System upgrade suggestions wanted

[Lakotia]

I'm upgrading an system to an xp2500 barton, abit NF7-S ver2 mobo, etc. Need thoughts on videocard. I mainly use computer for PS, flash, illustrator, etc. I also use FPS games, COD, MOHAA, BF1942, RTCW, etc. Thinking of Geforce Ti4200 or Radeon? In the $100 range if possible. Not a serious gamer, but anthings better than my very old 32mb. Ideas?Thanks

 

[RussianSensation]

Unless you find a used Radeon 9600 Pro and you are set on using Antialising and Anisotropic filtering then under $100 you will not find a faster card than GeForce 4 4200. I would suggest to look around and find it for $70 or $80 or even cheaper, used. If you are not a serious gamer and dont plan on playing HL 2 or Doom 3 it should be fine for you. You can always upgrade to Radeon 9700/9800 in 4 months when they drop in price with the new introduction of R420.

If you are on a budget I think Barton 2500 is a very good choice, just make sure you have ram that can take you to at least 200FSB if you are planning to overlock (I assume you do). If you do not plan to overclock it might be wise to spend $100 extra on the processor and get P4 2.6 or Athlon 3000+ 512mb cache to make this investment a little more safe.

Otherwise what you have a probably the best bang for the buck assuming overclocking.

 

[DaveSimmons]

^ good advice. And the gf4 will probably even do a decent job on Doom3 at 800x600 or 640x480.

At $233 retail an A64 3000+ might make sense, though on a tight budget a 2500+ with 1 GB could be better for PhotoShop than an A64 3000+ with just 512 MB.

 

[DeadSmiley]

I agree on the GF4 Ti4200. I just got my stuff from newegg yesterday:

2500 Barton
2 x 256 DDR400

I have a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra already, and I bought a GF4 Ti4200 off of E-bay for $60 including shipping.

It runs pretty good but not as big of an upgrade as I thought it would be from my XP 1800+ and GF3 Ti200. However, now I can take those and put them in another case so my daughter can join me and my son at some MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries.

My kids are at a great age, she's 9 and he's 12.

=)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: DeadSmiley
It runs pretty good but not as big of an upgrade as I thought it would be from my XP 1800+ and GF3 Ti200. However, now I can take those and put them in another case so my daughter can join me and my son at some MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries.

My kids are at a great age, she's 9 and he's 12.

Sounds fun.

You should get Quake2 or the original Unreal Tournament and play together on the same CTF team against bots

 

[Lakotia]

Thanks for the input! Would a 64mb or 128mb be a better choice for the Ti4200? Reading around shows that the 64 seemed to be actually faster overall. What about buying a used card? I found several used ones for sale in the $50-70 range, I realize no warrantee, but what if they were overclocked to death? Thanks

 

[videoclone]

Just get a bran new 128MB GF4 Ti4200 the second hand cards are OK but the fans on those older cards may be going to die soon and when they do so will your videocard

128MB's is allot better then 64 even if the 64 has faster ram equipped

All the new 128MB Gfroce4 Ti4200 cards have 500ram anyways these days, only the old GF4 cards had slower ram for the 128MB versions

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-128-126&catalog=48&depa=1">GAINWARD GeForce4 TI4200 Video Card, 128MB DDR
250MHz Core
128MB DDR/500MHz Memory</a>
$109 looks like a great deal

8x AGP does nothing over 4x AGP for the Geforce 4 Cards ... its noth worth paying the extra money for the 8x but it is worth the extra money for the 128MB version

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: videoclone
Just get a bran new 128MB GF4 Ti4200 the second hand cards are OK but the fans on those older cards may be going to die soon and when they do so will your videocard

128MB's is allot better then 64 even if the 64 has faster ram equipped

All the new 128MB Gfroce4 Ti4200 cards have 500ram anyways these days, only the old GF4 cards had slower ram for the 128MB versions

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-128-126&catalog=48&depa=1">GAINWARD GeForce4 TI4200 Video Card, 128MB DDR
250MHz Core
128MB DDR/500MHz Memory</a>
$109 looks like a great deal

8x AGP does nothing over 4x AGP for the Geforce 4 Cards ... its noth worth paying the extra money for the 8x but it is worth the extra money for the 128MB version

I agree, get a new card with a warranty. I tried a refurb from Newegg twice - the first one was DOA, the second one died after a couple months. At least you can get replaced if it dies under warranty! Get the 128 mb card!

 

[Lakotia]

Thanks! The gainward card looks good and is in my price range. Is newegg good to deal with?

 

[modedepe]

If you don't need the vivo on the gainward you can probably get a 4200 for a little cheaper.

Newegg is great to deal with, probably the most used by AT members.

 

[smartsam]

I have your exact setup (my mobo is a rev. 1.1 but I still run the Barton at 2166 MHz) and I play BF1942, MOHAA, Serious Sam at 1280x1024 on a Ti4200 8x (128 megs of fast memory). It works great for me...got my card for $80 at Best Buy last summer when they were clearing out PNYs and were selling 128 meggers in 64MB boxes. I just can't persuade my self to pay >$150 for the next card that would be a real upgrade (9600 pro/xt, 5700u). I don't use AA or AF, though, but IMO def. Ti4200 128MB in your price range.

 

[DeadSmiley]

I have both of those games. As a matter of fact I used to run a Q2 CTF and OSP server a few years ago. Q2 CTF with no hyperblaster, armor or techs. All skill baby!

You just brought back some memories...

=)

Offtopic, I know...