Upgrading from a ti4200 to radeon8500le

[Geforce4ti4200]

I talked to my friend and his radeon8500le does 128x af with almost no performance hit and the IQ is superior to the ti4200. Is it really worth losing 10% speed for much better IQ or is the ti4200's IQ pretty close to the 8500?

[Ady]

Well I have both and the ti4200 is definitely faster in benchmarks. It's also faster in games with no AF on, but when you turn the AF to 8x on the ti4200 and 16x on the 8500 the 8500 is definitely faster in games. I also think it looks nicer but this could come down to your monitor and personal preference.

[stncttr908]

Hmmmm...the 8500LE was released to compete with the GF3 line if I recall correctly. As far as your question goes, I really don't think so. I'd just be happy with my GF4 and look towards the future.

[digitalwanderer]

You will not be "upgrading from a ti4200 to a 8500le", you will be at BEST "changing" or more honestly "downgrading" from the ti4200!

I had a RETAIL 8500 and I prefered my vanilla GF3 to it, and when I got my GF4 ti4400 it was just no contest!

Dude, the 8500le is NOT a great card...the ti4200 is. :)

I would NOT do this, I HIGHLY RECOMEND AGAINST GETTING THE 8500le!!!!

You would be much better of staying with your ti4200 and using rivatuner to tweak the AF levels, if you need some help/advice I'll be glad to give it to ya....but the GF4 ti4200 is a much, MUCH better card than the 8500le!

Just so you know, I'm probably considered one of the worst ATi fanboys/cheerleaders around here and it isn't really normal for me to recomend against an ATi product....but I am telling you straight up here and now one geek to another that if you do this you will regret it dearly. :(

Don't do it, it is very unwise.

EDITED BITS: Just thought I'd add that I consider the 8500/9000/9100/9200 to be the last card of the bad old ATi days. They had some signs of what was to come, but a lot of the problems that you hear all the stories about....you really need to get a 9500 or better to experience the new ATi.

Not a sales pitch, just my honest opinion. :)

[saturnotaku]

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
You will not be "upgrading from a ti4200 to a 8500le", you will be at BEST "changing" or more honestly "downgrading" from the ti4200!

I had a RETAIL 8500 and I prefered my vanilla GF3 to it, and when I got my GF4 ti4400 it was just no contest!

Dude, the 8500le is NOT a great card...the ti4200 is. :)

I would NOT do this, I HIGHLY RECOMEND AGAINST GETTING THE 8500le!!!!

You would be much better of staying with your ti4200 and using rivatuner to tweak the AF levels, if you need some help/advice I'll be glad to give it to ya....but the GF4 ti4200 is a much, MUCH better card than the 8500le!

Just so you know, I'm probably considered one of the worst ATi fanboys/cheerleaders around here and it isn't really normal for me to recomend against an ATi product....but I am telling you straight up here and now one geek to another that if you do this you will regret it dearly. :(

Don't do it, it is very unwise.

EDITED BITS: Just thought I'd add that I consider the 8500/9000/9100/9200 to be the last card of the bad old ATi days. They had some signs of what was to come, but a lot of the problems that you hear all the stories about....you really need to get a 9500 or better to experience the new ATi.

Not a sales pitch, just my honest opinion. :)

I second all of this. I had a GeForce3, then "upgraded" to an 8500. One of the worst mistakes I ever made. The 8500 benches well, but in games it couldn't hold a candle to my GF3. Trust us, do not get an 8500, especially the underclocked LE.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally posted by saturnotaku
I second all of this. I had a GeForce3, then "upgraded" to an 8500. One of the worst mistakes I ever made. The 8500 benches well, but in games it couldn't hold a candle to my GF3. Trust us, do not get an 8500, especially the underclocked LE.
Yeah, the 8500 always did beat my GF3 in benchmarks too...sometimes by a pretty whopping margin! But in games the GF3 just toasted it with smoothness while in about 1/2-2/3 of my games were jerky as hell with the 8500.

On the plus side for the 8500, whatever games it ran well it ran WELL; but it wasn't worth it for the games that it didn't run well and the GF3 could run the ones it ran WELL almost as good. :cool:

DON'T DO IT!

[Hanners]

Stick with the Ti4200 definitely, especially against an 8500LE.

[Geforce4ti4200]

Ok I heard you guys, the ti4200 isnt going anywhere. can the ti4200 match the 8500le in IQ with enough af anyway and is 16x af plenty?

[saturnotaku]

Having went to a Ti4600 after the 8500, I can tell you that there was absolutely no discernable IQ difference between the two.

[Geforce4ti4200]

so what im thinking now is the 8500 without af has slightly worse IQ then the ti4200, but with af the IQ is just as good? he only compared the same card with and without af, he never had a ti4200. anyway thanks guys the ti4200 is staying till I get a 9700 pro for $100. I might get an fx5200 ultra halfway thru if directX 9 begins to be required before the 9700 pros hit $100. I know im a cheap dude, also ill have a fast cpu thatll more than make up for a slow card, I get the same fps with any card I use or on a fast card I can run any res and get the same fps so its pointless for a 9700 pro unless you run 1600x1200 with fsaa and af on max

[yoladude]

Originally posted by Geforce4ti4200
Ok I heard you guys, the ti4200 isnt going anywhere. can the ti4200 match the 8500le in IQ with enough af anyway and is 16x af plenty?

from what i've seen and heard (it was a while ago, so correct me if i'm wrong).....i dont think the IQ is that different between these two cards. as i recall, the 4200 does AA much faster than the 8500 does, and the 8500 does AF faster than the 4200 does. but the 4200 wins overall, especially due to its extreme oc'ing skills, sometimes up to 4400/4600 levels.

[Gator]

Originally posted by yoladude
...but the 4200 wins overall, especially due to its extreme oc'ing skills, sometimes up to 4400/4600 levels.

That's a good point, lets not consider stock TI4200 lets talk about the typical overclocked TI4200 at near TI4600 level. I would suspect that it can out bench the R8500 in all categories including AF/IQ. And even if it can't, yoladude is right because overall the TI4200 will be a better card.

Trust me, I went from a R8500 to a TI4400 and saw a HUGE world of difference.

[yoladude]

Originally posted by Gator
That's a good point, lets not consider stock TI4200 lets talk about the typical overclocked TI4200 at near TI4600 level. I would suspect that it can out bench the R8500 in all categories including AF/IQ. And even if it can't, yoladude is right because overall the TI4200 will be a better card.

Trust me, I went from a R8500 to a TI4400 and saw a HUGE world of difference.

the only thing to be careful of on 4200s is the slower memory. the core has almost no problem going to above 4600 levels, but mine came with 4ns memory that only does 565-570mhz. i say ONLY, because it's nowhere near the 700+ mhz the 4600 can achieve, even though it's over 120 mhz overclock from the stock 444 mhz. the best thing to do would be to look for a 4200 with 3.6ns memory, or better yet, one built on a 4600 board with bga memory.

[B&R]

Thats not really a upgrade.:bleh:

I would rather get a 9600p or 5600U.

[Geforce4ti4200]

you think thats bad? I can only get mine to 280/520!!!!!!!!