Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (
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On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 23:13:02 +0100, "Paul Woodsford"
<paul.woodsford****NOSPAMPLEASE****@***NOSPAM***virgin.***NOSPAM***net>
wrote:
>Which is the Most Cost Effective Graphics Card Upgrade for this System, so
>that I can play the new generation of Games.
>Ideally card available in UK.
>
>XP Home SP1,
>Gigabyte GA-81DX Intel 845 AGPset, 400w Power Supply
>P4 1700Hz
>640 SDram
>40 G Western Digital HD
>120 G OEM Samsung HD
>RealTek Ethernet card connected to 4 port Netgear DS104 Hub
>US Robotics SporsterFlash Modem
>Thomson Speedtouch 330 USB Modem
>CD/DVD player
>CD/CDr/CDrw
>SoundBlaster Live Card
>Hauppage Nova-T PCI card
>Geforce 4 MX460 64MBram Graphics
>17" Samsung SyncMaster 753 DFX monitor
>USB Canoscan Scanner
>USB Canon S300 Printer
>
>
>Paul Woodsford
>Remove ****NOSPAMPLEASE**** to Reply
>
>
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Ah hah,, the time honoured "can of worms" question for today => Which
is the best...
I can see a few different answers coming from those who have had
previous knowledge in this area. Here's mine..
A GeForce 4 MX-460 is but one step away from a Ti4200 (64 or 128mb),
albeit a big step in terms of tech specs, however, you wont really
notice a hell of a big "real world" leap in on-screen performance
(this I can tell you from experience as I went from a GF4 MX-440 to a
Ti4200),, but it will be better. It will tend to not slow down so much
when you get into the rough stuff and textures will seem more
vibrant... I would still recommend this card as a viable contender for
the "all-rounder" title for a system like yours... The only thing
against it is that it might still carry a reasonably hefty price tag
for its generation age = remember, I said it "might" = If you can find
a cheap one of a reasonbly good brand name, get it.. Be a little
careful though and compare prices to Ti4400's and/or Ti4600's,
remembering that each one of these is also a step upwards - with the
extra cost added to it - but since they are being phased out, you
might get the deal of a lifetime somewhere...
If you have to spend bigger dollars getting one of the higher end Ti
cards then you may still consider going for a standard FX5700 which
may be slightly cheaper than a Ti4600 but it will perform about the
same as it, with the added bouns that it is DX9 compliant. Moving up
from the FX5700 will start to chew into your wallet and blow the bang
for buck equation all to heck.. Getting an FX5200 or 5600 will prove
fruitless as they will be equal to or worse than your present MX-460,
so they are hereby "out of the picture"...
In your case, you are locked in a very "touch and go" position. On one
hand, you CAN improve your graphics from a GF4 MX cards capabilities
by simply going to the next step on the graphics card hierarchy
ladder,, but on the other hand, your MX-460 is the best of the GF4 MX
cards available which means that any step up, in terms of bang per
buck, may not yield the most promising results. By that I mean the
next card up is the Ti4200, then the Ti4400, then the Ti4600 as you
know,, but prices may not be justified by your "Cost Effective"
basis..
I will stick my neck out here and say that all current games will
still run on your MX-460 but whether it will pleasantly handle them is
another issue best answered by cpmaring it to the next card upwards.
Moving up from here is an issue which may have to be dealt with with a
large wallet rather than on a cost effective basis.. MX cards are
almost given away but Ti cards still command a respectable pricetag,
"if", you can still find them... Cost Effective always means
compromise => wanting the best - not wanting to pay for it - winding
up by getting second or even third best...
Ti4200's were always considered to be the best all-rounder of the Ti
series given their cost vs performance. That's why they out-sold the
rest, right to the end of their production. A Ti4200 is not that big a
jump up from an MX-460 - Believe me...!!!
Forget the DirectX issue between cards and concern yourelf only with
on-screen results.
I could only give you 2 different answers...
1).. The Ti4200 is a great all-rounder. Cost vs performance is worth
considering but not much better "actual" noticable performance than
the MX-460...
2).. The FX5700 is small but noticably better than a Ti4200 and may
NOT cost as much as a Ti4600 and will give the Ti4600 a small kick in
the pants. It may also be in the same price bracket as a Ti4200,,
maybe a tad more...
Ti4200 or FX5700... Your call...!!!
One final call = I could easily overclock my Ti4200 and get great
results, probably equal to a Ti4400's performance...
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