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Thread ID: 32295 2003-04-14 23:26:00 Which Graphics Card to get- ollywilson2003 (3600) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
135835 2003-04-14 23:26:00 I have been thinking about getting a new graphics card in the next 6 months to replace my Geforce 2 which is starting to struggle on newer games like Battlefield 1942 and Unreal Tournament 2003. Which would be the best card to by in the 500-600 dollar price range? Also should I get a card now or wait and see what Nvidia and ATI bring out soon. ollywilson2003 (3600)
135836 2003-04-15 00:05:00 there's certainly no harm in waiting for the next releases from nvidia and ati, it'll drop the prices on the current range.. but there comes a point where you have to stop waiting for the next thing and buy, because if you are waiting for the next thing, you'll be forever waiting ;)

at the moment the ATI solutions are better performing and cheaper (and i'm an nvidiot so that's saying a lot!) ATI's drivers have FINALLY matured to an acceptable level - the drivers themselves are almost nvidia-class, not quite yet though, but their control panel IMO is still a PITA.. you can get a radeon 9700 128meg in the 500-600 bracket.. check out pricespy.co.nz
whetu (237)
135837 2003-04-15 00:41:00 the best graphics card to get now is the GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB it will run the latest games perfectly. it will set you back around $329 Patrick 2003 (277)
135838 2003-04-15 00:50:00 Yeah... but in saying that a lot of people get 'good' results with BF1942 on a GF4 MX 440, but the Ti series would be better.

No matter what you choose, you can always spend and extra $20 and get a better card for the picking.

To be quite honest the best I know of is the ATI Raedon 9700, which can sustain almost 300fps at 1024x768, 32Bit on Quake 3 benchmarking.

Although nVidia are releasing a new brand (may have already been released, Tweak'e - I need some news!!! *is having withdrawl symptoms* But im not too sure) which is set to rival the 9700.

The question you have to ask yourself is do you really need to spend $500 on a graphics card when you can spend $300 on one and $200 on upgrading some other part of your PC, like buying a 7500rpm HDD!
Chilling_Silence (9)
135839 2003-04-15 01:03:00 what sort of PC are you running its poinmtless to get a new fast card if your cpu and ram etc are too slow to keep up with it kiwibeat (304)
135840 2003-04-15 01:04:00 >Yeah... but in saying that a lot of people get 'good' results with BF1942

if your plzying with bots in BF42 or any of the patches and addons you need CPU power
i was plzying LAN BF1942 last night and a P4 2.4Ghz with GF4 Ti4200 was lagging (frame lag) because of the 64 bots(he was the server), the other players where playing at 100 frames a second ;)
the server was getting about 12 FPS when there was no action
sc0ut (2899)
135841 2003-04-15 01:13:00 Ati and nvidia have alrady released there new gear,the fx and the 9800.

The fx has good performance but shes a major design flop,and the ati 9800 is only a slitghy improved 9700.

I see someone mentioned the mx range.....which is based on the gforce2 chipset anyway and something to be avoided like a boot to the throat.Something like that will give minimal improvement.

If money isnt an object and the rest of the set-up is up to scratch,id go for the 9700 pro.But you would be wanting to be running a cpu over 1.3 gig to get ya moneys worth from it.You would also want to be running a good whack of 512mb ddr....

And dont forget ya need a good psu to keep a high drain puter stable....

As far as nvidia's range,id go for the g4ti 4200,not because its a great card,but because the ti4400 and ti4600 dont give a performence boost that is comparable to the price difference.

I wouldn't to buy the "next" big thing,the hype is never realised.
metla (154)
135842 2003-04-15 01:42:00 My systems fine (2Ghz P4, 512mb RDRAM) its just the crappy graphics card (Geforce 2 MX) thats holding it back.
The Geforce 4 Ti 4200 sounds like a good deal Ill look into that.
ollywilson2003 (3600)
135843 2003-04-15 01:43:00 >The Geforce 4 Ti 4200 sounds like a good deal Ill look into that.
for the deal look here
www.pricespy.co.nz
sc0ut (2899)
135844 2003-04-15 02:23:00 >>I see someone mentioned the mx range.....which is based on the gforce2 chipset anyway

not quite, think of MX as a budget series, as the gF4 MX's are not directly based on the gF2 core (they are indirectly though by way of decendance, but by that logic a ti4800 is based on gf2 and should thus be avoided at all costs.. see what i mean ;) )

so mx's are basically crippled versions of their Ti siblings
whetu (237)
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