New Gfx card required

[TheGreystar]

OK, I have been shamed into looking about for a decent Gfx card, and I'm prepared to spend £80-£100 on the thing... but would rather have some change, if possible :D

I've got an Epox 8KHA 266DDR Mobo, running a 1 Gig Athlon, which is probably gonna get upgraded to a 1.4/1.8 shortly...
I'm running a 1xAGP with 16MB RAM, and Mobile Forces etc. looks nasty (surprise!!), to the point I've resigned myself I'm gonna have to splash the cash.

Is it worth me getting a new card, or buttering up someone and swiping their's after subsidising their upgrade :cunning:

What sort of kit am I looking at for @£100 - and does it need to be in synch with my Mobo (i.e. overclocked together???) I'm not a big hardware person (I can fit it, tweak it, but I wouldn't know a decent card from a lame one if you beat me unconcious with it)

Thx

G* :borg:

[Fireblade]

Personally 'G'... I'd spend slightly more and get a far better card. I'm thinkin' along the lines o' these...

Retail 128mb Radeon 9000 PRO (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=25995&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl) (a new card at a good price :D)
Retail 64mb Gainward Ti4200 (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=23325&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl) (got one meself ;) )

but for a card within your budget... with change t' spare (:D), consider a Retail 64MB Gainward MX460 PRO/650TV 'Golden Sample' (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=25822&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl) (loadsa features :thumbsup: )

Just MHO of course... others will have different ideas I'm sure ;)

[mackerel]

Personally I wouldn't go for a GF4 MX unless budget was seriously limited. I think they would be too future limited in support and speed, particularly with ATI leading the way in features even on budget models. So I'd suggest either the Radeon 9000 series or better, or GF4 Ti4x00 series.

If you go the GF4 route, ebuyer do a 128 MB one for 122 quid (www.ebuyer.com quick find code 35480).

[Fireblade]

I agree wi ye Mackeral... I'd have a Ti4200 meself long before the MX :p but now that the new Radeons are out (and kickin' a$$ by all accounts :D), I reckon I'd have the 9000 PRO ahead of even a Ti4200 now :thumbsup:

But TheGreystar is more concerned on price by the looks o' things... which is the only reason I added an MX in there ;)

[TheGreystar]

Hmmn, much to ponder over.

I have a nice 17" Monitor@home, and have been slowly upgrading the PC bit by Bit - the Gfx are always gonna be a more expensive bit 'o kit than most of the rest of the components.

What's the basic difference between the Radeon and GF4?? They look pretty similar in spec/price, give or take a fiver...

Thx for your advice guys...

G*

[Randell]

The Gf4Ti4200 is more powerful than the Radeon9000Pro.



For under £100 the Radeon 9000Pro is the card to get
For over £100 it's the Gf4Ti4200
For over £200, approaching £300 it's the Radeon9700.

Here's a pretty good review;

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1655

[Squeaky]

to be honest G* I think the choice is a simple one, a 64mb Ti4200 can be purchased here for about £100+vat if you look around. The Rad9000s are supposed to compete with the Mx range (I personally avoid anything with MX in its title LOL).. if you want to push the price margin a little a 128mb version of the ti4200 can be found for under 150 squid (inc vat)...we dont get the killer deals our transatlantic friends do, but for £100 you cant knock a GF4 Ti4200 card!

[Fireblade]

having hunted around... the best prices I've found are:

Retail 64mb Gainward Ti4200 £115 incl. VAT.
Retail 128mb Gainward Ti4200 PowerPack Golden Sample £148 incl VAT.
Retail 128mb Sapphire Radeon 9000 PRO £95 incl VAT!!

You'll undoubtedly be able to pick up an OEM 64mb Ti4200 for around the £100 mark 'G'... but for an extra £15, I'd go for a retail version ;)

However... for a fiver less than £100, you could get yourself a retail 128mb Radeon 9000 PRO :thumbsup:

Your choice m8ey... :D

[speculative]

Originally posted by TheGreystar
What's the basic difference between the Radeon and GF4?? They look pretty similar in spec/price, give or take a fiver...


About 3-5k 3dmarks, and Id Software's Doom III blessing - in favor of the Radeon. ;)

-spec

[Squeaky]

thatd be the 9700 of course not the 9000 :p

[TheGreystar]

OK, looks like the Radeon gets £100 of my Credit card limit early next week, once I get back from Europe.

Nice one guys...

BTW, anihilator, where did you see the Sapphire Radeon 9000 PRO at that price?

G*

[Bozo]

G*

Try this this page

Ebuyer have them at £81.00

Skipped through the thread but this page lists all their sapphire radeon cards.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd2JyYW5k&mfr_uid=245



edit: looked at annihalators post more closely, think the one i quoted at top of this post is the 64mb version. Still have a look around at some of the choices.

[Bozo]

G* If you are around today Scan have them on deal of the day well worth a look if your going to buy one ;)


128b Sapphire ATI Radeon 9000 £64.50 £75.79

128b Sapphire ATI Radeon 9000 Pro £72.00 £84.60


http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

[Fireblade]

eBuyer it woz Bozo... well spotted :p

I ain't so sure those ones on Scan (which were/are on my list for 'G' btw) are full retail at that price tho'? You can have a look at it here (http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.htm) 'G' (less than half-way down) ;)

And here's the link for the card on eBuyer (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=42089) :thumbsup:

[Bozo]

Originally posted by annihilator
eBuyer it woz Bozo... well spotted :p

I ain't so sure those ones on Scan (which were/are on my list for 'G' btw) are full retail at that price tho'?

If you click on buy it says retail in the description, so hopefully it's the right one (if you want to check - you can click remove once its in the shopping basket.)

[Fireblade]

so it does m8... so it does :thumbsup: Scan it is then 'G' :p

[Potzy]

For what it`s worth...
I`ve recently switched from NVidia to Radeon solely on image quality/sharpness and all round speed at resolutions 1024x768 and up.
Until last week I was happily chugging along with my Creative 3D Blaster Geforce3 Ti200. That is until I came across the Radeon 8500.
The Geforce3 Ti200 was faster than ANY Geforce4 MX models and represented good value for money at £69 http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=17482&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl (http://)

The Radeon 8500 scored 1600+ more points in 3DMark2001SE than the Geforce3 and was equally good value at around £80
With a Core Clock of 250mhz/Memory clock at 500mhz the Radeon 8500LE is in my opinion a cracking gamers card.

A final note on the latest ATi drivers. Specially written for use with Win XP SP1 I have found that using the UT2003 Benchmark I can now achieve higher FPS than a Geforce4 Ti200...that is until NVidia bring out their revised driver !! ahhh well...I`ll milk it as long as I can :P

That was my two-penneth worth !
:D

[Randell]

well I have an 8500LE overclocked to 300/300 and if you look at any recent review the 8500 is faster than the Gf3 in raw speed and faster than the Gf4Ti4200 if anisotropic filtering is enabled.

SO for £163 a year ago I'm well pleased.

[USS Final Frontier]

So a Crucial ATI Radeon 8500LE + TV(s-vid)out [128MB DDR memory
250MHz core frequency/6ns memory] @ £71.09 is a reasonable buy then???

[CyberdynSystems]

Another thing to consider is that untill very recently, ATI has been consistently slammed for its drivers, (or lack there of) Time was that ATI would release a new driver no more than every 6 months. Compare that to nvidia who updates there drivers evry month or two. And, ATI drivers have been flaky as all get out at times, or just won't support the latest software/games. They have started to clean up there acts now that they are actually competing with Nvidia,.. but I have my doubts. I stick with Nvidia for now untill I am confident in ATIs driver support.

[Randell]

well I have no complaints about the 8500 drivers they are very stable, fast and mature now. On equal pricing I would get a Gf4Ti but at £71 a 128meg 8500 is a steal.

[Fireblade]

Originally posted by USS Final Frontier
So a Crucial ATI Radeon 8500LE + TV(s-vid)out [128MB DDR memory
250MHz core frequency/6ns memory] @ £71.09 is a reasonable buy then???

YEP... no doubt about it m8ey :thumb: