ti4600 or radeon 9700

[Gulzakar]

a little synopsis...

I use Ani Filtering, but not to the max. I play in a resolution, typically, of 1024x768. I dont use AA

I'm not a huge fan of FPS, but will delve into them somtimes. I love games like Warcraft III, homeworod, dungeon siege, cataclysm, etc.

I can get a ti4600 for 100 less than the 9700. Any ideas? I'm using a 19inch somy trintron tube...I do watch DVD's and happen to like the NVdvd player. more than likely, I'd have it on small dcreen playing movies while I do homeework or research.

 

[Intelman07]

My personal opinion is the ti4600 for 100 dollars less. No games really need the power of the 9700 or the 4600 yet. The games you mentioned don't require a lot of 3D processing power.

 

[ScrewFace]

I'd go with the GeForce4-Ti4400 as its $130 cheaper than the GeForce4-Ti4600 and can be overclocked beyond Ti4600 levels. I sold my 128MB retail RADEON 8500 for it and I'm not disappointed.

 

[30wolverine30]

I've got both! As the Radeon 9700 is an awesome piece of hardware, if saving money is what you need to do, get the Ti-4600. The framerates of the 9700 are definately higher but the graphics are pretty close, to the naked eye!

 

[AnAndAustin]

Yeah from what you say a Rad8500-128MB (inc LE version) for about $100 or GF4TI4200 for $120 (64MB) or $140 (128MB) seem the best choices. Rad8500 cards unlike GF4TI do have hw DVD playback although it is of little relevance with any remotely modern CPU. If you want more then 4600 is plenty for you and has dropped in price to about $210. Rad9700 at $350+ is certainly overkill for you and the price, lack of apps to take advantage, devaluation and imminent Rad9500/NV30 releases mean you are left with a super fast card capable of playing all games in high res with full AA and AF ... not exactly high priorities for you.

EDIT: I'd hate to shop where you shop ScrewFace!

Pricewatch.com

Rad8500-64MB $83
Rad8500LE-128MB $98
4200-64MB $114
4200-128MB $136
4400-128MB $187
4600-128MB $214

Newegg.com

Rad8500LE-64 $86
Rad8500LE-128 $99
4200-64 $123
4200-128 $147
4400-128 $192
4600-128 $223

Dabs UK:

Rad8500-64 £103
Rad8500LE-128 £105
4200-64 £105
4200-128 £123
4400-128 £181
4600-128 £ 176

 

[LivinLaVivaPollo]

You also want to consider how well your CPU scales according to your video card. If you are running a 1 ghz P3, chances are that both the R300 and the ti4600 would be overkill.

 

[BFG10K]

It sounds like a 128 MB Radeon 8500 is just what you need, plus you'll get 128 tap anisotropic filtering pretty much for free.

Hmm, where have I seen this thread before?

 

[Rio Rebel]

I use Ani Filtering, but not to the max. I play in a resolution, typically, of 1024x768. I dont use AA

To me, that statement says "Get a GF4 4200 or a Radeon 8500LE, and pocket the extra $100-200 for now."

The two cards you mention are only worth it, IMO, if you are looking to kick up the resolution and/or eye candy. Otherwise, you're paying bleeding edge price for features you aren't concerned about having (although you may change your mind.)

 

[Rand]

Rad8500 cards unlike GF4TI do have hw DVD playback although it is of little relevance with any remotely modern CPU.

nVidia has had hardware DVD playback for quite a few years now, and the GF4 most assuredly is capable of it.
Granted it isnt as advanced as that of ATi's implementation, but it's not terribly bad and is still a far cry from 'software' DVD playback.

I would argue that hardware DVD playback still matter regardless of your processor.
If ALL your doing is watching the DVD, then yes any modern processor is easily capable of doing so on it's own.

I doub't I'm the only person out there that often has other applications taking up resources while the DVD is playing though, indeed on the rare occasion I may well be running a fairly processor intensive application on one monitor while the DVD is playing back on the other.

That's only mentioning performance of course there is still the matter of image quality- and few debate the fact that ATi does offer supirior DVD image quality.
Though of how much worth that is and the degree to which they differ is a matter of opinion.

 

[Ruroni]

Once upon a time, not too long ago, I set out to get myself a Ti4600 to replace a bad Ti4200. The Ti4200 kept locking up during 3D gaming (Q3A, BF1942, Army Ops, etc.). in a effort to try to find out what's going on I visited several forums, of which at the moment I can only find this one : HERE

In these forums it was speculated that there may have been a rather large batch of bad cores. (I still have the Gainward 64MB Ti4200 inside it's pretty little retail box, with me.) I emailed Gainward about it, and they never troubled themselves to email me back.

When I arrived at the store I saw a RETAIL ATI Radeon 9700 for only $360 USD (the first day it came out, and everywhere else they were about 400 bucks for a retail version). So I was surprised that they even had it there, let alone so cheap, I became compulsive and purchased it instead of the Ti4600 I had set out to get in the first place.

When I got home and installed that bad boy in my system... And all I experienced were crashes. When playing Quake3 Arena my system would just lockup leading me to reset. And also when trying to play Battlfield 1942, I crashed left and right. Same held specially true for America's Army. Watchdog files would tell me that it was my ATI card, and also Windows error reporting would tell me the same. I emailed ATI about this, and they just gave me some generic reply for their previous cards, none of which actually pertained to my situation.

One week laterI took the card back to the store where I got it, paid a $90 dollar (25%)restocking fee from (beyond computer) and bought an MSI G4 TI4600 (elsewhere ofcourse, never from this dealer again since they were actually quite mean and rude about it). And form that moment on, I've desided it's best I stick with what is known to work.

I hope this helps.