Which graphics card would you choose?

[Griffter]

From asking around and posting on various boards about my graphics card everyone tells me to upgrade. I have a limited budget so I found the following card in my price range.

$130
ATI Radeon� 9000 Pro AGP Graphics Card
Powered by 128MB of DDR memory
Four highly optimized rendering pipelines
Features SMARTSHADER�, SMOOTHVISION�, FULLSTREAM� & VIDEO IMMERSION� II


Is this card any good? Anyone have this card and care to share their experiences (good and bad) with it?


- Griffter

[Squick]

From my quick research it looks like the Radeon9000 Pro scores quite a bit below the Geforce4 Ti4200...

http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030416/radeon_9600-07.html#unreal_tournament_2003

[JonnyK]

get the radeon 9500 128 mb card, it's only $20 more and it outperforms or is equal to the gf4 ti4600

[Griffter]

Looking at the stores in my area they are all $220 or more.

- Griffter

[Dovieye]

Do you want to die or do you want to win.?

$20, $50, $100 the difference is a happier a gamer. save my son save.

Kinda sad really coming from a guy who works at a supermarket but hell its all good.

Im still paying off my 9700 pro..........And on esitmation 6 kills a dollar..... AHHHHH well worth it

Have fun rod

[Griffter]

... seems to outperform nearly all other cards except the Radeon 9500 and 9700 pro cards.

- Griffter

[Squick]

Geforce4 is a very powerfull chipset... And it is over a year old now!

I bought two Geforce4 Ti4600 cards the very first weekend they came out (yeah, the Best Buy lady actually did comment on $850 in video cards on one bill) and I am very glad I did... I was hoping nothing excessivly better came along, and nothing has. The Radeon 9700 Pro is noteably better then the Geforce4, but not by a large enough margin to justify spending another $300...

[Solitudinem]

As far as best bang for your buck goes, pick up a G4 Ti4200.. you will love it.

[Angelos]

9000 doesn't have directx 9 support, so I'd try to find a card that does, so you don't have to upgrade any time soon.

[Squick]

Geforce4 (and GeforceFX for that matter) do not support DirectX9 completely, no games use DirectX9 currently, even Doom3 which looks to be the most demanding game to date does not require a DirectX9 card. So if you want a DirectX9 card I think your only option is the 9700, but I am pretty sure those are a minimum of $300 for the 9700 pro.

Squick

[Trol]

Here is a GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb for $119.99 + $5 shipping (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=14-150-025&DEPA=1)

Also if you could afford it I would suggest the Asus Geforce FX 5600 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=14-121-152) for $189.99 with free shipping.

[Shub]

No one's commented on this, and I think it bears mentioning. Whether or not ATI has better drivers, they still have more compatibility issues than nvidia. My belief is that once the damn thing is put together it should work--Geforce4 was the obvious choice when I built my computer.

[Seabass03]

DirectX 9 = doesn't matter right now and for a while with most games.

ATI's drivers works wonders in Planetside and most other games now. I would get a 9500 Pro at newegg for 177 shipped and blow everything away except 5800 Ultras or 9700s or 9800s

[EODTech]

I'm waiting for the ATI 9800 PRO, I already got the money saved.
Hopefully have one sometime next month.

[BigDickMccoy]

I have a GeForce mTi4200 128
And it Smokes my little brothers radeon 9500

[Harps]

im ganna be getting the 9700 pro.. u can find it pretty cheap on the web goto www.pricewatch.com , u can find some good prices there

[cheetahmanhood]

The Ati Radeon 9800 Pro is a great graphics card to buy!!

[Happy lil Elf]

The 9700 Pro is the best card out there right now. There is no argument. It out performs any GeForce in every way that matters to gaming and trying to use ATI's driver problems with past cards doesn't really apply since this card has had no driver issues. NVidia has lots it's grip on the #1 slot, it's that simple. Not to say ATI will out sell them now. People who swear by their Nvidia cards or who got burned by ATI in the past will still probably not buy a Readon, but that has nothing to do with which card has the best performance /shrug

[Griffter]

... of my post was the best card I could get within my budgett of no more than $180


- Griffter

[EODTech]

Goto www.tomshardware.com and read up on the cards.
It's a very through testing site.

[KaRtToOn]

5800, laugh what a joke of a card

ill stick to my OC'd 4600, didn't buy those ram sinks for nothin!!

[Seabass03]

Like I said, you have $180, then get a 9500 Pro, you won't be sorry, especially in the future.

[WickedDeus]

Originally posted by BigDickMccoy
I have a GeForce mTi4200 128
And it Smokes my little brothers radeon 9500


Are you talking about the 9500 or the 9500 Pro? Eitherway try turning on AA, AF, etc.. and see which card smoke which.'

For $180 I would get the Radeon 9500 Pro from newegg.com

[TheColonel]

I have the radeon 9700. works just fine in SOF2. Get between 100 and 130 FPS consistently. havent played PS yet but I'm sure it will be fine. Ran the DOOM3 alpha on it and it looks great:)

[Griffter]

... it looks liek the 9500 pro seems very comparable to the Ti 4200 until you get into the Anastrobic filtering and AA (no clue what these are).

Can someone explain to me what those change as far as what I will see in the game?

If Im going to spend close to $200 I want to be able to get a decent life out of it as well as be able to get a good deal of WOW factor from Planetside.

Griffter

[WickedDeus]

Those things make the game look much much better. Its well worth the money.

[Griffter]

... with all those features turned on will I feel a slowdown in performance? I would rather forgoe a lot of flash for better gameplay.


Griffter

[WickedDeus]

If you have the Ti4200 8xAGP, yes. If you have the 9500 Pro, then no. Thats why the 9500 Pro is better. Their about the same with everything off but if you start turning on AA, AF, etc.. then the Radeon blows the Ti out of the water.

[Seabass03]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Squick]

Griffter, you may want to do some research into Anti Aliasing before picking a card. I personally see VERY little difference in any game between having 8x anti aliasing on or off. AA basically takes a look at the scene and if it sees any jagged edges it tries to smooth them out, the higher the number (2x, 4x, 8x) the further the algorithm "looks" to determine how it should smooth.

So personally if you can find someone with a graphics card that can do Anti Aliasing, look at it yourself, not just screenshots. In screenshots anti aliasing looks great, but once you get into the game you do not even notice.

Try this next time you are playing Planetside, when you die after a long hard battle, while respawning try to remmember where you saw jagged edges.

Squick

[Stregone]

If you can't tell any difference between none and 8x FSAA then the FSAA wasn't working. It makes a very noticable difference.'.

[Griffter]

... believe it or not I am a graphics designer and feel like a moron now.

Anyway, I have read roughly 50 different reviews and comparisons and from what I saw the Radeon 9500 PRO is the best choice for the price Im looking for. The Ti4200 scores really close to it in every aspect until you get into the AA and AF tests. I would go with a 4200 if it werent as old as it is. I dont like to spend money to have it outdated shortly after.

Thanks for all the great responses to this thread.


Griffter

[Seabass03]

Cool, I hope you enjoy it :)

You will be happy I think.