upgrading video card

[mystryd]

Hello everyone, I have a question about upgrading my video card and I'm new to this. The one I have right now is Abit GeForce 2 T400 64MB. Right now, I don't know if I should get a GeForce 4 Ti 64MB or a GeForce 4 Ti 128MB 8X. But then which branch should I get such as MSI, Abit, Albatron and so on? My motherboard is A7V8X, it supports 8X AGP. The questions on my mind are which part of the video card is important? the memory it supports or the AGP such as 4x AGP or something else?

Thank You.

[Maxpowers]

ok if your mother borad supports AGP8x then it only makes sense to buy a videocard card that is AGP8x since you will get the most out of it. Dont let that memory thing you are talking about confuse you just stick to the AGP rating. Going to the brand name i would get something that has dencent warranty like 3 years or lifetime, also i would recomend getting a larger brand name like here are some examples Asus, Visiontek, MSI, Aopen, Leadtek, Abit... there are also others but if they are small then you cant be too sure on the warantee as some of thease companies go under and so on, even some of the bigger ones have trouble. I myself have an Asus in one computer and a Visiontek in the other. O another thing is check and see if u are getting a BOX model what it comes with like games, cables and so on. For example the Asus box model that i have came with like 4 games, tvcables and some other stuff. The Visiontek BOX model came with no cables, and dvd player software, but then again Visiontek has lifetime warantee so i cant complain.

[Wiggo]

Ok I've just done a walkabout and have turned up nothin' concrete yet but I'm almost positive that the A7V8X is both X4 and X8 AGP 3.0 1.5V compliant but someone else may confirm/deny this before I find something concrete myself. ;)

Asus though have had enough time now to get that new format of their website right and start puttin' up some FAQ's for their newer products.
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[mystryd]

Thank you guys for the advices. It really clear up alot of questions. I look at some online distributors, some of them indicate the year of warranty and some don't such as googlgear and newegg. Googlegear shows the year of warranty but many are 1 year warranty. Newegg doesn't show the year of warranty but they include games and cables. It's very complicate to look for a good video card with a good deal. Here are my two choices, can anyone give opinion for these two cards?

Abit GeForce 4 TI4200-8X 128MB OTES TV/DVI

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=14-123-120

MSI GeForce 4 Ti4400-VTD

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/vga/vga_detail.asp?model=G4Ti4400-VTD

thanks everyone

[Wiggo]

I'm not sure about where you are but here I find the Leadtek range of cards have a very good price/performance plus an excellent software bundle (maybe why I use them in 90% of the systems that I build). ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[mystryd]

Well Wiggo, to me I think softwares and demo games bundle is not as important as warranty. I already have WinDVD software and many other games and demo games are not that great. thanks though :)

[Wiggo]

n/p's as it was only a suggestion as I wasn't sure how ya stood w/ software but I deal with a lot of first timers so they can do w/ the software plus it's probably just habit for me now to point things like that out (plus ya never know who may gain from readin' that bit of useless info). : peace2:

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[mystryd]

I currently have Athlon 2400+ and 512 ddr ram (two 256), do you think I will able to get the max ability of 128MB video card if I am going to purchase one? I did a brench mark test by using 3DMark2001 SE and got 2575 with the current Abit GeForce 2 T400 64MB.

[Wiggo]

Well either card will certainly do that and then some more whether they be 64MB or 128MB though the later would be a little more future proof and the 8x AGP more so but atm I'm inclined to checkout the R9500P as it has both these features plus DX9 support which makes it even more future proof. It should be priced in about the same price range plus some very good results are now startin' to show up on them. :devil win

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:cheers:</center>

[mystryd]

Thanks Wiggo for another great reply. I saw the image that you posted on other thread, and my naked eyes left out Radeon 9500 Pro. Until you mention again and I saw it. :D After some searching, read some reviews, the Radeon 9500 Pro does come with better performance than G4 Ti4200. The price is only couple dollars more than the abit ti4200 128. Oh ya, when I read the reviews, I saw some mention "AA" and "AF" something like that, what is that? Oh yeah, also thank you for the quick reply Wiggo! :thumb:

[RDR]

AA=Antialiasing
AF=Ansiotropic filtering

simple explanation:
they make your picture look better/smoother at a given resolution
but reduce your framerates by varying amounts

[mystryd]

Thanks RDR for the definations. Man, it is really suck that I can't use the Radeon 9500 pro because I'm using win98SE and it's not supporting that window. :mad: I got another system with winxp on it but does not have a AGP slot and it's only P3 1GHz. Well, I don't know what to do anymore. :confused: I'm not so sure that I will give up win98 and some extra bucks for better video card. I tweak this baby to its top perfomance and barely see the dead blue screen anymore.

[RDR]

Thanks RDR for the definations. Man, it is really suck that I can't use the Radeon 9500 pro because I'm using win98SE and it's not supporting that window. :mad: I got another system with winxp on it but does not have a AGP slot and it's only P3 1GHz. Well, I don't know what to do anymore. :confused: I'm not so sure that I will give up win98 and some extra bucks for better video card. I tweak this baby to its top perfomance and barely see the dead blue screen anymore.

the 9500Pro doesn't work w/Win98SE???
that's news to me - where did you read that?

[Wiggo]

I've used R9K's w/ SE and have had no probs at all. ;)

Also don't sell SE short. :devil:

[mystryd]

Actually win98 is not under the support OS.

here is the link http://www.ati.com/products/pc/radeon9500pro/specs.html
Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.