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Hurm... wait for Ti4200 or grab the Gainward 450?

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Gainward
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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February 6, 2002 7:16:32 PM

After struggling along with my mighty GF2MX, I've finally decided to make an upgrade. Woot!

Unfortunately, I am Torn. I've been wanting to upgrade for months now, and purposely waited until now to see the GF4 announcements. And now that I've seen 'em...

...I'm still torn.

I could pay $150 right now and have a spankin' new Gainward/CardExpert Ti/450 which overclocks to GF3Ti500 speeds in my system tomorrow, and enjoy those speeds for some time. I don't really stress my system hard--only recently is the GF2MX showing its age. I'm afraid the game which really stresses it these days is--and I'm aghast that I play it, because it's terrible--Everquest.

OR, I could wait 8 weeks and hope for someone to put out a Ti4200 in a reasonable time frame (probably will take longer than 8 weeks). It will cost at least $50 more, depending. It only appears that I'll get a widgie bit more speed than the overclocked Gainward, and 64M of extra memory.

Given that the next "revolutionary" chipset from NVidia isn't for another six months, and that games now still don't take advantage of GF3 capabilities, is the extra speed offered by the 4200 going to really give it that much more performance and longevity such that two more months and $50 more is going to be worth it, or should I just go with the proven winner in multiple reviews and hork the Gainward?

(...and is there ANY reason to get the 128-meg version? Tom's Hardware's review showed NO difference in performance for many current games, and despite EQ's heavy reliance on tons of annoying textures, I'm not sure it'd be any different...).

-->Stitch

More about : hurm wait ti4200 grab gainward 450

February 6, 2002 7:26:22 PM

Can't be arsed to say much.. But basically I think a patient man will always prevail !

I would go for the next generation 4200, as price predictions show it to be quite reasonable, and it outperforms the Ti500 which you want to overclock too !

Tim

I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me... You can call me Al
February 6, 2002 7:27:05 PM

If you intend to keep it for a few years then yes that two week wait is gonna pay off. As well as the 128MB of memory. If your gonna replace it in a few months it's probably not worth the wait/cash.

I AM Canadian
February 6, 2002 7:32:11 PM

I'd wait 'til March at least when ATI hints the Radeon 8500 LE 128MB will reach Ti4200 to Ti4400 performance.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 6, 2002 9:13:14 PM

yeah i'd wait and see what ATI is going to do in the imidiate future. Prices should be tumbling in the next month or so.

<font color=purple> "After great thought, things are always bought from the lowest bider"</font color=purple>
February 7, 2002 12:41:05 AM

Thanks for the great inputs, actually. Your thoughts echo mine for the most part.

Having said that, I'm about to go ahead and order the Ti200 (grin)... here's my rationale, so that you can point and laugh:

First: I'm just sorta primed to get a card anyway, since I've been delaying this purchase for about 2-3 months and the idea of waiting two more didn't thrill me.

So I went and looked at the benchmarks on Tom's Hardware's review and started comparing performance-vs-price. The Gainward card is reported in several reviews to reach Ti500 performance or higher reliably. So if we use Ti500 performance at $150 vs Ti4200 performance at 200, we get the following results at 1280x1024 resolution (I'm not likely to use 1600x1200):

Giants--
Ti/450 : 0.38 fps/$
Ti4200 : 0.285 fps/$

Max Payne:
Ti/450 : 0.40 fps/$
Ti4200 : 0.3275 fps/$

Aquanox:
Ti/450 : 0.249 fps/$
Ti4200 : 0.2065 fps/$

Now: I realize this is a fundamentally flawed comparison, because the Ti4200 is probably at least somewhat overclockable out of the box--but since shipping parts are several months away, I can only compare the "stock" 4200 specs (and price) vs the "tested" gainward GF3 Ti/450 specs
(and price). But unless I just want the extra speed, speed, speed, the "cost-per-fps" of the Ti4200 is only about 80% of the gainward card.

Besides, it gives me a totally fictitious justification for buying a new toy now, now, now! (heh).

(On a less facetious note, I'd just as soon enjoy the higher speeds for now and do another low-level upgrade with the NV30, since it SHOULD be a good deal more "revolutionary"--besides, I have two systems at home, so this upgrade replaces my wife's TNT with the GF2MX, and the NV30 upgrade will give her the Ti/450 in about a year, which will work OK...).

(oh, and why NVidia over ATI? I just like their Linux support better, pretty much).

-->Stitch
February 7, 2002 12:45:18 AM

If you wait for the Radeon 8500 to reach Geforce4 Ti performance, you will be waiting a LLLOOONNNNGGGGG time.
!