Oh decisions, decisions...

[bluemax]

I have these choices open to me.....
1) Wait....... probably until I get a permanent job and can afford whatever I want.
Waiting sucks.

2) Radeon 8500 LE LE @ 230/230. Pretty slow, but not bad. Obviously OEM...... purchase used for $125 Canadian.

3) Radeon 9000Pro retail box, ATI trade-up program. Hassle of sending in old card, charged security deposit but then it's refunded. Winds up being ~$175 Canadian after all's said and done. I'm leaning towards this because it's retail box and the 9000 has the enhanced video features for RealVideo.

4) GF4 TI4200 Abit 64MB. Dual-head with DVI adapter. Used, but definately fast. $190Can shipped is very reasonable too. Questionable DVD playback quality though.... 2D desktop?
Abit and RMA = bad.....


So far #3 seems like the best choice - no it's not the fastest, but it's retail box, guaranteed support and has the best features for me.
But if someone else has a GOOD reason for me to consider the 8500LELE or 4200 now's your chance.

 

[MikeMike]

is the ti4200 in canadian like the rest?

the 9000 might be a choice but look at new cards like the 4200 cause they can be had for cheap

 

[dszd0g]

I thought that the 8500 is preforming better in benchmarks than the 9000. Why would you pay more for a card that performs worse?
I would compare with the 8500 Retail, not 8500 LE or ever worse the LELE. The Retail is 250/250, the LE is generally 250/220 or 250/166, and the LELE is 230/230.

The Ti 4200 is faster than the 8500 Retail, but its really what you can find the best deal on. If you can find the 8500 Retail enough lower in price to make it worth it for you, I would go with that. Otherwise I would stick with the Ti 4200.

 

[bluemax]

That's a lot of bad data there, Chippy.

retail Radeon 8500's are 275/275. LE is 250/250 "LELE" is 230/230.
Other combinations have popped up because of really cheap RAM combinations.

If raw speed was ALL I cared about, it'd be the 4200 no question.
But it's not.

I *like* the enhancements of the Radeon 9000 - I'll actually get some use out of the better quality RealVideo. I wonder how big the difference is? One screenshot hardly suffices. :frown:

I'm almost surprised the nVidia zealots haven't marched in to sing in unison about the 4200. But I recognise full well that it's a fast card and a good price. That's why it's in there.
But I'm still leaning towards the Retail 9000 Pro for a couple reasons (as already mentioned) like not having to worry about the previous user overclocking it to death, or warranty support. And the features the 9000 brings that noone else does.
The 9000Pro is probably equal in speed to the lower-clocked LELE in most cases.

 

[dszd0g]

My applogies, you are correct. However, you will find LE's with different speeds. ATI doesn't have it listed on their specifications page for their different cards, so I couldn't get it from them directly. I believe I grabbed that out of some review or something. Sorry for the bad info.

 

[rogue1979]

Well, I probably be flamed for this, but before I do you guys should read up some. The Geforce4 Ti4200 is faster when it comes to raw speed. However, when applying Anisotropic filtering at 16-tap or higher, the Geforce4 took a tremendous performance hit. The Radeon 9000 Pro was able to keep up with the Ti4200! I know, it sounds like bullcrap, but that's what the benchmarks said. If anybody plans on using FSAA than anisotropic filtering is needed to keep things real clear. One way around this is to simply use 1600 x 1200 and forget anisotropic filtering and FSAA, where the Geforce4 will definately whip the 9000 Pro. But if you like playing your favorite older games also, alot of them don't support higher resolutions. So the only choice for no jaggies and good image quality is to fire up 2X or even 4X FSAA along with the anisotropic filtering. I am not saying that a Radeon 9000 Pro is faster than the Geforce4 Ti4200, just something to consider.

 

[bluemax]

For games that only use 640x480, that 6x AA would sure be nice.
Again, ATI only.

I'm hoping someone local will be willing to trade some stuff and make #1 an option.
Hold out with something half-decent until the Radeon 9500 and others come out at Christmastime.
I darned well better be employed by then.

 

[BFG10K]

I'd probably go with option #3 as I don't like buying used hardware. Also ATi does have better DVD quality than nVidia so if you're a hardcore DVD watcher on your PC then this choice is the best for you.

 

[bluemax]

bump.... almost time to order - or decide to hold out. I'll need to GET something cheap to hold out with though.....