geforce 4000 (64 MB) vs. visiontek 9200 SE (128 MB) Pci cards

[bklevan]

How good is the GeFOrce 4000 PCI (64 MB) card compared to the VisionTek 9200 SE PCI (128 MB)?

[bklevan]

will both of these be able to run far cry?

[tristancarton]

Spend an extra 20-30 dollars. Get a 128 geforce 5600 pci or a 64/128 radeon 9100 instead.(stress this) They are much faster than both the 4000 and the 9200se. (stay far far away from any ati se edition)
Personally I know the visiontek 64 mb 9100 pci 250/250 will play any of the latest games.

Here is basically the end all be all of pci card roundups

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=445&pid=1588

If i were you I would look around on ebay/pricewatch for the 5600 pci or the 9100 pci. They are the best pci cards you are going to find.(ever) They will play new games. Just not at high detail levels.

If you want to ask any more questions don't be afraid to ask.

[Nasheroni]

Not worth buying

[bklevan]

suppose i get the 9100. How well can I run Battlefield Vietnam and Far Cry?

[DnL]

Originally Posted by bklevan

suppose i get the 9100. How well can I run Battlefield Vietnam and Far Cry?

As good as you can run it with a 2 1/2 yeard old graphic card (8500 core based). Just dont expect AA nor AF and high settings. Still better than Geforce MX4000, stay away from one.

[bklevan]

what about the 9200 PCI 128 MB? how good can i run far cry with that?

[tristancarton]

I believe battlefield vietnam (if it runs on the same battlefield 1942 engine) should run okay. However far cry and doom3 have been known to chug quite a bit on older hardware. They (along with halo) are pretty much the most strenous games available right now. CS:Source runs beautifully on older hardware, so no worries there.

I did try my 9100 64mb pci visiontek card with the doom3 timedemo and my secondary pc. I think i got around 22 fps with everything on low and 800x600 resolution.(still looks good) With shadows turned off I got 35 fps but the game looked weird without lighting/shadows. I would bet the 128 mb visiontek 9100 pci card would do better due to the less texture swapping across the pci bus. (doom3/far cry swap like crazy)

Be aware the 9200 128 is still slower than the 9100 and 5200/5600 cards.(9100 is a full 8500 whereas 9000/9200 is a cut down one) What is your price range? 50-70 dollars?

Also in response to the no aa and af comment on r200 hardware. AA is a no no because it uses a super sampling techinique that slows the r200 cores down alot. AF however usually can be set to 2x, 4x, or 8x with very little difference in performance on 8500 and 9100 cards.

I may pull my 64 mb visiontek 9100 pci card out of the closet and do some benches/testing for you. If i do, i will update the thread. If any additional people want this testing please respond because it will influence my decision on whether to test.

If you plan on keeping your non agp computer for a while(and plan on playing newer games) it is worth grabbing the 9100 or 5600. If you are going to upgrade sometime in the next few months don't do it. Save the 50-70 dollars for a new lower end agp/pci express card.

[bklevan]

If you can, please run some benchmark tests with the 9100 on Far Cry (if possible). I think im gonna get that one. ITs only about 80 some dollars on amazon. (which is right around my price range) I'll be on later. If you choose to test the 9100, post the results, so i can check them out later. Thanks a lot for helping me.

[tristancarton]

Originally Posted by bklevan

If you can, please run some benchmark tests with the 9100 on Far Cry (if possible). I think im gonna get that one. ITs only about 80 some dollars on amazon. (which is right around my price range) I'll be on later. If you choose to test the 9100, post the results, so i can check them out later. Thanks a lot for helping me.

i checked on and around the net. i can't believe how damn expensive these 9100 pci cards are now. i got my 9100 pci last year for 45 dollars or so.

i saw the amazon 9100 on sale and honest to god 90 dollars is a s***load to pay for a 64 mb pci card. I did also see the 128 mb 9100 pci card for 120 which is better but still "oh my freakign god" alot. I also looked around for other decent deals (compusa has a 128 mb (bytes not bit) pci mx 4000 for 30 after rebates but the mx4000 is very very very very slow due to the 64 mbit (bit not byte) ram) and one place on pricewatch has fx 5600 128mb for around 100.

i have a hard time recommending a pci card for that much and anything lower than a fx 5200/5600 or 9100 (this includes mx4000 and radeon 9000/9200) is going to not run the latest games. honestly it probably is not worth it. pricewatch did show a computer company with a 128mb 9100 for 68 dollars but i think they have since gone out of business. i know shentech.com had the visiontek 9100 pci cards for cheap(used to be 50-60 for 64/128 not 80) but they have been out of stock for a while.

I will run some benchies late tonight and/or tomorrow. Be patient. At the latest they will be up early tomorrow evening.

BTW what cpu are you using?........my best guess would be you are one of the dell server kids with a high p4 (around 2.4 gig) with no agp slot.

[bklevan]

i have a 2.8 Pentium 4 processor, 512 RAM, SB Live, 80 Gig hard drive

[tristancarton]

Originally Posted by bklevan

i have a 2.8 Pentium 4 processor, 512 RAM, SB Live, 80 Gig hard drive

okay here goes. btw - you owe me big time. lol.

3dmark 2001 default setting i get 7490.

doom3 timedemo(barely playable, pretty sure due to texture swapping all of the time)
640x480 everything on as low i get 33 fps (by the way i said it looked bad without shadows. it doesn't. it still looks good)

cs:source benchmark(runs absolutely amazing)
800x600 everything on high 16x anistropic filtering, 48 fps
played around for while, these are the best settings

far cry island demo (runs very well)
1024x768 everything on low runs 36-48 fps. Still looks decent
*note on far cry-i did not spend a long time testing settings...however if settings are pushed to medium it runs at around 5-40 fps (very very very choppy)...this is due to the pci bus texture swapping and only 64 mb of video ram (if you go the 128 mb visiontek this would fix this problem and prob also make doom3 run faster as well)

advice: Your computer looks plenty fast except for the no agp slot
Three choices:
1.) Sell that computer and buy a whole new one with an agp slot. Then buy a good agp card. (lots of work, however my vote)
2.) Buy a new motherboard and a new agp video card. (lots of work)
3.) Buy the best pci card on the market and just hold out. (128mb radeon visiontek 9100 pci 250/250)

If you are set on buying the 64 mb card that i just benched i would spend the extra 30 dollars and get the 128 mb one. In the review that I showed above there was very little difference between the 64 or 128 mb one in benchmarks. As new games take up more texture memory you will def see a huge difference. Spend the extra 30 dollars and get the best pci card ever made, grab the 128 mb 9100.

If you can wait a while I would recommend keeping an eye on ebay for a 9100 pci or a 5600 pci. You should be able to cut off some money. My guess is the 128mb 9100 pci prob go for around 70-80 on ebay. Same with the 5600.

As always I recommend the 9100 over the 5600 due to my liking of ati 2d and 3d visual quality.

Update if you have anymore questions. Next time make sure you get a computer with an agp slot. (My old pII 400 even came with one)

bk: check your private messages

[bklevan]

thanks a lot, i think im going to get the 128 MB off of amazon.com or ebay. The way I see it, as long as the video card can run Far Cry very well on low/medium settings, I say it's good...

[tristancarton]

Originally Posted by bklevan

thanks a lot, i think im going to get the 128 MB off of amazon.com or ebay. The way I see it, as long as the video card can run Far Cry very well on low/medium settings, I say it's good...

sounds good. update this thread when you get it. sort of interested to see how much faster everything runs on the 128 mb version (difference the extra 64mb of video ram makes) and whether or not you think the price was worth it. (120 dollars is alot for a pci based videocard)

[underclock]

The FarCry demo runs ok (playable) on my 9200 128mb (128bit ram) at low quality 1024, 32bit. I have only an Athlon 800mhz with 512mb sdram. Medium quality is too choppy.