New Vid Card

Computer Hardware
#1

My wallet is running on empty, my job pays pretty good (9 bucks an hour) but its only 3 hours a day weekdays and to top it all off its only a temp job for a month. (16 year olds dont get jobs easily)

So my debate. I want to buy a new video card to upgrade from my TNT2 32mb but i dont want to get a really cheap one, so should i get a low end GF 3 or 4 or a high end GF3 or 4 MX

I dont really know that much about ATI cards or which are good, i plan on using the card to play higher end games like GTAIII, WCIII, Red Faction and Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault

Anything below 200 is ok 300 is too much for me right now

#2

VisionTek GeForce3 Ti200 64MB AGP Xtasy for $81.00.
http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?sid=7xyh5bmqtv93tx0&id=573
Hard to beat this price.:slight_smile:

#3

I recently had this exact problem. I want to play good games, but I don’t have lots of money to spare. First I was going to get a GeForce4 MX440. I had my heart set on the Chaintech one, all covered in gold and all. It was $93 at newegg.com But after looking at benchmarks, the 4MX 440 is pretty much tied with the GF3 ti200. And the 4mx doesn’t even support all the features of directx8, so it obviously wouldn’t in 9. And I didn’t really want to “upgrade” to a crippled version of the GF4 OR GF3. So I did a search on pricewatch for the Ti500 and the visiontek xtasy came up,only $30 more $126 and free shipping. So I ordered that, should be getting here in a few days. Hope this helps. got it from http://www.3btech.net

#4

I am very happy, and so is my son, with a GF4 MX440. It’s partnered with a Celeron 1.3 GHz and matching Shuttle B-Step MoBo. But you need an AGP 2.0 compliant MoBo. The 440 was AUD$230, or about USD$120, but stuff is cheaper in the States and I suspect, in the UK as well. Even my GF2 MX400 is not bad

#5

Just so everyone knows what I’m talking about when I say the chaintech one, here are some pics. Most beautiful PC component I’VE ever seen. (well the 4600)- high res, high color images.

The GeFroce4 MX440
http://www.chaintech.com.tw/IMAGES/VGA/HR/ag441b.jpg

The GeForce4 Ti4600
http://www.chaintech.com.tw/IMAGES/VGA/HR/agt61b.jpg

#6

who makes the best GF3/4 cards? ive seen plenty of them in the stores but i dont know which is a good manufacturer

#7

For FutureProof:

Things in the UK are NOT cheap most of the time they seem to work on a straigh us$ -> UK£ conversion principle meaning things in the Uk are about 50% more expensive than the states :frowning: - ok i exagerate slightly but not that much. Things in the states priced @$300 become priced @£300 in the UK when the exchange rate is about £1 = $1.45

For Bloodstar007:

Asus make really good quality stuff and there video cards are in my opinion some of the best :slight_smile:

#8

Asus V8170 DDR Geforce 4 MX440 DDR 64mb TV out
Model# V8170DDR/TV/64MB
Price: $106.00 Stock: YES

Off Of Newegg.com , is this good? Or should i look for a diferent card/different place to buy (i trust newegg, they got me my LiteON without a problem)

I also looked at the VisionTek Xtasy 6964 GF3 Ti500 64 MB DDR card that BadreligionPR reccomended and i have to say, it looks good… 126 dollars but it may be worth it for DX8.1 compatability

@ BadReligionPR
Wow. i think i drooled on my shirt when i saw that GF4

#9

Well it seems like it is well priced at least in comparison to the UK ther the cheapest i could find it was £80 = $120. Living in the UK i have no idea who the good and bad US places are.

In my opinion though you would be better off getting a geforce 3 the TI 200 version (unbranded) is about the same price (£81) and i recon would be a much better choice. I think the MX cards are a bit dodgy with all teh features and full DirectX 8 support cut out :frowning: If you want to spend a little more a 64MB Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (Gainward) can be had for about £100 and has multiple monitor support that the geforce 3 doesn’t if thats an important consideration for you. :slight_smile:

Brands dont really matter that much on geforce based video cards as unless you are getting an all singing all dancing one (i.e an asus deluxe model) they all most all follow the Nvidia reference design so they all perform the same to all intents and purposes so the only considerations to make are the software bundle and whether or not you like the colour of the heat sink :bigsmile:

You may find this and this worth a quick look :slight_smile:

#10

Whatever you do…DONT buy MX-cards!!!

#11

Dont buy MX cards!!!
You can get a Geforce 4 4200 64mb card at Newegg.com for about $150.

#12

GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 3.5ns, 64MB DDR. 1 CRT ONLY No DVI, or TV-Out. Retail $143.00 from Newegg.com. 3.5ns with 225/500 MHz core/clock and overclocks real well. Great value.

#13

im aiming for the GF4 Ti4200 but Newegg.com has a lot of GeForce 4 Ti4200 cards, so which is best? Tom’s Hardware Guide and -nb says it’s really a choice of which heatsink/fan you like the most, is this true? also i want to get the 128mb model (i dont want to have to upgrade for a little while)

I was looking at the
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 4ns, 128MB DDR, Power Pack Golden Sample, 1 CRT + TV out, (No DVI, no TV-In) $168 (US) and what does DVI mean and do i need

(ok now i feel like a newbie, too many questions)

#14

The gainward “golden samples” are well known for their overclockability+ they are a pretty red colour if that gets you going. The DVI output are only important if you plan on running a LCD or simular screen. The tv-in is only important if you are interested in video capture. Another brand to keep an eye out for are x-micro cards, they are extremly cheap and exellent overclockers. Hope this helps
cheers :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

#15

Originally posted by Bloodstar007
[B]im aiming for the GF4 Ti4200 but Newegg.com has a lot of GeForce 4 Ti4200 cards, so which is best? Tom’s Hardware Guide and -nb says it’s really a choice of which heatsink/fan you like the most, is this true? also i want to get the 128mb model (i dont want to have to upgrade for a little while)

I was looking at the
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 4ns, 128MB DDR, Power Pack Golden Sample, 1 CRT + TV out, (No DVI, no TV-In) $168 (US) and what does DVI mean and do i need

(ok now i feel like a newbie, too many questions) [/B]

That’s a good choice. That card can easily duplicate the performance of most Ti 4600 with and easy overclock.

#16

hmm thats something to keep in mind but id rather wait to OC until its absolutly nessecary

I think ill go with the Gainward GF4 Ti4200, thanks for all that helped and offered advice! This’ll be a good refrence thread for people that want to buy a new video card but don’t know where to start.

Also the Tom’s Hardware Guide graphs of video card performance allowed me to see in full color just how bad my TNT2 is.

#17

Glad to help :slight_smile: i am buying my self an Asus Geforce 4 Ti 4200 128MB when i can afford it as it seems to have the same speend memeory as the 64MB versions.

Something you ave to watch out for is that the Ti 4200 64MB versions have faster memory than the 128MB versions, whihc means out of the box the 64MB version is quicker than the 128MB version most of the time and its cheaper :), its only when you start to over clock the memory on the 128MB version to the same level that things start to change…