Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
As luck would have gotten it, I won a store cash draw worth about $300. Of course, keeping it is an option, but I am possibly considering upgrading my GeForce4 MX 440. So far, I have looked at the ATI Radeon 9700 (non-pro), GeForce FX 5800 (non-ultra), and GeForce 4 Ti4800 (8x).
What I want to know is where the Geforce Ti 4800 stands in terms of performance. I've got a good handle on how the other two cards compare, but I have been unable to find similar documentation and benchmarks for the third. Most importantly, I'm wondering if this card is actually faster than the original GeForce 4 Ti4600, and the Radeon 9500PRO.
Ideas? Thanks.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
The 4800 is a regular 4600 with an 8x AGP interface. Its core or memory aren't clocked higher, so don't expect a massive leap in performance over the 4600.
The bottleneck here (as with all current graphics boards) is memory bandwith, which becomes a problem long before the AGP bus itself is stressed to the point where performance is hindered. IOW: it's a marketing ploy.
Also, the NV28 (GF4) chipset isn't DirectX 9 compliant, whereas the NV30 (FX) and R300 (9700) are, so I'd grab the Radeon.
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Is there a benchmark for comparing the 4800 to other cards? I'd like a reference to use.
So far, after surfing through many sites, I've picked out the following prices (in Canadian Dollars, of course):
Sapphire Radeon 9700: $295 Asus Geforce4 Ti4800: $237 Asus GeForce FX 5800: $400 Asus GeForce4 Ti4200-8X: $295 (this is strange, and it is slower too)
The GeForce FX 5800 may soon be out of the question. Unlike the Ultra version, the 5800's benchmarks are comparable to a Radeon 9700PRO, and it is also expensive (the 5800 Ultra does better, but not by much).
Even though the 4800 may be of the DX8.1 generation, its performance is what I was interested in. When I bought my GeForce 4 MX440, I didn't do my research and found out that for a mere $15, I could have had 33% better performance with a GeForce 3 Ti200. Though I do see why I should consider a Radeon 9700.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
There aren't many, and the ones I've seen are often biased or otherwise unreliable (NVidia's driver cheats for 3D Mark come to mind), but the few neutral benchmarks that do circulate show no noticeable increase i/r/t the Ti4600 (never more than five percent, even under ideal testing conditions - which you definitely won't achieve while playing Doom III or whatever).
Side note: if you do go down GF lane, don't take the 4800 SE, as that card is a souped up 4400 in disguise:
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Radeon it is. Thanks, Cartmaniac.
But it may look like that I may not want to get the card yet. Damn Credit Card Bill.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Related question:
Can a Radeon 9700 work on Windows 98 SE?
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Erh, sure.
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Product information does not indicate that the Radeon 9700 supports Windows 98 SE. I've heard that the newer cards are eliminating support for Windows 98 SE.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
The Catalyst driver suite includes support for '98. That's all the product information you need.
Besides, Windows 98 is still the most popular gaming OS, so it won't be phased out anytime soon (because gamers are ATI & NVidia's largest customer base and can therefore wield TEH SACERD POWAR OF TEH DOLLAR).
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Also a point to bear in mind is that the top of the range GeForce FX (and the one below it) have Really Massive Fans. Huge. Mighty. Giant. And very noisy. You might not think it's a problem, but you should be in a room with one. It's like a small aircraft hanger is living inside your PC.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
