Thanks for the replies. We both are actually running at pretty low
resolutions because some games that are multiplayer have small text at
higher resolutions that we cannot read our names. We are running at
1152x864. In comparing the two his still looks much better in all the games
we play? Since he recently installed the latest ATI drivers his frame rate
in some games has increased dramatically over mine. Until now frame rate has
been pretty equal. I was worried about getting the ATI because of all the
past driver issues and lockups. He has had no troubles and said the drivers
install without a hitch. Should I risk a change?
> > I purchased an NVIDIA TI 4200 with some horrible free 3d glasses. A
> > friend and I took advantage of a deal from Dell and each purchased
> > identical PCs 3.0Ghz. He bought an ATI 9700 All In Wonder Pro which
> > from what I read is very similar in performance to my NVIDIA. Although
> > our frame rates are similar in games like NASCAR 2003,GPL, GTR2002,
> > Morrowind and some first person shooters, his picture quality seems so
> > much cleaner and sharper. We have traded monitors and gone over
> > settings for some time always with the same result. I finally tried
> > his card on my system with default card settings and the graphics are
> > far better? Has anyone had experience with these cards? Maybe there is
> > a problem with my 4200? Thanks
> Nope that is what should be expected. The Ti4200 is a generation older
> than the ATI 9700pro. The ATI has generally been well received as a
> faster/better graphics video card. The 4200 was/is a good performer at
> lower screen resolutions, but if you climb up to the highest resolutions,
> the 4200 will seriously fall behind the 9700p. Similarly, the graphic
> addons like FSAA and Anistrophic filtering KILL the framerate with a 4200,
> while the 9700p also takes a hit in the fps department with
> smoothvision(fsaa) enabled, it doesn't bog down nearly as much.
> Finally the graphic output of the Nividia just doesn't equal the clear
> graphic output of the current ATI cards. You will find some games,
> however, that have been coded for Nivia(4200) products and the ATI cards
> have had some pretty severe graphic flaws with those titles.(an example is
> the just released Matrix PC game)
> Right now 4200's cost just a tad over 100 US Dollars for the 128mb
> versions...the 9700pro is over $300 for retail versions. You will also
> find that the 9700pro is dx9 compatible while the 4200 only has hardware
> that can properly use dx8. This is not to say the 4200 will not work
with
> dx9 games, it just won't work as well or as prettily as the newer cards.
> Bottom line, keep the screen rez's down around middle ground and don't
> turn on the graphic goodies. Remember, CPU speed also contributes to
> frame-rate, and you both have pretty stout chips. If you just can't
stand
> the graphic quality of the 4200 after viewing his card's output, check
with
> Dell to see if they have a trade in policy.
> dave henrie
