newb looking for good value card to play RTS on

[mako]

Well, the subject says it all, but..

I'm a poor college student who needs a new video card for my 'home-built' P4 2.4ghz system (my GeForce2 is the oldest piece of hardware i have). The most video-demanding programs i run are RTS games (my PC game genre of choice). Right now most games run decently, i suppose, but i have to keep the settings down because when two or more armies clash my framerate drops very quickly.

According to Tom's graphics card guide, ATI has better benchmarks for War3 and C&CGen. I play both, but have had bad experiences with ATI in the past and would like to avoid them. That and i heard a nasty rumor that nVidia drivers don't uninstall properly which cause problems later on if an ATI card is installed (??)

So right now i'm leaning towards the GF4 Ti4200 8x, pretty much based on what i've read here (and, to a lesser extent, a couple other sites). Can anyone confirm that RTSs run well on this card? Or perhaps know of a better value card for RTS games (preferrably $150 or less)? ty

 

[dhlucke]

You can get a ATI Radeon 9600XT for $150. You have the budget for a better card than a ti4200. In my experience, going from a GF2 to a GF4 is not that impressive, especially when you compare it to going to a new Radeon where you can crank up the image quality to way beyond that of a dx8 ti card. You have the budget to get good IQ and to go from a dx7 card to a dx9 card. Do it.

You're right, Nvidia drivers are horrible at uninstalling correctly. I would suggest a fresh install of windows. You're buying an integral piece of your system so do it the right way.

Don't buy a card that doesn't perform as well because you're too lazy to do a fresh install of windows. If you're lucky you might get away with just using detonator destroyer to get rid of the nvidia drivers but personally I feel better just doing a clean install of the OS.

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[cleeve]

The Ti4200 is a great card and would serve you well.

If you want something a little nicer and more forward looking (DirectX 9) in your price range, go Radeon 9600 PRO (9600XT if you can spare the $$).

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[HardWareBoss]

9600Pro or 9600XT for the money you want to spend. To save a few bucks buy the TI4200.

 

[BirdRobin]

dhlucke, wad the -peep- was that link about? (the one in ur sig)

Athlon XP 1800+ 1.52ghz
Gigabyte GA-7VKML
Powercolour R9600pro Bravo @ 480/340
128+256 DDR266
Maxtor 20gb 7200rpm 2mb, WD 40gb 5400rpm 2mb
Creative SB Live! 5.1 Digital

 

[HardWareBoss]

He had nothing better to do.

 

[dhlucke]

[licks lips]

GRAAAAARRRR

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<b><A HREF="http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?dhlucke" target="_new">Jessica Simpson Naked!!!</A></b>

 

[Titanion]

I agree... I have both an ATI 9500 and a Ti4200, and on my 2nd machine, I went from a GF2 MX400 to the Ti4200, and the difference was huge... HUGE... My ATI does look and perform better, but in some places in some games, the Ti4200 does shine brighter... but with new games like the Far Cry demo, my ATI screams past the DX8 Ti4200...

<font color=red><b>To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.</b></font color=red>
John Milton, <i>Paradise Lost</i>, II 262-263

 

[Spitfire_x86]

GeForce4 Ti4200 is enough for RTS games

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