Video Card Choice Hell

[adamkmiec]

I had a budget of about 200.00 for a new card. I currently have a Gefroce2 MX400. Whatever new card I bought had to support multiple monitors. I had limited my choices to the Geforce 4 TI4200 and the ATI Radeon 7500, until ATI dropped the price on the 8500s. So now I was looking at the Radeon 8500 vs Geforce 4 TI4200. Anyhoot, I noticed in Best Buy's advertisement that they were offering a 10.00 instant rebate + ATI has a 50.00 rebate making the cost of the 8500 139.99. I picked one up today just to ensure I have one.

The TI 4200 is not do out for some time I realize. When comparing just these 2 against one another, was I smart in getting the 8500 or should I wait and wait for the TI 4200?

 

[AkumaBao]

I'd wait about 2 more monthes. Not only will the GF4's drop in price, I'm sure they'll make another that's about the same price & better.

 

[jiffylube1024]

<< Not only will the GF4's drop in price, I'm sure they'll make another that's about the same price & better. >>



LOL, yeah and so will ATI, and nVidia again, and ATI, and so on...

adamkmiec - You made a wise choice getting the 8500 now; the 4200 is vaporware, for sure until nVidia actually announces its existance! If this card does make it to market, it will be in the summer, after ATI's next card comes out.

 

[adamkmiec]

I realize that technology changes ever so often. I guess my biggest question was is the 139.99 Radeon 8500 a better value than the GeForce 4 TI4200 at 199.99 or so I am estimating.

 

[nRollo]

No one can answer this question until the Ti4200s come out. That could be 3 mos.. If the Ti4200s are slower than the Ti4400s, which stands to reason, they won't be much, if any faster than GF3 Ti500s. In that case, you won't really be out much with your R8500, which is close to GF3 Ti500 level performance.
The Ti4200 will probably be faster than you card, but worth waiting 3 months, paying more? I don't know, I suppose that depends if 100fps is different than 120fps for you.

 

[xprow]

Have you thought about going the Ti200 level? You could get a Gainward Golden Sample Ti450 for under 200 and its practically garuanteed to overclock to Ti500 levels.. i have mine running at 240/500 right now.. although i have pushed it to 250/520 with no probs.. but i feel better at Ti500 levels for now . If I were you i would also look into the Radeon8500 as its also a pretty good deal.. The GeForce4 4200 could be awhiles away.. but if your willing to wait for it.. i would.. heck it will be faster then a Radeon8500 and Ti500 but still.. like i said it could be awhiles away.. and by the time it comes out who knows what ATI will be offering right around the corner..

ahh i love playing that whole wait game.. ah well

GeForce3 Ti 200 (Gainward) and Overclock
Radeon 8500LE (or retail ive seen for under 200)
GeForce4 4200 (which isnt even out yet or benched or anything.. so good luck getting this thing anytime soon)

theres ya choices.. I would recommend the Ti200 overclock..

 

[adamkmiec]

i wiould go with the Geforce 3s if they had a multi monitor option.

 

[nRollo]

Xprow:
"Have you thought about going the Ti200 level?"
Why would he do this? He has already has a retail Radeon 8500, which is faster than a Ti200, and can be overclocked should he want to also.

" heck it will be faster then a Radeon8500 and Ti500 but still"
You know this how? As there have been no official specs released as yet, you are only guessing?

"f I were you i would also look into the Radeon8500 as its also a pretty good deal.. "
Since his original post says he bought one, I guess he thought so too.

"Radeon 8500LE"
Interesting recommendation, as he already bought a retail version for $139.99.

 

[jcmkk]

I know the feeling. The situation with vid cards is messed up right now. I'm building a new system and there is no way I'm gonna wait 2 months for the 4200. I don't have the money to get a 4400 unless I drop a few things like DVD and get a cheaper monitor. I've decided on the 8500 because this time I don't want to sacrifice other components for a video card. The 8500 can play any game available at high resolutions and is $150 cheaper than the 4400. You wont notice the speed difference that much since they are already fast enough for most games to run with everything on the highest settings.

 

[adamkmiec]

ok, well I installed it last night after much hesitation and research. I ran into no problems installing it or setting it up, although I have to say NVIDIA's drivers a re a bit easier to install. I did run into the mouse shadowing issue on the 2nd monitor and thus had to disable mouse shadowing. From a purely gaming experience it was a HUGE upgrade over my Geforce 2 MX400. I like to run my games when possible at 1152x864 32 bit textures and color depth. On anything with the Quake 3 engine the best I could do with my MX400 was 1152x864 16 bit and 16 bit. However Ghost Recon had to be run at 1024x768, 16 bit, 16 bit, and a great deal of detail options set to low or medium.

With the Radeon 8500 I was smoking at 1280x1024 32 bit, 32 bit for Quake 3 engine realted games and I had no issues at 1600x1200 16 bit. On Ghost Recon I could play 1152x864, 32 bit, and all detail levels set to high. All in all a great improvement.

The 2D that everyone raves about is certainly good, but it didn't blow me away. The colors are much softer than by Geforce which is how I prefer them. This was a steal at 139.99.

MY only real issue with it is the same issue I have had with every dual head card except my old Matrox G400: the hardware accelration on the 2nd monitor just sucks. With the G400 I was able to watch DVDs on the 2nd monitor, Quicktime on the 2nd monitor, and where applicable play games across both monitors. The MX400 was just horrible for watching DVDs on the 2nd monitor, you could hear sound but could see no picture and quicktime movies just acted more like slideshows. I have the same issues with the Radeon 8500. Any thoughts on this?

one last weird thing, under adapter information for 2nd monitor, the information is unavailable for"

Chip Type
DAC Type
Memory Size
Adapter String
Bios Information

although it disaplys all the correct information for monitor 1, listing:

Radeon 8500 AGP (QL)
Internal DAC
64mb
Radeon 8500/Radeon 8500 LE
long number didnt want to take the time

Any ideas on that?

Did I make the right decicision? Well untile the TI 4200 comes out I'll never know, but for the hear, thenow, and the next 3 months or so...YES.

Thanks to all.