Ti200 gainward, Visiontek, PNY or CPU bottlenecked?

[KiltedFool]

Oops, hate hitting return at the wrong time.

Anyway, debating a new GF3 Ti200 retail, various deals they range from 150-170 or so.

Current system:
Duron 900 (200FSB)
ASUS-A7A266 (original one)
2 x 256 MB PC2100 Crucial
Hercules Guillemot Prophet DDR-DVI

17" Cybervision monitor.

I have a new home for the old card in the wife's comp to get her out of a Voodoo 3. Am I bottlenecked by my CPU and which card maker should I go with, keeping in mind I have very little interest in overclocking unless as a token effort.

Anyone?

KF

 

[jfunk]

The Gainward seems to be the best right now, and on the low end of price at about $155.


You may want to wait a couple weeks though...with the GF4's comming out as we speak, I'm sure the prices will drop further within the next month.


j

 

[FSUpaintball]

Yes, the Gainward is considered the best quality GF3 card. VisionTek is a close second.

I've heard good and bad things about the PNY cards.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Oops, hate hitting return at the wrong time.

Anyway, debating a new GF3 Ti200 retail, various deals they range from 150-170 or so.

Current system:
Duron 900 (200FSB)
ASUS-A7A266 (original one)
2 x 256 MB PC2100 Crucial
Hercules Guillemot Prophet DDR-DVI

17" Cybervision monitor.

I have a new home for the old card in the wife's comp to get her out of a Voodoo 3. Am I bottlenecked by my CPU and which card maker should I go with, keeping in mind I have very little interest in overclocking unless as a token effort.

Anyone?

KF >>

You're a bit bottlenecked, but it's not a huge problem. If you're not overclocking, I would actually recommend a Radeon 8500 OEM. It'd be the same price, but with superior performance and features. If you're hell-bent on the GF3 Ti200, then I recommend the Gainward.

 

[HawkeyeColt]

I think the PNY card is a pretty good one also. Got mine OC'd at 240/500. Very stable

 

[KiltedFool]

Well, my decision just got easier (or harder depending on how you look at it) with the discovery of a $50 mail in rebate on the Visiontek card that is not tied to Best Buy, there's a thread in Hot Deals about it. Of course saying I'm bottlenecked by my CPU makes me want to go get an Athlon XP bundled on an Epox or Asus board, and that'll get me in trouble with the wife.

With the monitor I have, that effectively peaks at 1024x768 (model is c-70 cybervision) and slight bottlenecking from my CPU, would it make more sense to get a GF2 MX or the like for the wife's comp dirt cheap instead? She only surfs and plays games like online backgammon while I blow stuff up. Less sex appeal, but cheaper and simpler, making it more likely I can survive upgrading CPU/mobo down the road without sleeping on the couch.

argh.
KF

 

[badga]

An additional issue to consider (although it may be irrelevant to you) is that i belive the visiontek is one of the few Ti200 without a DVI port. While you may not have a LCD panel now its a useful feature to consider for the future especially if you are the type to always be swapping parts out. Of course that coupon does make it a no brainer i guess.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Even though you're not going to overclock wouldn't it be nice to know you could with little trouble or problems? i say gainward Ti200 and although you won't be looking to overclock i say do it anyway and put it at a respectable 200/460 (normal GF3 speed) and have 100% stability and awesome speeds.

 

[Killrose]

At least you're running a DDR based system which helps greatly, but the 900 Duron will be a definite bottle neck. I'm guessing it's going to cost you around 15% drop in performance from the benches you see on the net. And it could be more.

For the wife's rig get her the Visiontek GTS for $49 at newegg. Better than any MX, and around the same price.

 

[KiltedFool]

Hmm you bring up an interesting possibility about the bottleneck on the Duron, I posted a thread on motherboards asking what the highest speed CPU I could run with this board was. Perhaps my cheapest upgrade path for both comps is to just swap the chip out, keep the mobo, and then either buy her a cheap card or get myself a cheap GF2 as an upgrade and give her my old one. Of course it'll also have me doing my second ever BIOS flash if I do that.

Only reason I'm looking at upgrading hers is because of the lack of existence of 3dfx these days, she's running an Athlon 650, I think it's a classic Athlon Slot config, can't remember exactly, a buddy built it for her.

Sorry for venturing into a mobo/CPU discussion on the video board, but these are the things I'm weighing in the endless need to upgrade cheaply. I don't plan on doing an LCD any time soon (or any monitor unless it's a violently cheap 19") so lack of DVI doesn't much matter, but you guys have half convinced me if I do a Ti200, to go Gainward and clock it to classic GF3 levels.

 

[Lorne]

I would have to say the CPU is the limiting factor here and say you will would get alot more out of upping to a 1ghz or more Athlon then Getting another GFX card that you cant push.
A good test to make your desision would to barrow a better CPU and bench then the otherway around.