I`m considering getting a new ATI R300 graphics card as soon as they become available to buy. I have relatives living in canada (where ATI is based), does anyone think its worth my while getting them to mail me one as a gift and thus avoid paying customs tax and the ludicrous uk prices? I`m prolly looking at saving £150+ i reckon.

Has anyone else ever bought something in this way for their pc?

You know the score, what it is in US dollars it is in UK pounds too, i`m so sick of getting ripped off over here.

Save yourself the trouble altogether and get a friggen nVidia Geforce 4 4600. DO some research on it and you won't be dissapointed. even the 4200 is a wonderful card.

the "do" was not supposed to be capitalised.

I would, but i`m wanting a card to last me atleast 2 years. The geforce4`s are not directx9 compliant, so I`m not even considering them.

really?! Fuck I'm going to have to check that out. I've never heard that before though.

*shakes head* glad I got back into console gaming when I did...

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ge force 4 has top end ti 4xxx

and the low end

ge force 4 MX,

love the fact that NVidia has pushed the limits on 3D performance (NVidia's drivers aren't bad, either). The company has established its reputation by releasing new products every six months or so. The downside to this? With new chips coming out and older chips still on the market, that means lots and lots of NVidia-based boards out on the shelves.


Here are all the NVidia-based boards listed on Price Watch (as of today). It doesn't even bother to break out the boards that Leo, Kevin, and I have in our home systems. All three of us currently use the "outdated" TNT2 (though Kevin and Leo definitely started to hit the wall on that card when they fired up "Warcraft 3"). Perhaps we don't deserve to call ourselves serious gamers.


$284 -- GeForce4 TI 4600 $200 -- GeForce4 TI 4400 $136 -- GeForce4 TI 4200

$118 -- GeForce4 MX 460 $69 -- GeForce4 MX 440 $61 -- GeForce4 MX 420

$125 -- GeForce3 TI 500 $86 -- GeForce3 TI 200 $302 -- GeForce3 Deluxe

$101 -- GeForce3 $68 -- GeForce2 Ultra 64MB $54 -- GeForce2 TI 64MB

$72 -- GeForce2 TI 32MB $54 -- GeForce2 Pro 64MB $40 -- GeForce2 MX400 64MB

$40 -- GeForce2 MX400 32MB $37 -- GeForce2 MX200 64MB $31 -- GeForce2 MX200 32MB

$54 -- GeForce2 GTS 64MB $43 -- GeForce2 GTS 32MB





TNT2-based boards list from $10 to $70 on Price Watch. I still see them on shelves for up to $50. Same thing for GeForce 256, the first generation of GeForce processors. For that kind of money, you can get the latest generation of GeForce4 boards, at least the low-cost MX versions.


That said, the GeForce4 MX-based boards may not be the best way to go. Don't get me wrong: Every board listed will play games (especially pre-DirectX 8 games). Read Tom's VGA Charts for a comparison of almost every graphics card sold in the last three or four years. Look closely; you'll see that the GeForce3 and GeForce3 Ti 500 generally outperform the newer GeForce4 MX boards, and pretty much trounce them on "Aquanox," a DirectX 8 game.


Read on for more details.

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3367089,00.html

GeForce3 Vs. GeForce4



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The GeForce3 is actually more advanced technology than the GeForce4 MX, which is essentially a souped-up GeForce2 MX processor. The GeForce4 doesn't contain the nfiniteFX engine (NVidia's vertex shader), which means it doesn't fully support DirectX 8.1. All GeForce3 cards have packed this feature. That's one reason the GeForce4 MX is so much cheaper than the GeForce4 Ti.


The main difference between the GeForce4 MX and the GeForce2 MX cards are the clock speeds, and the GeForce4 MX's Light Speed Memory Architecture II. The GeForce4 MX's implementation of this memory controller has half the segments of the GeForce3 and GeForce4 Ti, and thus considerably lower memory bandwidth and performance. While we're going over gadgetry, I'll point out that the GeForce3 boards have a single vertex shader, compared to the GeForce4 Ti's pair of shaders.


GeForce4 MX isn't awful, but for $20 more than the GeForce4Mx 460, you'll just get heaps better performance and a longer life out of a GeForce4 420Ti board (or, for less money, the late GeForce3 boards), especially if you regularly buy new games. The GeForce4 MX boards are missing those crucial vertex and pixel shaders. Not a problem with today's "Quake," but soon games will demand Direct X 8 (or, heaven forbid, Direct X 9, which game designers are already developing). Avoid the bottom of the barrel GeForce4 MX420; it will barely outperform the GeForce2 MX400, which should cost $20 or $30 dollars less.



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http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/jump/0,24331,3392789,00.html

erm where did this convo go into geforce cards? I`ve had 2 and don`t want another nvidia product.

I want something that also provides me with value for money, a concept nvidia is completely devoid of.

Maybe but so is the rest of the video cards out there. ATI are money grubbing whores too.

i disagree a little. I think ATI give a customer alot more value for money than Nvidia. All nvidia do is a month after u spend £200+ on a graphics card is release another twice as fast for the same price.

Atleast with an ATI card, you can be safe in the knowledge you`ll have the top ati card for atleast 6-12months.

true but the top ATI card is never above the top (2 or 3 sometimes) Geforce card. However Geforce has been know to be able to significantly increase a cards speed through software as well, thus increasing it's longevity further.

I`d take a look at the specs of the soon to be released ATI 9700 card on this link capac.

http://www.retel.dk/showreview.php?id=3&page=8

I`ve gotta get me one of these!!!!!

Then read this link about how ATI has gotten its driver shit together finally....

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4771

Then note how those first benchmarks were using generic ATI drivers and not the catalyst ones.

I think ATI is really making a good go of it with the new R9700. Especially considering Nvidia`s Geforce5 is going to be a 1st quarter 2003 part due to the problems with TSMC producing their gpu`s in .13micron.

nearly 200fps in wolfenstien in 1600x1200! jesssssssus!

...well hopefully ATI does get it's shit together so some competition comes

I don't see why buying hardware from a broad should be any different than buying it from a bloke. Although it may cost more.

thats cos here in the UK, we pay the same in dollars as in uk pounds.

So something thats say $300 is £300 here, which means in the UK we get fleeced something chronic because of the sheer amount of idiots who don`t mind paying more than they should.

Is why.

Jezus really? I figured covertion of money was generally a "do this right or go to jail* sort of thing.

Oh, the conversion is right. They simply replace the $ sign with a £ one, and then claim it's because of the market economy of the country, and VAT too.

What's VAT?

Value Added Tax.