graphics card upgrade

Kali

just to remind ppl:

Originally posted by Dataisgod
just wanna outline the situation there aint gonna be any time soon when i can upgrade cpu/mobo/ram as much as i like the deals on komplett

And Ricardo are you deliberately trying to confuse the person by talking about cpu scaling and switching graphics cards in the same paragraphs?

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Kali
This thread has gone completly off-topic, but to answer some of your remaining questions:

Actually I disagree we have answered all these questions earlier.

64Mb or 128Mb ram? Won't result in a noticeable difference in most games, and then only at high-res w/ 32-bit textures... and as mentioned above sometimes the 128mb cards may carry a slightly slower type of memory to save money.

In reference to GF4ti4200 (only) all the 128mb cards have slower memory than the 64mb cards.

There'll be about around a 5% difference on your system between the original GF3Ti200 you started this thread enquiring about and a GF4Ti4200.. I mean it's up to you whether this justifies the extra money.

5% Can you link us to some sites that demonstrate this? My point was that the GF3 is a short term option whereas the GF4ti will still be useful when he eventually upgrades to a better machine. Whenever that is. We know it won't be soon. Does that mean you should ignore any future considerations? I seriously doubt that he won't upgrade for 18 months as someone suggested.

And Ricardo are you deliberately trying to confuse the person by talking about cpu scaling and switching graphics cards in the same paragraphs?

Sorry if it was confusing I thought that my point was demonstrated (or so I thought) by the figures as was talking about. Bascially the subjects are closely related but CPU power has less impact on the graphics speed than some have suggested. I thought the figures show this. Maybe not :eek:

Its a pity that I couldn't demonstrate the performance of my GF2ti or GF2MX in my P4 rig as you would be able to see that its held back a lot. But I couldn't as the newer P4's only take 1.5v AGP cards whereas many of the older cards are 3.3v (as my GF2ti was ) and won't work in a new P4 board. Dunno about the newer AMD machines, they are probably ok though.

Woden

again folks just wish to show my appreciation for the enthusiastic response to the thread, just to clarify up something ricardo

"In reference to GF4ti4200 (only) all the 128mb cards have slower memory than the 64mb cards"

you are saying that all gf4ti4200 cards with 128mb memory, contain slower memory than the 64mb cards yeah?

also i wouldn't upgrade this rig much more but get a new one and keep this one for some lan gaming, the mobo will only take a 1ghz cpu (in my opinion not worth the upgrade), it is full of ram, and all my pci slots are full, so i'm not really looking for a long term option with the graphics cards, i.e if i was getting a new rig i wouldn't put a gf4 in it in a years time.

also i see where you coming from ricardo in showing the effect of the change of graphics cards compared to processor in your 3d mark scores

at the end of the day it comes down to an extra 5% peformance for an extra 30% euros even though the gf4 has less memory (but as you's have pointed out it is faster and the games don't take advantage of the extra memory) i'll have a think about this cheers again

RicardoSmith

Well there a couple of special ti4200 which are built on ti4600 boards and have special memory on them but are they more than the price of a standard ti4200. But I don't think you'll come across one of those to easily so I wouldn't worry about it. So yeah as rule all the 64 mb cards are faster then the 128mb cards on the ti4200's.

Well I guess if you are resigned to the fact that you machine is at its limit and you don't want to buy a card to take with you to your next machine. I'd say get the cheapest GF3 you can get, I wouldn't worry about memory speeds or the amount of memory etc. However the GF3ti500 or even an original GF3 is a decent bit quicker than the GF3ti200 so if you can get either one cheap enough I'd go for that!


GeForce3 Ti200\175MHz\400MHz DDR

GeForce3\200 MHz\460MHz DDR

GeForce3 Ti500\240MHz\500MHz DDR


Incidentally a GF3 is faster than a GF4MX or Radeon 7500 too, in case you are wondering about that. Probably cheaper than either aswell.

Woden

thats why i liked the gainward gf3 ti200 as though its 20 euro dearer then the creative one it goes from 175mhz to 210mhz in the enhanced mode giving slightly better then performance than a gf3