Upgrading to GF4Ti4200

[psychosam]

I'm considering upgrading my video card to a GeForce4 Ti4200, and I'm debating whether or not to purchase a 128 MB video card or a 64 MB video card.

I'm also wondering if there's much of a difference between the well known name brands like Asus, MSI, Visiontek, etc and the "generic" lesser known brands. Warranty, pricing, features, etc.

And how much help would having a new video card help me? I'm hating the constant low FPS I'm currently expericing with my current video card, and I'm dying for a better gaming experience, I want something that can not only be good for gaming now, but can at least last me a year to 2 years without upgrading.

My current system specs are...

AMD Athlon CPU 650 MHz (Irongate)
Asus K7M Motherboard (AMD-751 Chipset)
384 MB PC100 SDRAM
32 MB nVidia TNT 2 video card (Diamond Viper V770) <--- the big problem
20 GB IBM Deskstar Hard Drive (7200 RPM, ATA-66)
DVD-ROM, CD-RW, etc.
OS: Windows XP Professional

Would switching to a GeForce4 Ti4200 be beneficial or should I consider a older video card like a GeForce 3 Ti200, GeForce 2, etc.

I mean, I'm getting about 30 FPS playing Half-Life:CounterStrike, and don't get me started on how bad playing Max Payne and Grand Theft Auto 3 on PC was for me, I seriously doubt this system can handle WarCraft 3 or any upcoming games with the current video card I have now. Keep in mind, I'm a college student and I'm on a tight budget, most likely, I can only justify spending $150 to $200 at most for a video card.

I'll be upgrading my hard drive shortly, I recently purchased a 80 GB Western Digital HD, and I don't forsee myself able to purchase a new CPU/motherboard/RAM until mid 2003. So I need to hold out with the majority of my current parts for maybe another 8 months.

Any advice, hints, etc would be very helpful because I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck, and I'm not as 1337 with the technology as others.

 

[Confused]

Just to get in before AnAndAustin does

One thing that might be holding you back, even with a GF3/GF4, is the probably the processor. However, getting something like a GF4 Ti4200 will allow you to use all the given power of the graphics card to turn on things like Ansiotropic Filtering, Anti Aliasing and turn the details up to max.

If you can, then an Athlon XP 1800+ and a SocketA motherboard (such as the ECS K7S5A which can take either SDR or DDR ram) for about $150 at most will probably allow you to get much better performance.

Tho if you just want new GFX card, then i would recommend a GF4Ti4200, as it will last you for quite a while, and then you get a chance to turn the detail right up for now!

As for 64mb or 128mb, go for a 128mb. The benefit that it will have once games come out that use textures greater than 64mb will be quite great. Most people recommend to get the cheapest GF4 that you can find that has the features you want, be it VIVO, DVI etc. I personally have a MSI 128mb, and i can't be any happier with it! It's so nice to have gone from 15 FPS in GTA3 at 640*480 to 40FPS at 1024*768!

 

[gwlam12]

No AnAndAustin?

Anyway, Anand's TI4200 roundup suggests that you go with the 128MB. It might not seem like you need it now, but I've some benchmarks where the card becomes a bottleneck because 64MB is just not enough when playing at higher resolutions, and it eventually gets beaten by the 128MB Radeon 8500.

Like what Confused said...

TI4200 will last quite a while, but your CPU will not allow for its full potential. But at the prices now, a TI4200 will be nice, and even when you do upgrade your CPU, it'll be like getting a new video card since you'll then be getting more out of it.

Heck, I'm deciding right now whether I should buy it. Sure, I'd like to. But do I really need to? That's a lot of money there. I'm lookinag at the MSI 128MB one from newegg fro 165 after shipping. That's like 25 hours of work for me

 

[psychosam]

Well, I'm not too worried about playing at extremely high resolutions right now, but I do love playing with max details for everything.

How much of a bottleneck does having a 650 MHz CPU represent? I mean, I'd love to totally upgrade everything right now, but I don't forsee myself upgrading anything else other than the video card for now seeing how the TNT 2 I have now is by far the oldest part I have in the system...

Heh, I didn't need bullet time much in Max Payne, it was so slow already!