What can I turn this card into?

DodgerDodger
edited November 2003 in Hardware
I have a Gainward Geforce 4 Ti4200 video card and planning on overclocking soon. Now, as the title of this thread asks, what can this thing do? It's an 8X 128mb model so I heard it doesn't have as big of overclocking potential as it's brother. Also, I just want to know if this card will be able to handle a game like Half-Life 2 after overclocking. Peace out.
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Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    You should be able to get at least Ti4400 speeds, maybe even Ti4600 speed out of it. As for HL2, that'll run at lower detail levels. But luckily, your card should be able to play the game better than the GF-FX series!
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Assuming I get my video card to overclock at Ti4600 speeds my card should then be comparable to a Radeon 9600 Pro, shouldn't it? And since the 9600 is ATi's 3rd most powerful card series, shouldn't I be able to run Half-Life 2 at higher graphical levels? Just a thought...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    But HL2 is going to use DX9 extensions, you'll only be able to run at the levels that DX8 provides. However, you should still get a fine image out of it.

    The 9600, though, is ATI's fourth most powerful line, as the 9500 series is actually more powerful.
    9800>9700>9500>9600>9100/8500>9200 etc...
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Ahhhh, I see.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Ok, what can this card do?

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2765349345&category=40158

    The dude claims he got it running at 9800 speeds. Is it possible to open up the disabled pipelines with this version?
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    i have a 9500 pro that I flashed to a 9700 pro bios. I OCd it to 325/310 no problem, just haven't tried pushing it any higher, but I haven't got any problems with it so far. It's recognized as a 9700 pro, but it's only got a 128 bit bus and apparently 8 pipelines active, but YMMV. It's a good card but you can get better deals on it than that. Personally, I'd get a 9600 XT.

    edit: i forgot to ad, if it was the L shaped ram go for it, but it's not.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    The 9500 pro isn't a bad card (I've got one) but there are better choices... I'd go with a 9700 if you can get your hands on one for a similarly low price. You can check Newegg's refurb section for some good prices on it when they're in stock.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I agree with GHoosdum and think you can do better for the money. Also, if that was a brand new card it might be worth that current price if you were a gambler. As it is used, used 1x, yeah right! I was just in this dillema but a couple of weeks ago and was watching for the best I could buy for the $150 range. I ended up finding a deal on a 9600 Pro that is showing promising signs in the overclocking department. It is currently up to a stock 9700np. If I wouldn't have found the deal I did I would have waited for a refurb 9700 or 9800np (don't get the SE).
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    A Ti4200 at 250/500 (stock) should be able to overclock to Ti4600 speeds (300/650) without the assistance of ramsinks or additional core cooling.

    I'm assuming you'll be able to play Half-Life 2 with this card, as Half-Life 2 has been designed to support DirectX 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 extensions. Since the Ti4200 is a DX8 part, your image won't look as good as it would if played on a DX9-enabled card, but it will still play at a playable rate.

    I wouldn't even consider attempting to run Anti-Aliasing or Anisotropic Filtering during play with HL2, even at a resolution of 1024x768. AA & AF would kill frame-rates to an unplayable level (we're talking <25 fps here). The GeForce 4 Ti series never did have strong AA/AF performance, so it's a good idea to just crank the resolution to as high as you possibly can get with a decent frame-rate (45-60 fps). :)

    The GeForce 4 Ti series is no match for any of ATI's R3xx and RV3xx series cards. ATI's newest cards don't only feature advanced rendering technologies and full DirectX 9.0 support, but they also enhanced support for DirectX 8.1 extensions in their cards, allowing them to be more efficient and perform better than their actual DX8 counterparts. As for AA & AF technologies, any mid-range ATI Radeon card (9500 & 9600) feature advanced AA & AF technologies that allow you to run high resolutions with AA & AF enabled and only notice a moderate performance hit, instead of the massive performance hit seen with the GeForce 4 Ti series (NV25). On ATI's high-end products (9700 & 9800 series), they feature the same advanced AA & AF technologies, but because of the extreme amount of memory bandwidth available on these cards, AA & AF are almost "penalty free" on these cards. :)

    Your best bet? Look for a refurbed 9700 or 9700 Pro. Check NewEgg, our Deal & Trading Depot or any other tech website's classified section. [H]ard Forums usually has lots of people trying to liquidate their used 9700/9500 series cards for dirt cheap prices.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Does anyone know where I can find a Radeon 9700 for less than 200 dollars?

    EDIT: I was thinking about getting this card and simply overclocking it to run at 9700 speeds... is this possible?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I believe that the 9600XT runs at much faster than 9700 speed, but it doesn't perform as highly due to the 4 pixel pipelines and 128-bit memory bus vs. the 9700's 8 pixel pipelines and 256-bit memory bus.

    Performance in HL2 will be more than acceptable with a 9600XT, however. You should be able to get a great picture at a decent resolution, with AA and AF on.

    //edit: the link to the 9600XT says it has a 256-bit memory bus, so I may be wrong there...

    There's also a refurb 9700 non-pro AIW at NE for $199 right now...

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=48&manufactory=1126&Type=Refurbish&sortby=14&order=1
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    9600XT is a 4x1 part with a 128-bit memory bus, running at 500/600.

    It is slower than an ATI Radeon 9700, but according to Anandtech's benchmarking, will provide superior performance in Half-Life 2. Built upon the technology featured first in the Radoen 9700, the 9600XT is today's highest performing main-stream video card. :)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    See? I thought it was 128-bit. Wow, Newegg isn't always right! :wtf:
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    So, should I go for 9600XT rather than a 9700 altogether? It sounds tempting, but I heard the 9600XT only has 4 rendering pipelines... is it true? Are they simply disabled, and if so, can I re-enable them?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    It's true it only has 4. They are not disabled, the 9600 architecture is completely different (although based loosely upon) the 9700 architecture. The 9600 is the first ATI GPU to use the .13 micron fabrication process.

    I would feel totally safe purchasing a 9600XT.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Dangit... if only the 9600XT had 8 pipelines...

    EDIT: Are you sure it only has four? Judging from this picture it looks like it has 8...

    http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=14-102-326-03.JPG/14-102-326-04.JPG/14-102-326-05.JPG/14-102-326-02.JPG/14-102-326-01.JPG
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I'm willing to bet that if you were willing to wait a week or so NE will have a 9700 Pro for $225 or so. If you don't want to wait get the 9600XT.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    I'm not going over 200 bucks, sorry.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Well that's exactly where I was 2 weeks ago and went for a 9600 Pro for $149. I have not regretted buying my 9600 Pro one bit. It is a lot more card than the ti4200 it replaced.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    So, should I get a Radeon 9600XT or Pro Ultimate? What's the difference?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    XT. The Pro Ultimate is (AFAIK) clocked lower (Pro Speed) and is called "Ultimate" because it's got a silent cooler on it.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    The Ultimate is basicly the XT with a different HS and it looks like it comes with a full Retail package of goodies.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Newegg has a Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro for... get this... 200 bucks! It's so mine!:D:D:D:D:D
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Sweet. Good card there. Sapphire is the best of the powered-by-ATI manufacturers, IMHO.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Grrrr... I won't be able to order it entill tomorrow... hope they don't run out of stock by than...
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    There are only 2 plants in the world that create ATI's retail cards: Their own manufacturing plant and their #1 OEM's manufacturing plant: Sapphire.

    This is why ATI's retail cards and the Sapphire vanilla cards are identical (short of the ATI sticker on the card, the heatsink & sometimes the memory modules). :)

    Ultimate Edition Sapphire cards feature that massive Zalman passive heatsink & optional fan (if selected) in place of the usual tiny retail heatsink.

    FireBlade Special Edition Sapphire cards are hand-picked units designed to overclock and perform at the highest levels over run-of-the-mill Sapphire cards. Sapphire GUARUNTEES that the memory will overclock and ships the card with overclocked memory (in the case of the 9600 Pro FireBlade, it ships at 400 Core, 660 Memory), but independent testing shows that it can do 513/710. :)

    As for the 9600XT, I am 100% dead-on sure that it's a 4x1 product, with a 128-bit memory interface running at 500 MHz core & 600 MHz DDR memory. The 9600-architecture is based on ATI's newest 0.13 micron fabricating technology. It only has 4 pipelines, not the 8 with 4 disabled like the 9500 series did (which was really just a castrated 9700). :)
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    So, i'm better off with the 9700 Pro?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    The 9700 Pro will give better performance than the 9600XT.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    What's the difference between the 9800 Pro and the 9800 Pro Ultimate?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Just like the 9600 Pro/Ultimate, the 9800 Pro Ultimate takes a standard 9800 Pro and adds a fanless heatpipe to it.
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