new graphic card

T

tones10

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Hi, due to a new motherboard and cpu I may have to renew my graphics card, I dont have much of a budget I saw a nVidia geforce fx 5200 128mb, and when trying to look for info on it I noticed that a lot
of different firms, MSI, Aopen, XFX, and a few others seem to make the same card, I can afford this card and it has 8 AGP, and some
other things that make it a fairly good match for the m/b, the question is, is it any good, I use XP Home and dont play games,
there are some other cards I can afford, but I am at a loss as
to which one to buy.
 
Originally posted by tones10
I use XP Home and dont play games

If you don't play games, you really don't need something like a GeForce FX.
TNT2 and GeForce 2 cards are really cheap these days, and nVidia still has driver support for them.

You could use the money that's left over for more RAM or a better CPU since both those components give you a more universal advantage.
 
yeah, if you don't play many games then you don't need to spend more than $50 on a video card, unless you want tv-tuner capabilities or whatnot.
 
Re: Re: new graphic card

Originally posted by NetRyder
If you don't play games, you really don't need something like a GeForce FX.
TNT2 and GeForce 2 cards are really cheap these days, and nVidia still has driver support for them.

You could use the money that's left over for more RAM or a better CPU since both those components give you a more universal advantage.

the card he is getting is not exactly a FAST card net :)

the 5200 is slower than many of nvidia's last gen products... such as the gf4 ti 4200... it compares to the level of around a gf4mx 440...

if you like the product and its in your price range.. tones... buy it..

but as a product with snazzy features... um... the gf FX 5200 may have what appear to be a lot of features... but it can't exactly make use of many of them due to lack of raw power... so be a little wary of basing decisions solely on PR...
 
i know the 5200 is a weakling... but it's priced way too high. and if he doesn't play games, he's not going to use the dx9 pixel shader 2.0, cineFX, and all those other game-oriented features.

that's why i say go for a gf2 or radeon 7k series.
 
Hi, Thanks for all your replies, I am still in the dark as to what card I should buy, can any of you mention some names and
numbers of cards, when this new stuff has been set up I will have
1gb of 2700 memory so that should be enough with a P4 2.4
cpu, I havent kept up with the graphic card versions, so a little more help would be helpful.
 
Go ahead and buy a Geforce 4 MX 440 (and it doesn't really matter much who makes it) with 64MB of ram or 128MB of ram--either one is fine for your purposes, and offers some of the best prices too. The 64MB one should be about 15-20% less than the 128MB one.

The 64MB one can be gotten for about $40 in the US (the equivalent of £24)
If you want to use two monitors, which is highly convenient, make sure you get one with a DVI connector.
 
Basically all the cards with the same numbers are the same speed. The difference will be manufacturing quality and price.

From personal experience on brand names:
MSI VERY poorly built and card failed after 2 months.
Gainward well built but failed after 13 months, not overclocked!
Powercolor is inexpensive, was well built, never failed! :)
ATI built well and never failed, but pricey.

General knowledge brand names:
ASUS is always a safe bet.

As for which number card to get when the hottest new games are not a concern:
ATI 9500 PRO, recent model, good gaming, DX9, <$200
GE4-TI4200, recent model, good gaming, <$130
GE3-TI200, older model, decent gaming, <$80
GE4-MX440, older model, barely gaming, <$50
TNT32, very old model, forget gaming, <$40

Since gaming is not an issue you can go with minimum RAM of 32MB. That can save $20-40 for same card. Less RAM just limits how detailed the game displays are without slowing down the speed.

Choose wisely.
 
Originally posted by tones10
Hi, Thanks for all your replies, I am still in the dark as to what card I should buy, can any of you mention some names and
numbers of cards, when this new stuff has been set up I will have
1gb of 2700 memory so that should be enough with a P4 2.4
cpu, I havent kept up with the graphic card versions, so a little more help would be helpful.

put a price range :)

much easier to give you info if one knows the budget :)
 
Hi, Sazar asked for a price range, I live in the UK so price would
be about £60, maybe £70 at a push.
 
Originally posted by tones10
Hi, Sazar asked for a price range, I live in the UK so price would
be about £60, maybe £70 at a push.

any radeon series 8500 or 9000pro or 9100/9200 would be fine... if you can get it for that price..

else a gf4 mx card might be around that price... I doubt the gf4 ti series wll be that low..

I recommend the ati series since all the ones I have listed are dx8.1 compatible cards... nvidia products are not dx 8 compatible till you get to the gf4ti series (or gf3 series..)

gf4 mx series for the most part is dx7... not dx8... please keep that in mind... you lose out on many effects in modern day games due to lack of proper support...

8500 series... if you can find it.. should be exactly in your price range...
 
Originally posted by Kevin Ar18
Interesting info... To expand on that, for DX9 there is the GeforceFX series (like the FX 5200)

well for marketing purposes that would be true...

you will not be able to really USE the directx 9 features untill you get to the 9500/9600 series from ati or the 5600 series from nvidia... the 5200 has little horsepower.. and in todays games it is slower than many last generation cards...
 
The fact that he dont play games means it just dont matter what card he gets ... why bother spending money for a card get the cheapest one you can find ;)
 
Heh, interesting how nobody mentioned DVD/video playback as a potentially desired feature...

If you can afford the GeForce FX 5200, I say go for it... brandwise, the Evga one is nice, and comes with Nvdvd

Also, along the lines of the directx9 featureset, you'll have all the 2D acceleration you could ask for :)
 
Hi, Thanks for all your replies, I found some of the cards
mentioned in the posts, so what do you think of these,

128Mb ddr GigaByte ATI Radeon 9000 Pro II Retail DVI/TV

Radeon 9000 128MB DDR AGP RP DVI VO

GeForce 4 MX440 128MB DDR AGP RP VO

Sapphire Radeon 9000 Atlantis 128MB DDR
AGP, ATI 9000, DVI, TV-Out, Retail, all of these cards can be had
within my price range.
 
there's really only 2½ different cards there... radeon 9000, 9000pro, and gf4 mx440.

i would probably go for the 64mb version of the mx440 and save a few bucks.
 

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