http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q ... index.html
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzQw
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/r300/default.asp
http://world.altavista.com/sites/dede/pos/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=de_en&url=http://www.hartware.net/review.html?id=251
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,475966,00.asp
http://gamespot.com/gshw/stories/flat/0,12880,2877609-7,00.html
So it seems that Rad9700 is about 30-50% faster thanGF4TI4600. Rad9700 can 4xAA at the same sort of hit as 4600 has with 2xAA. Aniso as always is more complex, esp with perf and quality modes for the Rad9700. Anyway it seems clear that Rad9700 has caught up with GF3/GF4TI for Aniso quality and surpassed them in Aniso speed.
Of course comparing Rad9700 ($400) with GF4TI ($130-250) isn't entirely fair as it is NV30 that is aimed to compete with Rad9700 and is a bit like comparing GF3 to Rad7500, however since Rad9700 and GF4TI are the fastest chips on the market it makes sense to compare them.
Right well I didn't say GF4TI4600 $130-250, I really wish you'd read more carefully JAE. I said, "comparing Rad9700 ($400) with GF4TI ($130-250) isn't entirely fair".
Everybody in the know knows that GF4TI4200 o/c to GF4TI4400 or GF4TI4600 and this negates the need for the more expensive cards to a large degree. 4200-64MB usually hit 4600 speeds and are $130 while 4200-128MB usually hit 4400 speeds but benefit from the extra 64MB RAM. 4400 are $190 and 4600 are $250, take a look around. As I always point out for GF4TI cards brand makes very little diff, therefore the cheaper cards are fine and there is no need to pay over the odds for a particular manu.
4600 cards suppliers and their US$ prices (price/shipped):
JustAnEngineer you're like a dog with a stick, yawn! Well to educate you check the links and you will find 99% of these cards sport CRT+DVI+TVout or the equivilent, hardly CRT only. People who know gfx cards know that unlike Radeon cards brand AND oem/retail matters VERY LITTLE for GF4TI cards.
Rad9700 takes only a small hit from 4xAA and good quality Aniso, however comparing this to a 4600 with 4xAA isn't entirely fair. GF4TI cards are designed to use 2xAA and QxAA with very little hit, 4xAA pretty much kills these cards, just like any Aniso level does. All credit to Rad9700 for producing such an excellent card and fantastic AA and Aniso (at last).
Sorry Dave "Wavey", I rounded up all of the links I found, I expected they'd be a couple more.
BTW It seems that I was right not wrong (GF4TI cost $130-250 for 4200-4600), and 4600 are certainly in abundance for under $300, erm and they aren't CRT only either LOL!