Need Card Upgrade Advice

[Dark54555]

Alright, so my GF2TI450 is having some real trouble cranking out BF1942, so I'm thinking it's probably upgrade time. I'm looking at options LESS THAN $200. Here's some of what I've looked at:
-Sapphire Tech 9500 128mb
-ATI Radeon 8500 128mb
-GF4 4200 128mb (probably Gainward)

Thoughts? I'd like this to be able to play Doom 3 fairly well once it comes out in the fall. Thanks.

 

[Dark54555]

rest of my rig, if it helps (for those too lazy to click the link):
AMD Athalon XP 1600MHz
EPoX EP8KHA+
512 MB of Crucial DDR2100

 

[Lonyo]

Wait until March, when there'll be some price changes (like probably a 15% drop in Radeon prices, and whatever new cards as well).
I know people could say "wait longer for other things", but the truth is this almost certainly WILL happen, and soon (since ATi seem to be capable of getting cards out and things), so you might be well to wait.

 

[Dark54555]

yeah, I was thinking about that, too, especially since I'll be out of town the entire second week of march.

 

[selfbuilt]

All three are good cards. But given the fairly small price difference I've seen between the Radeon 9500 and 9500 Pro around here, I'd recommend trying to get the Pro version (I have it and it works great). Still, either 9500 nonpro/pro is a better choice for the future since they are true DX9 cards.

If you decide to go with the 8500/9100 series, make sure you get one clocked at a decent rate (different manufactures can clock them anywhere from 250/275 to 200/183!). You would need to check first to be sure ... so far, this isn't an issue on the 9500 cards as far as I know.