On 9 Oct 2003 07:26:43 -0700
(LRW) wrote:

Well, my old card finally gave up the ghost (I was long overdue for a
new card anyway being a Radeon 7500,) but I can really only spend less
than $150 for a new card.

Looking at a couple reviews, I've seen good things about the ATI
Radeon 9600. A little more than $150, but supposedly excellent for the
price.

But, I've had GeForce chip cards before, and have been very impressed.
Plus I can find the FX5200 and Ti4200 both for $115 or less.

AND here's what I found techspec-wise:

Radeon 9600Pro: $160 / Core/Memory clock 400MHz / 300MHz / Memory
Interface 128 bit

FX5200: $68 / Effective Memory Clock: 400MHz / RAMDACs: Dual 350MHz /
Graphics Co 256-bit

Ti4200: $115 / Effective Memory Clock Rate (MHz): 512 RAMDACs (MHz)
(each have 2 RAMDAC): 350 / Graphics Co 256-bit

I really want to get the Radeon because anecdotally I hear good
things, but from the numbers, the FX5200 seems much better, AND much
cheaper (which is really surprising, because isn't the Ti4200 a
generation behind the FX5200??)

So, what am I missing here? Why does the more expensive card have
seemingly less power?

Clock speed is far from the whole story. The FX5200 is entry level,
like the Geforce4 MX--the competing ATI board would be the Radeon 9000
or thereabouts. The 9600 is midrange--various design features and
optimizations give it a good deal more real-world performance than the
5200 (well, doesn't really need much in the way of features and
optimizations to beat a 5200--the 5200s are pretty doggy, especially
the ones with 64-bit memory). The Ti4200 will perform about like the
9600, maybe even a bit faster, _provided_ you don't want to use the new
capabilities provided by DirectX 9--the 4200 will run most DirectX 9
games just fine but if you turn on all the new graphic features then
you'll see your system grind to a halt as it tries to do in software
what the Geforce FX boards and the Radeon 9500 and up do in hardware.

And if anyone knows of where I can get any one of these cards for less
than those prices, please let me know! Thanks. =)

Liam
druid -at- celticbear -dot- com


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