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View Full Version : Buying new PC, but...


manasecret
05-29-2002, 10:11 PM
... I won't have the cash exactly on hand until more late June or mid-July. But that's not the problem...

Since the GeForce5 is apparently coming out this fall and is something like twice as powerful as the GeForce4 (so gekko says), I want to know if buying a GeForce4 Ti 4200 (which is $200, I think) and sticking it in my 800Mhz Athlon PC with 512MB (cheapo) RAM I have now would help the performance all that much until I can buy a PC with the GeForce5? I'm playing Morrowind right now and the performance is close to like playing Half-life on a Palm computer -- exaggerated, but in other words it's very sucky and choppy. So would it help my computer?

That's kinda the short version. :)

The full version of what I'm thinking is this:

I'm thinking about buying the Ti 4200 like I said, and use it in the PC I have now. Then around mid-summer I'll buy a top-of-the-line everything PC except for the video card and put the Ti 4200 in that PC. Then I would wait until fall when the GeForce5 comes out and buy top-of-the-line of the 5's, take the Ti 4200 out and put the 5 in.

The reason I would buy the PC mid-summer instead of just waiting until fall when the GeForce 5 comes out is because I'll be in a different city going to college by that time. So I want to buy the computer at a place I can trust here in Houston and be able to iron out any major problems before I get to a city that I know very little about.

So would that card help all that much? I mean, it would essentially be wasting $200, maybe a little less if I could pawn it off when I get the GeForce 5. Would another card be just as good for what I need right now (which is essentially Morrowind and maybe a game or two more until fall)? Maybe the Radeon 8500 or even the GeForce 4 MX?

Please help. :(

db

gekko
05-29-2002, 10:25 PM
If you can buy a computer without the video card (many places don't allow you to), do it.

But ya, the GeForce 5 comes out in October I think. I believe the ATI R300 (codename probably) with come out alongside the DirectX9 release, in September. And yes, it will be the next generation for sure.

The GeForce4 Ti 4200 is a good card if you only want it for a few months. It'll get you good gaming until then. Unless you're looking to run Q3A at 130fps, I don't see any real need for the 4600.

The Radeon 8500 is a great card. But sorry, don't know about the 4 MX.

What are you playing on right now?

manasecret
05-30-2002, 02:09 AM
The video card I have now is the 32MB GeForce2 Annihalator 2, which I think also goes by the name of GeForce2 GTS or GeForce2 Pro. From what I remember, it was supposed to be the second best GeForce 2 card, at least at the time I read some reviews.

I'm pretty sure this place would let me not buy a video card, though I'm not sure. Better check up on that...

Thanks for the answer. :)

db