Time to upgrade my GPU?

Hey all,

I'm looking for a few opinions before I shell out the bucks for a new
video card. I've got 2 systems so I just end up shifting the current
card to my older one if I do upgrade. I'm currently running a 2ghz p4
with 512mb ram, 400MHz FSB SIS mobo, WinXP Pro SP1, for reference. My
current vid card is the nvidia xtasy geforce 4 420, 64meg variety.
The one in my spare parts system is a geforce2 200mx 32 meg variety,
but before I put the good system together, that was my main system and
at one point was running the geforce4. When I went from the 2 to the
4, I did notice quite a performance boost. I could play games at 1
level higher res (640x480 has become 800x600) and general system
performance got much better. Suddenly my winamp plugins run so much
smoother, and i can skip ahead in movies without having to wait a full
minute for the video and sound to match back up.

So a few years have gone by and my geforce4 isn't the greatest
anymore. 128 and 256 mb cards have been around for a while. I have
some framerate issues in Halo with textures on high, and I'm almost
afraid to try THPS4. I know Doom3 is on the way and I don't currently
have full DX9 support. It's all down hill from here.

I know all I've mentioned is Nvidia cards, and that's only because
whenever I got a new card Nvidia cards were on sale. I'm not a Nvidia
fanboy or anything, don't get me wrong, they've served me well. I'm
not against trying an ATI card, but my point is I'm not trying to
start up an ATI vs Nvidia string that goes on forever. My 2 big front
runners right now would be the 9800 Pro or the FX 5900.

AGP16x and PCI Express are on the way, and that'll surely bring some
nice enhancements, but that may still be years away. DX9 features
will be the big thing this generation of software, and most cards
don't FULLY suppport DX9 yet as far as I can tell. In your opinion,
should I upgrade my card or just try to optimize as much as possible
and wait for the next big thing?

Thanks in advance,
Liam

(Liam) wrote in message news:<. com>...
> Hey all,
>
> I'm looking for a few opinions before I shell out the bucks for a new
> video card. I've got 2 systems so I just end up shifting the current
> card to my older one if I do upgrade. I'm currently running a 2ghz p4
> with 512mb ram, 400MHz FSB SIS mobo, WinXP Pro SP1, for reference. My
> current vid card is the nvidia xtasy geforce 4 420, 64meg variety.
> The one in my spare parts system is a geforce2 200mx 32 meg variety,
> but before I put the good system together, that was my main system and
> at one point was running the geforce4. When I went from the 2 to the
> 4, I did notice quite a performance boost. I could play games at 1
> level higher res (640x480 has become 800x600) and general system
> performance got much better. Suddenly my winamp plugins run so much
> smoother, and i can skip ahead in movies without having to wait a full
> minute for the video and sound to match back up.
>
> So a few years have gone by and my geforce4 isn't the greatest
> anymore. 128 and 256 mb cards have been around for a while. I have
> some framerate issues in Halo with textures on high, and I'm almost
> afraid to try THPS4. I know Doom3 is on the way and I don't currently
> have full DX9 support. It's all down hill from here.
>
> I know all I've mentioned is Nvidia cards, and that's only because
> whenever I got a new card Nvidia cards were on sale. I'm not a Nvidia
> fanboy or anything, don't get me wrong, they've served me well. I'm
> not against trying an ATI card, but my point is I'm not trying to
> start up an ATI vs Nvidia string that goes on forever. My 2 big front
> runners right now would be the 9800 Pro or the FX 5900.
>
> AGP16x and PCI Express are on the way, and that'll surely bring some
> nice enhancements, but that may still be years away. DX9 features
> will be the big thing this generation of software, and most cards
> don't FULLY suppport DX9 yet as far as I can tell. In your opinion,
> should I upgrade my card or just try to optimize as much as possible
> and wait for the next big thing?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Liam

well if you wait for the next big thing you will be waiting a long
time. There is always a next big thing. I would suggest going with
what you are going to need now. If you want to play DOOM 3 in
1600x1400 in 32bit then you are going to need a new card the one's you
have picked are some of the best. The ATI fully supports DX9 don't
know about the Nvidia most likely it does. Their drivers are about the
same the Nvidia drivers have a few extra features but that is offset
by the fact if you try to run a game in hi res. it will disable
certain options to speed of the FPS weather you want to or not. The
same claims have been made towards ATI as well. I think its mostly a
personal preference.

you can find a review of the Nvidia card here http://www.rojakpot.com/
in the old review section done september.

and for the 9800XT here
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...xt/default.asp

and both cards here
http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/...r9800pro.shtml

good luck

Thanks very much for the reply jamotto.

The hothardware review seems to confirm my initial speculations about
the 2 cards. Of course price will probably be the big deciding factor
in which I'll end up getting.

Liam

(jamotto) wrote in message news:<. com>...
> (Liam) wrote in message news:<. com>...
> > Hey all,
> >
> > I'm looking for a few opinions before I shell out the bucks for a new
> > video card. I've got 2 systems so I just end up shifting the current
> > card to my older one if I do upgrade. I'm currently running a 2ghz p4
> > with 512mb ram, 400MHz FSB SIS mobo, WinXP Pro SP1, for reference. My
> > current vid card is the nvidia xtasy geforce 4 420, 64meg variety.
> > The one in my spare parts system is a geforce2 200mx 32 meg variety,
> > but before I put the good system together, that was my main system and
> > at one point was running the geforce4. When I went from the 2 to the
> > 4, I did notice quite a performance boost. I could play games at 1
> > level higher res (640x480 has become 800x600) and general system
> > performance got much better. Suddenly my winamp plugins run so much
> > smoother, and i can skip ahead in movies without having to wait a full
> > minute for the video and sound to match back up.
> >
> > So a few years have gone by and my geforce4 isn't the greatest
> > anymore. 128 and 256 mb cards have been around for a while. I have
> > some framerate issues in Halo with textures on high, and I'm almost
> > afraid to try THPS4. I know Doom3 is on the way and I don't currently
> > have full DX9 support. It's all down hill from here.
> >
> > I know all I've mentioned is Nvidia cards, and that's only because
> > whenever I got a new card Nvidia cards were on sale. I'm not a Nvidia
> > fanboy or anything, don't get me wrong, they've served me well. I'm
> > not against trying an ATI card, but my point is I'm not trying to
> > start up an ATI vs Nvidia string that goes on forever. My 2 big front
> > runners right now would be the 9800 Pro or the FX 5900.
> >
> > AGP16x and PCI Express are on the way, and that'll surely bring some
> > nice enhancements, but that may still be years away. DX9 features
> > will be the big thing this generation of software, and most cards
> > don't FULLY suppport DX9 yet as far as I can tell. In your opinion,
> > should I upgrade my card or just try to optimize as much as possible
> > and wait for the next big thing?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Liam
>
> well if you wait for the next big thing you will be waiting a long
> time. There is always a next big thing. I would suggest going with
> what you are going to need now. If you want to play DOOM 3 in
> 1600x1400 in 32bit then you are going to need a new card the one's you
> have picked are some of the best. The ATI fully supports DX9 don't
> know about the Nvidia most likely it does. Their drivers are about the
> same the Nvidia drivers have a few extra features but that is offset
> by the fact if you try to run a game in hi res. it will disable
> certain options to speed of the FPS weather you want to or not. The
> same claims have been made towards ATI as well. I think its mostly a
> personal preference.
>
> you can find a review of the Nvidia card here http://www.rojakpot.com/
> in the old review section done september.
>
> and for the 9800XT here
> http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...xt/default.asp
>
> and both cards here
> http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/...r9800pro.shtml
>
> good luck

I have had the same issue, upgrading from a 32 MB nVidia card. I ended
up with the ATI 9600 Pro. It's a good value (AGP x8, 128 MB, DirectX 9
etc) and not as expensive as the ATI 9800 or 9800 Pro. It has analog
and digital out as well. I think I saw it today at Best Buy for USD
150 including the new Halflife 2.

I did a lot of reading and most sources agree that ATI has taken the
lead over nVidia.

Good luck,

Tim