the video card maze for under US$150

[tking]

I've been reading up on the latest video cards because my lovely wife gave me $250 Canadian (worth about $160US - love that exchange rate eh?) to get a net graphics card. I've gotten into Wolfenstein online and I'd love to be able to crank the graphics.

I'm currently using a Creative Annhilator Pro (Geforce256) with 32 megs of memory on a PIV-1.6. I'm amazed at what this can do so I'm skeptical about just how much better a new card will be. Are they really all that and a bag of chips?

What would you suggest for about $150 US? It seems that some new Geforce 4's are really overclocked Geforce 2's, some Geforce 3's are faster than 4's and ATI isn't that bad.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

T

[gibsinep]

Geforce 3 ti 200. You will be able to run RTCW at max detail(I know I do) and is very easily overclocked. Yopu can easily OC to levals of Geforce 3 ti 500.

The geforce 3 ti 200 is better than the the Geforce 4 440MX.

I would go for a Geforce 3 ti 200 I fi were you.

[JuNacy]

I have a GF3 Ti 200 as well and have no complaints. It's a good card and a great value. Along with recommending this card, you should also look at the ATI Radeon 8500 LE. On newegg.com, they have both the 64 MB & 128MB versions ranging from $99 to $139.

[tking]

Originally posted by JuNacy
I have a GF3 Ti 200 as well and have no complaints. Along with recommending this card, you should also look at the ATI Radeon 8500 LE.

Thanks for the input.

GF3 Ti 200 or ATI8500LE.

I was told that most games are written for GF cards now. Would I suffer a performance penalty going with the 8500 because it doesn't support the same code?

Thanks again,

T

[morpheus kain]

They support the same code. DX and Opengl but ATI has some sorry driver support that holds back the performance of the 8500. I would go with the GF3 TI 200. Or if you can get the extra$$$ I would suggest a Geforce 4 TI4200 128meg Golden Sample for 200$ or about there on www.newegg.com The sweet thing about this card is that it'll hit Geforce 4 TI 4600 #'s!! This card would last you a LOT longer than a Ti 200 would so I would suggest coughing up the extra bones. Happy Gaming:t

[tking]

Originally posted by morpheus kain
I would go with the GF3 TI 200. Or if you can get the extra$$$ I would suggest a Geforce 4 TI4200 ...The sweet thing about this card is that it'll hit Geforce 4 TI 4600 #'s!! This card would last you a LOT longer than a Ti 200 would so I would suggest coughing up the extra bones. Happy Gaming:t

Them's a lot of extra bones.

I can get my hands on a GF3 TI200 for about $212 Canadian (keep in mind, take 40% off for US equivalent). The TI4600 goes for $420CAN. That's twice the price!

TI200 here I come.

T

check this out for canadian prices on parts:
http://www.logiccomputerhouse.com/

[morpheus kain]

I was talking about the TI4200 which is about 150$ cheaper than the 4600.

[tking]

Originally posted by morpheus kain
I was talking about the TI4200 which is about 150$ cheaper than the 4600.

Sorry, my mistake.

The expensive one on the webpage I looked up was called a:

LEADTEK WinfastA250 TD nVIDIA GF4 Ti4400 128Mb DDR Memory

the other GF4s they had was a:

ASUS V8460 Ge Force 4 Ti4600 128MB DDR w/ tv in & out.
ASUS V8440 Ge Force 4 Ti4400 128MB DDR w/ tv in & out.

Everyone is talking 4600 or 4200, these are 4400. What's a Ti4400? a Ti4200 with more memory?

If that's the case then the Ti4200's are going at twice the price of the GF3 Ti200's. Is availability a big issue with these cards? This supplier is usually pretty good about stocking a decent range of stuff, if they don't have it I might have trouble finding it in Toronto.

Thanks,

T

[morpheus kain]

A G4 Ti 4200 is the same basic card as the 4400 and the 4600 and it does come in a 64mb flavor (don't recommend that at all). The only difference between these cards is clock speed. I have read several reviews on the Gainward Ti4200 Golden sample. The core clock (clock of the GPU -graphics processing unit-) can be overclocked (tweaked) to speeds ABOVE that of a 4600 and the memory doesn't come up TOO short either. So if you want a really good deal then the 4200 is where it's at. But if you don't want to spend that much money then I would suggest the Radeon 8500. The most Ti4200's and most 8500's have VIVO too.