Best Video Card <$200? Help me decide

PeterT · 01-18-2003, 10:15 PM

I'm trying to decide which video card to buy.

Choices:
Asus V8420 Deluxe @ $198 retail
Albatron TI4200P Turbo @ $188 retail
ATI 9500 Pro @ $197 retail $180 oem

Deciding factors:
good 3D image quality & smoothness in flight sims
good 2D image quality
best hardware & driver compatability/support (CUSL2/TUSL2, XP & various flight sims)
overall quality of product/components
do not need VIVO
not willing to do hardware mods
might be willing to do software/bios mods (9500pro)
willing to overclock

I'll probably keep this card for a while, I'm still using a GF2 GTS 32MB

Please help me decide.
Which one & why?

Thanks!

yamawho · 01-18-2003, 10:45 PM

There always seem to be issues with ATI cards and games.

Nvidia based cards don't have these issues.

I just installed SimCity 4 and the readme file goes on and on about this and that not working on ATI and Matrox cards.

PeterT · 01-18-2003, 11:03 PM

Thanks for the input yamawho.

Those are the types of incompatability stories that scare me away from ATI. The last ATI card I had was a Rage 128 and I remember having compatability & driver issues with that card. But, I've heard people say that those ATI issues are now a thing of the past...

robaczek · 01-18-2003, 11:11 PM

I recently purchased the Albatron 4280P to replace my aging but still working well GF2 GTS.
I only paid $155 and I couldn't be happier

SLM crew chief · 01-18-2003, 11:11 PM

Personally, I like nVidia's stability and driver updates. One of my coworkers has an ATI and it gives him some trouble some times, things I've never had with nVidia based cards.

I personally have a LeadTek GF 4 TI 4400 that I paid 190.00 shipped for. No vivo but analog, digital, and S-Vidio out. Running on my CUSL2. With the 1.1 A at around 1500 it will get almost 10,000 3D Marks without any O/C on the card. This card seems to be one of the only GF 4's with cooling on both sides. That is why I got it, then I read some really good reviews.

yamawho · 01-19-2003, 10:23 AM

I copied and pasted this from the SimCity 4 readme file

*NOTE*:
+ Due to hardware limitations with the ATI Radeon series, some
buildings and graphic effects will be temporarily turned off while
scrolling.
+ There is a known ATI driver defect that results in SimCity advisor
animations dropping polygons. To fix this, please download ATI
driver 7.79 or later (also referred to as CATALYST 02.4) from
http://www.ati.com on the Internet.

gamenutt · 01-19-2003, 12:35 PM

I have a geforce 4 ti 4200 and couldnt be happier with that. I do like nvidia stability. But the ati 9500/9700 series are supposed to be very good. If you get a 9500 pro thats built by ati u can actually achieve speeds faster than the 9700 with some overclocking. And the new catalyst drivers are supposed to be good. And its also nice that 9500 pro supports direct x 9. Even though the current games arent coded for it the games coming out in several monthes will be so its nice to get now. So id say to buy either the 9500 pro or the ti 4200.

swannema · 01-19-2003, 12:49 PM

I can't comment on SimCity4 but my Radeon 9500 Pro is an excellent card, I would not trade for a NVidia at all. I have my card overclocked to Radeon 970Pro speeds with no issues at all. I also replaced the ATI heatsink with a Zalman passive heatsink.
Works just great.

DOA · 01-19-2003, 12:56 PM

I agree, the Radeon 9500 Pro is an awesome card. I have mine clocked at 351/317 using stock cooling with no problems. I would really like to break 14000 3D marks though.

PeterT · 01-19-2003, 03:26 PM

Thanks for all the input so far!
Keep the opinions coming!

I haven't decided yet...
I think the Ti4200 is my 'safest' choice, but with the bios hack and a little overclocking, the 9500pro may be the 'better' choice. I think the 9500pro offers more advanced features, a longer service life (obsolesence) and possibly better image quality in flight sims and 2D.
Convince me it's 'OK' to go back to ATI...

gigalife · 01-19-2003, 03:51 PM

Buy any ati 9500 non pro and turn it into a 9700 with this software. Heres the link http://www.maxdownloads.com/~ian/wizzard/

SupDawg · 01-19-2003, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PeterT
Thanks for all the input so far!
Keep the opinions coming!

I haven't decided yet...
I think the Ti4200 is my 'safest' choice, but with the bios hack and a little overclocking, the 9500pro may be the 'better' choice. I think the 9500pro offers more advanced features, a longer service life (obsolesence) and possibly better image quality in flight sims and 2D.
Convince me it's 'OK' to go back to ATI...

Just to remind you, with a 1.5 cpu, you will not be able to get much more video out of your games. You are going to need to get a faster cpu to make any new video card shine. For the money, a new video card won't give you that much more bang..

dddibley · 01-19-2003, 05:59 PM

Hey PeterT..

Noticed you're interested in the ASUS Deluxe model. Seems to be a few disenchanted users concerning the VIVO portion though.

If you're going that route, ATi has the AIW product line, but the Gainward Ultra/650XP Golden sample (Ti4200) is a wonderful card too. nView is much better that ATi, and VIVO is much easier to manage than the overkill ATi has migrated to. Less power concerns too.

Just my opinion

Hope that helps.

ddd

Vric · 01-19-2003, 07:23 PM

Last week I got a Leadtek A280 Le TD MyViVo (Ti4200-8x) and very happy.... I got it for 290$Can (less than 200$US)

PeterT · 01-20-2003, 12:02 PM

I am also considering the Asus V9280S/TVD, but it's selling for around $220. That's more than I want to spend. Any feedback on that card?

Thanks again everyone!

01-18-2003, 10:15 PM	#1
PeterT CUSL2...GA-EP45-UD3P...? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunny Florida, USA Posts: 2,688	Best Video Card <$200? Help me decide I'm trying to decide which video card to buy. Choices: Asus V8420 Deluxe @ $198 retail Albatron TI4200P Turbo @ $188 retail ATI 9500 Pro @ $197 retail $180 oem Deciding factors: good 3D image quality & smoothness in flight sims good 2D image quality best hardware & driver compatability/support (CUSL2/TUSL2, XP & various flight sims) overall quality of product/components do not need VIVO not willing to do hardware mods might be willing to do software/bios mods (9500pro) willing to overclock I'll probably keep this card for a while, I'm still using a GF2 GTS 32MB Please help me decide. Which one & why? Thanks! __________________ Proud Member: Team-CUSL2 - 'The Old School Crew' Asus Eee PC 1000HE, 1x2GB Corsair DDR2 667 GA-EP45-UD3P, Q9550, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, EVGA 9800GTX+ 512MB GA-EP45-DS3L, E7200, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, Asus EAH4850 TOP 512MB GA-EP45-UD3P, E6600, 4x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB P5B-D in a box at the moment P4P800-D, P4 2.4C, 4x512MB Mushkin DDR 400, ATI AIW X800XT 256MB TUSL2C, P3-S 1.4, 2x256MB Corsair XMS150, ATI 9800PRO 128MB, TB Santa Cruz CUSL2, P3 1.0, 1x256MB & 2x128MB Corsair PC133, Asus V7700D 32MB, SB Live! * Please join ABXZone and participate * Last edited by PeterT; 01-18-2003 at 11:17 PM..
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01-18-2003, 10:45 PM	#2
yamawho Linux user Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 4,093	There always seem to be issues with ATI cards and games. Nvidia based cards don't have these issues. I just installed SimCity 4 and the readme file goes on and on about this and that not working on ATI and Matrox cards. __________________
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01-18-2003, 11:03 PM	#3
PeterT CUSL2...GA-EP45-UD3P...? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunny Florida, USA Posts: 2,688	Thanks for the input yamawho. Those are the types of incompatability stories that scare me away from ATI. The last ATI card I had was a Rage 128 and I remember having compatability & driver issues with that card. But, I've heard people say that those ATI issues are now a thing of the past... __________________ Proud Member: Team-CUSL2 - 'The Old School Crew' Asus Eee PC 1000HE, 1x2GB Corsair DDR2 667 GA-EP45-UD3P, Q9550, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, EVGA 9800GTX+ 512MB GA-EP45-DS3L, E7200, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, Asus EAH4850 TOP 512MB GA-EP45-UD3P, E6600, 4x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB P5B-D in a box at the moment P4P800-D, P4 2.4C, 4x512MB Mushkin DDR 400, ATI AIW X800XT 256MB TUSL2C, P3-S 1.4, 2x256MB Corsair XMS150, ATI 9800PRO 128MB, TB Santa Cruz CUSL2, P3 1.0, 1x256MB & 2x128MB Corsair PC133, Asus V7700D 32MB, SB Live! * Please join ABXZone and participate *
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01-18-2003, 11:11 PM	#4
robaczek Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 172	I recently purchased the Albatron 4280P to replace my aging but still working well GF2 GTS. I only paid $155 and I couldn't be happier
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01-18-2003, 11:11 PM	#5
SLM crew chief We Came We Saw We Folded Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NE Ohio, USA Posts: 4,641	Personally, I like nVidia's stability and driver updates. One of my coworkers has an ATI and it gives him some trouble some times, things I've never had with nVidia based cards. I personally have a LeadTek GF 4 TI 4400 that I paid 190.00 shipped for. No vivo but analog, digital, and S-Vidio out. Running on my CUSL2. With the 1.1 A at around 1500 it will get almost 10,000 3D Marks without any O/C on the card. This card seems to be one of the only GF 4's with cooling on both sides. That is why I got it, then I read some really good reviews. __________________ Folding on a CUSL2/TUSL2? Why not..........Join F@H Team-CUSL2The "Old-School Crew" SLM crew chief, EJD3, SKI, Drufuss, PeterT Your name here I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes But it's home to me and I walk alone -- Greenday
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01-19-2003, 10:23 AM	#6
yamawho Linux user Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 4,093	I copied and pasted this from the SimCity 4 readme file NOTE: + Due to hardware limitations with the ATI Radeon series, some buildings and graphic effects will be temporarily turned off while scrolling. + There is a known ATI driver defect that results in SimCity advisor animations dropping polygons. To fix this, please download ATI driver 7.79 or later (also referred to as CATALYST 02.4) from http://www.ati.com on the Internet. __________________
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01-19-2003, 12:35 PM	#7
gamenutt Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 16	I have a geforce 4 ti 4200 and couldnt be happier with that. I do like nvidia stability. But the ati 9500/9700 series are supposed to be very good. If you get a 9500 pro thats built by ati u can actually achieve speeds faster than the 9700 with some overclocking. And the new catalyst drivers are supposed to be good. And its also nice that 9500 pro supports direct x 9. Even though the current games arent coded for it the games coming out in several monthes will be so its nice to get now. So id say to buy either the 9500 pro or the ti 4200.
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01-19-2003, 12:49 PM	#8
swannema ???????????????? Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 9,630	I can't comment on SimCity4 but my Radeon 9500 Pro is an excellent card, I would not trade for a NVidia at all. I have my card overclocked to Radeon 970Pro speeds with no issues at all. I also replaced the ATI heatsink with a Zalman passive heatsink. Works just great.
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01-19-2003, 12:56 PM	#9
DOA Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 2,066	I agree, the Radeon 9500 Pro is an awesome card. I have mine clocked at 351/317 using stock cooling with no problems. I would really like to break 14000 3D marks though. __________________ Intel C2D E6420 @ 2.67GHz Asus P5B Plus 4GB Crucial BallistiX PC2-6400 (4-4-4-12) 2x Seagate 320GB Matrix RAID eVGA 7950GT KO 512MB Enermax Liberty 400W Creative Labs Audigy 2 Value Windows Vista Ultimate x64
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01-19-2003, 03:26 PM	#10
PeterT CUSL2...GA-EP45-UD3P...? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunny Florida, USA Posts: 2,688	Thanks for all the input so far! Keep the opinions coming! I haven't decided yet... I think the Ti4200 is my 'safest' choice, but with the bios hack and a little overclocking, the 9500pro may be the 'better' choice. I think the 9500pro offers more advanced features, a longer service life (obsolesence) and possibly better image quality in flight sims and 2D. Convince me it's 'OK' to go back to ATI... __________________ Proud Member: Team-CUSL2 - 'The Old School Crew' Asus Eee PC 1000HE, 1x2GB Corsair DDR2 667 GA-EP45-UD3P, Q9550, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, EVGA 9800GTX+ 512MB GA-EP45-DS3L, E7200, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, Asus EAH4850 TOP 512MB GA-EP45-UD3P, E6600, 4x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB P5B-D in a box at the moment P4P800-D, P4 2.4C, 4x512MB Mushkin DDR 400, ATI AIW X800XT 256MB TUSL2C, P3-S 1.4, 2x256MB Corsair XMS150, ATI 9800PRO 128MB, TB Santa Cruz CUSL2, P3 1.0, 1x256MB & 2x128MB Corsair PC133, Asus V7700D 32MB, SB Live! * Please join ABXZone and participate *
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01-19-2003, 03:51 PM	#11
gigalife Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 180	Buy any ati 9500 non pro and turn it into a 9700 with this software. Heres the link http://www.maxdownloads.com/~ian/wizzard/ __________________ Aopen AX4C Max P4 2.4B C1@3.053@1.60Volts TwinX512-3200LLPT@2.5,3,3,6@420 WD 80Gb SE Saphire 9500 modded to 9700 Stock intel cooler Dell P1110 21 inch
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01-19-2003, 05:59 PM	#13
dddibley Time well wasted Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: British Columbia Posts: 2,276	Hey PeterT.. Noticed you're interested in the ASUS Deluxe model. Seems to be a few disenchanted users concerning the VIVO portion though. If you're going that route, ATi has the AIW product line, but the Gainward Ultra/650XP Golden sample (Ti4200) is a wonderful card too. nView is much better that ATi, and VIVO is much easier to manage than the overkill ATi has migrated to. Less power concerns too. Just my opinion Hope that helps. ddd
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01-19-2003, 07:23 PM	#14
Vric Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 770	Last week I got a Leadtek A280 Le TD MyViVo (Ti4200-8x) and very happy.... I got it for 290$Can (less than 200$US) __________________ Pentium 4 2.8Ghz @ 3080Mhz Asus P4P800 DX 2x 512mb OCZ PC3500 WD 160gig SATA 8mb Asus Geforce 6600GT Termaltake 420W PFC Power Supply Silverstone TJ06 Case Windows XP Pro SP2 DirectX 9.0c 3DMarks 2001 PCMarks 2002
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01-20-2003, 12:02 PM	#15
PeterT CUSL2...GA-EP45-UD3P...? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunny Florida, USA Posts: 2,688	I am also considering the Asus V9280S/TVD, but it's selling for around $220. That's more than I want to spend. Any feedback on that card? Thanks again everyone! __________________ Proud Member: Team-CUSL2 - 'The Old School Crew' Asus Eee PC 1000HE, 1x2GB Corsair DDR2 667 GA-EP45-UD3P, Q9550, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, EVGA 9800GTX+ 512MB GA-EP45-DS3L, E7200, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, Asus EAH4850 TOP 512MB GA-EP45-UD3P, E6600, 4x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB P5B-D in a box at the moment P4P800-D, P4 2.4C, 4x512MB Mushkin DDR 400, ATI AIW X800XT 256MB TUSL2C, P3-S 1.4, 2x256MB Corsair XMS150, ATI 9800PRO 128MB, TB Santa Cruz CUSL2, P3 1.0, 1x256MB & 2x128MB Corsair PC133, Asus V7700D 32MB, SB Live! * Please join ABXZone and participate *
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