Geforce 3Ti 200 worth it??

[Buddyroe333]

Hey, I'm building a new system with a 1700XP Athlon and 256mb DDR memory, and after all the money spent on everything else, I can't spend over $100 on a graphics card. I used to have a Geforce 420MX, and it was okay, but from all I've read, that is pretty slow compared to most of the new ones. I've found a Geforce3Ti 200 for a very, very good price, and was wondering if they are any good? Keep in mind I definately don't need top of the line, just something fast enough to run some of the newer games, like GTA3, Mafia, stuff like that.

 

[halkebul]

The perfect choice for you would be the ATI 8500 64MB Graphics card - not the LE version. It's <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/" target="_new">$92 at newEgg</A>. Enjoy!

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[Buddyroe333]

Would the Radeon 8500 really be better than the Geforce3Ti200?? The reason I ask is that a friend of mine bought a Radeon7000, and it did NOT impress me. GTA3 ran very, very choppily compared to my Geforce420MX at the time. I guess since then I've never really considered Radeons.

 

[halkebul]

Would the Radeon 8500 really be better than the Geforce3Ti200?? The reason I ask is that a friend of mine bought a Radeon7000, and it did NOT impress me.

Yes. And the Radeon 7000 is in no way comparable to the 8500 that I metioned.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[buddry]

What is the price on that GF3?

<font color=blue>I want to save the world for my children, but not my children's children, because children shouldn't be having sex. - Deep Thought</font color=blue>

 

[Buddyroe333]

The price on it is $83, I was guessing that's a really good price, it may not be.

 

[Ghostdog]

Spend a few bucks more and get the Radeon, much newer technology and more speed for almost the same price.

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[buddry]

The radeon would be a little better for the money, but its up to personal preference. Some people like one chip more then the other for various reasons.

<font color=blue>I want to save the world for my children, but not my children's children, because children shouldn't be having sex. - Deep Thought</font color=blue>

 

[Buddyroe333]

Okay, I'm almost completely turned over to the Radeon side, just a little iffy that there will be compatibility problems. Radeons can't use OpenGL, right? Will there be a lot of games I won't be able to play? Random reboots or anything?

 

[AEboy128]

IMO, the Radeons have much better image quality with their own drivers than the Nvidia boards. I have a GF3 origional on a Tbird 1.1ghz and came from an origional Radeon(SE) and without using the Omega drivers (www.omegacorner.com) the GF3 didn't like to properly draw the sky in Nascar Racing 4 and in Max Payne there were certain textures that it had the same problem with. With the Omega drivers it seems to be quite comparable. Also, what brand was the GF3 Ti200 you found for $83? The quality of filters vary from brand to brand. VisionTek doesn't bother with one row of filters giving it excellent sharpness at all resolutions. Also, with the GF3, I can't run my monitor at 1280x1024 @ 85hz - 120hz, which my radeon did with no problem. I think it's because my monitor doesn't like something about the GF3, not sure tho.

I miss my ATI Radeon 64mb ViVo SE :frown:

 

[Ghostdog]

Whatever got you the idea The Radeon doesn´t support OpenGL?

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[Buddyroe333]

Ghostdog - Not sure, just something I thought I had read, I thought that like one card supported it only, or better than the other, or something. Nevermind : ) (It's been a long time since I was a newbie, forgot how much it sucks)

 

[Guest]

There are 64meg and 128meg version of the GeForce 3Ti200, the 128 version is about 100 bucks on pricewatch.com, so maybe you should check on that offer you mentioned earlier. The Radeon would be faster than the 64meg version, but I don't know about the 128 flavor.

 

[Rubberbband]

I don't care for Ati products much. Too many problems with drivers (yes I have owned 2 Radeons one was the 64mb Vivo and the other was an 8500Le). Nvidia based cards almost always run better without any software conflicts. Let's face it 80% of the market is Nvidia based. Game/software manufacturers know this and program accordingly.

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[bloaty]

I own an 8500(built by ati) and i think its a fine card, and as stable as any geforce card ive ever dealt with. The 8500 and geforce3 cards are pretty similar on perfomance and features so it would come down to price i think. And ATI is still has the large majority of the market, since the last graph i looked at anyway.

 

[knowan]

When last I checked, the Radeon 8500 was slightly faster than the geforce 3 ti 200, but the difference wasn't that great. Go with which ever your feel more comfortable with.

Either way, I would recommend that you throw away the installation CD and download the latest drivers from the manufacturers' website. Both of these cards are about a year old and have had many, many driver updates since that installation CD was first pressed.

--------------
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[AMD_Man]

When last I checked, the Radeon 8500 was slightly faster than the geforce 3 ti 200, but the difference wasn't that great. Go with which ever your feel more comfortable with.

It is true that when the Radeon 8500 was just released it wasn't much faster than a Ti200. However, today, the story is much different. I'd go with the Radeon 8500 every time. It is much much faster for about the same price or a bit more.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.

 

[Ghostdog]

It´s too bad the brand of "ATI=bad drivers" sticks to most people, last I heard ATi have done a good job with the drivers.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[Skipper007]

Considering that one of the primary game benchmarks is Quake 3, the Radeon line would be screwed if they didn't support Open GL (Quake 3 is Open GL only). Even my Matrox G200 (on my older computer) can handle Open GL with the right drivers.

As for stability, I don't actually know. My Geforce 2 Pro was never super stable with newer drivers, although most of my crashes seem sound related. Based on that, I don't think Nvidia is as good as they may appear to be at first.

So yeah. I'd say Radeon 8500 as well. Although I had thought most people like the 128LE version...

 

[Ghostdog]

nVidia has a better general reputation when it comes to drivers, but the more recent ones seem to have problems from time to time. Then there´s the matter of a unified driver arch. I´m not sure it´s such a good idea since newer drivers don´t always work on older cards and I myself have been told to use the 6.xx:s.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>