New Vid card

[Farabomb]

I'm planning on buying a replacement for my Radeon 64DDR vivo. I was going to get either a 4200 or a 8500le but now with all the talk about the new Matrox and VIA cards I'm wondering if I should hold off. DirectX9 is comming out and Nvidia is leaking info about the nv30 and as usual I'm sitting here scratching my head. If I go and get a card now I know within a week something better will come out so I'm curious what you guys think.

[NorthernYankee]

Well I go with the philosophy that there will always e something better coming. So I say get the best thing you can afoord when you re ready to buy or you will always be waiting for the next best thing. I say get the Ti4200(Did I say that)...the nv30 and the Matrox as well as the R300 are still a good 4-6 months away. So buy now and enjoy.

--NY

[Player0]

I agree with NY totally here.

Get what you feel fits your budget now. The 4200 is a great value. 4400 or 4600 are great too if your looking for something to last a couple years.

The 4600 has spoiled me. My lanbox has the GF2Pro with an XP1800 and PC2700 ram...and i only get 30fps in jedi on medium settings, stock! I get up to about 60fps overclocked, still medium settings (16bit, 1024x768, high textures, no shadows, no ansitropic). Crazy how much juice this game needs. Anyway, 60fps makes it at least playable, but I want my cube back!

[Farabomb]

Money really isn't too much of an issue. Just means more OT. I'm leaning towards the 4200 mostly because of price. I don't think my Radeon is too shabby in games and I guess I really don't NEED to get a new card.

The Radeon is the oldest thing in my main box and it will go into my KT7-RAID (if I don't sell it first) The next computer show is the 22-23 so I have more time to talk myself out of it.

Bullsh*t by that time I'll talk myself into a 4600 and something else. If anyone can throw some brands/models they've used and liked I have some food for thought. Thanks.

[NorthernYankee]

Well the MSI boards look really good to me. Though I am quite happy with my Radeon right now. But the price point that the 4200's are being reased at is incredible.

--NY

[mdzcpa]

I agree with NY on this. With the price point of the 4200's there is little reason to own an older GF3 or GF4 MX card. And if you can swing the cash, the 4600s really smoke.

And I just know I'll catch some heat for this comment, but i still feel Nvidia's compatability and driver support is better than ATI's. After another bad experience last month trying to get an ATI 8500LE to run on a new client build I just about tore my hair out. The price was great and all, but I just couldn't get the darn card to run 3DMark2001SE without strange flickering and artifacting. Tried every driver out there on fresh installs and nothing worked. Finally, just before I went insane, I swapped in a GF4 with the 28.32 drivers on a fresh install and delivered the rig the next day to the client.

I know...I know...I'm brainwashed by a bunch of FUD. But you know how bad personal experiences affect your outlook on things:)

I say get what you want today based on your budget:)