Downgraded Instead of Upgraded. Help with Geforce FX 5500 AGP 256MB O/C (BFG)

[zazazoom]

Hi, This is my first post here on techspot.com I've searched the whole forum regarding the video card I am posting about. Here's the story. I had a radeon 9700 128MB card which I had for about 6 years. Anyway Futureshop in Canada and a labour day sale. I found the BFG Geforce FX 5500 OC 256MB AGP for about 50$ with a mail in rebate. So I got home uninstalled my drivers for my old card made sure everything was whiped out. I took out the card slap the new one in, installed the drivers and updated them on http://www.bfgtech.com. Anyway I tried counterstrike: source and Warcraft: Frozen Throne only be to be disappointed. it only seems it made my game less smooth and heavier. Lower fps on counterstrike running at what i use to run with my other card. anyway I'm not sure exactly what it is. I've read reviews or other forums posts by some guys who bench marked the card and got awesome results. I'm wondering if it could be my hardware that could be messing this up or something else. Perhaps other drivers they use or what not?

My Rig is at:
p4@2.4GHZ
768MB DDR RAM
ASUS P4S533-E
Maxtor 200GB 8mb cache 7200RPM
Running the BFG Geforce FX 5500 256MB AGP 8X/4X O/C

Isn't it suppose to make my game alot better in terms of FPS, smoothness and visually look outstanding? Anyway I hope someone here can help me out, show me a few pointers or give me some advice on what to do. Thanks alot! Cheers Guys & Gals

 

[DonNagual]

Even though the 5500 has more ram, I don't think you would see much of a performance increase, if any at all over a 9700. Their clock speeds are about the same.

See what some other say.

 

[Face of LA]

am not sure if its ur GFX Card, cuz i used a MSI Geforce FX5500 256MBDDR on the games u mentioned and i had no troubles, maybe its ur CPU ??
Go to www.systemrequirementslab.com and pick the game and see whats the problem, hope this helps

Alex~

EDIT: I Dont think its ur CPU, But am sure theres sumthin wrong, visit the site and fill us in,

 

[Sharkfood]

A 5500 is a huge, huge step downwards compared to a 9700 Pro.

From the VGA charts at Tom's Hardware, the 5700 (which is slightly faster than your 5500) can be found here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/page4.html#3d_mark_2005

Compare it's performance with your 9700 Pro and you'll see how far of a step down you have gone.

For measurement purposes, your 9700 Pro had a full 8-pipelines with 256 bit memory interface. Whereas the 5500 only has 4-pipelines and a 64-bit or 128-bit memory interface (depending upon the precise FX5500 it may be based on). Even if both cards had similar tech specs, the FX series is plagued with a number of shader stalls and register performance problems, hence their short span of life prior to the Geforce 6 series.

 

[zazazoom]

Thanks for your help guys

Yeah I think i'm going to switch back to my radeon, what card do you recommend in terms of seeing a difference within a reasonable price range..i don't wanna blow 600 on a card thats going to be worth less in a few years :T damn technology and games keep demanding more and more :T I saw the x700 radeon for about 139 regular 399 i think at future shop in canada...labour day sale.. i wonder if that was worth the buy :T that site for the system requirements lab is pretty sweet thanks for the link m8!

oh yeah i dont think futureshop can give me a refund on this card..cuz i already opened it ..well customer satisfaction..i'm going to ask them if i can switch this for the x700..that is if its worth getting i'm not too pleased with ATI's catalyst BS :T then again i've never used nvidia so its kinda confusing

another question: when i'm playing countersrike i get an error..regaarding datacache.dll ..i'm not sure what it is but it just crashes my game..i believe it might be my harddrive..its hella old..6 years..or maybe my ram :T

 

[Sharkfood]

An x700 will also be a serious step-down from a 9700 Pro, so I would not recommend this either. It is only a 4-pipe, 128-bit card vs. your 9700 Pro's 8-pipes, 256 bit.

Is something wrong with your 9700 Pro or is there a particular game you're hoping to improve with performance? How you proceed will greatly be impacted by what you are trying to accomplish. Also realize, a beefier 3d card will also require more power, which if your power supply isn't up to snuff, could cause problems. Moreover, if your cpu isn't too beefy, you may not see any improvement over a 9700 Pro at all in many games. A P4@2.4 with ddr doesn't really tell us much.. is it a Northwood or Prescott? Is it 400, 533 or 800mhz FSB? Is it 2.4ghz natural or is it overclocked to this speed? Are you running DDR-400's in Dual-Channel mode? etc.etc.

How about case cooling? Adding a beefier videocard will also generate a lot more heat. Do you have adequate case cooling in the form of intake & exhaust fans to create airflow?

If you have a very beefy PSU (350W or more), great cooling and looking for more graphics power for AGP, you might want to consider: X800 GTO $128
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609

This is a 12-pipeline, 256-bit memory interface card. Moreover, a LOT of these X800GTO's from Sapphire ship with 16-pipes vs. 12-pipes. I've order a few of them and received 16-pipe cards for all of them! This isn't assurred though as they are supposed to be 12-pipe, just Sapphire sometimes ships some R430 chip/16-pipe processors as a "bonus" hehe.

Other lower budget cards that would improve your experience over a 9700 Pro would be: 6800GS - $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045
12-pipes, 256-bit memory interface.

Or 6800XT - $132.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150157
8-pipes, 256-bit memory interface, but faster GPU and memory clocks compared to your 9700 Pro.

Hope this helps!

 

[F1N3ST]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150157 I reccomend that card, as stated above.

 

[Face of LA]

^ yep thats a sweet card! and i reccomend it to!

Yeah I think i'm going to switch back to my radeon, what card do you recommend in terms of seeing a difference within a reasonable price range..i don't wanna blow 600 on a card thats going to be worth less in a few years :T damn technology and games keep demanding more and more :T I saw the x700 radeon for about 139 regular 399 i think at future shop in canada...labour day sale.. i wonder if that was worth the buy :T that site for the system requirements lab is pretty sweet thanks for the link m8!

n/p ur welcome,

Alex~

 

[Tedster]

I wouldn't fret too much. The 5500 is still a dang good card. I'd keep it for another computer or sell it on ebay.