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which Ti500 card to get?

B

bakaris

Member
I plan on puchasing a Ti500 GForce3 card.

Choices are Hercules, ASUS, Abit, Morpheus and Leadtek. Prices vary by only about $50 between the lot, so performance, support, drivers and stability are the issues.

Would greatly value your opinions.

thanks!
 
I would go with the Gainward card. The 2D quality is top notch among GeForce3s. As well, Gainward usually makes some of the most overclockable video cards. The price is also excellent.
 
Gainward GF3Ti-500 (550) from NewEgg.com. It's cheaper than others, overclocks better, look cool, and more.

Look for reviews online (incl. HotHardware.com) - looks like the best card out there.
 
I have the regular Gainward Geforce3 and it runs perfect at 240/500... a friend of mine bought the Ti550 they make (oc'd Ti500) and it scored really well in 3dmark2001. His system was almost identical to mine except for that card and running Win2000 instead of WinXP that I'm running. His highest score was close to 9000 while I was hovering just under 8000 for my top scores. Gainward is usually one of the least expensive and one of the best cards... I'd go for the one that's the best price cause really thats about the only difference there is. I wouldn't pay more than $250 on a graphics card... cause you will upgrade it eventually, heck the Geforce4 is being announced in less than 3 weeks.

Shuttle AK31
Athlon XP 1800+
512MB Crucial
Gainward Geforce3
Maxtor 30GB ATA100 7200rpm
yadayadayada....
 
Newegg has never had the Gainward Ti550, it's been saying no stock for I can't remember how long.
 
LXi,

Yeah, you're right. Yet, look at those on NewEgg who left positive comments about that card. I wonder if it's just NewEgg employees making those "customer reviews"... This happened several times for a few products that weren't in stock.
 
I agree with everyone else that the Gainward Ti500 cards are totally awesome.However I would consider the Leadtek Ti500's more seriously. Here's my reasoning:

The Leadtek Ti500 cards are supposed to have top notch 2D quality. So good in fact, that FiringSquad.com had the following to say about the Leadtek Ti500:

During our tests with a Matrox G450, G550, ATI Radeon VE, Radeon All-in-Wonder, the WinFast Ti 500 showed better image consistency than any other card.

Not only that, but Leadtek cards always outperform other cards bundled around the same GPU! You'd think that to be pretty crazy, I mean why would a Ti500 from Leadtek perform any better than a Ti500 from Gainward. To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure why, but I am sure that if you look at the benchmarks you'll see that Leadtek has always stood out as a leader in performance.

Therefore, I'd say go with Leadtek.
 
I got my Gainward Ti550 at Newegg. $313 + $10shipping = 323 delivered. But when they do get them in, they sell out in a few days.

BTW, my 3DMark2001 score with no overclocking on the vid card or proc is 8110
 
Agod,

First of all, I do agree with what you're saying about Leadtek's 2D, it's very good indeed. But I must say that Gainward's 2D is nothing to be laughed about either. In Anandtech's GF3 review, Gainward was the only GF3 that had comparable image quality to the Radeon. Secondly, regarding performance, I dont think anyone did a GF3 Ti500 roundup yet to show that Leadtek, or anyone for that matter, to have the performance lead over everyone else, so I would refrain from making any conclusive statements about their performance.
 
Funny, I have NEVER seen that Gainward GF3Ti-500 in stock on NewEgg, and I check every day just for fun (get a life? why don't YOU get a life! 🙂) I think MonarchComputer.com have them most of the time... It's way too much money for a videocard that's only marginally faster than an overclocked GF3Ti-200 ($162, so like 50% price-wise).
 


<< Funny, I have NEVER seen that Gainward GF3Ti-500 in stock on NewEgg, and I check every day just for >>



They've got the TI/550 in b4. They just dont last in stock very long
 
In Anandtech's GF3 review, Gainward was the only GF3 that had comparable image quality to the Radeon.

That's correct, and it's pretty good. However, what about a Leadtek GeF3 card, Anand didn't include any in his roundup, so we really can't do much comparing. Although that FiringSquad quote gives you an idea.

Secondly, regarding performance, I dont think anyone did a GF3 Ti500 roundup yet to show that Leadtek, or anyone for that matter, to have the performance lead over everyone else, so I would refrain from making any conclusive statements about their performance.

Take at look at Tom's benchmarks of the GeForce3. Leadtek clearly leads the pack. Of course, it's by a very small margin..

There are plenty of other roundups, but I'm too lazy to go and look for them. Even though they're not Ti500 roundups, I don't think it matters that much. But we'll see once more roundups start popping up.
 
You could always get the Gainward GF3 Ti 200 (Gainward calls it the Ti 450) and overclock to 240/500 like I did. That's GF3 Ti 500 speed for cheap. I've done this with 2 of their Ti 450 cards so far and each can run this speed successfully. Unless you're planning to try and overclock the Ti 500 by quite a bit, this Ti 200 card is awesome and comes in the box with built in overclocking features on their driver package.

I bought Visiontek GF3 Ti 500 and ended up taking it back a few days later because after I benchmarked it I realized it wasn't any faster at default than my brothers Gainward GF3 Ti 450. That's when I bought the Gainward. I saw no difference in video quality between the Visiontek and Gainward on my Sony monitor.

Just an option for you to consider.
 
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