Geforce 2 Pro or Geforce 4

[Newbie]

Hi everyone...I just found this site today and I think it's great. I am planning on building my first PC in the next couple of weeks and I need some suggestions for a video card. I am currently running a PIII 800 with a Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro 64MB DDR Ram.

My new system that I'm planning will be a P4 1.8, Asus P4B533, Kingson PC2100 512 DDR and a Western 80 GB with the 8mb cache that I've been reading good things about on this site. This isn't my entire system but this should be enough for my question....Will upgrading to a Geforce 4 make that big of a difference? The one I was thinking of buying is the Geforce 4 Ti 4200 64MB DDR. I am not trying to cut corners but saving $150.00 is always nice if I don't really need it.

I do play CS online (I have cable) and will possibly be playing other games online if I like what I see.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Blankman]

Gosh, it's really hard to say, I personally don't think you'll notice a trememdous difference, but I went from a 2 to a 3, at a $200 diff, and it's always nice to stay on top. Check pricing also on the ATI 8500's at 125mb, if it's money you want to save maybe that may be the way to go.

[DrZaius]

Hi Newbie, welcome to the PC Mech forums!

I see two options. The first is to stick with the current card, and wait until you need to upgrade (when the games just run too slow) and upgrade to the ATI Radeon 9700, which will be the fastest card when available. The GF2 GTS is a good card and I think it can handle CS and some of the newer games fine with that fast of a system.

The second is to go with a new card, but you don't have to get the GF4 4600. You can get the cheaper Radeon 8500 or GF4 4200 (~$150 or less), and you wouldn't notice much of a performance difference from the GF4 4600. That, and you can overclock either card to much higher speeds.

Hope that helps.