Geforce4 Ti - Just a bunch of hype?
I'm wondering if there is any reason to buy the Geforce4 Ti or not. I don't know, and I'm not claiming to know, that's why I'm asking the question. First, some background:
I have a Quicksilver 733, 512 MB RAM with the stock Geforce2MX and just upgraded to the Geforce3. Right now I'm playing RtCW like crazy, so I'm intimately familiar with the performance of this game. Well after upgrading I saw absolutely NO difference in performance. I mean it. Literally the same FPS before and after (this is in 1024x768 at 32-bit with all options maxed).
So I have been looking around the net for answers as to whether or not I just wasted my money upgrading. One person said my CPU was the bottleneck and hence, I would see no performance gain in moving from the 32 MB Geforce2MX to the 64 MB Geforce3. If this is the case, then that would mean there is likely no point in upgrading to the Geforce4 Ti, even for potential buyers of the current "low-end" PowerMac, as it is only marginally faster than the one I currently have.
What are your thoughts/explanations? <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
I have a Quicksilver 733, 512 MB RAM with the stock Geforce2MX and just upgraded to the Geforce3. Right now I'm playing RtCW like crazy, so I'm intimately familiar with the performance of this game. Well after upgrading I saw absolutely NO difference in performance. I mean it. Literally the same FPS before and after (this is in 1024x768 at 32-bit with all options maxed).
So I have been looking around the net for answers as to whether or not I just wasted my money upgrading. One person said my CPU was the bottleneck and hence, I would see no performance gain in moving from the 32 MB Geforce2MX to the 64 MB Geforce3. If this is the case, then that would mean there is likely no point in upgrading to the Geforce4 Ti, even for potential buyers of the current "low-end" PowerMac, as it is only marginally faster than the one I currently have.
What are your thoughts/explanations? <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
Comments
<strong>I'm wondering if there is any reason to buy the Geforce4 Ti or not. I don't know, and I'm not claiming to know, that's why I'm asking the question. First, some background:
I have a Quicksilver 733, 512 MB RAM with the stock Geforce2MX and just upgraded to the Geforce3. Right now I'm playing RtCW like crazy, so I'm intimately familiar with the performance of this game. Well after upgrading I saw absolutely NO difference in performance. I mean it. Literally the same FPS before and after (this is in 1024x768 at 32-bit with all options maxed).
So I have been looking around the net for answers as to whether or not I just wasted my money upgrading. One person said my CPU was the bottleneck and hence, I would see no performance gain in moving from the 32 MB Geforce2MX to the 64 MB Geforce3. If this is the case, then that would mean there is likely no point in upgrading to the Geforce4 Ti, even for potential buyers of the current "low-end" PowerMac, as it is only marginally faster than the one I currently have.
What are your thoughts/explanations? <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
I can't really comment about Mac performance, but the Geforce 3 is a much better card over the Geforce 2 MX, and most benchmarks on the PC side will back up that claim. It could be possible that the rest of the system is bottlenecking the graphics card, but there still should be some noticeable improvement. As far as the difference between the Geforce 3 and Geforce 4, there really isn't much in quality, just that the Geforce 4 is supposed to be able to run things at more FPS than the Geforce 3. There's really no pressing reason to make another upgrade to a GF4 if you aren't seeing much difference between the Geforce 2 Mx/Geforce 3.
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There's really no pressing reason to make another upgrade to a GF4 if you aren't seeing much difference between the Geforce 2 Mx/Geforce 3.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree, and sorry I wasn't more clear. What I was trying to get at is this:
1) If the architecture of a QS 733 (and likely the QS 800 since they are not much different) is such that the system is a bottleneck for a Geforce3, then what benefit, if any, is there for someone who is in the market for a new PowerMac 800 MHz to shell out the extra money for a Geforce4 Ti? Are they wasting their money?
2) If it's not a waste of money, ergo they will see a performance increase, then shouldn't I see some type of increased performance in having upgraded from the 2MX to the 3?
I guess I'm just perplexed by the whole thing.
Why Apple are still selling systems with 2mx is beyond me...
3 should be standard - espec on a tower !
if the x-box can have one , why not ?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
However bump up the res significantly and I bet you will see that it does much better than the Geforce2MX does. 1024 is a drop in the bucket for the Geforce3.
Did you notice any difference between the two cards in applications like QuarkXPress or Photoshop?
Or would you expect very little difference between them when running these applications anyway?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
I have since sold my 2MX (on E-bay) so I don't have it to put back in and do some new comparisons.
I'm hoping this is a quirk, and that for some reason (which is beyond me) RtCW is not a good measure of what my Geforce3 can do on my system. At least this is what I will cling to so I don't get pissed about spending money on something that I don't perceive any real benefit from <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
im not on a mac yet im on a pc (waiting for g5 ddr macs) but i can tell you my experience. i went from the original radeon 32 meg pci card from early 2001 to the gforce 4 4400 ti card, the diff was unreal! it sped up not just games but my whole system (going from pci bus to 4x agp was why no doubt)
windows and menus opened so fast i could hardly belive it. anarchy online looked way better on the ti card.
tip: i dont know whata avail for the mac but stay away from the gforce 4 MX cards these are based on the gforce 2 mx go for the 4200,4400,or 4600, ti cards. the 4400 card can be overclocked so its as powerful as the 4600 card yet its 100 bucks cheaper! stay away from the pny gforce 4 ti cards they are missing a chip that provides video out (or was it in?) that other brands carry.
anyway i took it back and got the all in wonder radeon 7500 so i could watch tv while i surf lol too bad they dont make a gforce 4 ti all in wonder card (i know they have some cinema thingy card but it doesn't match the radeon 8500 dv i want)
see here third paragraph down: <a href="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=gf4ti&page=7"; target="_blank">http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=gf4ti&page=7</a>;
apparantly pny cards are missing the Philips video encoder/decoder chip thats included on other geforce 4 ti cards. just letting you know in case thats important to you
the geforce 4 ti gainward cards seem to be the best
Will the high end ATi cards come to the Mac, ever, though? I've been lusting over the All-in-Wonder line forever, for example. And what about that R300 etc?
Will Matrox's Parrhelia be better for games than other cards (is the RTMac?) or are they specifically for FCP and Photoshop etc, where it is for work apps, not FPS, and thus 2D, 3 monitors, etc?
<strong>Would the jump from GeForce3 and Geforce4 be big? Are there any technical features on the GeForce4 that's not implemented or capable on the GeForce3?
I don't remember exactly, there might be one or two technical features but nothing big... basically the Geforce4 is like a Geforce 3, just faster.
[quote]Originally posted by Aquatik:
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Will Matrox's Parrhelia be better for games than other cards (is the RTMac?) or are they specifically for FCP and Photoshop etc, where it is for work apps, not FPS, and thus 2D, 3 monitors, etc? </strong><hr></blockquote>
It looks like it should be a good gaming card, not sure about better than other cards though. You can read an description/analysis of the Parhelia here: <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s=1017&a=26865,00.asp"; target="_blank">Matrox Storms Back into 3D - ExtremeTech</a>