Advice needed.

[Gigglesby]

First of all, I'm new here, it's good to be aboard, despite not being a real smarty pants tech guy. I'm pretty nice, and I help out when I can.

Now, on to real matters, can I get some assistance with video card selection?

I used to be an avid PC gamer, but I quit for some odd reason a little while back. My PC was quite shiny, and good stuff...when I finished working on it three years ago!

Anyhow, I'd like to play Final Fantasy XI for the PC.

My current specs are

P3 1.1ghz, 384 PC133 RAM, Geforce 2 GTS (overclocked to 240/360)

Now, I'm not looking to melt the game. I'd simply like to run it quickly. I'm not really keen on a full system upgrade until I grab the extra dough next year, money's tight now, but with gaming, it's mostly about the video card.

For those also interested in said title. I scored a 2215 on the Benchmark.

(http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/benchmark.html)

Which works for me, since I'd like to play on my television screen through video out.

But, I'm still partly too much of a nerd just to let it go, I'd like to upgrade my card, to get that extra "oomph" out of the game. And run it smoother.

So, here's (finally, I know you're saying) my question.

I have a smallish budget (130 bucks or so) and I am looking to buy a card at the end of the month.

Now, everyone tells me to get the Radeon 9600 Pro. A quality site (checked resellerratings) on Price Watch sells one for $135, shipped.

Now this seems good to me, but I'd also like your opinions. I'm looking for a speedy PREFORMANCE card, image quality, FSAA and filtering are not chief concerns of mine.

Are there any other cards you could suggest? And with the new announcement of the XT cards, should I wait for a price drop? How would the 9600 XT effect the price of the standard 9600 PRO.

Anyhow, thanks for reading my lengthy, long winded post.

 

[ufo_warviper]

If image quality AF, & FSAA aren't your main concerns, then go buy a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64MB.

You can find the MSI one for $80 or less here:
<A HREF="http://www.gameve.com" target="_new">http://www.gameve.com</A>

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious says UFO speaks the truth!
A TI4200 is a very respectable performance boost for a low price. Getting a more powerful card is not recommended as you will increasingly become CPU limited!

<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!</font color=red></b>

 

[Gigglesby]

Thanks much Captain Obvious, how I did not see the sheer obvious...ness of your reply was baffling.

But yes, I will have to think it over. I will be building a new rig next year, and transfering said card into that (I don't need a BLAZING fast card, just good enough to run stuff, I never use AS Filtering/ FSAA, and I run low res). And also, every little bit of power will likely help, PC limitations or not.

So, for those reasons, I am still mulling over a Radeon 9600 Pro (non-XT) when the XT comes out, do you think the price on that card will drop a chunk lower than it already is...? And also, how will that effect the Nvidia prices, oh great guru's of video cards.

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious admits that yes A R9600Pro would also be a good choice should a full system upgrade be planned in the future!
A Sapphire or Gigabyte R9600Pro 128Mb Card comes Captain Obvious Recommended!

<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!</font color=red></b>

 

[coolsquirtle]

i doubt the Ti4200 will drop any lower........ Here's an idea

Athlon 2500+
1Gb PC2700 ram
GeForce4 Ti4200-8x

scored 4100 on the first benchmark and 3xxx in the second benchmark all at high resolution without AA nor AF(i doubt u'll be using that for an online game)

RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5950ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
waiting for aBox~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[RCPilot]

Captain Obvious Recommended!

Now that's Obviously a real stamp of approval for sure!!!

Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

 

[ufo_warviper]

A 9600 Pro is more "futureproof" but it is not distinctly faster than a Ti4200. Performancewise they are pretty much neck & neck.

People who buy a 9600 Pro over a Ti4200 get the following items:
1. Similar performance on regular type rendering settings to a Ti4200.

2. Better FSAA performance (if enabled)

3. Better Ansiotropic Filtering Performance (if enabled)

4. Full DirectX 9 compatibility and image quality features in the new Pixel Shader & Vetex Shader 2.0 units.

Since you don't use AF or FSAA you can knock out Point 2 or 3 immmediately.

On point 4, its basically an image quality related. DX9 games will be able to support DX6 & DX7 cards (albeit reduced settings)

Since image quality is not that big of a priority for you in particular, you can knowck out point 4.

So we are left with point 1 that THe 9600 Pro will perform simililarly on games as long as FSAA and AF are NOT enabled and you use the DirectX8 fallback mode in your DX9 games, (which isn't too shabby at all BTW)

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Gigglesby]

Thanks cool. Yeah. I didn't truly think it would.

But if the 9600 drops due to the fancy XT, which a lot of folks seem interested in, how do you think that will affect current 9600 Pro prices.

Wish I wasn't in such awful money trouble right now, but bah, entertainment comes first!

 

[Gigglesby]

Oooh, thanks for the update. I used to be on top of things, but now I am dumb! Stupid speedy computer industry!

Any other reccomendations? Such as the Ti4600, and 4800?

I heard the FX line was iffy all around...

 

[ufo_warviper]

Do you think I still "baffle them with BS"?

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious says yes, that will happen!
When the 9800XT and 9600XT arrive the prices of existing models should drop a little or eventually fade from the product linup if they are discontinued!

<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!</font color=red></b>

 

[RCPilot]

Your doing ok for the most part.

Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!