New Graphics Card

[`MythicCow`]

Im going to be getting a new graphics card soon , and im wondering what to get...
im on a limited budget so im wondering , how much better do the geforce fx cards over the geforce 4 cards?
im thinking either a
Gainward Geforce FX5200 128mb DDR DVI w/TV Out
or
Geforce 4 MX440 DDR 128mb w/TV Out AGP

[Krell]

Google is a wonderful search engine that helps the world discover timeless questions like, "how much does a card cost?."


j/k


You can search Pricewatch.com. but never ever buy from the cheapest vendors.

Try Googlegear.com

There are a few other sights that are equally as good, but I havent had my coffee yet.

Also . . . when you say budget, what is the price you need to stick by? Work from there.

[`MythicCow`]

haha
no shit i know that already

[CCSDUDE]

Well...what kinda budget are you on? Are you in such a price range that cost VS quality/power isn't that big of an issue? If so I'd suggest a ATi Radeon 7500 64mb duel head w/ TV out as a decent compromise. At 62 bucks around most online retailers you can't beat it...course if you wanna step up in 'power' you can always buy some lower class shit like Gainward with a 'zippy Nivida chipset...but as the numbers show ATi is really starting to kick ass and driver support is slowly getting better. If your looking for something with more 'umf' for your buck I can price out a few different Nivida cards as well as ATi....

All depends on what your looking for...if you want capture/tv tuner you'll be looking at jacking the same ATi specs I just ran through up an extra 30-50 depending on the place you buy from.

[Karizmatik]

Originally posted by `MythicCow`
Im going to be getting a new graphics card soon , and im wondering what to get...
im on a limited budget so im wondering , how much better do the geforce fx cards over the geforce 4 cards?
im thinking either a
Gainward Geforce FX5200 128mb DDR DVI w/TV Out
or
Geforce 4 MX440 DDR 128mb w/TV Out AGP

Whatever u do don't get a MX anything. Go for a TI-4200, they go about a c-note now with good performance. If yer not on a tight budget & wanna be set for a while get a 9800 Pro...Very Nice, but it'll set ya back a house payment...LoL

[maartendc]

NO don't get a geforce 4 mx, it's just a geforce 2 mx with higher clockspeeds... even a geforce 3 ti is faster!
And don't get a geforce fx, caus nvidia kinda sucks at the moment... Geforce fx's are hardly faster than a 4, unless you enable anti-aliasing and stuff... Get a geforce 4 ti or a radeon 9500 pro or higher....

And if you can still wait a while, wait for the end of the year, beginning of next year, thats when nvidia and ati release their so-called next-generation graphics cards.. Those will be A LOT faster than the ones available now, instead of the small performance boost they have now with new releases... Also, their current state-of-the-art cards will become a lot cheaper by then...

[Theinfamousone]

How much gaming are you going to do? Because quite honestly it's pointless to get a souped up 128MB video card that's gonna set you back a house payment if you're only going to be playing Starcraft (not that that's a bad game). I tried playing Need For Speed 6 and my ATI 8500 could barely handle it, I have to really tone down the details and resolution to get an adequate fps.

[`MythicCow`]

so basically ATI is even higher rated than i thought , i might just get a radeon 9200 :p who knows

[`MythicCow`]

i do lots of gaming , theinfamousone , im getting this so i can handle games like ut2k3 and hitman2

[witmann]

Originally posted by `MythicCow`
so basically ATI is even higher rated than i thought , i might just get a radeon 9200 :p who knows
9200 is NOT a directX 9 card...
safe a few bucks, but I wouldn't really recommend anything below a Radeon 9500, and remember, with a Software mod, you can turn that 9500 NON pro to a 9700 NON pro!

[`MythicCow`]

darn , i cant afford that

[`MythicCow`]

ok the radeon 9200 was a bad idea

[Sephiroth]

Out of the two your better off with the GeforceFX. The newer FX have been alot better than the ones that were first released.

Personally i think you'd be good with a Geforce 4 TI 4200 or 4600.

Personally ive had problems with ATi cards and i dont care what the fanboys say Im not going to use them for a very long time. ATI tv tuners suck in my experiance suck ass.


Games like Unreal Tournament 2003 performance is based alot on RAM if you have 512 you should be ok if you have lower then you might want to upgrade.

[Spinecast]

I have a Verto GeForce FX 5200 128 MB card. Bought it for $99. Haven't had any problems with it so far.

[drakelord]

Heh.... I wouldn't use NVidia cards if my life depended on it, I go with ATI all the way, :shy

[maartendc]

Originally posted by drakelord
Heh.... I wouldn't use NVidia cards if my life depended on it, I go with ATI all the way, :shy

The fuck is that for advice? Nvidia cards rock... Ati had a lot of driver issues in the past. Theres no need to give this kind of advice without valid arguments.

Anyway, if you just want to play hitman 2 and ut2k3, a geforce 4 ti 4200 with 64 mb or 128 mb is enough... I have one with 64mb, and hitman 2 and ut2k3 run very good. But if you want to look ahead to play games in the future, you can best get a 128 mb card.

[`MythicCow`]

Well im gonna stick with the geforce fx 5200 , it will do the job for the next few years

[FreakinWeasel]

Hey Cow,
quote from a review at 3dextreme
:
"Wow, this is a DirectX 9 video card but shows it has no power at all as it was barely able to finish this benchmark. I wasn't able to post an average score above 10 Frames per second on either benchmark Gun Metal benchmark we ran. "

If you plan on running any of the hot new games this year or next you might want to save a few more bucks and grab something else. HL2, D3, or any other of the FPS will run but look like poo-poo on this and isn't that one reason we play this stuff, for the eye candy?

[phalkon30]

My quick 2 cents...

My Geforce 2 Pro with 64meg plays UT2K3 pretty well. No, I can't do full options, but it doesn't exactly look like doom95 :P

The geforce FX5200-5800 were crap. YES, they had DX9 support, but a TI4600 was just about as high in the performance level, and much cheaper for overal performance. The geforce FX 5900 although is what every Geforce should have been. Problem is, its $400

My prefference right now would be the TI4600. My friend just got it, and loves it. Its about $150 (last time I checked on www.newegg.com , which I recommend btw). He churns out the FPS at full settings with even AA/Antriscopic on.

The 5200 will be a great card, but I think you can do better for the money. Like the 4600

ATI has come a long way....their drivers used to be nearly worthless, but I'd still stay away from them. I've messed with a few on friends computers, and had nothing but poor performance and weird glitchy things. Haven't had too many problems with nvidia.

[`MythicCow`]

well i guess i have that all figured out , thanks for your help guys
:devil

[IsHaRe2000FilezSueMe]

I think you should get the new ATI Radeon 9800. Thats a great video card which came bundled with my comp. It plays all games.

[seraph]

I got the geforce ti 4200 64mb a few month ago ( i paid approx. 120$)... first of all cause, nvidia based graphics cards, have gotten significantly cheaper, and secondly cause i only heard good stuff about this card, all reviews seemed to be praising the card, and when i got it i was and still am really happy wit. It runs all games really well, although i don't have a very powerful pc. Oh yea, reviews also said that the 64mb version, is much better than the 128mb version, becuase it has a faster processor and higher ram-dac or somthin'!!!

[digitalelph]

Just in defense of ATI, I have a Radeon 8500 128mb with an amd athlon xp 2000 and 512mb system ram and I can play UT2K3 with alot of bells and whistles on as well as Need for speed 6 with high details... You need good overall system specs for good frame rates. Since the Catalyst suite came out I have had nothing but praise for ATI`s drivers. :fire

[phalkon30]

The 64meg vs 128meg vs 256meg thing is a tough one...

It really depends on what games you play. Large maps need more RAM, at the cost of loading a tad slower. With a small ammount of RAM, small maps load faster, but performance can suffer with the larger maps.

[maartendc]

I heard that the ti 4200 64mb is better for nowadays games (because of the higher clockspeeds on core and memory), but when new games will come out that take advantage of the 128 mb, the 128 mb version will be better...

[isus]

nvidia's are also known for being quite hot. as such, the first gfx's sucked, bc they had huge blowers on them. while it's a nice card for tomorrow's games, its incredibly loud, and the performance isn't any better than an ati 9800.

i suggest getting a 9600, they are a pretty good mix of performance and price.

[ccc1005]

I personally go for the ATI All-In-Wonder series of cards (TV Tuner, video editing) as I am currently at Penn State, and being able to use my computer as a TV is very convenient space-wise and great for recording shows. (Something too look into if you could use it)

For gaming I would agree that the 9600 is a good buy on the ATI side, good performance lower price. Might want to wait till the next high-end card comes out cause it will drop the prices of the others a bit.

[Sephiroth]

Having a TV turner on your pc is a pain in the ass and not worth it especially if your going to be living in a dorm. ATi tv turner cards suck ass too. Not only do you get screwed up picture often but the picture quality sucks.

Which when picking out a video card dont listen to the fanboys which im starting to wonder if people here arent getting commissions since they are always pushing certain brands.

That and remember that cheaper is not better all the time and try to plan ahead a little.

[isus]

Originally posted by Sephiroth
Having a TV turner on your pc is a pain in the ass and not worth it especially if your going to be living in a dorm. ATi tv turner cards suck ass too. Not only do you get screwed up picture often but the picture quality sucks.

Which when picking out a video card dont listen to the fanboys which im starting to wonder if people here arent getting commissions since they are always pushing certain brands.

i hafta wonder if you are not paid a commission as well.

starts with how much ati aiw cards suck, then ends with a good ol' helping of how people get commissions for 'pushing' their favorite brand.

[Sephiroth]

Originally posted by isus
i hafta wonder if you are not paid a commission as well.

starts with how much ati aiw cards suck, then ends with a good ol' helping of how people get commissions for 'pushing' their favorite brand.

I said their tv turner cards suck ass. Because i have one and i know first hand that it really does suck ass.. Which im ditching it for a real tv.

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by Sephiroth
I said their tv turner cards suck ass. Because i have one and i know first hand that it really does suck ass.. Which im ditching it for a real tv.

All the AiW's I have work great....don't judge the tuner by the AIW 'media' tuner. You could be in a sucky area for reception or picked up a faulty card.

I use VirtualDub to grab off the tuner and it looks good...

I do have an HDTV decoder card that I use for stream grabbing/frame captures and AiW compared to that sucks but other then that it's on par for the price.

[Karizmatik]

Originally posted by isus
nvidia's are also known for being quite hot. as such, the first gfx's sucked, bc they had huge blowers on them. while it's a nice card for tomorrow's games, its incredibly loud, and the performance isn't any better than an ati 9800.

i suggest getting a 9600, they are a pretty good mix of performance and price.

Not to mention that u can O.C. tha fuck out that card on stock coolin'.

[ccc1005]

The reason the picture is not as good with the tuners is because its putting a low res image (TV signal) on a high resolution monitor.

Thus if you have HDTV in the area the picture quality would be perfect, thus this is not an ATI flaw it is a problem with all TV tuner cards that you play on a high resolution monitor.

[Krell]

Dont compare cards that use a tuner chip, with cards that use the Phillips tuner module, which is much much better.

I have used tuner cards for about 7 years now, and the output on my monitor ALWAYS surpasses that of of a TV display. So I have to disagree here slightly, and justify the responses of people who view my system by saying that the signal on a monitor doesnt make it worse, it makes it BETTER.


Good tuner card + good video drivers + good system + monitor = good picture

Its only as good as the weakest link. Remember that PCI doesnt have the bandwidth that AGP has.

[ccc1005]

When you have you desktop at 1280 x 1024 it tends to cause soome blurring of the image. When I set the TV window to small (200x300 something) the picture was perfect, but as the size of the window increases it seems to lose quality.

I have also heard however that the AIW 9700 and 9800 have much better quality than the 8500DV than I use. Hence I'm looking at an upgrade to the 9600 soon, better graphics and TV quality.

[CCSDUDE]

Er...well yeah if you know anything about broadcast you'll know the res doesn't even come close to the lowest monitor setting...

I shelled out 189 bucks for a HDTV turner/normal TV tuner PCI card...and it rules...

Great for capturing stills or video...

[ccc1005]

Originally posted by CCSDUDE
Er...well yeah if you know anything about broadcast you'll know the res doesn't even come close to the lowest monitor setting...

Exactly, hence the blurriness with regular cable.

I'm sure its awesome for capture, Wish we had HDTV on campus :(

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by ccc1005
Exactly, hence the blurriness with regular cable.

I'm sure its awesome for capture, Wish we had HDTV on campus :(

Oh hellllll yeah.... I can see facial hair/strands of hair on still and video capture...have to use this other freeware proggie that strips the HDTV stream down to make it standard mpeg2 but it's all good...

American Juniors is a pleasure to watch on this card...lol Captured some of Jordan's stuff for friends of family living up in Vernon Hill's and they damn near shit themselves after seeing the SVCD... :D

[ccc1005]

Man do I wish I had HDTV, I get captures with blurryness etc, still works and is nice and convient, but I gotta use DVD quality bandwith on the files to get then in big res, which makes it somewhat bearable :mellow