Which ti4200?

[littlegohan]

Which brand is good ? I am looking for great 2dquality ( comparable to a radeon8500) dvi output, and cheap price



thanks

 

[AnAndAustin]

Erm, I think this would have been better placed in the video section ... anyway for perf ALL 4200 cards are equal. For o/c'ing it is 99% the type of ns RAM used. Most use 4.0ns and reach 300/550 whereas some 4200 (both 128MB and 64MB) use 3.6ns and reach around 300/620. Bear in mind the standard speeds are; 4200-128=250/444, 4200-64=250/500, 4400=275/550 and 4600=300/650.

However, '2D' image quality does vary from manu to manu, I hear Leadtek are among the best and MSI & PNY are among the worst, but it seems the diffs for GF4 cards are VERY small. In any case it seems GF4 cards are easily on par with ATI Radeon cards, and very close to Matrox for '2D' image quality. I would suggest buying a 128MB 4200 based upon price, features, bundle and the type of RAM implimented. See how prices and availability are near you.

 

[littlegohan]

according to this review
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzMxLDM=

the asus board comes with 128mb of 3.3ns memory :Q

 

[AnAndAustin]

The Asus 4200 Deluxe comes with 3.3ns RAM and the overly-long 4400 board design, it's all pretty pointless though as it only o/c's to 310/640. All the Asus Deluxe actually offers is higher default clocks and I should imagine a stupid price tag to go with the laughable and useless implimentation of 3.3ns BGA RAM. As mentioned the cheapest 4200-128MB cards come with 4.0ns TSOP RAM and usually hit 300/550 while 4200-128MB using 3.6ns TSOP RAM aren't uncommon or much more expensive and usually reach 300/620. With the Asus Deluxe model you are losing the 4200's strongest points; cheap to make (and therefore buy) and fits all cases and mobos. By using 3.3ns BGA RAM and the 4400 design Asus should achieve what Suma achieved ages ago, and that's 305/705 speeds. Sorry Asus fanboys, but the Asus Deluxe plain sucks, there's no way they can price it cheaper than 4200-128MB using 3.6ns TSOP and as such it's completely pointless. If you want maximum perf without paying a huge price get any 4200-128MB card, if you can afford a little more then get a 4400 or 4600 (or Rad9700 when that's out).

The SUMA SPECIAL EDITION GF4TI4200-128MB uses 3.3ns BGA RAM and the design from the 4400. It has a default of 250/550 and has o/c to 305/705 beating the GF4TI4600! This is what 4400 design and 3.3ns BGA RAM should achieve.
Suma

 

[littlegohan]

how is the 2d quality of the suma board?

 

[human2k]

Dayton GeForce 4 TI4200 128MB w/Tv-out @ avlogic.com for $151 shipped

according to digilife it overclocks to 310/566 (4400 speeds)........just add therlmaltake copper cooler and ram sinks with AS3 and ur set.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Regarding the Dayton, any 4200 128MB should reach around 310/566 (average around 300/550) so it depends how competative the price is and other factors like sw bundle. Adding a better HSF and RAM HS tend to do little more than invalidate the warranty, of course o/c'ing is likely to do that, but if they get a cards back that appears untampered with they will check it for manu defects and you may still get a refund, if they get a modded card back they won't even bother checking for manu defects which may have been the cause. The biggest reason for this is that the lowest GF4TI core I have heard of when o/c'ed is 280mhz, the highest is 325mhz, this would be just as likely the difference in production than inadequate cooling, in all of the reviews I've read HSF design makes VERY little difference (even those silly double fan & huge HS designs). Regarding the RAM, HS do help to disperse the heat and prevent the RAM from running so hot and should therefore prolong the RAM's life when o/c'ed. However, HS seems to make no difference at all when it comes to o/c'ing, the RAM used on GF4TI cards exceed the technical limit of the RAM in all cases I've seen. Technically 4.0ns should reach a maximum of 500mhz but 550mhz is about the average o/c on a 4200, again 3.6ns technically 550mhz but reaches an average of around 620mhz even on 42000 cards with TSOP implimentation ... heat really doesn't seem to be a problem.

I've never used a Suma gfx card, and I don't know which countries they usually distribute to either. Still I would expect the price to be around the 4400 mark, although it is technicaly (from the review at least) as good as a 4600. In any case '2D' IQ for all GF4TI cards I've seen reviewed suggest that differences are now small (unlike GF3 days where diffs were huge), Leadtek have had a few votes for being at the better end while MSI & PNY have been at the other end for IQ.