cj7816 Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 Here's my system: AMD Tbird 1.3ghz 512mb ram Windows 98se GeForce2 mx 32 MX pretty much stink so I need to get a new card. Anybody have any recommendations? Basically, I want some serious band for not-too-much buck. My framerates have been dropping to 15fps in intense firefights and large areas. I really want to be able to keep a minimum above 30fps, at least. Here's what I'm looking at ... the prices I listed are from Best Buy: Xtasy GF3 Ti 200 64mb $179 (plus $30 rebate) Xtasy GF3 Ti 500 64mb $316 Xtasy GF4 Ti 4600 128mb $399 (a little out of my price range) Xtasy GF4 Ti 4400 128mb $299 ATI Radion 8500 128mb $299 ATI Radion 8500LE 128mb $199 (I have no idea what "LE" is) ATI Radion 7500 64mb $149 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doppler Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 Can you shop online? BestBuy prices compared to online prices will make your jaw drop (http://www.pricewatch.com). But you say the Ti4600 is out of your price range. How about the TI4400? Coming off the GF2 MX, I'd skip the GF3 series and aim for the Ti4400 or wait for the Ti4200 to come out here shortly (Roughly $199). Both can be overclocked well and give you close to the numbers of a stock Ti4600. The ATI cards have a devoted following, but it always seems there are more game related issues (not just JK2) with the Radeon. I also understand that in the past driver updates were not as common as Nvdia, leaked or official. This might be changing. Ti4200 Preview link :atat: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC - Exar Kun Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 One of the biggest problems with ANY video card now is the drivers.... To be TRUTHFULL ATI has had the most reliable overall video cards with compatability for Open GL based games (Which is pretty much any newer game around ) ( TOO BAD 3dfx IS GONE) F U NVIDIA ! Your best bet would be the ATI Radeon 8500 LE at $199 The LE is only there because it does not have the DVI adapter for Flat Panel Monitors but still has the S-Video Out You can get it cheaper online if you have a CC or Checkcard etc... HC-Exar-Kun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landflyer Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 I have to buy a graphics card in order to play this game and I was wondering if a GeForce4 MX440 would work for this game. Some help pls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC - Exar Kun Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 Yes it will... You'll want to look through this forum and look for errors with Geforce chipsets though...... Find any problems that may affect you due to system specs and fix them immediately after you play the game the first time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landflyer Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 Thanks Exar...but to be honest, I'm not a very technical guy So any kind of help I can get regarding these things are welcomed Is there a thread in here that deals with this topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 5, 2002 Author Share Posted April 5, 2002 Landflyer, don't be to hasty to go out and buy a GF4mx440. That's what I did ... that's why I'm looking for a new one. I already had a GF2mx and the GF4mx shows almost NO improvement in gameplay for JO. You might as well save yourself some money and buy a GF2. No... I take that back. You should get a GF4mx440! I'd be thrilled to sell you MINE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 6, 2002 Author Share Posted April 6, 2002 I found this card... should I buy it? It sounds like a great deal to me: Cheap Guy Computers... Gainward GeForce4 Ti4600 PowerPack $160 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcAngyl Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 Me personally I have a GeForce3 and everything runs just peachy on it. I have read some reviews on the Geforce4 MX and the overall consensus is that it would be a downgrade for anyone with a Geforce3 card. Although the Ti's are very well worth the chips. In a time where video cards are rapidly upgrading, one fact at least that I see, most games that are coming out are only really being tested on the mid-range cards due to the fact that most people can't afford the newest ,biggest and baddest. If these companies can't develop a game that runs that avenue your not going to get that many sales. And as far as the radeon cards i don't have any experience with them but I hear that they are just as good if not better in benchmark testing with AMD processors. I run this game at 1200x1600 Have 512 RDRAM P4 1.8 GHZ GeForce3 Just my opionion but I would hold out and visit http://www.pricewatch .com and get ya a geforce 3. And you can still compete with the pack at a decent price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 6, 2002 Author Share Posted April 6, 2002 What framerates do you get, ArcAngyl? (Lowest and highest) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landflyer Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 GeForce3 Titanium 200 64MB DDR ....what if I get that one? Would it be worth it or will I have to get a new graphics card after a year? I wished my pc wasn't such a P.O.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 6, 2002 Author Share Posted April 6, 2002 Well, I just bought a GeForce3 Ti 200 ... it doesn't run any better on JO than my GeForce2 mx. I don't get it. I'm about ready to give up on this performance thing and move on with my life (and the game). I think I'm going to take the GF3 back to Best Buy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayuseks Posted April 7, 2002 Share Posted April 7, 2002 I just bought a Gainward GeForce 3 Ti200 and over clocked it to the Ti500 specs. It's smooth as can be and for $140, you can't go wrong. Check out http://www.nutrend.com or http://www.newegg.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC - Exar Kun Posted April 7, 2002 Share Posted April 7, 2002 As an overall right now the Geforce 3 Ti cards and the ATI Radeon 8500 series card have had the least amount of problems.... I'll have to give nvidia some credit for the GF3 Ti's... As they do perform very good.. But for the same price ( or less if you look hard ) you can get the faster overall Radeon 8500LE That also has DOUBLE memory For those of you wondering the only difference between the Radeon 8500 and the 8500 LE is this, The LE does not have the DVI output for Flat Panel Displays.... Besides that... ATI's newer drivers are Actually stable 90% of the time... Nvidia's are NOT...... Theres a MAJOR factor in choosing your card...... DO YOU WANT TO CONSTANTLY UPGRADE YOUR DRIVERS ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john6370 Posted April 7, 2002 Share Posted April 7, 2002 Don't get a new video card just yet... Your card is not the problem with the slow FPS.....in fact a jump to a geforce 3 or 4 will not give you that much more frame per second then your old nvidia geforce 2mx.(how do i know...because i tried and i seen no differance in proformance...) This is because this game does not take full advantage for the new fetures that the geforce 3-4 cards have to offer...i would just hang on to your card for now.... this is what i did I have a geforce 2mx 400 64 megs ram and i went to a geforce4 ti with ddr ram and i thought it would fix my fps problem for this game and it did not...I still am running around 30-40fps witth everything truned on and when i am outside it still droups alot to around 12-20 fps.... this has to do with poor programing not poor graphic card...so i ended up taking it back and kept with my geforce mx 400....I will stick with it for now the only advantages of having a ti/gts over a mx is for the extra direct x stuff that no games are using now...but if you want to score high on 3dmark 2001 go for it...but it is not worth it...so just stick with what you have for now and hold off until games start coming out that take advantage of the extra stuff... ps... IT IS NOT YOUR CARD IT IS POOR PROGRAMING....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunClown Posted April 7, 2002 Share Posted April 7, 2002 For those of you wondering the only difference between the Radeon 8500 and the 8500 LE is this, The LE does not have the DVI output for Flat Panel Displays.... Actually, the LE is also clocked at 250/250 some are also clocked at 230/230 so be aware you know which clockrate you are getting. The retail Radeon 8500 (NOT LE) is clocked at 275/275 so it is a bit faster. If you don't want to go with ATI I would recommend the fastest Nvidia you could get with what ever you want to spend. But if you want to go with ATI they have better fsaa image quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landflyer Posted April 7, 2002 Share Posted April 7, 2002 Ok ok....So one final question GeForce3 Titanium 200 64MB = $270.00 ATI RADEON 8500 LE 64MB = $338.00 Which is the better deal in terms of longevity and performance? I'm not an American and these prices are in my local currency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 7, 2002 Author Share Posted April 7, 2002 Originally posted by john6370 I have a geforce 2mx 400 64 megs ram and i went to a geforce4 ti with ddr ram and i thought it would fix my fps problem for this game and it did not...I still am running around 30-40fps witth everything truned on and when i am outside it still droups alot to around 12-20 fps.... this has to do with poor programing not poor graphic card...so i ended up taking it back and kept with my geforce mx 400....I will stick with it for now the only advantages of having a ti/gts over a mx is for the extra direct x stuff that no games are using now...but if you want to score high on 3dmark 2001 go for it...but it is not worth it...so just stick with what you have for now and hold off until games start coming out that take advantage of the extra stuff... ps... IT IS NOT YOUR CARD IT IS POOR PROGRAMING....... Then how come some people are getting awesome framerates with a GF3? Are you sure that it's the programming? I'm beginning to think that I'm bottlenecking somewhere else. I'm wondering if my AGP slot is set to 1x or 2x. I've been looking at documents about setting up your AGP slot BIOS settings. However, I can't find these settings in BIOS setup. Do you think I need to flash my BIOS? Do you know what your AGP is set to? What about nVidia tweakers? ... I know that those have AGP settings in them. I've been trying to get NVMax but their server is down or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyMJH Posted April 8, 2002 Share Posted April 8, 2002 Odd. I have a GeForce 2 mx400 and the game runs from 40-90 fps, depending on the scene. Though it might just be because I overclock it, though not much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 8, 2002 Author Share Posted April 8, 2002 I just figured out the problem that I have been having. I didn't have the propper AGP drivers installed so I wasn't going up to 4x! I feel like a moron! I got a pretty good performance improvement but now I need to teaker. Anybody know where I can get one? I tried nvmax.com but their server is down or something. Everybody, make sure that you have the correct and updated AGP drivers for your motherboard. Make sure your AGP is set to 4x. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7816 Posted April 8, 2002 Author Share Posted April 8, 2002 Does anybody know how to check what bandwidth mode your AGP is in? I think mine might be stuck in 2x. (Not that I'm not satisfied with my performance - now my gf3ti is butter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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