Upgrading from a TI4600 to ?

[Wrathchild]

Hey Kids,

I'm building a new box and have 200 bucks left over to upgrade my video card. I'd like a 256 meg card. Based on budget and my expectation that spending 200 bucks on a video card will give me something of a performance boost over my perfectly respectable GeForce 4 TI4600, what are your thoughts? Nest the 200 till I can afford something,.. say in the 300 range? Or can I buy something like say a GeForce FX 5600 and get 200 bucks worth of an increase in performance?

-Wr@th

 

[Petros]

Nest the $200. I have been in contact with a hardware wholesaler who says that Radeon 9700s and 9800 are dropping really soon (around a month or so). I'll await Sazar's comment on 256 MB cards over 128MB (waste of money!) He is the expert on those things.

A GF FX 5600 wouldn't be a big step over what you have now.

Here's some video card prices eh.

And you can get a Radeon 9800 non-pro for $239.

 

[Taurus]

you have a 4600 and want to upgrade for $200-$300?? a 4600 costs about $200 right now. keep your card.

 

[Bootsy]

yea just keep your card, its not wirth upgrading now...I would wait.

 

[Wrathchild]

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking about buying a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra, which I can get for around 150. I just assumed that because it was the "Next Generation" of Nvidia GPUs that it would be a significant upgrade. I guess I'll stick with the 4600 for a while longer.

=Wr@th

 

[Bootsy]

you have to be careful with the 5600 Ultra because gainward made a 5600 (non-ultra) and named it ultra. I was looking to replace my 4200 4x for one but the cheapest I found a REAL ultra was like 170.

 

[LeeJend]

For dx8 based games you won't be upgrading the 4600. The real advantages to the new card$ is in DX9 applications which won't be out for months, years???

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by LeeJend
For dx8 based games you won't be upgrading the 4600. The real advantages to the new card$ is in DX9 applications which won't be out for months, years???

agreed..



besides as it stands you are not going to see a big performance boost with the 256mb ram unless u get a higher end card..

the 4600/5600 performance in non-AA/AF scenario's and <dx9 areas is quite close... no need to upgrade...

save the $200 and tack on a bit to it later on and invest in a better card by years end/early next year when dx9 games or games with specialised shaders start coming out... and you need that extra oomph...

 

[Genius_overide]

There is no way I would upgrade to a 5600ultra from a ti4600, If some one cave me a choice of a ti4600 or the 5600ultra I would take the ti4600 hands down, I sell graphics cards all day long and play m of honor when the shop isnt so busy and I allways thought the ti4600 played better than the 5600ulrta in most games I play, at the moment I wouldn't rush out and get a dx9 card as it is no biggey at the moment in my opinion but everyone has there own opinions but to upgrade from a ti4600 you should be looking towards a 9800pro or just hold out till the 9900pro arives as if cards get any better there will be people jumping out the screen and shoting us lol no I would save and waite for the 9900pro or the new fx whatever you fancy.

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by Genius_overide
There is no way I would upgrade to a 5600ultra from a ti4600, If some one cave me a choice of a ti4600 or the 5600ultra I would take the ti4600 hands down, I sell graphics cards all day long and play m of honor when the shop isnt so busy and I allways thought the ti4600 played better than the 5600ulrta in most games I play, at the moment I wouldn't rush out and get a dx9 card as it is no biggey at the moment in my opinion but everyone has there own opinions but to upgrade from a ti4600 you should be looking towards a 9800pro or just hold out till the 9900pro arives as if cards get any better there will be people jumping out the screen and shoting us lol no I would save and waite for the 9900pro or the new fx whatever you fancy.

true enough...

the 4600 handles everything thrown at it @ the moment... perhaps not quite as well as some others on the market... but well enough...

 

[Bootsy]

well put Genius

 

[Wrathchild]

In Closing...

Thanks for the advice. I've just sold my TI4600 for a hundred bucks to a fellow NTFS'er and bought a Radeon 9800 Ultra for 300 bones off of Ebay. So, 200 bucks, out of pocket. For the 200 bucks I'm getting an increase from 4x to 8x AGP, and the addition of directX 9 support, which will be more relevant in the coming months. I'm also getting, what I expect will be a noticible increase in FPS. It seems like a good fit with the new Mobo/Processor/RAM I just upgraded to. (see sig) This is my first non-Nvidia purchase in over 3 years. Based on what I've read, and the advice I've been given here, I think I made a reasonably informed decision.

Thanks Again!


-Wr@th

 

[canadian_divx]

nice choice for a card, just one thing that i am woundering about. how many FPS do you need??? is 30 not enough?

 

[Wrathchild]

fps

30 is a bit choppy when you're playing online. I preffer to be in the 85 to 100 range. I run at 1024 x 768 x 32 @ 120Hz, so my monitor gan give me evey frame the card can deliver.

-Wr@th

 

[Khaled]

What about GeForce 4200Ti, is it good, can it handle most the games?

 

[Wrathchild]

A TI4200 is fine, as long as you have a decent processor and 512 Megs of RAM, for most current games. I'm preparing for games like Doom III, which will not run well at all on a TI4200. My demo machine (I demo Creative Labs products part-time for xtra cash and free hardware) has a TI4200 in it and it runs UT2003, Enter the Matrix, BF1942 etc just fine.

-Wr@th

 

[Taurus]

Originally posted by canadian_divx
nice choice for a card, just one thing that i am woundering about. how many FPS do you need??? is 30 not enough?

not this argument again!

Originally posted by Khaled
What about GeForce 4200Ti, is it good, can it handle most the games?

the ti4200 offers just about the best performance-per-dollar ratio. a decent card at a great price.