• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Radeon 8500 or Ti4200?

V

Varun

Golden Member
I'm in the need of a new video card pretty badly. My aging GF2 MX has been a great card but with some of the new games I like it's really showing it's true colors. I live in Canada, so all prices are in CDN funds. The local hardware store has GF 4 Ti 4200 128MB's from MSI for $299 and an Asus for $309. That is going to give me more frame rates than the Radeon 8500 for $289 (128MB and NOT LE). I've heard some people complain about the image quality of the GF 4 being pretty poor even compared to the older GF 2s. I've also heard the ATI has really good image quality. I'm a gamer, but I prefer RPG's like NeverWinterNights and am in the Beta of Asheron's Call 2 (AC2) AC2 is what has really shown my video card's age. For the highest texture settings they recommend 128MB of video RAM and 512 of system RAM.

System specs
Athlon 1800+
Asus A7V 333
256MB PC 2700

Image quality is to me as important as framerates. Is the difference that much? I have read plenty of reviews but they don't really talk about quality, they only talk about framerates. The GF4 Ti4200 wins there, but not always by a lot.

I'm not getting a 9700 (649 CDN) because that is just WAY too much.

Also, overclocking? I can't really find much about overclocking the Radeon although some people have gotten Ti 4400 clocks from the 4200's.
And last item, the Ti4200 is built on a 6 layer board as opposed to the 8 layer on the 4400 and 4600. What does that mean to me? BTW the Ti 4400 is 389CDN and a bit out of the range I wanted to spend.

Thanks for any input for my decision! I want to get a new card in the next week if possible.
 
The Ti4200 is generally more expensive, but it's a much better value for gamers. It overclocks better (you can bump it up to 4600 levels and save a good $100) and the drivers are typically better than ATI's.

I'm currently in a dilemma right now because I need a faster GPU, but I simply like my All-in-Wonder too much (I use the 128 Pro 32MB model). The fastest one offered is the 8500, but it lacks a couple of fundamental features the 8500DV has (like a IEEE1394 port and a silicon TV tuner). What a shame.....

I even checked out the similar offerings based on Nvidia chipsets put out by ASUS. But they just don't have what ATI has in terms of software.
 
Thanks for the advice, next time I'll be sure to put this in the right forum!

And the link was very useful, although it was about Linux and the 8500LE, there was a link in it with some good info. I'm leaning towards the ATI right now but I'll do some more web research before making up my mind.
 
No problem.

"Search" is your best friend here. I believe you will find out quite a lot about O/C'ing the 8500 . . . but, it is true - the GF4 O/C's higher.
When you search don't forget the archived messages that are over 90 days old.

Everyone about now is having the same delimna - best bang for the buck upgrade. I went with the 8500-128 (for US$129 it was justifyable) nice upgrade over my original Radeon 64 DDR.
 
I'd get the 4200 myself, specifically a leadtek variant, since the leadtek cards have had excellent 2D quality for a long time.

Also if you want an all in wonder style of card check this leadtek model out (there are similar cards based around the 4600 if thats more your style too). These cards are excellent value here in australia - currently $450AU ($247US) for a 128mb model.

Greg
 
From a pure gaming standpoint the Ti4200 is generally the better card because of better drivers and higher framerates. However the Radeon 8500 has blazingly fast anisotropic filtering and has better DVD quality.

If I was buying cards right now and choosing between those two I'd probably get the Radeon 8500 because I'm an anisotropic filtering junkie and nVidia's cards generally tend to plummet in terms of performance when you enable even low tap ratings. ATi's cards OTOH have minimal performance hits even at maximum anisotropic settings. Granted nVidia's image quality is better but ATi's is excellent too for the most part.
 
DVD is awful on the GeForce 2 MX I am using now. Even with an Athlon 1800+ I still get stutter frames.

I don't use it for that too often though, as I have a home theater for movies.

Lots of advice to be found here but it is still hard to make a decision. Frame rates are a bit higher on the 4200, it may last me a bit longer. 8500 has Ansio filter which I do want to use without killing the system.

It's a good thing I don't get paid until Thursday because I've got a lot of thinking to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top