New video card but not much cash

[AlanShearer]

My Geforce3Ti200 64Mb o/c 250/550 is getting a little long in the tooth (GTA:VC can be a bit slow - particularly with helicopters)

Okay current system

Tbred-A XP1700+@2100+
Epox 8KHA+ (KT266A chipset)
512Mb PC2100 (1 stick Cube CAS 2.0, 1 Stick Crucial 2.5)
80Gb WD Caviar JB (8Mb cache)
Santa Cruz Soundcard
Intel 100B Pro NIC
Liteon 52-24-52 CD-RW
LG 52x CDROM

Win XP SP1

However, will be swapping the motherboard out for

Asus P4P800-Deluxe
P4 2.0A Northwood C-1 stepping.

Although the two current sticks don't exactly match I've had them running as stable with PAT-enabled in dual channel mode @ 145MHz FSB so the Processor will do 2.9GHz at default voltage.😀 At some point I'll whack 2xPC7200 in.

I don't have that much money to throw at a gfx card. I did look to see if there were any 9500Pro available but they've all seemed to have disappeared around here. So as far as I can see the options are

Geforce 4Ti4200 128MB ~£90
Radeon 9600Pro 128Mb ~£140-150
Geforce 5600FX 128Mb ~£140-150 ish (haven't looked to much into this)

I would be intending to o/c these cards.

Pro/Cons
Geforce 4 - Faster than Gf3 due to better memory controller, cheapest option. Should o/c well. Only DirectX 8 compatible

Radeon - DirectX 9 compatible. not necessarily faster than o/c Geforce 4Ti in current games. Questionable driver quality (mainly OpenGl performance).

GeforceFX Radeon - DirectX 9 compatible. not necessarily faster than o/c Geforce 4Ti in current games. Problem with early design which seem to be fixed but what are the chances of them appearing in the UK in the near future.


I know about the HL2 FSAA issue but at 1024x768x32 what would be the likelyhood of it being playable with FSAA?

Radeon 9600Pro makes- I know Sapphire are quite good. What about Connect3D and Powercolour?

Geforce's - any makes to avoid?

Any comments greatfully appreciated.

 

[videoclone]

ATI 9600 Non Pro is cheap ... have you looked at getting one of these?

with all 3 of these cards they will not last you very long one and a half years maybe and then they will be too slow to play the new games out at that time .. i suggest you get the cheapest card that will do what you want it too do for the next year and a bit

You can use the money saved for a new card by then.


have you looked into getting an Nforce2 board dual Channel DDR 2 sticks of PC3200 DDR and an AthlonXP 2500+ overclocked to 183SFB 366 Mhz DDR 2Ghz 2800+ CPU Default Voltage ... it works 100% stable without making your CPU any hotter

it will run just as good as your overclocked 2.9Ghz P4 and with the money you save getting the AMD system u get the ram free .....
plus you get a better sound card then the one you have and you get dual LAN for onboard too look into the price. you will be surprised

 

[AlanShearer]

Already taken the decision to jump to Intel.

- Only use 2 speakers and so the Santa Cruz is good enough.
- Currently still on dial up (boradband isn't that cheap in the UK yet) and only need one LAN socket at most - I only use it when I connect my ancient laptop or if I connect to my second system. However, I use my second setup so rarely that going to use VMWare virtual machines.

I generally try and buy behind the bleeding edge to save a bit of cash.

As for my Geforce 3 I can probably get £25 to £30 for it ATM. If I wait much longer I'll get virtually nothing.

9600 Non-pro - Geforce4Ti4200 beats it hands down in price/performance (ie. it's cheaper and faster)

 

[AlanShearer]

bump

 

[Mem]

Sapphire and Connect3D are excellent brands,I would go with the 9600 Pro if you want to OC,Btw Simply.co.uk have the Sapphire 9700NP for £175 inc free delivery which is a good buy if you can stretch your budget.

 

[McArra]

Radeon - DirectX 9 compatible. not necessarily faster than o/c Geforce 4Ti in current games. Questionable driver quality (mainly OpenGl performance).

Sorry..... but I think you're stack in ancient times or something

 

[CelticDemolition]

hmm.. depends, depends.

there is a gf ti4200 out there that uses a much higher rated memory than others, that one can oc like a BEAST. did asus make it? i cant recall... that would be my first suggestion, assuming you can still find it.

but then again you may want dx9 spec for longetivity. therefore i would say ati 9600 pro.

tsk tsk, dont go knocking ati drivers, cant do that anymore. currently nvidia seems to have bigger troubles with their drivers. not meaning to start a flamewar here, mind you, but their whole FX line until just a month or so ago has been subpar. theyre doing great now, but you cant knock ati for driver troubles years ago and then forget about what nvidia has done in the last 3 months.