another VC recomendation

scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
edited December 2003 in Hardware
Currently I am using a Chaintech Ti 4200 128 4x This card has been a great performer for me. My 18” Nec LCD has a max resolution of 1280x1024 so resolution beyond that is not needed. I have oc’ed this card up to 300 – 550 and normally run it at 247 – 445 ( default Performance profile ) And to tell the truth I can see no difference in the two settings when playing Half-Life or Max Payne. The oc settings yield several hundred more 3Dmark points. The best I ever had was 14065. But I can not see it while gaming. So what I am really getting at here is …. I want a DX9 compatible card in preparation for Half-Life 2. I do not want to upset anyone but…..I prefer Nvidia based cards. This may be do to lack of knowledge…. but from all the posts I have read it seems more people have trouble with ATI based cards and drivers. I hardly ever see any posts about bogus Nvidia cards. Now this may be that there are just more of you with ATI than Nvidia or that you guys are pushing them well past default. I am not sure, it is just what I read.
So the real question is….For my intended purpose ( an awesome Half-Life 2 experience ) Which Card should I get ? And built by who ? I would like to keep it well under $300.
I am not opposed to making the switch to ATI but , It must be a stable card.

Thanks in advance

Scott

Comments

  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    Hrm... let me think

    Nvidia based...

    Awesome HL2 performance and quality...

    Nothing comes to mind.


    Read this article though http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5503

    It explains why a lot of us have chosen ATi and will in future upgrades. It explains why the best HL2 experience can be attained solely through ATi. Read the entire thread and you will come out with a wider knowledge for modern video cards.

    P.S. If you want more news from a majority nvidia based forum go here. From what I know they should be able to tell you more information on nvidia cards.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited November 2003
    Dude, no offense or anything but you are never going to play a game like Half-Life 2 at the highest possible graphics with an nVidia based card and still expect 30-40 FPS. I promise you'll be much better off with a Radeon based video card. As for where to find one, try www.newegg.com
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Or, you could hang in a while longer and see what their next generation brings. I'm gonna guess and say that it should be out around the same time as HL2 is coming out (late spring??), which should mean some nice price reductions in the current high end nVidia stuffs. More speculation - HL2 is BOUND to be more optimized for nVidia than what reports so far have shown, especially given the delay time which should enable further coding efforts in all areas of the game.

    There's not a lot out there right now that's gonna give you better nVidia gaming than what you have - at least in your price range. The Ti-4200's have been and continue to be outstanding bang for the buck. Moving forward to DX9, for $300 you can probably find an ATI R9700 Pro (Sapphire likely) which is still fairly high end (a year after release, who woulda guessed???). For <$200, it's the 9600XT right now, no nVidia card is really close with the details turned up, AA/AF.

    In my experience, most people's driver issues (not 100% but most) are self inflicted, ie, they didn't completely remove previous drivers, they installed system drivers in the wrong order, they aren't up to date on various drivers, etc etc. And, I think you are correct in saying that you see more ATI issues due to the fact that more people in enthusiast areas like this site are running ATI these days.

    Long winded keto strikes again.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    Oh ya.

    I've had no bad experiences with ati hardware or ati software since I've been into computers 2001-2003.

    I've had one bad experience with an Nvidia installation, but by no means was that their fault.
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited November 2003
    I can say truthfully, unless I was drunk or something, that I have had probably 1 or 2 video crashes from an ATi card. I don't know why it happened, but I'll put money on the game's fault.

    My GF4 Ti 4200 crashed enough to the point that I can say it was annoying (because I remember getting annoyed at it a lot), and while I'd probably put money on the games again, I feel sure there were a few times it might.. MIGHT have been nVidia's fault.
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Ok I read all the links and understand the ati superiority issue ( at this time anyway) An industry does need competition to remain fresh and on the cutting edge. Hopefully Nvidia will again step infront of ATI. But for now It looks like ATI. My kids comp smoked its VC and she is using an old pci 4mb card right now. It really blows, we can't even game on our LAN. So I get a new smokin card and she gets the Ti 4200. Good deal for everybody. (even Newegg )
    So it looks like for about $300-$320 I can get a 9800 pro. Will this make me happy? And give what HL2 has to offer?

    Next question. I have an old WinTv Pci card in my machine and was thinking of upgrading...Is the all-in-wonder a bad idea? Is this just too much crap on one card ? Heat ? etc.

    Thanks guys !!

    Scott
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    9800 Pro AIW is definitely a smokin' card. Will certainly easily replace your WinTV card, and I can assure you it <b>will</b> fill the role needed by HL2..It does so even at the unoptomized beta stages.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    Good call, just don't buy this card http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=14-102-304

    It's a r350core on a 9700 pcb with poor traces.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I'll second the vote for the AIW as an incredible card. I use an AIW 7500 for my home theatre and not only does it game well (for a 7500) but the video capture and multimedia suite is rock solid.
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I was thinking about this one http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=0&submit=Go&description=N82E16814102309

    What do you fellers think ?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    Great choice. AIW 9800 Pro will perform superbly and give you those VIVO & TV watching capabilities to replace your older card.

    The bulk version simply doesn't come with a box. It's got everything the box retailed version does, just usually it's all wrapped in a static bag and extra bubblewrap packaging. :)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    The bang for buck videocard right now must be those 256bits 9800SE AIW.
    Many, if not most of them works brilliant softmodded to 9800 Pro. I'm getting mine in a couple of days. Samsung memorys and all. Yay! Just over $200 bux for a 9800 Pro AIW.
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    OK My new 9800pro AIW should be here mon-tues. So according to a lot of you guys the proper installation sequence is important to the Radeon family...So...What is the rundown ? Current setup is Ti 4200 ( never had any ATI drivers on this machine ) WinTv PCI card. I would assume that I should completly remove all Nvidia and WinTv drivers as well as hardware. Then which ATI drivers would you guys recomend and what is the install order ? I would like to get it right the first time ! Thought I would post this today ..beacuse I know as soon as it gets here I will be tearing into it. This will give me some time to "Prepare"

    I'm running XP Pro SP1

    Let me know if you need anymore info

    Thanks

    Scott
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    Well, people swear by formatting when changing from NVidia to ATI, however it doesn't need to be done.

    First, uninstall the Detonator and WinTV software. Next, find a driver cleaner and remove all traces of the Detonator & WinTV drivers and software on your system.

    Next, download the Catalyst driver suite and Control Panel (I recommend Catalyst 3.7).

    Power down the system, remove both the NVidia and WinTV cards and install your new AIW 9800 Pro.

    Start the system up and log-on.

    Next, go to www.microsoft.com/directx/ and re-install the DirectX 9.0B Runtime. Restart.

    Now, install the Catalyst 3.7 driver suite. DO NOT RESTART.

    Then, install the Control Panel. Now restart.

    Upon boot-up, the ATI Catalyst software will utilize SMARTGART to program the card properly and get the card working. Your screen should flicker for a couple seconds slightly after you boot up.

    After this, go to www.atitech.ca and download the newest Windows Capture Driver and MultiMedia Centre software. The editions that come on your CD are older and will still work, but it's best to use the newest MultiMedia Centre (MMC).

    Install the Windows Capture Driver and restart.

    Then, install the MMC software you downloaded. It will ask you to provide your retail installation CD that came with your AIW 9800 Pro as proof that you own a copy of MMC. Insert the CD, allow the MMC software to see that you have a copy and complete installation.

    Finally, restart once more and you're ready to enjoy ATI's flagship multimedia card :)
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    If you're not reformatting, you've got it just right - remove existing *including registry entries, usually found HKEY/LOCAL MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ (?)Nvidia(?)* and Nvidia folders under C:/ and C:/Program Files (careful you don't delete chipset drivers if on nforce2 chipset) (dunno offhand if Nvidia does this, ATI does for sure). Remove the drivers and files first, reboot, remove registry entries, shut down change cards. Installing is pretty simple, 1)drivers 2)control panel, reboot. 3)WDM Capture driver, if needed.

    **Edit forgot about DX9, good idea Sim.
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Thanks a millon guys that is just what I needed to know.
    I already have the Hauppague WinTv Driver cleaner app. Does anybody know of a good one for Nvidia ?

    Also I already have DX 9.0b on my machine....Should I reinstall it?

    Scott
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    What operating system are you using?

    http://www.guru3d.com/detonator-destroyer/
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Thanks Al

    Does not look like it supports XP Pro (OS stated above )
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    keto had this to say
    [/B] they installed system drivers in the wrong order

    Long winded keto strikes again. [/B]




    Was that a cheap shot keto???



























    LOL j/k m8!!!:ninja:
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    scott had this to say
    Thanks a millon guys that is just what I needed to know.
    I already have the Hauppague WinTv Driver cleaner app. Does anybody know of a good one for Nvidia ?

    Also I already have DX 9.0b on my machine....Should I reinstall it?

    Scott

    Yes. It's always a good idea to re-install the latest DX whenever you change video cards, just incase for some wierd Windows reason that a DX file is lost or corrupted or a DX registry entry is moved during the driver uninstallation process. :)

    Ask Gnome about how DirectX solved his problems :D (wink wink) :D

    As for a Driver Cleaner, here's a link to the one I use (works damned good.): http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/RegSupreme_setup.exe

    RegSupreme. :D
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well Fed EX brought my card today got it all in and it seems to work fine. I opened the advanced tab in settings and slide the sliders to high performance in open gl and 3d and ran 3Dmark01 pretty cool. Powerstrip says it is running 337 mem and 378 eng.

    here are a couple of screenies one before I took the Ti 4200 out and one after the new install

    before
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    after
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    Looks like everything is in order :)

    Hope you enjoy your new card :D
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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