Best Graphics Card On the Market.....

[Arris]

Re: GEFORCE 3 Ti 200

Originally posted by romerojorge
if u want performance and high quality, at low price i suggest the geforce 3 ti 200, i have one and it work perfect.
Price $180
not bad for the graphics and performance u are going to have running on ur computer

Since you can now get the Asus v8200 Geforce3 (original) for about the same price I would go for that as it give better performance than the ti200...

 

[Th3M1ghtyD8]

Surely the problem is finding one now? Most places seem to have sold all of their stock of them.

Also, since the Ti chips are a redesigned (more cost effective) core, they are newer and probably run cooler - hence they will overclock to full GF3 standards anyway.

 

[SuperCheetah]

I must agree with Th3M1ghtyD8 on the fact that it is hard to find GeForce 3's or G4's anywhere nowadays. In my case, as a poor college student, I believe I'm simply going to wait for the prices to come down some before I invest in upgrading from my G2 Pro. I don't believe I will see enough of a substantial difference to make the G4's worth buying right now since I try not to play too many games.

 

[young&wild]

I believe it there is no such thing as the best video card. Motherboard and other computer peripheral can limit performance of every video card.

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by young&wild
I believe it there is no such thing as the best video card. Motherboard and other computer peripheral can limit performance of every video card.

"Best" is established by best possible performance with a modern system. Many review/tech sites state that you should pair up a decent processor with a powerful video card. A P3 500 with a GF4 4600Ti is a bit pointless as the GF4 will be starved and not run to its optimum ability. The same can be said if you pair a 2.2Ghz P4 with a TNT2 M64. The TNT2 won't be able to keep up...
Still if you go with the modern system test situation you can establish what the best performance card is

 

[SuperCheetah]

Arris is right. You can't have bottlenecks slowing your system down or not allowing it to perform at its potential. Personally I have a Athlon 1.4 gig processor so I believe I should be ok for a while anyway.

 

[eddy05]

So does my GeForce 2 MX 200 and Pentium 4 1.8ghz results in a bottleneck?

 

[SuperCheetah]

Probably a little, but not an incredibly noticeable one. It really depends on whether you play lots of games. This is where you'll see the real difference. If I were you and had a little extra money I would opt for either a GeForce 3, GeForce Ti200, or maybe an ATI 8500 (although I don't really know too much about ATI, but I've heard good things). This would more than likely improve your gaming experience tremedously.

I have a GeForce 2 Pro, and sometimes I feel that it is not enough, but then again I try not to play too many games!

 

[eddy05]

When I played my common played games like counter-strike and RA2, I don't feel that it's not enough. However, when I see my graphic card's performance on 3Dmark2001 SE my heart suddenly sank...

 

[SuperCheetah]

Yeah well, my scores weren't that impressive either. The newer games will start to take advantage of features that my card nor my card have like Antialiasing, etc. and then the differences will begin to show up. The human eye can only see so many frames per second and after that it is just for bragging rights really.

But if you feel comfortable with your card then I would say to stick with it.

 

[SuperCheetah]

Oops, I meant my card nor your card. Sorry about that!

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by SuperCheetah
Oops, I meant my card nor your card. Sorry about that!

You do know that there is an edit button don't you? :haha:

I am currently running an Athlon 1.4@1.5 (143fsb) with a Geforce3. If I look at the 3dmark scores of users with Athlon XPs and P4 > 2Ghz but still using an original Geforce3 they get higher 3dmarks. So the Geforce3 hasn't topped out yet!
Features like antialiasing, as far as I am aware are dealt with more or less by just the GPU as its transforming data that it has already received from the system. Whereas the general 3d rendering and recalculation of positions of 3d objects etc is done as a partnership betwen CPU and GPU. The faster that the CPU can provide the data the faster the GPU can process it.. up until the limitation of the AGP bus speed and the processing capability of the GPU.

 

[eddy05]

I believe that even if you used a card like TNT2 M64, you'll still get an increasing performance with an faster computer, though not by much, but the CPU tries to squeeze everything out of that poor card.

My GeForce 2 MX 200 only got 1500 3dmarks using the default settings. "Impressive."

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by eddy05
I believe that even if you used a card like TNT2 M64, you'll still get an increasing performance with an faster computer, though not by much, but the CPU tries to squeeze everything out of that poor card.

My GeForce 2 MX 200 only got 1500 3dmarks using the default settings. "Impressive."

Yes but the threshold that a faster CPU stops improving performance is lower for the older and lower spec video cards...

From Anandtech - Benchmarks and Limitations:

In "real life", As we begin to approach the absolute fill-rate limit of the accelerator, we will notice that the improvement in performance as we increase CPU speed (i.e. increase the amount of Data we feed) is decreasing. This can be summarized using a little mathematics notation by: f ' ' (x) < 0. (Where f(x) is the function of Frames per second vs CPU speed) For those of you who do not know simple calculus, f ' ' (x) is read 'f double prime of X'. What you really need to know is that f ' ' (x) [Which is the slope of the tangent line to the function of the slope of the tangent line to the function f(x)] is that it equals the acceleration at any given point on the function f(x). So what we mean by saying f ' ' (x) < 0 is that the acceleration is negative. (This means that speed (actually velocity) is decreasing) In our case, this means that the rate at which Frames/sec is increasing is decreasing. I hope I didn't lose anyone there... Anyway, below is a graph showing an results from running a fill-rate limited test (demo1.dm2) with the Riva 128ZX (@800x600, where it is fill-rate limited) with various speed Pentium IIs. (233,266,300,350 and 400mhz)

Check out the Quake III Arena: 1024x768 graph in this Tomshardware Geforce2 scaling analysis article

From www.tomshardware.com :

The memory bandwidth of a GeForce2 MX will already be exhausted at 1024x768 and 16 Bits per pixel. You will not be able to get better frame rates when upgrading the processor, but only by getting a faster graphics card. You can also see that the difference between an Athlon 1000 and 1200 is not too important here, as the frame rate is fast enough anyway.

...

I hope that this article underlined precisely that processor clock is not the Holy Grail at all. Many discounters are still selling high-end systems, based on AMD and Intel CPUs beyond 1 GHz, in combination with antiquated graphics cards like a NVIDIA TNT2/Ultra or Vanta, which is definitely the wrong way to keep costs down - even though high processor speeds may sound very attractive.

The article is a little out of date but you get the idea???

 

[Ai Hate]

i remembered back in the old forums, someone posted a link to a very nice article about bandwith, by the bitmap brothers (or sth) i think...
hmm... where's Arris's post... gotta use the link in his sig
...
oh no... can't find it...
anyone bookmarked it?

 

[svtcobra]

Originally posted by Ai Hate
i remembered back in the old forums, someone posted a link to a very nice article about bandwith, by the bitmap brothers (or sth) i think...
hmm... where's Arris's post... gotta use the link in his sig
...
oh no... can't find it...
anyone bookmarked it?

Here ya go:

http://207.115.70.83/forum/read_msg.php?tid=138&forumid=ubb3

 

[SuperCheetah]

Hmm, I think I need to save a little bit of money and invest in a new graphics card, more than likely a Geforce 3 Ti 500.

Anyone partial to any particular brand? I personally like Gainward, but I've heard good things about Asus. Any more I should look into???

Thanks

 

[young&wild]

Originally posted by Arris


"Best" is established by best possible performance with a modern system.

Hmmm....a good point.

 

[SuperCheetah]

ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV vs. ???

I've been looking at ATI's All-In-Wonder 8500DV card and it's incredible amount of features. What really impresses me is the TV recording and pausing live broadcasts and being able to watch TV through transparent windows while working.

From: http://www.ati.com/products/pc/aiwradeon8500dv/index.html

With 64MB of DDR memory, unbelievable graphics, TV and video capture & editing features, the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 8500DV is the revolutionary all-in-one 3D graphics and multimedia experience.

At-a-glance
Powered by the RADEONâ„¢ 8500 GPU
64MB DDR memory
Connect a digital camcorder to a PC
Digital and analog video capture & editing
Wireless radio-frequency remote control
Stereo TV-tuner
TV-ON-DEMANDâ„¢ Time shifting
Integrated Interactive Program Guide
DVD video playback with Dolby® AC-3 digital audio output*
Reliable customer service from ATI
Designed and manufactured by ATI
* Actual Dolby® 5.1 AC-3 decoding is done by the external AC-3 decoder which is not included


features

Feature comparison between the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 8500DV and NVIDIA® Personal Cinema

Get unparalleled TV features on your PC
Stereo TV tuner with 125 channels
TV-ON-DEMANDâ„¢
Pause live TV or record live broadcasts and watch them later
Get instant replays of favorite programs
Click through the transparent live TV window to access your desktop - no more moving the TV window to get to your work!
Use the integrated Gemstar GUIDE Plus+â„¢ Interactive Program Guide1 to view and search TV listings by category, actor/performer, or date. Schedule and record programs at the click of a mouse - all the benefits of a Personal Video Recorder without the monthly fees
Amazing TV features including:
TV Magazine1 - images and text from TV programs allowing you to read and archive TV programs
Hot Words1 - real-time notification when selected words are detected in programming
Zoom & pan - zoom in on the action on-screen and choose your own close-ups
Intelligent Teletext on your PC2
1Available in North America only 2Available in Europe only
Experience home theater with DVD And digital audio on a PC
Industry-leading DVD playback with AC-3 Digital Audio output to enable Dolby® 5.1 surround sound
ATI's VIDEO IMMERSIONâ„¢ II technology integrates industry-leading digital video features for unprecedented video quality
*Actual Dolby® 5.1 AC-3 decoding is done by the external AC-3 decoder which is not included.
Radio-frequency remote control
Control the TV, video, DVD and gaming features of the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 8500DV from another room in the house using ATI's remote control*
No need to point the remote control at the receiver - connect your PC to your TV and watch DVDs, search channels, or record TV shows from your couch
*Available USB port required
Experience easy digital and analog video editing
Connect a DV camcorder to your PC to view and edit true digital video using the IEEE 1394 ports and cable included in the box
Capture still images and digital video at up to 720x480 30 frames-per-second resolution with no loss of quality
Powerful video editing software allows you to add effects, transitions, sounds, and more to digital video footage. Create your own personal productions.
Dual display technology
Connect to a TV and a monitor (VGA or DVI) simultaneously
Hydravisionâ„¢ software enables you to display information on a TV and monitor at the same time
Awesome 3D gaming and graphics
Powered by the revolutionary RADEONâ„¢ 8500 GPU and 64MB DDR memory for the most advanced 3D graphics in its class
ATI's innovative TRUFORMâ„¢, SMARTSHADERâ„¢ and SMOOTHVISIONâ„¢ technologies make 3D characters and objects more realistic
ATI's HYPER Zâ„¢ II technology conserves memory bandwidth for improved performance in demanding applications
ATI's latest 3D rendering technologies, CHARISMA ENGINEâ„¢ II and PIXEL TAPESTRYâ„¢ II, power incredible 3D processing capabilities leading to unbelievable graphics quality

I was wondering if Nvidia or any other company had anything in their graphics cards to match this awesome feature? I see that Nvidia has the Personal Cinema, but I don't want something separate and expensive rather an all-in-one card.

 

[PHATMAN5050]

i was just reading through the newspaper and came upon the ATI Radeon 8500LE which is 128mb. I would wait to upgrade to a new video card if i were you Cheetah just because a week or two after you buy this 64mb card they will market the same card but with 128mb and you will feel left behind again.

 

[SuperCheetah]

I was wondering why this card didn't already have 128MB of memory in it. Guess I'll what for the upgraded version. Still, 300 to 400 dollars is a ton of money to spend on a graphics card!!!

 

[MrGaribaldi]

The 128mb card is allready announced here...

 

[SuperCheetah]

Just curious, but does anyone have an answer to my question on does Nvidia or any other company have a graphics card or software that allows a user to watch TV through translucent windows on their computer??? I find this a really cool and useful feature. Thanks for any help!!!

 

[svtcobra]

I am merging a couple of threads all into this one to have a good reference point for deciding on what is the best graphics card..

 

[Xerak]

ATI Raedon 8500 is great, especially if you mod it and overclock it.
The new 128 should be great.