Upgrade GeForce Ti4200 to what??? Options???

[mjkovis]

I am having trouble with my GeForce Ti4200 video card once again.

My very first troubles from GeForce were from the MX440 card in which the fan went out and was overheating. I replaced it with the Ti4200 and everything was ok for awhile. Now I have tried updating the drivers to avoid crashes on games, but the problem worsens.

I want to probably swith to an ATI Radeon card, but I am not sure what would be the best for my "buck." Any ideas?

[Davidoo1]

Exactly what trouble are you having with the card? I have 2 computers with GeForce cards and my son has the Ti4200 and has NEVER had a game crash. The game crashes are more likely other issues such as RAM, overheating of another component, or a power supply rather than the video card. Are you using the latest version of DirectX, and have you purged your system of spyware and stopped unneccesary programs from running?

Check out the Games forum and you will see a $*&tload of people with problems playing Doom 3 with ATI cards, yet nVidia users have very few problems. Our Ti4200 plays the game flawlessly at higher fps rates (35 to 65) than people with the high end ATI cards.

I don't want to start a debate on ATI vs. nVidia. I'm only saying I doubt it is the video card in your case, and I have the same card that performs extremely well with the highest demanding games on the market.

[kram 2.0]

Well, the GeForce4 TI4200 is actually a decent card - surprised about the driver problems. I would make sure that is a definite no before switching - make sure there's adequate air circulation near the card and install the newest drivers that the card can handle.

Of the recommendations, it really depends on the budget. The biggest "bang for the buck" card is most likely the Radeon 9800 Pro VPU. It goes for around 195 USD and gives stellar performances. A huge performance increase will definiately be observed. Other than that, the Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro is also a good contendor for around 110 USD, but you won't see a major upgrade from the Ti4200.


Hope that helps,
kram

[mjkovis]

Ok... Here goes...

During play on most games, expecially Madden 04, the game will crash to the "blue screen of death" saying nv4.disp error. I have noticed in task manager during the crashes my CPU memory usuage turns red and usage is at 100%. My RAM has already been replaced once and the problem was solved.

Really, ever since I had this computer built I have had problems! RAM replaced, MoBo replaced, and video card replaced.

I run Spy-Bot and Ad-Adaware very frequently to keep my system running without spywar or adware. I also have the latest version of DX which is 9.0. I have heard I should have stayed with 8.0 since the Ti4200 does not support 9.0.

The latest nVidia drivers just seem to lock programs and games up. I am running 52.16 currently. Madden 04 loads up very slow at the beginning now, but runs somewhat stable. I was running 45.23 I believe before. Anything other than these two just adjectate my gaming.

My power supply is sound and brand new. Overheating could be the issue, but from where?

I have plenty of air flow. I have 4 fans blowing in the case, with 1 heatsink fan and there are 3 fans on the power supply.

[kram 2.0]

Well, nVidia discontinued the GeForce4 Ti series so there's not much help in drivers and such there. As for the DX compliance, the card is DX8.1 hardware supported - there's shouldn't be much effect in using DX9 there, since there are no games which utilize DX9 to its fullest. I would advise you to get the best drivers that work with your card, not necessarily the newest.

And just by curiosity, do you update Adaware/Spybot when you run them?

Hope that helps,
kram

[mjkovis]

Yes. I update everything very frequently. I am actually a very thorough person when it comes to my computer. I am just tired of dealing with this computer, but I do not have the money to start new and build my dream machine over again! :-(