Meta03 on 3/9/2002 at 14:53
I am seriously considering buying a new video card this month. I have decided on a GeForce, but there are so many. The games I play are Morrowind, Thief and anything similar. Could anyone give me some advice, please?
Sinister Handed on 3/9/2002 at 17:39
I would probably go with the Geforce4 Ti 4200.
You should be able to find it around $200.
If you have to have the top of the line and money is no object, however, then go with the Ti 4600. It'll run you about $400.
I bought the 4600 a few months ago and it's blazing fast, but I only got it because the 4200 wasn't out at the time. The 4200 has all the features of the 4600 with a slightly lower clock speed. You can't beat the 4200 in terms of price/performance.
Check out the benchmarks at (
http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020409/index.html) Tom's Hardware
You could also go with the much cheaper Geforce Mx models, but they lack all the nifty little features that a lot of the up and coming games are going to be utilizing (like the pretty fater in Morrowind).
ACT SMILEY on 3/9/2002 at 17:45
Don't count ATi out of it - they do great cards and are improving at the driver side. Better not to have brand loyalties, then you can just get the best one.
You havent added your budget, so:
High end:
ATi Radeon 9700. Fastest thing around, but new, so expensive and possibly hard to get.
nVidia Geforce 4Ti4600. Cheaper than a 9700, but not as good value or as fast.
Midrange:
nVidia Geforce 4Ti4400. Good price and performance.
nVidia Geforce 4Ti4200. Excellent price and good performance, this is probably your best bet.
ATi Radeon 9000 / 8500. Roughly similar in performance and price, they're quick and not too expensive - good if you can't quite stretch to a Geforce 4Ti, but otherwise the Ti4200 is a better option.
Low end:
Geforce 3Ti200. At under £70+VAT for a DX8 card, you can't go wrong.
Avoid the Geforce 4MX. Its as expensive as a Geforce 3, but performs a fair bit worse and doesn't have the Pixel shaders (used for MW's water effects and features in some other newer games)
Sinister Handed on 3/9/2002 at 18:03
Actually the Radeon 9700 is retailing for the same price as the Ti4600, so definitely look into that as an alternative if you're going for the top of the line stuff. It comes out around the 19th or 20th of this month.
ACT SMILEY on 4/9/2002 at 16:10
Unless you order direct and pay more, which is why the GF4Ti4600 is cheaper right now (unless ATi's site makes less sense than that and is talking about preorders when it says Buy Now.)
