Need Upgrade Advice-- Memory vs. New Video Card

[JJordan]

I have a Dell Dimension 4550-- it is a P4 2.4 GHz with 512 MB of Corsair High Performace PC 2700 memory (one chip) and I put in my VisionTek GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB Video Card. Most of what I do is play games -- current favorite is 1942. I also do digital pictures with some editing and want someday to be able to store my Digital Video on computer and transfer to DVD (when burners get affordable). I have about $180 to spend on it and am trying to figure out if I would be better off with 512 MB more memory OR a new video card ? And if video, what should I buy ?

 

[Schnieds]

Hmm tough call. Adding the additional memory would be nice for future video editing. If you are working with large video files having 1 gig of memory will help out a lot. However, upgrading your video card will take you a long way in gaming.

Personally, because you spend most of your time gaming, I would go with a video card upgrade. DVD burners are still too expensive and too buggy for my taste, so I would put that off for a bit. My previous card was the GF3 Ti200, and upgrading to the ATI 9700 makes a huge improvement in games like BF1942, Unreal Tournament 2003, NOLF 2, and the upcoming Unreal 2. The really cool thing about the 9700 is that it performs well enough to turn on 4X AA at any resolution in almost any game.

So, I guess to summarize, I would recommend waiting another few weeks until the R350 is released from ATI, and then purchase a 9700 at a discounted price. Get the memory later when DVD burners are cheaper and better.

 

[JJordan]

Sounds like good advice -- do you think the 9700 will ever get cheaper -- I was considering the GeForce4 Ti4200 128 MB card -- or some stupid number like that - how can anyone keep up with NVidia chiped cards.

 

[nick1985]

i have a ti-4200. it is a great performer and i have no regrets. for 180 bucks you can buy a sweet ti-4200 and a tank of gas

 

[AnAndAustin]

I'd certainly swing for the gfx card, add the extra RAM if and when you get heavily into DV, 512MB is great for everything else and still decent for DV. If your GF3 o/c's very well then it won't be far behind a GF4TI4200 at stock speeds, of course they do tend to hit at least TI4400 speeds when o/c'ed. Of course a GF4TI4200 will enhance things such as AA, image quality, dual display and TVout/VIVO. A GF4TI4600 is a good 25% faster than a 4200, the GF4TI4800 is just a 4600 with AGP8x which does nothing to boost speed. The GF4TI4800SE is simply a GF4TI4400 with AGP8x, again AGP8x does nothing to boost perf. You could consider a Rad9500PRO which is nearly as fast as a GF4TI4600 but when enabling AA & AF the 9500PRO is way faster, plus you get improvements in DX9, image quality, TVout, DVD/MPEG playback and it should o/c to Rad9700 speeds too!

 

[Schnieds]

Originally posted by: JJordan
Sounds like good advice -- do you think the 9700 will ever get cheaper -- I was considering the GeForce4 Ti4200 128 MB card -- or some stupid number like that - how can anyone keep up with NVidia chiped cards.

I assume that when the R350 comes out in a few weeks the 9700 is going to drop in price. I would go for the 9700 standard card, not the Pro (the only difference is the clock Standard: 275/275, Pro: 325:325) Do some reading over at Rage3D in thier forums. Most people can easily overclock the 9700 Standard beyond the 9700 Pro specs... Also, if you get the card, use RadClocker (search the Rage3D forums to find it) it is by far the best 9700 O/C'ing tool.

In my opinion there isn't enough of a performance gain between the GF3 Ti200 and the Ti4200 to justify upgrading...

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

VIdeo card. The 512 you have is more than enough.