Thoughts on MSI Geforce4 Ti4600?

Gov51

Banned
Feb 7, 2002
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I am thinking of building a new system and saw on pricewatch that I can get an MSI Geforce4 Ti4600 Retail for around 300bucks. Is this a decent card? Is there better ones out there? I think that most ti4600 cards will all be the same, right now MSI is the cheapest and it is a retail box so it will also come with a few games which some other cards don't come with. Any comments are appreciated. BTW my current system is a p2 333 o/c'd to 400 with an nvidia tnt card. I am looking to upgrade to a AthlonXP 2000+ with a via333 motherboard. I am a heavy gamer and am upgrading to be able to play the newest games coming out this spring/summer.

Thanks,
Jeremy
 

oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
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I didn't buy it because of the noisy fan. Both Anand and THG commented on how annoyingly loud it is. Shame too, other than that, it looks good.
 

Gov51

Banned
Feb 7, 2002
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price is a main factor for me, so if its cheap i'll put up with the extra noise I guess. Is there anything else wrong with the fan? Does it do a decent job of cooling the gpu?
 

Fant

Senior member
Jul 9, 2000
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Warning...I bought one of these ($240 online - $256 shipped) and it worked great for 3 days than on the 4th day without touching anything the video became corrupted...rebooted and bios screen was corrupted....RMA'd the sucked and am awaiting the replacement...I researched it and it seems to be a common problem with MSI, PNY, and a few other manufacturers where the memory chips are failing or overheating. This MSI had no memory cooling.
 

Poke888

Junior Member
Jan 27, 2002
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I have an msi ti4400 and the fan isn't that loud at all. I certainly wouldn't say that it was annoyingly loud at all. Maybe the cards that anand got and thg got were not the same ones that are shipping to consumers as that happens from time to time. IMO go for it.
 

oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
10,207
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Noise can be subjective. I've had several products (CORB, stock Athlon fan, stock nV rev GF3 fan) that I have found way too loud for my tastes, while others have said otherwise.
Here is what THG said:

<< The GPU's heatsink/ fan is somewhat of a mixed bag. While it is quite a visual treat and does an excellent job, it is very loud and its sound bears resemblance to that of a blow-drier for your hair. Not exactly something you'd want around you when you're trying to work. Creative/ MSI should rethink their choice of components here and find an alternative. After all, the large heatsink wouldn't even require such a high-speed fan to be effective >>


Anand:

<< A modified version of NVIDIA's reference GPU heatsink/fan unit is attached via hardened thermal glue and provides excellent cooling. What truly gave the MSI card the edge however was a faster spinning fan that ended up creating an annoyingly loud sound when compared to the other fans. >>


The MSI pic @ Newegg looks exactly like the ones @ THG and Anands. The Fan design is definitely different from the nV ref design.

I would have bought the MSI myself, if it weren't for the noisy fan. I ordered a VisionTek instead
 

Gov51

Banned
Feb 7, 2002
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fant where did you find one for 240 at? Is there any better ones for 300 or less, also do any come with ramsinks?

Jeremy