Upgrading?

[Leprechan]

Hey guys just a small opionated question... I'm currently running a P4 2.2 Ghz, 1 gig of ram, w/ a bottom of the line (geforce 2) dual head card(Yea, yea i know, 'Why dual head?'.. to game on my 17'' lcd and chat and download on the 21'' Trinitron), it is 64 mb however. Should i go ahead and upgrade my video card and if so what card/company to go with? I wasnt really sure how hardcore the requirements would be, I know the minimal sys requirements are lower, but having the minimum doesnt usually go with the best game play possible. Thanks for your help guys.

[Leprechan]

and i cant spell opinionated

[Nightmare]

I would suggest getting the Radeon 9500 Pro. It is slightly better than th GeForce 4 Ti 4600, and costs less, although it is still about $180 USD. If you want to spend less, you could get the Radeon 8500 or the GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I don't know how those compare, but they are the next best thing (besides the 4400)

[Leprechan]

Does the ATI 9500 have a dual head input? Or possibly a LCD output and standard tube output? Other wise it would be kind of like throwing away a monitor :/. Also in the past i've tried ATI, but it seems they are only destined to work on some alien planet w/. AKA: they always gave me trouble. Are the software and drivers more reliable now? I havnt had the guts to go ahead and spend 200 bucks to buy an ATI in awhile.

[Nightmare]

ATI's drivers have a gotten a lot better. I'm not sure about the dual-head part, you'll have to look that up or wait for someone else to answer.

[Leprechan]

Alright thanks a bunch for the info, I got the same advice from an employee of mine. I'll check out ATI's website right now. :)

[Venoxile]

Here's some benchmarks comparing the geforce 4 4600 128 mb and the radeon 9500 pro 64 mb (note the difference in memory).

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Mzc0LDI=

[Pilgrim]

If you've got mad cash wait a month or 2 (of course with PS not hitting till MAy now do that anyway)
And get a Geforce FX or the ATI 9800

I figure both will be pretty solid and with ATI ironing out their dirver issues...

If you want bang for buck ratio wait for the new models to drop the prices then get a Gainward Geforce 4 ti 4200 Gold spec with 128 mb
IMO the best dollars for donuts video card out there!

PAX

[DarkDragon]

Wait a couple weeks for the 9600 Pro...won't cost a lot and you'll get a GREAT card.

If you can't wait get a 9500 Pro, don't worry it has dual inputs and the new Catalyst drivers are great.

[Leprechan]

Alright thanks for the help guys.. im gonna shop around and see how low i can get price wise..