MadDAWG
Well, their all reference boards, go for the one that has the features you
want. I'm not sure if they all use the same memory on the full GF3's, ,
check for the lower number on the nanoseconds rating on the memory.
Hey, if your girlfriend is getting it for you and letting you pick it, just
get the most expensive :)
I have heard good things of the Gainward, and also Hercules supposedly has a
decent one as well. I don't have a GF3 yet, but have been pretty happy with
the Herc cards I have had, including the GF2 MX I have now.
Don Burnette
Thats the stupid part. If it was my money I wouldn't be to worried, but
since its hers I wanna make damn sure I get a good one and at a good price.
I found a MSI GF3 Ti500 for $289 on price watch that looks pretty tempting.
Time for more 'netsearching'
MadDAWG
Check out newegg.com
Pretty reasonable, awesome service.
Don Burnette
If it's a Ti 500 then they are all pretty much the same, but some use higher
quality ram, better heatsinks and fans. I recommend the Hercules brand also.
If it was a Ti 200 then some are using slower ram than others. Again,
Hercules is using 4ns and good quality heatsinks and fan. One or two are
using slower 5ns ram on the Ti 200. One is using the same 3.8ns ram as the
Ti 500, but can't remember who it is. Leadtech, I think. Asus is not even
using heatsinks for the ram on the Ti 200, but are on the Ti 500. But, I
don't know how much of an issue that is because my retail ATI R8500 doesn't
have heatsinks on the ram and the ram they use 3.5ns ram and it is clocked
higher than the Ti 500. Like I said though, the Hercules GF3 cards are a
pretty safe bet.
Pretty much right there, they all use 3.8ns RAM. Minimal difference
unless you want other features, like TV, etc. Go by price really, I've
heard Visiontek and PNY to be pretty good. Leatek have hardware
monitoring available, if you are interested in that.
I'd suggest getting a ti 200, they're one hell of a good buy. My
Leadtek actually has 3.8ns RAM on it (they are advertised as having
4ns, so I guess they ran out) which is the most important thing.
Memory bandwidth is the biggest limitation in video cards, not core
GPU speed. So the slightly slower core is not an issue.
Mine o'cs to 225 core, 540 mem, which runs better than a standard ti
500 due to a faster mem speed (230/500 is standard for ti 500s)
Other brand I'd suggest is Gainward have seen a lot of good
overclocks, nice and reliable. VT are OK as are PNY, but some have 4ns
ram, others have 5. So it's a gamble as to whether you get good
components or not. But they're cheaper :D
Rafe Mc
MadDAWG
MadDAWG
