System specs are; P4 2.53g, Asus p4pe mobo, 512 ddr 333, 80g HD

Looking for middle of the road video card. $75-125 budget. Most use will include some 3d gaming, internet, digital pics. I will be buying seperate video capture card for video editing.

PNY Geforce4 ti4200, is this the type of card I should look at???

Any suggestions cards or MFG's would be helpful.

Thanks

Hi Stevo. I had a PNY GF4 Ti4200 64MB and it ran the current games I was playing wonderfully. (MOHAA, Madden 2003) I speak of it in the past tense because I upgraded my mb (A-bit KX7333) a few months ago and the card just wouldn't seat properly and I couldn't get the box to boot when I stood it upright. (mid-tower) My retailer worked with me and we tried a different card, an MSI Ti4200 and found it to be fussy also but I worked it out and have been running fine ever since.

I figure it's the AGP slot and not the cards as we tested the PNY in another box and it ran perfectly and he re-sold it.

Soo.., I would reccomend either one of these cards from personal experience I never had to tweak anything in my bios etc for them to run. The only difference is the bundeling. PNY doesn't include anything except the drivers disk and S-video cable. You can check the MSI bundle here. (www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=350&MODEL=MS-8886)

PS - I can run those games in 10x7 mode with most options cranked up and don't suffer any lag...

Listen to dilsburger.
The GF4 TI 4200 is a great performing card for a modest price.
And check pricewatch.com for the best prices.

Hey Stevo, Go for it. Get the PNY Geforce4 TI4200. I've got a PNY GeForce 4 TI4400 with 128DDR ram and I love it. Another cool thing is PNY has a lifetime warranty on their video cards http://www.pny.com/home/products/Vcard_ti4200.cfm
But avoid any GeForce card that has MX in the title....

Guys, thanks for the input.

Dilsburger, MSI bundles all that stuff with their cards including the games and video software, If thats the case, I'll go MSI for the card!

BUCS Rule!

stevo

Yep - 3 full version games, a cd with game demos, plus the rest. I think 10 cd's in all....

As Jason mentioned the PNY has a lifetime warranty which I liked. But the MSI has a 3 yr warranty and I figure as fast as technology moves - 3 years is a lifetime for a component in my machine. :D

Enjoy!

Please one last request!!!

Do I need the 128 mb version or is the 64 mb good enough. The price difference is nothing.

The 64 mb version seems to look like it runs faster????

Thanks
Stevo

Hi. That is kind of tough. The 64MB is definately faster but the 128MB will give you better frame rates on games that can utilize it. I'm thinking games like UT2003 right now. Doom 3 is coming and you know that will use that extra memory with the shading and texturing etc.

Ya know, if you can swing a Ti4400 that would be the answer. But it all depends on what kind of games you play and what you are expecting out of the card. It also depends whether or not you're willing to upgrade sooner or later. Myself, I can wait. I'm not that hardcore. I wouldn't think that RPG's and the SIM's would be that demanding but I really don't know to be sure.

I'm sure there are others around here who can lend an opinion on this.

I think that the 128MB card is a better choice.

Me too. The 128MB card is the better choice. Also you may get a little more use out of the 128MB card (not having to upgrade as soon). The 128MB will have more lasting power.
Jason

The memory on the 64mb card is faster than the memory on the 128mb card.

However, at some point in the future, those extra 64mbs will come in handy.

I recently bought the MSI GeForce4 Ti 4200 128mb and am quite pleased with its performance.

With a mild overclock of the FSB (145x12) on my KT3 Ultra running a locked XP 1900+ and with no overclocking of the video card, I can get 10,508 3DMarks. With a mild overclock of the video card as well, from stock speeds of 250/446 to 260/515, I can get over 11,000. The software bundle that comes with MSI cards is outstanding as well.

BB, the clock on the card looks like it is barely enough to make it break a sweat...and there is that much gain?

Looks like they may slightly underclock those cards...

Guys,

Thanks for the great feed back. I'm going 128. Now I want you all to pray that my first build goes well this week. Hopefully all the parts come in before the weekend.

Stevo

May the force be with you...:cool: