Differences between GeForce4 manufacturers?

[R1CH]

Well I'm about to finally upgrade my heap of crap celeron and I need something to replace my GF2 MX400. I thought about the GF4 MX series but everyone told me not to get it. The Ti4200s are a little expensive for me, but the prices vary quite a bit depending on the manufacturer. I can get an MSI Gf4 Ti4200 64mb for £122, whereas an Asus would set me back £150. I don't really care for extras like TVin/out, 5D glasses and all the other bundled stuff, all I really need is the card. After all, they all come down to the same chipset, right?

Is buying from a "good name" manufacturer worth the extra money? Also does 128mb over 64mb make that much of a difference? Should I actually consider the 4400 for a high end (2ghz+) system? (there goes my student loan :)) The price different between the Gainward Gf4ti4200 128mb and an Asus 4400 128mb isn't THAT much. God these sound like newbie questions, I really haven't been keeping up to date with the video card scene :(

Or should I just postpone until the NV30 is released and scoop up something cheap...

[LORD-eX-Bu]

I say get an MSI Geforce4 Ti 4200. Those are the best, and the cheapest, and don't go for a 64 meg model, otherwise you'll have to upgrade pretty soon again, get the 128 meg model, the prices are really low and MSI has the best deal and performance.:D

[nutsnbolts]

I agree with Lord. MSI is a sure bet that you'll get what is worth for your money.

As far as deciding what Manufacturer/video card to get, it really depends on what you are doing with your card. What uses will you be having. Then add in all the bundled stuff. What it comes down to is that if you are an overclocking freak, there are manufacturers who cater to their card to handle the overclocking without any problems.

If you are a graphic designer, avid game player, etc, then there are cards will depend on how much you are willing to pay to get the graphics you want. Basically there are tons of things and no surefire answer. It's what you think you do with the video card combined with the median of the video card's abilities.

Your best bet is to look for reviews. They can tell you alot.

[saturnotaku]

It's all pretty much going to come down to what you want to spend. Any card maker that builds NVIDIA products essentially follows the reference design. Whether you'll use overclocking features or VIVO or anything else is what you'll have to determine on your own.

As was stated, check the reviews to see which card might suit your needs the best.

[False Christian]

I just my 128MB RADEON 8500 and bought a MSI GeForce4-Ti4400 and It rocks!!!

[saturnotaku]

Originally posted by False Christian
I just my 128MB RADEON 8500 and bought a MSI GeForce4-Ti4400 and It rocks!!!

Just for fun, let's insert a verb into the first clause of this sentence. I'm sure the intended meaning was he sold his 128MB RADEON 8500, etc. But let's twist this around a bit.

I just:

burned my 128MB...
ate my 128 MB...
flattened my 128MB

Let's see how many creative verbs we can come up with to see how this gent made the wise decision of disposing of his ATI product in favor of an NVIDIA one. :D

[CWB]

The only company Ive seen that consistently re-engineers reference design is ASUS. I had their GF3 8200 Deluxe, GF3 TI500 Pure, and now GF4 TI4600 Deluxe, and none were reference PCB or heatsink/fan. I think the initial GF4 TI4600 Pure release was pretty much reference except for heatsink, but the Deluxe came out months later and has been redone.

Ive read its to pack all the extra features on, but most other cards include the same features dont they? Ive also read its to maximize stability, performance, overclocking, etc., but since Ive owned no other GF3s or 4s, Ive had nothing to personally compare them to.

They all performed as expected without problems. I ran the GF3 (200/460) at 225/525 and the GF3 TI500 (240/500) at 250/550 (got it to 260/570 but performance gain wasnt big enough to justify extra stress I thought). I dont know if those are great overclocks, but they were stable with factory heatsink/fan and no case fans except PS & CPU. I wont overclock the GF4 until I need to, but the huge copper heatsink sure looks pretty!