a good price on it. I was wanting to know if anyone has had any problems with this card? And if the card is good or not. Please let me know.
Is The Gainward GeForce4 Ultra/750XP a good card?
- Thread starter LasombraB
- Start date
I have a GeForce4 Golden Sample 750XP. This is a mini review, but the short answer is yes.
1) This card has great VIVO capabilities and of course supports dual monitor (both ports are DVI and analog). For features alone, this card would be worthwhile. I haven't found a better card. Of course if you don't imagine yourself using any of these features you can find cheaper 4600 cards.
2) This card overclocks moderately. The enhanced setting is something like 310MHz (GPU) and 680MHz (Memory). Not all cards are able to reach this level, some may exceed it. My card is happy on the enhanced settings
3) Motherboard choice is critical because the 4600 (any 4600) is a power pig. My GA-7VRXP simply cannot handle this card (it barely handles a 4200) and I've moved it across to my trusty KR7A which seems to have a better regulator setup. My VisionTek 4600 has the same problem incidentally. I think it is time that graphic cards took responsibility for regulating their own power directly from the power supply. It is silly to assume every mobo will keep up with the next generation of power hungry GPUs.
4) Given the imminent arrival of the new ATI chipset my thought would be that $200 is the absolute max I would pay for a second hand card because it is about to become a second tier card (see the reviews) in less than 30 days. If your friend doesn't agree, show him the Anandtech review.
5) Gainward are one of my favorite manufacturers and the 750XP is no exception.
1) This card has great VIVO capabilities and of course supports dual monitor (both ports are DVI and analog). For features alone, this card would be worthwhile. I haven't found a better card. Of course if you don't imagine yourself using any of these features you can find cheaper 4600 cards.
2) This card overclocks moderately. The enhanced setting is something like 310MHz (GPU) and 680MHz (Memory). Not all cards are able to reach this level, some may exceed it. My card is happy on the enhanced settings
3) Motherboard choice is critical because the 4600 (any 4600) is a power pig. My GA-7VRXP simply cannot handle this card (it barely handles a 4200) and I've moved it across to my trusty KR7A which seems to have a better regulator setup. My VisionTek 4600 has the same problem incidentally. I think it is time that graphic cards took responsibility for regulating their own power directly from the power supply. It is silly to assume every mobo will keep up with the next generation of power hungry GPUs.
4) Given the imminent arrival of the new ATI chipset my thought would be that $200 is the absolute max I would pay for a second hand card because it is about to become a second tier card (see the reviews) in less than 30 days. If your friend doesn't agree, show him the Anandtech review.
5) Gainward are one of my favorite manufacturers and the 750XP is no exception.
I read through the Quick Start Version 2.0 paperwork and couldn't find the guarantee to which you refer. Nor could I find such a guaranee on the outside of the box. Where did you see this?
I only have personal experience to report, but I think you are very lucky indeed to be able to crank the memory to 750MHz. Altogether I've had four 4600 cards pass through my hands, and none has reached 750MHz with any degree of stability! Or maybe I was unlucky.
In point of fact, my own Ultra/750XP had to be replaced because the card would not run anything more than 'Safe Mode Settings' on the performance panel (300/648). I did not mention this because Gainward replaced the card without question and their service support was absolutely first class. The replacement card works fine but even on the KR7A it is distinctly unhappy at anything much above 680MHz.
The primary points I wanted to get across were simply:
1) The Gainward card is feature-rich and has superb picture quality
2) Avoid pairing this or any 4600 card with a GA-7VRXP because this combination has many reported issues (and mine plain doesnt work)
3) All 4600 cards are likely to be rendered obsolete by the new ATI chip, so the primary advantage of the Gainward has to be its features
If I had to buy a new graphic card today it would be the GF4 4200 from Gainward (for the features and price), and tomorrow it would be the ATI 9700
I only have personal experience to report, but I think you are very lucky indeed to be able to crank the memory to 750MHz. Altogether I've had four 4600 cards pass through my hands, and none has reached 750MHz with any degree of stability! Or maybe I was unlucky.
In point of fact, my own Ultra/750XP had to be replaced because the card would not run anything more than 'Safe Mode Settings' on the performance panel (300/648). I did not mention this because Gainward replaced the card without question and their service support was absolutely first class. The replacement card works fine but even on the KR7A it is distinctly unhappy at anything much above 680MHz.
The primary points I wanted to get across were simply:
1) The Gainward card is feature-rich and has superb picture quality
2) Avoid pairing this or any 4600 card with a GA-7VRXP because this combination has many reported issues (and mine plain doesnt work)
3) All 4600 cards are likely to be rendered obsolete by the new ATI chip, so the primary advantage of the Gainward has to be its features
If I had to buy a new graphic card today it would be the GF4 4200 from Gainward (for the features and price), and tomorrow it would be the ATI 9700
nVidia's new cards should be excellent, but then so should have the Parhelia512! I would expect nVidia's new cards to at least offer Rad9700 perf (they won't release it until it does), however you can't really comment on a card that is still in its beta and development stages, should be good, but the Rad9700 certainly is good, and I doubt nVidia will be able to beat the Rad9700 in the same way the Rad9700 seems to beat the GF4TI4600."nVidia's new cards should be excellent, but then so should have the Parhelia512!"
You must work for ATI. It's pretty ridiculous to compare the Parhelia to the nV30 when EVERY SINGLE GENERATION OF NVIDIA CHIPS FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS HAS OFFERED BETTER PERFORMANCE THAN IT'S PREDECESSOR, DON'T YOU THINK?????
"and I doubt nVidia will be able to beat the Rad9700 in the same way the Rad9700 seems to beat the GF4TI4600."
Of course, you're basing this on COMPLETELY GROUNDLESS SPECULATION, so there's really no point in saying it at all, is there?
You must work for ATI. It's pretty ridiculous to compare the Parhelia to the nV30 when EVERY SINGLE GENERATION OF NVIDIA CHIPS FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS HAS OFFERED BETTER PERFORMANCE THAN IT'S PREDECESSOR, DON'T YOU THINK?????
"and I doubt nVidia will be able to beat the Rad9700 in the same way the Rad9700 seems to beat the GF4TI4600."
Of course, you're basing this on COMPLETELY GROUNDLESS SPECULATION, so there's really no point in saying it at all, is there?
SHOUTING doesn't make your point any better. No comparison was made between the nV30 and the Parhelia. The point is that performance on paper (and in marketing pitches) is just smoke-and-mirrors -- it's the actual measured performance of the real card that counts. Of course the nV30 cards will offer better performance than their (nVIDIA) predecessors, but you must work for nVIDIA if you think it's a certainty that the nV30 will outperform everything else on the market when it is released -- especially if it's released on time.
As for the speculation suggesting the performance ratio of nV30/Rad9700 < Rad9700/GeForce4 -- everyone's entitled to their opinion, however uninformed it may (or may not) be. There may well be some back-of-the-envelope calculations involving process feature size, transistor counts, core clock rates, memory bandwidths et cetera that suggest that a fundamental advance would be required for the relation nV30/Rad9700 > Rad9700/GeForce4 to hold. It such calculations do exist (as I intuitively suspect they do) then such speculation is NOT groundless.
Oh, by the way, the Gainward card is an excellent choice if one needs the dual-DVI outputs. Otherwise, I suggest waiting for the Rad9700 to hit the streets.
"SHOUTING doesn't make your point any better."
LOL- good point. In any case, since no one we know of has tested a nV30, there's no reason to make negative assumptions about by saying it may be like the Parhelia (good on paper), or "I doubt nVidia will be able to beat the Rad9700 in the same way the Rad9700 seems to beat the GF4TI4600."
LOL- good point. In any case, since no one we know of has tested a nV30, there's no reason to make negative assumptions about by saying it may be like the Parhelia (good on paper), or "I doubt nVidia will be able to beat the Rad9700 in the same way the Rad9700 seems to beat the GF4TI4600."
Alright, Don't to start a war here.
Ok, this is what I'm going to do. I'm doing a major upgrade to my PC, and I'm not going to wait to see what better is coming out. The ATI Radeon 9700 comes out next month so I will get it instead.
Thanks Guys.
Ok, this is what I'm going to do. I'm doing a major upgrade to my PC, and I'm not going to wait to see what better is coming out. The ATI Radeon 9700 comes out next month so I will get it instead.
Thanks Guys.
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