Video card options (merged threads)

[rustydud]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-077&depa=1&section=3

"Do Not.... I repeat, DO NOT install the drivers provided by MSI. MSI drivers made a mess of things. I am here to save you hours of headaches. Take the blue VGA driver CD that MSI provided and throw it way. Go straight to nVidia's website and download 43.45 for directx 8.1. or download 53.03 for directx 9. MSI makes a good video card. They cannot package a driver. nVidia's drivers will install this card as a ti4800, but it will run great. Installs slightly underclocked at 648x297Mhz - will go past the stock 650x300 but not very high. I never overclock my video and this is a nice, fast card."


This was a review by someone who bought the card...not sure if its valid or not, you tell me, but it says the man could install directx9....

Thanks
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"Dr" Phil:shoot3:

[maximus7001]

Here is a handy chart from digitlife. I have taken the liberty to mark the cards in question. Green for ti, purple for the only good model of r9600pro, red for the not so good models of 9600/pro, and brown representing the bottom of the barrel. While on the topic, note how with other cards, the 64bit mem interface really kills any card. Especially the fx5200's, the r9200se, and the gf4 mx440. Most noobs get burned on something like this at least once and do not understand why their gfx/speed suck so bad, prompting them to look elsewhere for gfx speed in vain.

Oh and a ti4800 is just a 8x agp ti4600. The guy that made that post on newegg knows nothing.

[mblue]

There is a difference between being able to install DX9 and being able to take advantage of it. For example a mx420 did not support DX8, but you could install DX8 and play DX8 games it just would not utilize those functions. Given your current choices the 9600 Pro would be your option to go with, but you may want to suck it up and spend just a little more. Shop around and compare the prices vs. what you are getting. Once you come up with the initial cash you said something along the lines of 140 bucks. You would be suprised if you just put say another 40 to 50 with that what you could find. I believe that even getting a 9600 Pro, you would be left wanting.

[maximus7001]

prices vs. what you are getting

Exactly why the ti4600 is a better choice overall. $140us is a steal for a card in the speed range of a r9700pro/non pro eregardless of dx9. When the average current game uses dx9, the whole game is not based on it, and uses only a few features at most. Most people would never know the difference anyway as long as the speed is there. You would be hard pressed trying to find something even a bit better without having to spend at least $100us+ more.

edit... they even throw in a t-shirt, 5 blank dvd's, or a hat.

[rustydud]

yeah it seems apparent the ti4600 is my best choice...unless it doesnt support directx9 (which I'm 90% it does).
Thanks for that visual

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Phil

[maximus7001]

No dx9. But this r9700pro does. These are getting hard to find as well.

[rustydud]

You would be suprised if you just put say another 40 to 50 with that what you could find. I believe that even getting a 9600 Pro, you would be left wanting.

Ok mblue, then what do you suggest? I wouldnt mind hearing which cards I should opt for at that much.

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Phil
"If I could just find the right card..."

[The__tweaker]

But for christs sake m8 get a 9600Pro, get DX9 support and be done with it.. :rolleyes2

Yes the 9700 would be faster but as stated hard to find.

[mblue]

Well okay. Based on price range of 160 to say 200.

198 for a 9700 pro
169 for a 5700u
~185 for a 5900xt (depends on brand)
189 for a 5900se

and if you manage say 212 you could get a 9800 pro. Sorry no links, but you can go to newegg and look them up.

now I believe with all of these you would have dx9 support and a faster card then your ti-4600.

[rustydud]

Alright alright alright to stop annoying the devil dude one last question. I'm goin with the ti4600. I just need know which of these to go with. They all cost the same and are identical in specs, just a choice between brands-and possibly software I dont know about-but for now just weigh in the brand:

GeForce4 Ti4600 Video Card (128MB, AGP 8X, 2D/3D w/DVI & S-Video)
(Microstar/MSI) - (Video Cards)

Verto GeForce4 Ti4600 AGP 128MB DDR 2D/3D
(PNY) - (Video Cards)

XTASY GeForce4 TI4600 AGP 128MB DDR 3D/TV Video Card
(VisionTek) - (Video Cards)

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Have fun
Phil

[SmokeyTheBalrog]

First off, when looking at benchmarks make sure they are run in the graphics mode you want to run in. I.e. Resolution, color depth, AA, and AF levels.

maximus7001's graph shows 1024x768, but probably no AA or AF. Which improve picture quality drastically, but tend to impact performance great.

Also, maximus7001 would you mind posting a link to that review?

I would post links for the cards but my computer is having issues at the moment. For now, you can find some if not all of them at www.NewEgg.com.

[RDR]

I've picked up a few fx5900se's lately (eVGA's) - right now they're one of my favourites in the "best bang for the buck" catagory

they can easily be found for around the $180-190usd range

[Classlessmetal]

RDR is right the cheaper 5900's are great and with an easy bios flash found here http://www.techangel.co.uk/forums/sh...&threadid=2111
sorry if not meant to paste links to other websites, i flashed mine was a piece of cake now runs at same speeds as 5950ultra 475 and 950 but seems no end to how high you can push it had it upto 550 and 1020 but started to notice some screen rips so dont really want to be going higher than that. 1 bad thing doing the flash u will loose your tv-out but if never use it dont worry used to score around 5250 in 3dmark 03 after flash highest i got was 6047. recommend this card to anyone plays all games max settings with antialising and antistrpoic on reckon they must be pretty cheap as well now these cards.
:thumb:

[The__tweaker]

Was it necessary with a second thread?

I'd get the first card, MSI. :2cents:

[AsianBatman]

To choose from those 3 are tough, but i used a pny card and they were fairly good. So i would go with PNY or MSI as ^^ tweaker reconmended.