To get a Ti200, or wait for GF4...?

[Nighthawk69]

Hi there,

Here is my dillema: I have a GeForce 2 GTS 32MB right now which is running at 220/365. It runs everything I play right now pretty darn well, though at times Ghost Recon will beg for a little bit more in 32bit, and FSAA just seems to want more RAM and speed in my flight-sims.

So, I am wondering if I should pickup a Ti200 (from NewEgg I guess) to replace the GF2 GTS, or if I should wait for the GeForce 4's? Does anyone know if the GF4's will offer a ton extra that I will need above what I will get with a GeForce 3 Ti200?

If you think I should upgrade, which Ti200 should I get? I'm hearing the Gainward thrown around here at NewEgg, but I wanted to confirm--the price seems right, considering I paid 230+shipping for my GTS after they came out.

Thanks!!

 

[Innoka]

You expressed that you want speed in 32 bit and FSAA. GF3 addresses those issues better than the GF2. Though not all the simmers are enamoured of its FSAA, the MSAA method not dealing with textures although Quincunx is a possibility.
You are right, GF3 Ti is not expensive for what you are receiving, if you care to look over previous years.
The rumors about the GF4 do not seem to suggest architectural improvements, more like the improvement of GF2 over original Geforce, 50% in the best cases, often less. With SDRAM prices skyrocketing, I would not recommend holding out for an imminent price crash in videocards.

 

[Nighthawk69]

Good points. Thanks for your response.

I think I will go for one...

Now, what is the current "best" cooling method of the Ti200's? I changed out the fan on my GTS and put a big fat CPU cooler on it (which is noisy as heck)... I see people are using the Thermaltake Crystal Orb... is that the way to go in order to get the Ti200's up to vanilla GF3 speeds?

Also, which is the recommended Ti200? The Gainward flavor? (planning on ordering from NewEgg).

Thanks!

 

[Rand]

It looks as though the GF4 is going to be little more then an overclocked GF3 with an extra vertex shader, so if you want a new card I'd say there is little point in holding out.

 

[Nighthawk69]

Thanks! I'll be ordering the Ti200 next week...

I'm open to suggestions on cooling... I think I will be getting the Gainward card from NewEgg, but will the stock cooling be sufficient to get vanilla GF3 speeds?

Thanks!

 

[Nighthawk69]

Also, what are we looking at for the core and memory speeds of the stock Ti200's and vanilla GF3's? I want to see how far I need to O/C this puppy...

 

[Nighthawk69]

Bump for the questions in my last two posts.

 

[scoobydooby]

I think pretty much everyone is able to get their TI 200's up to ti 500 speeds with stock cooling. Stock speed is 175 core and 400 mem I think. I think people are making it to the 240 core, 520ish mem range. Hope that helps a little.
Scoob

 

[Nighthawk69]

That helps. Thanks!

 

[scoobydooby]

One more thing: it doesn't sound like you're a hardcore gamer or need the most performance so it probably wouldn't be worth the extra money to spend on a g4. Heck they'll probably cost like 400 buckos. Personally I'm much happier with my $170 Gainward g3 ti 200
Scoob

 

[Nighthawk69]

I'm a hardcore simulation gaming fan, but not a Quake fan or a fan of any FPS' except Ghost Recon (a tactical shooter) and a bit of Counter-Strike.. the rest are flight-sims.

Thanks again! BTW, what speed is your Gainward card at?

 

[scoobydooby]

Right now I think it's just at 200/450. I'm waiting for the rest of my case fans to get here this week before I pump it up But I did put it up to 210/480 for a wee bit which bumped my 3dmark2001 score 600 pts
Scoob

 

[Shamrock]

<< I see people are using the Thermaltake Crystal Orb... is that the way to go in order to get the Ti200's up to vanilla GF3 speeds? >>



what do you mean? I thought the ti200 was FASTER than vanilla GF3's? or is the ti200's like the MX versions? I too was looking into it, but not if this is the case that ti200's are slower.

Thanks,
Shamrock

 

[jimmygates]

"what do you mean? I thought the ti200 was FASTER than vanilla GF3's? or is the ti200's like the MX versions?"


Nope, the Ti200's are clocked slower than the normal vanilla GF3's. Vanilla GF3's were I think 200ish for core and 460 memory. Most of the Ti200's out there can do that speeds with stock cooling.




-Jimbo

 

[Demonic]

I don't know of anyone who isn't breaking 200/500 on the Gainward Ti200. Most are getting atleast 240/540. What I was hoping for when I got mine was 250/550 and what I ended up getting was 260/540. I was a little disappointed in the memory but the core suprised me. Ran the 3dmark games for 2 days with out a single crash or graphic anomaly. You have got to love that considering it's a stock card and refurbished.

 

[Nighthawk69]

Egggggcellent <evil grin>

Demonic: Is that with stock cooling? EDIT: Oops, nevermind. Just saw that it is

Thanks all.

 

[BFG10K]

It looks as though the GF4 is going to be little more then an overclocked GF3 with an extra vertex shader, so if you want a new card I'd say there is little point in holding out.

Except it's also going to be 20% faster than a Ti500 and have 128 MB VRAM.

If I was in your position I'd wait for a GF4. If you don't want to wait, get a GF3 Ti500.

 

[Def]

IMO, getting 95% of the performance of an OC'd Ti500 with an OC'd Ti200 at half the price is a steal. If he said he wasn't going to OC, and needed the absolute fastest graphics card, then I guess a Ti500 would be ideal. But if OCin' comes into the picture, a Ti200 is a steal.

My Gainward gets up to 240/540<--- haven't had time to really push the limits, but it did this no problem. I bet the core could go higher, but that's maxxing out the slider on PowerStrip. Need to get NVMAX to see how high she'll really go.

Oh yea, even a mild OC to regular GF3 levels is way too much graphics card for my puny P3 933@1050, so pushing it farther doesn't get me much. This thing absolutely flies coming from a GF2 GTS 32MB.

 

[Byte]

Nighthawk69, i have the same exact question. I currently only play GR and have a GF 2 Pro. I noticed its faster than a GTS, but O/C to about an Ultra didn't help much. Tell me how it goes when you get teh GF3!

 

[joeld]

"I don't know of anyone who isn't breaking 200/500 on the Gainward Ti200"

Guess I'm the only one with a sorry Ti200 I have a visiontek ti200 (week 43) that only hits 420mhz memory without slower performance. yeah, that's right. 420mhz. 430mhz performs the same as having it at 400, and is unstable. Any newer cards should be ok though, and I haven't heard anything bad about the gainwards. good luck

 

[Nighthawk69]

Cool... thanks for the added responses everyone!