My New Computer Works

[Mumrik]

Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver 1. Radeon 8500 2. GeForce3 Ti200 3. GeForce4 MX440 (but DirectX 8.# support in hardware is incomplete)

I'd say forget about #3, the GF4MX cards seem to be a joke (unless you really need nVidia's multimonitor support at a low cost)...

#1 and #2 are both good candidates (if you're willing to overclock the GF3-Ti200 it should end up between a GF3 and a GF3Ti500), I'd probably pick the R8500 but you'd need to be willing to deal with the potential problems one still might encounter when dealing with ATi...

Remember that the R8500 has multimonitor support too....

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mumrik I'd say forget about #3, the GF4MX cards seem to be a joke (unless you really need nVidia's multimonitor support at a low cost)...

That's because nVidia had simply taken its GeForce2 MX chip and tacked on new features to that chip! DUH!

Quote:

#1 and #2 are both good candidates (if you're willing to overclock the GF3-Ti200 it should end up between a GF3 and a GF3Ti500), I'd probably pick the R8500 but you'd need to be willing to deal with the potential problems one still might encounter when dealing with ATi... Remember that the R8500 has multimonitor support too....

But I'm not planning to overclock the card. My local Best Buy superstore sells a GF3-Ti200 for $149.99 after $30 rebate, and the R8500 for just $139.99 after $50 rebate. (Before rebate, they cost $179.99 and $189.99, respectively.) You know, which of those two is the better deal?

 

[aeberbach]

Eagle Driver - I switched from a GeForce 3 to a GeForce 3 Ti500 (Visiontek Xtasy 6964) - I hardly noticed a difference. I don't think you need worry about the Ti200 not being good enough, since it is supposed to outperform the standard 3.

And the best thing about the GeForce 4 is that it drives down the price of the 3... Carmack wasn't so impressed with their new offering. I think I'll be skipping a generation this time, unless some tests come up showing that the GeForce 4 really offers something worth the money.

I like the visiontek cards - they are made in the USA and the one time I had trouble with the card, local tech support was right there and solved the problem. (Sometimes it's not a good idea using the very latest driver if you want DVI to work right.)

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Until today I was stuck with a card that barely outperformed an old GeForce 256 DDR - and lost out to many of the GeForce2 cards! That's right - the original Radeon (7200) DDR series trails even the GeForce2 GTS cards in 16-bit color, and only performs at the same level as the GeForce2 Pro in 32-bit color. So I decided to spend the $190 on the Radeon 8500 Retail, which - after I mail in a $50 rebate - comes out to $140! In most tests, the Radeon 8500 equals or bests even a GeForce3 Ti500. And the question of value: R8500 for $140 after rebate, GF3-Ti200 for $150 after rebate, or GF3-Ti500 for $320

- guess which is the BEST value of those three?

 

[pedxing]

I hate ATI because 1) they really nerfed their multimedia line of products 2) their drivers are notorious to be buggy. However, problem 2 should not be as serious of a problem in the future after getting seriously burned with the initial Radeon 8500 launch.

However, I have to admit the Radeon 8500 is best deal after the rebate. I would prefer to buy the Geforce 3 Ti200 because I know most game developers test their games thoroughly with nVidia products. The Radeon 8500 performs about par or a little better than the GeForce 3 Ti500.

Stay away from the GeForce 4MX because most GeForce 3 cards will outperform it. The GeForce 4MX is a low end solution built to replace the existing GeForce 2 line and it has NO pixel or vertex shaders. Their naming convention is poor.

 

[Mumrik]

Quote:

Originally posted by aeberbach I don't think you need worry about the Ti200 not being good enough, since it is supposed to outperform the standard 3.

Sorry, but you got that one wrong. The Ti200 is a slowed down standard GF3 with a great overclocking potential. The Ti500 is a standard GF3 on speed. The only difference between the three cards is clock speed.


Eagle_Driver: Let us know your experiences with the R8500, it's the one I would pick too (unless the GF4 goes down in price

)...

 

[ai0tron]

Geforce3 ti 500 is 235 at price watch.


All to often when someone says "My computer is screwed up..." it is followed by "...because my ati card has driver conflicts/sucks/is the main reason i hate myself/etc & so on."

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Two days ago I bench-tested my new R8500 (unfortunately, with an "outdated" eTestingLabs 3D WinBench 2001, which uses "only" DirectX 7, NOT DirectX 8) on my AMD Athlon XP 1600+ system (running Windows Me at the time)... WHOA!! The freakin' R8500 is more than twice as fast as my old Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO!!

I spent all of yesterday installing Windows XP Professional (I got a "corporate" upgrade copy, with no activation required), and after I screwed up the installation a couple of times I finally got it right (I think). The "upgrade" versions of Windows XP will allow either an "upgrade" or a "clean" installation, but you can only run the Setup program on an older version of Windows (such as 98/98SE/Me/2000). (The extra $100 that you pay for the non-upgrade copy of Windows XP buys you a bootable CD-ROM, which allows you to install XP on a blank unformatted hard drive.) If you choose to do a "New Installation" on that upgrade copy, and you're running Windows 98/98SE/Me, you can have the Setup program wipe out the existing Windows installation and convert your hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS. (As it turned out, I screwed up by installing Windows 98 "First Edition" - which doesn't properly support the Athlon XP processor - first; I should have installed Windows Me instead of 98, and then run the Setup program for XP in Me).

 

[Ctn]

Wait for gf4 or get the ti500.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ctn Wait for gf4 or get the ti500.

Heh... I would have spent far too much money on either one of those cards! And with my erratic work schedule, I won't order anything online or mail-order at all. The $300-plus price that I quoted for the GF3 Ti500 is at retail stores, and it's still that high (if I can find any Ti500's at all).

BTW, the $400 price that I quoted for the GF4-Ti4600 is for a card that has 128MB of memory (there are currently NO 64MB GF4-Ti4600 cards sold at retail -- 64MB Ti4600 boards will be OEM-only products, according to some unknown sources).

 

[ai0tron]

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage....k6306t6&id=396

235 at this store geforce ti 500

oh woops erratic work schedule


send it to a friends house.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Uh, $235 is still much more than I want to spend at this time...

 

[pedxing]

Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver Uh, $235 is still much more than I want to spend at this time...

Agreed. I think $200.00 is the limit for most consumers. However, I heard from marketing from the various graphic chip vendors that $300.00 is the limit. I would not spend more than $200.00 for a video card because they become out of date in 2 years.