pc update quesiton

[psycho-martian]

ok guys, maybe someone can help me out. i wanna upgrade my pc video card, what are some cheap/good models i should look out for? i've currently got an overclocked standard 32mb tnt2 running on a celeron II 566 overclocked to 933. would a geforce4 card be a good choice? what can i expect in terms of performance if i get a geforce4 card? any ideas?

[SpaceMonkey]

If you are on a budget, Aus PC market have Geforce4 Ti4200 cards at $280. This is the budget version of the card so it "only" has 64MB of 4ns memory on it, enough system RAM it is still going to run any game on the market perfectly with all the eye candy turned on. Its a full blown Geforce 4 card too and not an MX so you get the fully programmable vertex shader etc that the MX lacks, ie you'll be pretty future proof with this card. Alternatively you can get the $330 version with 3.3ns RAM which can overclock to Ti4600 speed, also a great deal, or the 128MB version for around $400.
If you want to spend more go for a Geforce4 Ti4400 or 4600 with 128MB for around $500-$600 or if you really want the best an ATi Radeon 9700 for $700+, but to be honest I doubt that you'd notice too much difference with the current crop of games.
If you're on a really tight budget you can get either a Geforce 4 MX440 or MX460 (avoid the MX420), KyroII or SIS Xabre for under $200, but I'd say you're better off forking the extra for the Ti4200.
Any of these cards will be literally at least 4 times faster than your TNT2 though. I went from a TNT2 to a Geforce2MX and all these cards are a lot faster.

[psycho-martian]

thanks for the info matey. i'll probably check out the Ti4200 , cheers

[Orfeo]

i'm completly out of the upgrade cycle due to lack of money so i don't keep up with this stuff (or know what i'm talking about anymore) .


but, i read an artical in Icon - SMH ( i know i know...not exactly the goto place for computer info) , on upgrading your video card, and it was basically saying to make sure that you buy the right card for your computer. As in, your video card works in union with your processor, and either one can be a bottle neck. in other workds its not worth buying the $1000 card if you've got a celeron 500 and the processor with hold the card back etc....

i've got no idea what card would match you processor/ future processor....but maby u might wanna check out the artical....(2 weeks ago from now i think)

orfeo

[TraNCifieD]

The GeForce 4 4200Ti is good for value....but it doesnt matter how gd the card is, the thing is ur system will not be able to utilise the card to its full potential cause ur using celeron and that will create an information bottleneck; cause the FSB is running at 66Mhz which is slow as, my bet is to upgrade to a P4 2Ghz, also get a fast hard drive at 7,200rpm then everything will run smoother.

[TraNCifieD]

Also remember to get P4 2.0A Ghz, cause that runs at 533FSB, or u could wait for the P4 3.0Ghz that runs 677Mhz FSB

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally posted by TraNCifieD
The GeForce 4 4200Ti is good for value....but it doesnt matter how gd the card is, the thing is ur system will not be able to utilise the card to its full potential cause ur using celeron and that will create an information bottleneck; cause the FSB is running at 66Mhz which is slow as, my bet is to upgrade to a P4 2Ghz, also get a fast hard drive at 7,200rpm then everything will run smoother.
Actually as he's got his celeron overclocked to 933MHz my guess is he's running his FSB at about 109MHz? You can't overclock celerons any other way as they are multiplier locked....
I'd agree that a Ti4200 is probably overkill with this system though. However remember you can always transplant your video card into a new system when you have the dosh to buy one. Rememberthat a 2GHz P4 would require a new motherboard, RAM, and power supply as well, not exactly cheap. An alternative would be to get a Duron or low end Athlon with a board that will take your existing RAM, not as fast as a P4 but quick enough to eliminate the CPU as a bottleneck in most games.

[TraNCifieD]

True, forgot about that point about increasing bus. But see what advertising does to u! Damn pentium.....I'm always thinking about my system forgot the point that he doesnt want to upgrade that much. :p :meh:

[NismoR31]

Originally posted by SpaceMonkey
You can't overclock celerons any other way as they are multiplier locked....
aren't all Intel chips multiplier locked?

[tilde]

yeah, after a couple of pII releases they started locking them (1998)

[SpaceMonkey]

Intel first started locking their CPUs in 1997 I think, the P200MMX came in both locked and unlocked variants depending which factory it was from. A few PIIs were unlocked but pretty much everything was multiplier locked from 1998 onwards. The FSB was always the best way to overclock 66MHz CPUs (as well as some 100MHz models) anyweay though, because of the extra bonus you got in RAM speed from the FSB clock increase.