Need help with video cards

[Sniper82]

Ok my friend is thinking about upgrading. He has a Geforce 4 Ti4200 128mb and was thinking about a newer FX card. How does the Ti4200 128mb compare to say the lower end FX5200 256mb? Is the 5200 alot/any better or not worth the buy? Is the 256mb pointless right now and even in the near future or is it something thats gonna be needed soon?

Would he have to go with a FX5600 or better to see any real difference? How does the Radeon 9600 Pro compare with Ti4200,FX5200 and FX5600 in all mb flavors?

Anyone know of a good article on them all? Whats currently the best bang for your buck card?

 

[smittybg]

from a ti4200, you need to at least go to an fx5600u or higher or a radeon 9600xt or higher ,

 

[Sid59]

tell him to save more and get a 9700 pro or 9800 nonpro

 

[Sniper82]

So the 5200 is more less a Ti4200? Similar to what they did with Geforce 4 MX series being a Geforce 2 MX(or was it Geforce 2) on steroids? Would a 5600u/9600xt be a nice little upgrade(worth the money)? Or would he better off saving for a 9700 Pro 9800 nonpro like Sid mention? Hes kinda on a budget though.

 

[knighthawkaz]

I would go with a Radeon 9700. Better performance than what he has now, and he won't break the bank too bad.

 

[tenoc]

Ti4200 to a FX 5200 is a downgrade.

To a 9600 Pro/XT is somewhat of an upgrade.

Like others have suggested, go to a 9700 Pro/9800np, even if he has to wait to save up a few more sheckles.

 

[rallyrulz]

The fx5200 is aka the MX line, or crapy line which no one should buy, it dont have the vertex shaders nor the pixel shaders. 256MB vram is way overkill in anyones world, 128 is pushing it, but usefull for res over and at 1280x1024. g4Ti down to a fx5200 is definatly a downgrade by along way, the only difference is i believe the fx5200 supports dx9, however its still an mx type and so ild say it wouldnt support dx9 any better than the ti anyhow. So yea, 5600 on nvidia side, and ati 9600xt or better will be the only cards to better it. Personally ild buy the ati radeon 9600xt if there really was a need to upgrade just yet.

 

[Elrichmeister]

id say go with the 5900XT i forgot which brand makes it but u can find for around $200 usd, or a 9700pro, but for $30 more u can get 9800pro