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Nvidia Geforce 6200 (256MB) vs ATI Radeon HD 4670 (256MB)

K

Kristenn

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 30, 2009
490
1
One of my friends has an HP desktop with a 1.8 Ghz AMD Athlon 64 (solo core lolz) and an Nvidia Geforce 6200 with 256MB of vRam.

If I remember, the Nvidia is a 2004ish card. And this ATI I mention (in the new 21 inch iMacs) is 2008ish?

Anyway, this desktop display is 17ich with 1200x800 pixels and runs WoW with like... I dunno.. maybe 30 fps. But this computer is so old.. 2 GB DDR ram and well.. its windows. I don't know how many time me and my dad had to go to her house and reinstall windows XP because the registry decided to take a dump on all her stuff.

I want her to get an iMac but I think the 27 inch is too big... and even the core 2 duo in the iMac would be a big improvement over her dinosaur. Plus 4 GB of DDR 3 ram and a newer card. Mac OS X big plus.

But she will be using it to play WoW. If I remember WoW likes processor more than vRAM and the processor is what is making WoW slow a lot. The video card is fine because Blizzard only asks for 128 MB. In other words.. an iMac G5 would run it quite good... besides maybe the processor.

I am worried about the video though. a 21 inch screen is an improvement over a 17 inch but that means more pixels and more work for the video card. If Apple offered the 512MB option of the slightly faster card in the 21 inch core 2 duo I would tell her to go for it. But alas... Apple will be Apple.

So I'm concerned a bit... how much faster will the ATI run WoW at the iMacs native display? I know the card is 4 years newer than the Nvidia but the display is bigger. I don't want it to be slower... wouldn't mind if it was the same FPS as the old one... but slightly higher FPS would be good too.

The fact is... she hates her computer... HATES it. Everyone knows that when you start hating a PC you don't go out and buy another one... I really think she would like to have a Macintosh of her own and she has used my MacBook Pro before and my iMac flower power.

So... I'm not good at doing benchmark research... so has anyone tried WoW on these iMacs with the 256 MB ATI? How much FPS does it get on native resolution and what settings do you have turned on?


Thanks in advance ^^
 
I would recommend the 21" with the ATI card. It will run WoW like a champ, even the low end one would run it but for future expansions it might lag, that is why I am recommending the 21" inch one with the ATI 4670.
 
OK, just playing devil's advocate here...

I know you said she hates her computer, but does SHE want a Mac? Is it you wanting her to get a Mac? As much as I love my Macs and try to sell their benefits to others, there are some people that just plain DO NOT WANT ONE.

That being said, I think either 21" iMac will be fine, but let here make her own mind up. If she wants a new PC, Windows 7 isn't bad at all. I mean, it ain't OS X, but its not bad... I happily use both (Snow Leopard and Vista on my iMac, Leopard and XP on my wife's Macbook, and Win 7 on my Acer) and have no problems at all.

What does her current PC run, XP probably? Windows 7 is a HUGE improvement - for that matter, so was Vista, but it started out so buggy and needed such powerful hardware that many people were scared away (myself included, as its what pushed me from playing with a Mac to using one full time). 7 is stable and runs great on low-end hardware (check my Acer's CPU, 1.2GHz low-voltage, and you'll understand).

Ultimately, though - LET HER MAKE HER OWN DECISION. Thank you. :)
 
She wants a Mac but she actually asked my dad for help. Her parents want her to get a PC and I want her to have a Mac because she wants to try one.

The 9400 M in my MacBook Pro runs OK if I turn all the settings down. But like I said, I have everything on high (whenever it is I play... not often) and I get 30 or 70 fps on the 9600M GT 512 MB.

But my screen is only 1400x900 as opposed to the bigger 21 inch screen. So it'll run it good even with the 256 MB ATi card? I feel silly for even asking the question now.

2004 card vs 2008 card duh xD

And yes, she has used Windows 7. Doesn't mean it doesn't get slow with age (as in 8 months) like XP. Its a very good OS... but she uses her computer a lot.
 
Thanks! That answered my question perfectly! I'm sure she'll be very happy with her new iMac =D
 
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