Video Cards

[rvc68]

I am considering buying a new video card. What would be the best card for my system? I read somewhere about a bottleneck in certain systems regarding the CPU size and video cards. Thanks.

Dell P4 2.00GHz
Memory=512MB
GeForce2 MX 400 64.0 MB

[tjkotula]

A GeForce 4 Ti4200 or Radeon 9500 Pro should fit your system very well. Not so overpowered that your processor is a bottleneck, but not so underpowered that you won't see any improvement from the upgrade.

As far as improvement, you might be able to gain a couple of frames here or there. The big thing that comes from video card upgrades tends to be the ability to run with greater levels of AA/AF and at higher resolutions with less of a performance drop. You might also gain some clarity and texture quality.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...31461d33c5.jpg

Tim Kotula
KDTW/KPTK/KPLN

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2200+ @ 1.8 Ghz
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 350/700 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
11217 3D Marks

Pentium 4 - n. A fast, but often overpriced central processing unit capable of emptying the wallets of the common people and causing much financial woe. ;-) :-lol

[junky354]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-24-03 AT 09:43PM (EDT)[/font][p]I agree with Tim!

There is one thing I would like to add. If you play other games (UT2003, SOF2, THPS3,etc.) you will see a much bigger increase in performance in most games. FS2002 is an exception. As you have probably already heard, FS2002 is more proccesor dependant. So if you upgrade your graphics card there will be almost no difference.

I remember when I upgraded from a 32MB TNT2 (this is back in the day when the GF3's where the best Nvidia card) to a 64NB Readeon 8500 I saw no difference in fram rates. And since then upgradeing to a TI4600 I also had no difference.

On a closeing note if you play other games it is worth the upgrade. If all you play is FS2002 your MX400 should hold you over for your next computer.

P.S.
>Pentium 4 - n. A fast, but often overpriced central processing unit capable of emptying the wallets of the common people and causing much financial woe.

I should have figured you were a AMD guy...but im looking at a P4 for my next system!

no more pretty sig....

[tjkotula]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-25-03 AT 02:11PM (EDT)[/font][p]Yeah, the recent shooters are big on graphics power. A fast processor is important, but unlike FS2k2, a powerful graphics card is more or less a must for good performance. Even CFS3 likes powerful graphics cards for its effects.

"I should've figured you were an AMD guy..."

OK, so I lean towards AMD somewhat. I don't totally hate Intel and I applaud their latest advances, but what good can those advances do me if I can't afford them?

I'll take an 333 Mhz FSB XP 2600+ for ~$110 over an 800 Mhz FSB 2.4 Ghz P4 for ~$190+ any day. The performance will be similar enough for me to warrant saving the money.

The P4 isn't completely unaffordable for everyone, but on my teenage budget, forget it.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...31461d33c5.jpg

Tim Kotula
KDTW/KPTK/KPLN

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2200+ @ 1.8 Ghz
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 350/700 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
11217 3D Marks

Pentium 4 - n. A fast, but often overpriced central processing unit capable of emptying the wallets of the common people and causing much financial woe. ;-) :-lol

[rvc68]

Did I hear it right that the GeForce 4 Ti4200 does not support DirectX 9.0 and if that is true what is the net effect regarding Flight Simulator 2004 I wonder?

[tjkotula]

Will FS2004:COF support and require DX9? Yes. Does that mean that it will use DX9's latest features? Nope. A DX8 card like the Ti4200 will support DX9 itself, but may or may not support DX9's improved shading and lighting.

For the most part, I'd say that only upcoming shooters like DOOM 3 will support DX9's new and improved effects. I really can't picture FS2k4 needing/supporting advanced shading and lighting, but then again, you never know seeing as how DirectX is a Microsoft product.

I thought that the newer Ti4200's w/ AGP 8x support also fully supported DX9?

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...31461d33c5.jpg

Tim Kotula
KDTW/KPTK/KPLN

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2200+ @ 1.8 Ghz
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 350/700 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
11217 3D Marks

Pentium 4 - n. A fast, but often overpriced central processing unit capable of emptying the wallets of the common people and causing much financial woe. ;-) :-lol

[junky354]

Where did you here that?

I'm pretty sure it is supported. Maybe it was a certain brand of the TI-4200 that wasn't supported by DX9.0. I see no reason why it wouldn't, and I also haven't heard anything about it. Maybe tim could tell you.

Otherwise you should just buy it!

no more pretty sig....

[shermank]

I just upgraded from the same card to a GeForce 4 Ti4200 using a tyan board and 1 gig processor to drive the system. I am delighted with the results, for under $130 from tigerdirect.com. btw, the card arrived one day after I ordered it.

Sherm

[rvc68]

I just ordered a Radeon 9500 Pro. I'll see how this one works out when I get it.