Radeon or Nvidia?

[MwXX]

Currently have a ATI 8500LE 128MB ddr, 3 mos old...

found a Nvidia GF4, Ti 4200 128MB on clearance for $125


is it worth getting it? and getting rid of ATI 8500 LE?

let me know guys!!!!

[bloom25]

The GeForce 4 is faster, but a Radeon 8500 should be plenty fast for any game you want to play.  A Radeon 8500 is about equal to a GeForce 3 Ti 500, or about 20% slower than a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 overall.

Edit:  You have a Radeon 8500 LE.  I think those were a bit slower than a standard 8500, but it should still be an adequate card.

[zroostr]

The clock speed of the memory is slower I think for and LE vs. the regular 8500 but thats it. It's as good as a g4. Dont throw away good money when ya already have an LE 128 version. The only real upgrade from that atm is an ATI 9700 pro. But thats clockin in @ $400 atm.

[MwXX]

thanks guys, thats what i wanted to know!

[TIGS]

I'd suggest you to hold out on the 9700 Pro if you're actually thinking about it - 349 dollars right now if you find it online (if you know where to look)... however, there's the R-350 (dubbed Radeon 9800 Pro) is coming out in late March, and is said to be selling for 399 dollars, so that might bring the price of the 9700 Pro down to maybe 299 per card, and at that point is when you should invest some money into the card.

If you went out and bought a 9700 already.. no big deal, you got the best card (I'm actually on GF4 4200 with 64 MB) there is on the market... if you're still holding out.. this is the best ticket to a faster video card, and hold on to it.

TIGS


"EDIT" - Around the time of this posting, there was a new information regarding the R350 that I thought I'd do a modification to the post I wrote in here earlier.

Radeon 9800 Pro (and non-pro) (128 MB Version) will be released sometimes in late March/Mid April timeframe. The Pro will retail for around $399 dollars as usual.

Radeon 9900 Pro (and non-pro) (256 MB version) will be released sometimes in May according to "The Inquirer", and considering the fact that an additional 128 MB of RAM was added in, the pricing will be around 499, but that's just speculation. It is said that the 9900 Pro will be about 40% faster than 9700 Pro, which is good news (9700 pricing will come down considerably), but the bad news will always be the price for 9900 since it will be geared toward extreme gamers and the world's richest people.
Oh, one more thing...

Both of those cards will be launched at an European CeBit in mid-March. Stay tuned for it.

[Reschke]

If you want to dig around some I found OEM ATI 9700 Pro cards on Pricewatch for around $250 and several sites had free or very low cost shipping. I personally am waiting a little longer to see what the price on the new AMD chips start at and see how much both AMD and Intel drop prices before I upgrade again. I have a GeForce4 Ti4400 128MB pushing my video now and it works great.