Which card for Pentium 3 450Mhz?

[z3g0]

Hi everyone,
I'm planning to buy a new 3D card for my P3 450mhz (yes I know I have slow pc, but I'm planning to buy a new one within a few months)
What's the best card I can buy at the moment?
I was planning to buy a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 ,
Is this a good choice?

 

[Skipper007]

Given your CPU, I'd say it's overkill. My friend got a Geforce 4 TI4200 for his Athlon 1GHZ and when he told me his JK2 frame rates I concluded that his computer is probably CPU limited.

I don't know what you current motherboard support, but I'd recommend going with say a Geforce 3 Ti200 and a CPU upgrade. Anyone here know anything about upgrading early P3s?

 

[z3g0]

Yes maybe it's a bit overkill for this CPU ,
But I'm planning to use this card for the pc I'm going to buy within a few months

 

[halfpiint]

I'm not saying don't upgrade, but, In defense of the Pentium 3 ... my home built P3; 500mhz 256ram, runs 2x faster then my Dell 8200 dimension Pentium 4 1.7ghz 786RDDram . Go figure!!

 

[Ghostdog]

I would say choose your card based on what you will be upgrading your overall system to. If you have the money and are getting a P4 2.3 ghz/Athlon XP 2200+ for the new PC, get a radeon 9700Pro. If you´re planing on a cheaper system get one of the GF4 cards.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[OLDSKOOL]

Halfpint Says:
I'm not saying don't upgrade, but, In defense of the Pentium 3 ... my home built P3; 500mhz 256ram, runs 2x faster then my Dell 8200 dimension Pentium 4 1.7ghz 786RDDram . Go figure!!






Think something is seriously wrong with ur Dell matey!!!!!!

 

[halfpiint]

I totally agree, but, Dell doesn't think so!

 

[OLDSKOOL]

Btw halfpint how exactly do u mean x2 faster??
Which test u using..?
3D MK or Sys mk.. etc?

Got me kinda curious now

 

[halfpiint]

not very scientific! sorry.

I share a monitor between the 2 computers, so I compared how long it took to open files; and do my work in general.
Even though it was evident the old computer was faster, it was hard to pin point how much faster. soooo, since both computers had the same speed cd burners I did a race!

Using the same files copied to both computers. My old computer took almost half the time to burn the same cd. Does that count?

You listed a couple of testers, is there a way I can really test them to get specific results? I'm real tired of the run around I get from Dell.

 

[balzi]

halfpint,

I've gotta give you this - that is the craziest bench-mark I've ever heard of... and it's made 10 times funnier by the fact that you appear to be completely serious.

I think you can grab 3Dmark2001SE and PCMark2002 of the madonion site (try www.madonion.com but I'm not sure)

It may be that your P3 is NOT 2x faster than the P4, but maybe it can burn CDs quicker.. I doubt that this is even closely related to CPU speed and power.

Sorry, to burst your bubble dude..

Oh, and lastly, I really hope you're not joking cause I hate explaining to someone who's pullin' my leg.

Balzi

"Hand me that 600 foot factory chimney in the corner.." - "No, no, it's my last one!!!"

 

[halfpiint]

I'm completely serious! lol!!

so what would explain it burning the cd so much faster? or why it opens files or opens windows explorer or anything so much faster?

I guess I should be asking a better question. Why my Dell 8200 Dimension 1.7ghz runs sooooo slow? Not that knowing the answer would make any difference, Dell is immune to customer's problems.

thx for the link.
dudette, halfpiint

 

[rubikian]

Try enabling the DMA tranfer mode for both your HDD and your CD writer. It could be off that makes the transfer rate slow. Also probably that your mobo has the ECC on. ECC can slow down your PC performance but more reliable data...

 

[OLDSKOOL]

If i was u halfpint i would stick around tomshardware forums and read up on his reviews etc..

Its instresting and has some very vaulable information..plus people actually answer u in this forum LOL

 

[chuck232]

Hmm. topic seems to have gotten off a bit :lol: . The R9700 Pro has some probs, I'd wait another month for it.(although I was contemplating whether to get it, cause it <b>is</b> the fastest ) You may wanna tell us your future comp's specs.

...And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put my computer back together again...

 

[Ghostdog]

Try de-fragmenting your hard-drive(s). I usually feel the difference after a de-fragment, at least when opening files and stuff like that.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[halfpiint]

@ OLDSKOOL: Glad you got a laugh! I thought the race was a pretty cool idea! I will try your link or ask around for a real benchmark and see what I come up with. and yes I will stick around and read Tom's reviews, but not sure I'll understand them all.

@Boot; defragging's a great idea, I do it every week, but I think it's just the Dell! Their tech support is no help! With a few exceptions, I know more than the tech support guys at Dell and that's scarey, cause I know nothing!
@everybody else. I too am interested in a graphic card and a video capture card, just not the combo anymore, unless you think the combo is a better working arrangement. I've gone from an ATI All In Wonder Pro 8mb video ram to an ATI Rage Pro AGP 4X [not sure the Video Ram] It's just too flippin expensive to replace the combo every time I want to upgrade the video ram. Hope that makes sense

 

[z3g0]

Just wanted to say that I've just bought the MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 and it works on my pc without any problems