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Old June 30th 03, 03:44 AM
Dave
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The ati 8500 is not equal to a GF4 ti4200. Closer to a GF3 ti200.
Dave

"Li'l ol' me" wrote in message
...
"grendel" wrote in message
...
I need to replace my GF2 GTS cause I'm pretty sure it has a heat problem

and
plus I'd like to upgrade for better 3D performance in games. I play the
following games. Half-Life and GTA3. GTA3 seems to be very demanding.
Although I do have only an 800 MHZ Athlon and 256 meg of RAM I assume

the
slowdown I get in GTA3 is because of a lack of video card performance.
Anyway I'm debating the need for a DX9 video card. If there is not real

need
for a Directx9 video card for another year or 2 then I might as well

upgrade
to a GF4 ti 200. I'm still a little worried about ATI's drivers and the
stuttering problems I have heard about. I could get an ATI 9700 non pro

for
$200 or a nice ti200 for $100.


The slowdown in GTA3 is cos it's a ****e conversion. I have an XP2100 and
Radeon 8500 and still get stutters. I've heard of people with the latest
geforce and Radeons getting stutters. I've also heard of people with

older
systems than yours that have no problems at all. I played it on a P3 867
(GF2 also) for a few weeks with no problems. It just suddenly started
getting funny about the time I reached the second island (I'm sure it's

cos
I changed Detonators- I was using version mid-20-something when it was
working).

Anyway, my Radeon 8500 was a big difference to my GF2 TI (except on

GTA3!),
and I picked it up cheap on ebay. And despite it's number, it's much

better
than a 9000 and 9100, and *possibly* (if not probably) the new 9200. I
reckon the 8500 is about equivalent to that GF4 ti200 you mentioned (but
cheaper). You could find a 9500 for a little over the price you

mentioned.

GTA3 Vice city is a better conversion- I just don't like it much!

Half-life
is ancient- a TNT2 will do that! Half-life 2 will need a meaty card, and

it
looks like Doom 3 will need something the size of a small house from the
early benchmarks I've seen.