Nice video card, but don't buy it.
Written: Jan 17 '03 (Updated Jan 19 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 128MB of RAM and fast GPU make using FSAA possible
Cons: Obsolete. Radeon 9700 is faster, GeforceFX shipping in March
The Bottom Line: Don't buy it. The card was good in it's time, but is now obsolete. If you do buy, wait for the Geforce FX to be released first.
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| stevelarrison's Full Review: VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4600, (128 MB) AGP Vid... |
Those are harsh words, especially for a video card that I own, but as someone who knows what is happening in the PC marketplace, I can only advise you to stay away from this card right now.
Of course, the key words are right now. You may ask yourself why timing has anything to do with the advice. The reason is really quite simple. To understand the advice, you have to look at the history of PC hardware.
When the Geforce 4 line of video cards was released in the spring of 2002, it was the best card available. Though the Geforce 3 line of video cards had advanced features that improved image quality like Full Screen Anti Aliasing. (FSAA - a technology that gets rid of the appearance of jagged edges you see in certain graphic scenes), the reality is that the Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) of the Geforce 3 line of video cards wasn't advanced enough to handle 3d First Person Shooter games like Wolfenstein at any resolution higher than 800x600 (with 32 bit color).
That changed with the introduction of the Geforce 4 line of cards. In addition to having additional processing power and faster memory, Nvidia started making video cards with 128MB of RAM available. Clocked at a stock speed of 300MHz for the processor and 650MHz for the processor, the Geforce 4 4600 had the horsepower to play modern games at 1280x1024 with 32 bit color and 4xFSAA and still provide very good game rates.
The performance was far enough ahead of everything else available at the time that I did not mind paying over $400 to be one of the first owners of the Visiontek Geforce 4 4600.
That was then, this is now
For years, Nvidia had been the leader in the gaming segment of the graphics card industry. They didn't have any serious competition in the sector since their original TNT line of video cards started the demise of 3dfx.
But times have changed.
This summer, for the first time in company history, ATI was able to introduce a videocard with better performance than Nvidia with it's Radeon 9700 line of videocards. Problems transitioning to a .13 micron fabrication process lead to Nvidia falling a cycle behind ATI. The current Radeon 9700 video card is the fastest available consumer graphics card on the market. Word on the street is that ATI will be releasing a follow-on to the Radeon 9700 when the Geforce FX begins to ship in March. Although the current Radeon 9700 Pro will be about 20% slower than the Geforce FX, the followon Radeon 9900 will be as fast, or slightly faster than the Geforce FX.
That's a good look at the future, but what can you tell me about the Visiontek Geforce 4 4600?
Good question. As someone who has owned one since March 2002, I know quite a bit about this card as well as the company.
First of all, the card itself. Like all other Geforce 4 4600's, this comes with 128MB of DDR RAM rated to run at 650MHz (effective speed). The core processor runs at 300MHz. The card supports Video In/Video Out (VIVO). Like all Geforce 4 4600 cards, this card supports dual monitors. It should be noted that there is some variation in the outputs for dual monitor support with these cards. Some cards come with dual VGA ports, some with one GVA port and one DVI, and some come with dual DVI. (DVI is used for flat panel displays) This card comes with one VGA port and one DVI port.
It may be related to getting a very early production version (Visiontek was the first company to ship the Geforce 4, and because I preordered, I was one of the first owners), but the card isn't as overclockable as I hoped. I can only overclock my processor to about 310 before I start running into problems with locking in 3d games. The memory does a little better. I can overclock the memory to 720MHz without any visual artifacts.
The card itself ships with a minimal number of accessories. In my case, pre-ordering the card resulted in an even more minimalist set of included accessories than you would receive today. In a rush to be the first to ship cards, Visiontek made the decision to not include a DVI to VGA converter, or a VIVO cable. Instead, a coupon to receive the missing items and a T shirt as a gesture of good will was included. Personally, I think that was a bad move. Especially because they didn't notify you that you were having to go through the trouble of getting complete functionality over time and with additional hassle. However, that shouldn't affect anyone purchasing a card today.
Of course, there is a driver disk, but in all honesty, you can get more recent drivers from places like www.3dchipset.com, so I see no need to use the enclosed drivers. In addition to drivers, included software is minimal. It comes with Power DVD and Cyberlink Power Director. From my perspective, I have no need for either package.
Personally, I view the lack of bundled "extras" to be somewhat of a positive move. Rarely is a game or piece of software bundled with a video or sound card is actually something I would want to buy separately. The fact is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Vendors have to pay for these "freebies", and it increases the total cost of a package. I don't like to pay for things I don't use.
Performance of the card itself is good. Had I wrote this review one year ago, I would say it is excellent. The image quality and color saturation of this card are the best I have seen from any Nvidia product. There is a noticeable difference between the image quality of this card and the Geforce 3 line of cards; however, in my opinion, it lags slightly behind the quality of my Radeon R9700. Though it was the fastest card available when released, that is no longer the case. If you tend to play older video games, you will be more than happy with this video card. If you are looking forward to Doom III, you will be buying a new video card soon if you have any model Geforce 4 4600.
Something to know about Visiontek
At one point in time, they were the largest seller of Nvidia based video cards. Having prominent shelf space in stores like Best Buy, they were a serious contender. They produced a very high quality product, and backed it with a life-time warranty.
However, there is something everyone should be aware of. The company ran into financial difficulty over the summer. When it went into bankruptcy, the primary people responsible for engineering and marketing at Visiontek left and formed a company called BFG Technologies.
The Visiontek name was bought by the Hartford Computer Group. Hartford has promised to honor the warranties on Visiontek cards. However, I do have some concern about future technical support as well as ability to repair/replace videocards. A quick look at www.visiontek.com will show that Visiontek is moving away from Nvidia and will be selling ATI based cards in the future. At bare minimum, I would expected Visiontek owners to have to use Nvidia reference drivers instead of Visiontek modified drivers in the future.
OK, I get the point. I won't get a Geforce 4 4600, and if I do, I will stay away from Visiontek. But what about ATI's drivers?
Anyone who is a hardware enthusiast always asks questions about the state of ATI drivers. For people who are new to the subject, ATI has long had the reputation of making very good hardware, but having very poor software support for their products.
That began to change with the introduction of the Radeon R8500. If someone is only going to use their video card in a Windows environment, I would recommend not being afraid of ATI. For Linux users, though ATI is trying to catch up, Nvidia is still your best bet.
What is the final word on this card?
Don't buy one now. The reasons are simple. Current prices for a Geforce 4 4600 based video card are about $220. For $228, you can get an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro that offers significantly better performance than the Geforce 4 line of video cards.
If you are a Linux user, you still shouldn't buy this card right now. The Geforce FX is expected to retail for $399 at introduction. You should be able to find them online for about $350 at launch. When the Geforce FX is launched, the price for the Geforce 4 4600 will collapse to around $150.
Linux users who also want excellent 3d performance should wait for the Geforce FX. Linux users who don't need top end graphics should wait for the Geforce FX to launch, then buy a Geforce 4.
Dedicated Windows users wanting the best graphics performance possible should see what the rumored Radeon 9700 is about and compare it to the Geforce FX.
Also, though the final game has not been released, preliminary reports on Doom III indicate that the Geforce 4 4600 will not have enough horsepower to play the game at high resolution with lots of bells and whistles enabled in the game. This card was good in it's time, but that time has passed.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 400
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stevelarrison
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Member: Steve Larrison
Location: Scottsdale, Az. USA
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