Video Card Now Or Video Card Later ? Ti4200 +

[Vegito]

Im running a dual old matrox g400 and like to replace it with something faster like ti4200 or 4400 but not a 4600 (not that crazy). So when is the next gen video card out ? pretty soon ? I'm not doing anything heavy but g400 is getting sluggish for counter strike and I can't run too high resolution on second head (3 year old card now) for my fx crunching.

And that new matrox card does tickle my fancy but it doesn't seem to be a contender...

So how soon till the nex gen really comes out ? december ?

 

[PepperBreath]

The Radeon 9700 comes out in mid-September. The next Nvidia card, which doesn't have a name yet, is slated for late 2002 but it might be pushed back to early 2003.

 

[TourGuide]

If you're going to buy low, then when you buy is less important than what you buy.

Buying an inexpensive vid card, you should always get the best technology available (for the money). IMO

At this time the current contenders (in my opinion) are the Ti 4200 cards or the (as yet unreleased) ATI 9000 cards. The Ti models are a known quantity and are all quite similar performance wise. The ATI cards may take some time to appear, but look promising too.

If price is the bottom line, then forget what I just said and go to pricewatch and start hunting for low numbers. Though if you do this you have to keep your expectations low, because low price does not equal high quality.

Just some things to consider.

 

[sash1]

"I'm not doing anything heavy but g400 is getting sluggish for counter strike"

If thats the best game you are playing/going to play, forget about the Ti4200, its a waste of money if CS is the only game you play. If you're not planning on playing UT2003, and even if you are, if you don't want the best frame-rates, I'd suggest getting an 8500LE before ATi phases them out.

 

[Vegito]

i bought the original ati 8500 when it first came out.. return it after 3 days.. so much driver problem... and that was gonna replace my g400..

actually the only thing i would be doing is video editing but not sure if the speed of video card would affect it.. ie copy and paste videos, etc.. converting old video tape.. current system is a quad p4 xeon 2.2 running that g400 card...

 

[Xenon14]

Personally I'd look into the ATI 8500 again. You can get it for under $100. The drivers are great...the new Catalyst 2.2 drivers came out and the performance boost is more than exceptional. I even noticed a boost on my ATI 7200. The ATI 9000 series are crippled like the Geforece MX cards, so they are better than the 8500 in some games and a lot worse in others. The 8500 delivers solid all around performance. But if you're really against ATI, go with the 4200; the ATI 9700 and the NV30 are both very expensive and a long ways away for you to wait.

 

[Face2Face]

You could wait for the new trident card coming out for a hunderd bucks? and its about as fast a geforce4 4200. But if you don't wanna wait get a ati 8500 128meg.

 

[pdo]

Originally posted by: Greenhell6
You could wait for the new trident card coming out for a hunderd bucks? and its about as fast a geforce4 4200. But if you don't wanna wait get a ati 8500 128meg.

the problem with waiting is there's always something around the corner. Unless it's less then a few weeks away. Just get what you are willing to pay at the time. I would suggest a TI4200 just in case you feel like jumping in to try those new games when they comes out.

 

[Xenon14]

Trident

 

[shurato]

I'd say wait if you can...I'm pretty sure there would be some price drops in the near future since the Radeon 9700 will come out shortly. You can get a visiontek geforce4 ti4200 for $150 at enpc.com if you can't wait. But for CS, I don't see why a g400 won't suffice. I have a radeon 32 ddr and it runs CS fine...even runs warcraft 3 with everything turned up at 1024x768 32bit. I myself am gonna wait another 2 months before I upgrade. But like most people will say, you can't wait forever, because something new is always around the corner.

 

[scottrico]

Wait!
My original geforce 3 is still going strong.
Run all my games with everything turned on.
You can get one for dirt cheap.
By the time a game is rolled out that will need more video power,
(doom and any game built on its engin)
the geforce 10 and Radeon 3,000,000 will be out.
And dirt cheap too.

 

[fwtong]

Are Geforce4 TI4200 prices going to decrease when ATI releases the 9700?

 

[Haunter9X]

Anyone got specific suggestions on which ti4200 to get? Is it worth the extra $$ to get the gainward golden sample that newegg is selling over the visiontek?
-Haunter9x

 

[sandorski]

Ah, the age old question.

I'm begining to want to replace my Voodoo5 5500. It's WinXP drivers are lacking in some respects and I am increasingly running into games that don't work with it. The Radeon 8500 certainly fits my usual vidcard budget, but after hearing about the 9700 I'm somewhat tempted.