Which 3D Card?

[Trevor Schell]

Hi!,

In my final stages of putting together my XP Athlon System, I need a new 3d card. I am originally going to use my 64 Meg Voodoo 5 from my old box, but will eventually return it and pick up a newer card.

What would be a good recommendation for a 3D card.? If there is something great coming out in the near future I would wait for it.
Note:I will not be using this as a HomeTheater PC but may have a 24" TV connected to it as well as the computer monitor.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks,




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Bing Fung]

Well Trev, if you wait something better always comes along, it's the nature of the industry.

Right now you have 2 flavors, Geforce 3 Ti 500 or Radeon 8500. In synthetic benchmarks (3D marks... Sandra) the Radeon 8500 slaughters the Geforce Ti, however when it comes down to actual FPS, game bench marks, the G3Ti comes out a head.

Some attribute this to ATI Driver issues, and that they have actually been optimized for DirectX 9.0 (which is not yet out).

I would buy a Ti500, however the Radeon is cheaper by about $120, and it has a theoretical higher memory bandwidth. So if ATI can fix it's drivers, the Radeon 8500 could eclipse the Ti500, TBD.




Bing

[SiliGoose]

I'm with Bing.

I would also get the Ti500 over the Radeon 8500 -despite the price difference.

The 8500 is a great card but there is real concern that some of its features will never be fully exploited.

If you wanted to save a bit of money I'd recommend picking up one of the "old" GeForce 3 cards.




-Sili

[Trevor Schell]

Thanks guys!,

Couple of questions..

First..How much of a difference in FPS between the Ti 500 and the 8500..Substantial or just a few FPS.

Secondly,,I had no idea that there was a new version of the G3..Is it much faster than the original G3?

Third,,can they both be connected to a TV??

Thanks,




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Bing Fung]

Hey Trev, have a look Here to see.

Basically the ATI is slightly faster in snythetic benches, however when it comes to the games, The Ti500 is around 20 fps faster on the tests. It's rumoured that ATI optimized their drivers for the Quake3 bench and some suspect cheating... I don't know, everyone optimizes for one app or another, so is it really cheating?

The TI500 is basically a higher yield Geforce 3. That is it is clocked higher from the factory (224 vs 200), other than that there is no real difference from the Old GF3 to the Ti500. The speed gain is faster though not as fast as to relegate the GF3 as archaic. The Original GF3 holds it's own, and if overclocked, can surpass the Ti500 because it basically becomes a Ti500 if it can clock at those speeds. If the Ti500 is overclocked, then it will again surpass the GF3, you know the drill. Unless budget dictates, stay away from the Ti200 as it is basically a detuned GF3 Original However I hear they are aggressivly pricing the Ti200, still at that price point I would migrate toward the 8500 Radeon.

I maintain, If you need a card today and price isn't an issue, Ti500. If you are looking to save a few bucks, GF3 original. If you want to bet that ATI can release drivers that will make the Radeon 8500 faster that the Ti500, and get a jump on paper performance... 8500.


That may all change, come tomorrow XP will be launched and with that, Direct X 8.1 will be released. It's been suspect that ATI has optimized all it drivers to take advantage of the new release, with that will be a new set of benchmarks. Nvidia developed all it's pixel and vertex shaders with DirectX 8.0, and may not be optimized with DirectX 8.1's advanced features. Time will Tell if a .1 change in DirectX will make a difference, I don't think it will be a big deal, however it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong .

We can all plan for tomorrow, but we need to live for today




Bing

[Trevor Schell]

Thanks Bing!,,

Well not sure what to do.
I guess after about a week and once Windows XP has been tested with the two mentioned cards it would then be the right time to make a decision based on feedback of the comparisons..

I was reading another forum where it was mentioned that Nvidia already has a Ti-800 in the Pipeline.

I picked up the new copy of Maximum PC and they have a reveiw on the Radeon 8500 giving it a kick ass 10 score.
Haven't read it yet, but will soon.
It's featured on the front cover.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5