GF2-GTS-V vs GF4 Ti4200...Worth Upgrade?

[dougander3]

My son has a VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB DDR AGP.

He mostly games w/ Deus Ex, Grand Theft Auto 3, Morrowind, Max Payne, Ret to Castle Wolfenstein and the like.

Would these games run significantly better with a GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 3.5ns, 64MB DDR ($150 at newegg)?

Biostar M7VIB
Athlon XP 1600-1.4GHz
512meg Crucial DDR
Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB DDR AGP
SB Live Value

Thanks for your opinions.

[Brian48]

Yes, games would noticably faster. Considering that the CPU is of fairly decent speed, I'd say it would be nice upgrade.

Around the same price range, you might want to also look into the Radeon 8500. Prices have come down quite dramatically within the last couple of months.

[dougander3]

3DMark2001 won't run some tests...here is what it spit out.
I had to back it down to 800x600x16bit to get it to run. When I read 8, 9 or 10 thousand 3dmarks, i drool. Thanks for input. Doug


Operating System Microsoft Windows ME
DirectX Version 8.1

Mobo Manufacturer BIOSTAR Group
Mobo Model M7VIB
AGP Rates (Current/Available) 4x / 1x 2x 4x

CPU AMD Athlon(tm) XP/MP/4 1400 MHz
FSB 133 MHz
Memory 512 MB

Graphics Chipset NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/Pro/Ti
Driver Name NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro
Driver Version 4.13.01.2942
Video Memory 32 MB

Program Version 3DMark2001 SE
Resolution 800x600 16bit
Texture Format Compressed
FSAA Disabled
Z-Buffer Depth 16bit
Frame Buffer Double
Rendering Pipeline D3D Hardware T&L





3DMark Score 4981 3D marks

Game 1 Car Chase - Low Detail 90.4 FPS
Game 1 Car Chase - High Detail 32.4 FPS
Game 2 Dragothic - Low Detail 88.4 FPS
Game 2 Dragothic - High Detail 37.0 FPS
Game 3 Lobby - Low Detail 94.3 FPS
Game 3 Lobby - High Detail 43.2 FPS
Game 4 Nature No hardware support

Fill Rate (Single-Texturing) 451.6 MTexels/s
Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing) 688.8 MTexels/s

High Polygon Count (1 light) 20.7 MTriangels/s
High Polygon Count (8 lights) 4.3 MTriangels/s

Environment Bump Mapping No hardware support
DOT3 Bump Mapping 78.7 FPS

Vertex Shader 48.6 FPS
Pixel Shader No hardware support
Advanced Pixel Shader No hardware support

Point Sprite 9.1 MSprites/s

[grimfandango]

Originally posted by dougander3
My son has a VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB DDR AGP.

He mostly games w/ Deus Ex, Grand Theft Auto 3, Morrowind, Max Payne, Ret to Castle Wolfenstein and the like.

Would these games run significantly better with a GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 3.5ns, 64MB DDR ($150 at newegg)?

Biostar M7VIB
Athlon XP 1600-1.4GHz
512meg Crucial DDR
Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB DDR AGP
SB Live Value

Thanks for your opinions.


you may want to think about getin the RADEON 8500 (also from new egg for 98$).. its better than the card you are usin but not better than the Geforce4 ti4200.

Yup the games would run much,much better on the ti4200.

:t

[dougander3]

Thank, Brian and Grim...appreciate the input. Doug

[grimfandango]

No problemo

:)

[cheapster]

Don't know what your budget is like, Doug, but my 13 year old son and I just split the cost and ordered a bulk packaged Visiontek Geforce 3 from Sybercom.com to upgrade one of our systems. We were planning on a Geforce 4 Ti 4200, but then I found this Geforce 3 for $95 + $8 ground shipping, and he realized he could cover his half with just one more lawn mowing and consented to the Geforce 3 instead. They are also advertising the Visiontek Geforce 3 Ti200 for $81 plus shipping. (Hmmm, cheapster thinks, eyeing the other two systems with their Geforce 2 GTS cards on the little home LAN. Geforce 3 Ti200 for $81 ehhhh?) Anyway if you are at all cheap, like me, and still want a pretty good performance boost, you might want to take a look at them. I am anxious to get our first one and see how it works and then start working on my spouse to grab another one or two, if I can swing it.
Chuck :t

[missiveusa]

Get the Gainward GeF4. Man, for $150, the XP-650 is a great deal, and you will notice significantly better performance playing games. My 3D Mark 2001 scores more than doubled from an Asus V 7700 GeF2 DDR 64, from 4000 to 8400. That's with the Gainward OC'd to 275/567 MHz.
The GeF4 is a greater technological advance over the GeF3 than the 3 was over the GeF2. Anantech has an excellent article on the details.

Happy Gaming.

[dougander3]

Thanks, cheapster and missiveusa. I am cheap...I grabbed 3 Visiontek xstasy 5632 GF2-gts 32mb off newegg when they were $60...a great deal at the time...but, alas, technology marches on.

[InnovaZero]

Originally posted by missiveusa

The GeF4 is a greater technological advance over the GeF3 than the 3 was over the GeF2.
Happy Gaming.

No it wasn't, there was barely any technological differences. Your mixing up raw speed and accual features. The Archtecture is the same, except GF4's engine is tweaked to perfection, added a second vertex shader, and ramped up the core/memory..that's it.

[missiveusa]

Opinions will vary. You're correct with some facts, but you omit several improvements the NV 25 brings over the NV 20 core. I point you to the anandtech article here (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1583)

[cheapster]

Just a quick note to say that we got our new Geforce 3 from Sybercom.com and WOW ! A great improvement over our old geforce 2 Pro card. For just over $100 shipped, it is an awesome deal. We are awaiting delivery on 2 visiontek Geforce 3 Ti200 cards ($165 shipped for the pair from Ubid.com auction) and will be installing them on a pair of Celeron based systems running at 900 and 1.08 gig respectively. If the improvement is anything close to what the geforce 3 with athlon XP 1700+ is giving us, we will be very happy!:D
Chuck

[JoKatz]

Hello,

although I am replying by THIS time (wich is pretty late), it's not exactly about your topic. But I just postet to tell you that the fact that there actually ARE parents (and if it's only the father... ) who play computer and do this WITH their children, not counting computergames out as '****' or even 'dangerous', baffles me a lot as well as it makes me happy (at least, not all hope is lost ;) )! Why I wrote this? Well, just BE the son of parents who are to the contrary of you, and get to my age without being frustrated... *s*

Greetz, (just some weird bugger)

[Strat]

After reading ONLY the thread title.............









OH



HELL



YES



:D :t

[dougander3]

Thanks for your input, JoKatz and Strat

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Having just got my gf4ti4200 this afternoon - all i can say is:

CLOSE SYSOPT WINDOW - GO TO CHEAPEST ONLINE RETAILER - PURCHASE

...simple really :)
(hot **** NOLF looks good with all graphics options, AA etc maxed out :))

Enjoy

--Jakk:t

[grimfandango]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
Having just got my gf4ti4200 this afternoon - all i can say is:

CLOSE SYSOPT WINDOW - GO TO CHEAPEST ONLINE RETAILER - PURCHASE

...simple really :)
(hot **** NOLF looks good with all graphics options, AA etc maxed out :))

Enjoy

--Jakk:t

wow!!

which make did you get??

Can you overclock the card and whats you 3dmark2001 score??


:)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

MSI gf4 ti4200 for £130

AGP 4x 64mbDDR (of course)

DVI and S video out included.

DVI to VGA adapter incl. TV Out cables incl

Loads of bundled utils includign PCCillin 2002 and special edition winDVD

Bundled Games
No One Lives For Ever
Sacrifice
Aquanox

and 8 demos

Not bad for a week or so's wages :)
--IM SOOO CHUFFED AT THE MO!

--Jakk:t

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Can be overclocked quite high, although havent bothered to yet.

-3d mark 2001 score was about 3500...with 4xAA 32bit colour 1024x768, with antistropic filtering set to level 8 etc etc.. still beats the **** outta my old gf2mx400. Gonna spend this weekend o/c'ing and gonna do some benches at lower quality levels to see just what this baby can do :D

--Jakk:t

[grimfandango]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
Can be overclocked quite high, although havent bothered to yet.

-3d mark 2001 score was about 3500...with 4xAA 32bit colour 1024x768, with antistropic filtering set to level 8 etc etc.. still beats the **** outta my old gf2mx400. Gonna spend this weekend o/c'ing and gonna do some benches at lower quality levels to see just what this baby can do :D

--Jakk:t


Bundled Games
No One Lives For Ever
Sacrifice
Aquanox
got all these games??
wow

what kind of a system do you have!!??:)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Rest of the systems pretty avergae by standards of the new ki t- but most of the stuffs heavily tweaked

Mobo: Abit kt7a RAID (agressive BIOS settings)
CPU: AMD Athlon Tbrid 1.33ghz (@1.46 although havent had chance to o/c much as just newly bought the chip as replacment for damaged1ghz)
RAM: 512mb PC133 CL2
CDROM: 12xCreative DVD Blaster, 24x12x40 Philips CDRW
Sound: Sblaster PCI 512 and Juster stereo speaks
PSU: 350W
Misc: 128kbps Cable modem, 17" spectrum 7vlr +, BIG ***** tower case!, 4 80mm case fans, Epson Stylus colour 440 printer, Artec viewstation AM12e Scanner...err Gravix Xtrminator gamepad, and generic 10 quid keyboard and mouse...and er - thats it methinks

--it isnt the fastest of systems but its still relativley quick :) -- although DDR RAM would be nice... still least it aint as slow as urs grim :p

--jakk:t

[grimfandango]

you got a pretty good system there!!

I dont think there will be much of a performance bost with ddr ram !!!
what kind of score do you get in 3dmark 2001se??
:)



"still least it aint as slow as urs grim"

you making fun of me!!
owww:( :( :(

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Nah i agree with you grim on DDR RAM, im not quite ready to buy into it yet - im not too sure that the advantages will be obvious ... im waiting for QDR to take off...

as for 2dmark scroes - well i might be pucking up a copy of SOF2 today - then after ive had a play of that - i might get down to some o/c and benchmarking :)

--Jakk:t

[JoKatz]

Hmm well MY System is running on DDR Base, 512, and well, i cant compare directly to urs, but I wanna Ask how u did that thing with ur 1.33 Athlon TB, that means o/c to 1,49 or so MHz. Is that linked directly to ur 4 Case coolers, or would it function with 1? What kinda coolers do u use and how much did they cost?
Lots of questions @ a time, but i REALLY wanna know... :)

Furthermore, I think my GF 2 GTS IS the major bottle neck in my sys, and I will replace it wit s GF 4 Ti 4200 (64)- any 3dMark results yet I can use 4 comparison? Would help me a lot, thx ;)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

I just do it through the BIOS, ive got an unlocked CPU so i just up the muiltiplier by one.

Grim, done a few benches on 3dmark2k1, all i can seem to get is 5000 though :@:@

I think this may be down to 3dmark itself as its a version that came with my gf2mx400 esepecially, therefore it mightnt be able to handle the card.

Also im having trouble running it properly (3dmark), it keeps crapping out whilst loading and ive been runnign the PC for a few hours before i ran teh benches anyway :confused:

--are there any other 3d benches i can use or not??

--Jakk:t

[grimfandango]

hay 5000 is a very low score!!!
did you uninstall the old drivers!
you need to update our drivers.
and use 3dmark 2001 se!!


another nice benchmark program is
codecreatures benchmark !!

this benchmark will eat up your system!!
http://asia.cnet.com/downloads/pc/swinfo/0,39000587,39018761s,00.htm
you will get only 22fps with this program!!
:p :)
let meknow!
:t

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Looks like i ahd the old version of 2001, it came with my old elsa card i got last september :rolleyes:

Downloading the SE verion and patches now

Gonna be a while comign down like (**** 128kbps:( )

But hopefully shoudl yield better results. Old drivers etc were uninstalled - i just think its because i was using 2001 first edition -- shall report back later.

Adios

--Jakk:t

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Well - its even lower in 2001 Se

:confused: , i dont get this, i only got 3500 marks on SE running 32bit colour, Quickunx etc etc... hmmn - may do a reboot and see what its like fresh ...

Although this doesnt really match considering quake 3 skips along at high res's with full detail settings at nigh on 100fps ..

--Jakk:t

[grimfandango]

LOl 3500!!! people with a Gf2 ti get around 4100-4200 with 1.2ghz cpu!!

something must be wrong here!!
:eek: :confused:

MAybe you need to reinstall windows!
:eek: :)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

took the steps you advised in another thread grimmy -- 7500 ... not bad, what i couldnt understand though is why having low PCI texture memory value and A... whatever it is filtering - slowed the card down sooo much... i was aware AA would but NOT BY THAT MUCH :eek:

--Jakk:t