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If
you're like me, it’s a difficult time to be
in the market for a new graphics card. I waited
and waited for the release of the GeForce FX,
eagerly expecting price cuts and vicious market
competition between nVidia and ATi, rubbing
my hands together in boyish anticipation of
a cheap second-best card to replace my old GeForce2.
But the market cuts weren’t nearly as exciting
as I was expecting, the GeForce FX was a disappointment,
and the Radeon 9700 is still just a little bit
out of my financial reach. So what to do? Wait
for yet another round of releases from nVidia?
Scour the ‘net daily for rebate deals on cheap
Radeons? Well, my GeForce2 wouldn’t last that
long, and after another year of full-time college
I just don’t have the bling for a Radeon, so
I was forced to look elsewhere. Luckily, XFX,
a relatively new third-party manufacturer of
primarily graphics cards and motherboards, has
recently released a stunning and affordable
GeForce4 Ti4200 that they’ve deemed the Platinum
Gamer’s Edition. My problems have been solved.
The
Geforce4 Ti4200 Platinum Gamer’s Edition from
XFX boasts 128MB RAM, AGP8X, and a Ti4800 8-layer
PCB that when coupled with the monstrous heatsink
XFX has stuck on the board allow them to pre-clock
the core to 250mhz and the RAM to 620mhz, all
before even reaching the consumer. This results
in an impressively fast yet quite affordable
GeForce4, and when considering the pains XFX
has gone through to ensure a quality product,
this Platinum Gamer’s Edition is definitely
worth the price for the mid-range consumer.
Let's
take a look at the product so you can see what
I mean.
The
box itself is pretty standard on the front,
but turn it over and what have we here...
The
first thing you'll notice is the massive silver
aluminum fan and heatsink attached to the card
(don’t worry the card is behind a few layers
of hard plastic, you can see, but you can’t
touch). Next you may notice the game controller
that XFX have packaged with the card, free for
you to enjoy. Yes, they’ve included a PS2-like
USB controller, just because they can. As XFX
bills itself as a company run “for gamers, by
gamers” (note the FGBG on the back) this is
a thoughtful extra gift.
The
controller fits comfortably in your hands and
is bristling with 12 buttons, all of which are
comfortable and easy to use.
Finally,
yes, it does say “This package is so juiced
up, its barely legal!” on the back of the box,
but I’m here to review the hardware, not the
choice of box propaganda, so I will refrain
from further comment (*gag*).
Now
lets check out what else is bundled with the
card...
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