Should I upgrade my graphics card?

[runecaster]

Right now i have a GeForce 3 Ti 200 and as it is im intending to get a Radeon 9600XT. What I really want to know is, how much better is the newer card going to be. Will it be worth $150-170 for this new card? What kind of improvements can I hope to see and how much of an improvement will there be to the actual graphics (how things look, detail wise)

My System
2GHZ P4
2 X 256mbRAM
80GB HD
CD-RW
DVDROM
GeForce 3 Ti 200

 

[jrbarnett]

What do you use the PC for? Games, office applications, 3D graphics modelling and rendering, statistical analysis of multi gigabyte data sets?

John

 

[Nelviticus]

There's a brilliant in-depth article on Tom's Hardware covering just what you want to know:

Tom's VGA Charts

Nelviticus

 

[ceh4702]

You might want to wait and see if the price drops a bit. It could drop a little by the end of the summer if the new ATI video cards hit the market. The 9800 could be dropping in price by then. ATI has pushed the general release of their video card back a little, but the newer video cards will probably be readily available by June or July.

I noticed that

http://www.newegg.com

had some ATI Radeon 9700's for sale.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[cdogg]

Basic advantages from the upgrade:

- GPU Speed (going from a 175MHz GPU to 500MHz)
- Memory Speed (400MHz to 600MHz)
- More vertex shaders (faster DirectX 8 and DirectX 9 performance)
- Pixel shaders (Older Nvidia DirectX 8 cards from the GeForce3 line did not have standalone pixel shaders which greatly hurts overall DX8/9 performance)
- More pixel pipelines (the 9600XT uses 4, while the Ti 200 has 2) which translate to better fill rates (2 Gigapixel/sec versus 850 Megapixel/sec)
- Likely more memory (128MB vs 64MB)

The biggest thing you will notice is that you can run 3D acceleration at a higher detail & resolution without sacrificing much in performance than you could with the Ti 200.

Yes it's worth the upgrade IMO. As you'll find with any upgrade, the longer you wait the bigger the jump you can make at the same price. However, the 9600XT is a significant enough jump to make now.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[paparazi]

With the imminent release of both the Nvidia 6800 and ATI's X800 top line GPU's it's hard to tell how much this will effect prices in the middle ranks, it is bound to have a knock on effect and I can see every card from the middle up, having a sizable chunk knocked off it's price tag to make way for the new monsters.
This 20/30% drop??? might leave you with better options for your buck, you might be able to afford the Nvidia FX5900XT instead of the ATI 9600XT (between 5/50% quicker depending on benchmark)
Is it worth upgrading? well I would say yes, if you want to play any of the latest titles with usable frame rates but for every day 2D you won't see any differance.
Martin

Start by questioning and soon you will be anwering.
So please take but remember to return and give when you can.

 

[runecaster]

jrbarnett: I use the PC for 3d gamings like Halo, Warcraft 3 and JK: JA

What about packages? Is it worth getting a packaged deal or just the barebones? If so, whats the best package deal for games and utilities? Im also wondering whether an ATI or nVidia would be best.

 

[jrbarnett]

OK its just that for office applications or CPU bound applications only, your current card is overkill. As you do play games that use the 3D features it may be worth it.

John

 

[paparazi]

runecaster
You might want to browse this comprehensive review on Toms.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-03.html

Note* This post is really on the wrong forum. Please be aware that gaming (unless professional testing or developing) is not considered an appropriate topic on TT
Please read site Policy for the best use and information on how to best contribute towards this excellent site.
Regards. Martin




Start by questioning and soon you will be anwering.
So please take but remember to return and give when you can.

 

[Toad21]

The most bang for the buck ATM is probably the fx5900 series. Look at spending 180$.