FFXI video cards around $90Follow

I'm helping a friend upgrade his computer so he can play FFXI. Right now he's got an HP Pavilion 9720, P4 1.4GHz, 128 MB RDRAM (yes, someone should shoot Rambus) and his video card, an nVidia TNT, obviously fails with a TnL error.

The memory's going to cost him quite a bit because it's that sick RDRAM but he can't spend the money for a new box.

So now I'm trying to hunt down a decent video card around $90, and though I can get a Geforce FX 5200 for $70, 1) the sale ends today and 2) you people as a group hate it like someone begging for gil at the AH. The Geforce4 4200 seems to be the popular choice, and I'm coming up with one at Pricewatch for $91, an "Inno3D GeForce4 TI4200" (http://www.amamax.com/intogeti4212.html). So, good buy, or is there something better around $90 that can run FFXI?

I highly suggest you check out the FS/FT forums at forums.anandtech.com. You should be able to get a pretty decent video card for 90 bucks, maybe a 9600 non-pro or some such.

One thing...the link you gave points to an FX 5200, and I checked Pricewatch, it's pointing to the same place. Lowest price for the 5600 looks like $105 through Newegg + free shipping, but that might just be out of his price range; we'll just have to see. Heck, I'd give him the extra $10-15 if it came to it.

Also CompUSA (or CrapUSA, depending on your preference) has a PNY Geforce 5200 this week for $70 (and it could be less because I just noticed I could price match it), but haven't people been complaining a *lot* about this card? I remember seeing a big thread about the 5200 here, so what's the deal with it? And the suggestion was made that I avoid the non-pro 9600, but that's different from the SE version, right? (my friend got yesterday, I'm installing it today for him)

Sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to get my friend the best price and I haven't had to go video card hunting. 9600 Pro or XT is all I'm looking at for meself.

9600 non-pro and 9600 SE are in fact 2 different cards.
I personally just have a bias, I really don't like the nVidia cards I've toyed with.

If for some reason he can afford abit more, you can pick up a used 9600pro for about 120ish on the site I mentioned.

Oh, BTW, how much are you spending on the RAM?

Edited, Sun Jan 25 11:03:14 2004 by ThatDumbGuy

This is my system:

Athlon XP "Barton" 2500+ @ 1.83 Ghz
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro 128 MB
512 pc2100 DDR memory


I run everything wide open.. including weather, and i rarely have a frame rate stutter. Bout the only time it got bad was in quifim, when there was about 70 people crammed into one small area. An extra stick of 512 would probably take care of that.

Here's the final word on which budget card is best for FFXI.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1933&p=10

Notice how a Geforce4 ti4200 is not only much faster than an FX5200 Ultra, it't performance on FFXI is virtually the same as an FX5600 as well. (this is because the 5200 and 5600 are really bad cards)

Don't even think about those $50 FX5200 cards, those are the regular FX5200 (they have a 64 bit memory buss rather than 128), it's slower than a Geforce3 on this game. I know because I benchmarked both as an experiment.

Edited, Sun Jan 25 17:38:28 2004 by Lobivopis

That's great, but tell me where I'm going to find it in a retail store, much less for $90.

It's one thing to say one card is better than another, it's another to ignore the price range.