Upgrade to Radeon 9250 or Geforce FX 5200 or 5500?

graphics

from http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/matrox/ramdac.html
So the ramdac speed isn't as important as core or memory speeds. a 9200se is 200mhz core and 400mhz memory. A 9250 256mb is 240mhz core, 400mhz memory. A 5500 is 270mhz core, 400mhz memory. These may vary some between manufacturers though. Another thing to check it the memory interface. Is it 64bit or 128bit. 128 bit is much better.

The memory interface is just the amount of data that the card can move at a time, 64bits, 128bits, 256bits, etc. The 5500 can come in 64 or 128 as seen in my two links.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=FX5500-128MTV
http://www.gen-x-pc.com/vg_ALFX5500.htm
They're both agp (not pci), but that's just to show that they can be the same chipset (5500), but have different performance levels. Typically if a card doesn't specify which it is(64 or 128), then it is probably 64 and they are hoping you don't notice. Some websites don't list whether a card is 64 or 128 bit though, so look around and find what the cards you're looking at are.

The 9250 with 256MB has 128bit and th FX5500 with 128MB has 128bit now what? they have the same memory interface

graphics

Ok, they both are 128bit, that's good. They both have the same memory speeds. The 9250 has 240mhz core and the 5500 has a 270mhz core, but the 9250 has 256mb of memory and the 5500 has 128mb.

9250 240mhz core 256mb memory
5500 270mhz core 128mb memory

The 5500 will be a little faster because of its faster core speed. The 9250 will be faster loading because of more memory. For most games 128 is enough.

I think the powercolor 9250 256mb is 64 bit

GPU/VPU RADEON 9250

Maximum Resolution 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz

Video Memory 256MB

Memory Type DDR SDRAM

Memory Bandwidth *64bit*

Interface Type PCI

Connector(s) DVI
TV/S-Video
VGA

The 5500 doesn't say which it is.

gpu

I did some more checking, and I don't know if the 9250 is 128 or 64 bit. Tigerdirect.ca says 64 bit, but on powercolor's site it says 128 bit.
http://www.tul.com.tw/global/productVM.aspx?folderid=1&cat2=143
I couldn't find anything about the 5500 memory interface except that it has 6.4gb/sec bandwidth which should mean that it's 128 bit.(64bit should be around 3.2) Then I saw that the 5200 and 5500 are close to equal. Now I'm confused.

Or you could get this. It's better than 9250, 5500, and 5200. Shipping says worldwide. $109us
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5163122581&category=40161

If you're still confused...there's always the Canadian quarter just waiting
to be flipped... :giddy:

peace..

Nice one Pizzada :grinthumb , Anyway on the PNY website and the power color web site (its colour not color, crazy americans), both say that they are 128bit cards tigerdirect.ca is messed up. An that card on ebay has 250MHz clock speed, is that not slower then 270MHz that the PNY Verto has?

gpu

The 5500 has the fastest core speed, but that doesn't always mean it's faster. (5500 270 core, 5700le 250 core) This excerpt helps explain why the 5700le is still slightly better.

"the main reason a 5700LE is so much better than any other currently offered PCI video card is that the internal architecture is the same as it's big brothers, the 5700 and the 5700 Ultra. there are more vertex pipes which translates into much faster geometry processing and the pixel processing is at about the same level as the 5200 and 9200, but just a bit faster. and since it's basically the same chip as the other 5700's, all you need is a better cooler and it'll overclock quite well. then, the real problem (at least for games) becomes the PCI bus as the card becomes bandwidth choked."

http://forums.devhardware.com/archi...Cards-PCI-need-help-please-on-which-is-better

I won't claim to completely understand this, but It seems that the 5700le can process more things at a time at a slightly slower clock speed than the 5500.
5700le process more at once at slightly slower speed. (Underclocked 5700)
5500 process less at slightly higher speed. (Overclocked 5200)
I think any 128bit card will be an improvement over 64 bit, and since they all seem to be very close in performance, choose whatever you like.

Okay..... that sounds good... is this like the longest thread ever? 28 post holy man :bounce:

gpu

Yeah, this is getting kinda long, for Techspot anyway. Anyway, hope what I have said is useful. I know that this is very confusing. If you do get a new card, post back and let us know how much better the new one is. Like benchmark your current card with aquamark3(or whatever graphics bench) and then do the same with your new card and compare the scores. I was going to get a 5700le a while ago, but I found out I can't use a pci graphics card in my computer, there is no way to disable the integrated graphics on my dell motherboard.

P.S. About your pm. So "colour" is spelled correctly if your Canadian? I.E. Powercolour?

Wouldn't that be 'Powercolour, eh' ? and how do the French Canadians feel about it ?

peace..

So which card did you end up going with and how does it run? I'm kind of in the same boat as you right now -- except I live in the USA.

video

Lostfuse, if your in the usa, then you can get this.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-139-166&depa=1
It is one of the best pci(not pci_express) video cards.

Thanks for the link...

If I end up just getting a PCI card, it is between:

1) Jaton nVIDIA GeForce FX5700LE Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, Low Profile, PCI - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-139-166&depa=1

and

2) CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-087&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

Both are in my price range, and look decent... but which one is better overall?

They both have a core speed of 250MHz..

5200:
Memory/Effective Speed: 256MB DDR/332MHz
Support 3D API: DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 1.4

5700LE:
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/400MHz
Support 3D API: DirectX 9, OpenGL 1.5

Is the 256MB DDR that big of a difference over the 128? Or will the higher Effective Speed on the 5700LE do me better? The 5700LE also has OpenGL 1.5... whatever that means.

SO i decided to go with the Geforce FX5500! I hope it was a good choice :hotouch:. I know my card now can run Halo but that is only with the 1.1 version of shaders not the 2.0, which the FX 5500 supports! . So i am guessing it will look a lot nicer then it does now!. ANd at 128 bit i think this will be a good card and the 270MHz core speed it will be sweet!. I cant wait. I just ordered it yesterday so i guess i will wait until next week, even though i can't wait that long.

video

Cool, let us know how it works. I know waiting is not fun. Out of your choices, the 5500 is best. I found a chart, it says 9250<5200<5500.

Really now!!!

This must be the longest and most boring thread I have ever read!
And I believe I just spurred it on by adding a reply... oh well

Seriously just go to Tom's hardware VGA charts and see real benchmarks!

LOL! I like how the 5200 Ultra beat the 9600 a lot of the time that makes me giggle! :haha: And for reasons beyond me i usually run my games at 800x600 or even 640x480! not at that crazy number 1024x768! Thats crazy TALK! OH yeah i found out today that my card I have now is only 64bit lol! I think i will see major imporvment in my games eh? :grinthumb

hey someone on the very top of this list suggested a GeForce 5700 LE for you, i have this card right now and i want a more powerful one, if you want, i will sell you this one cheap.

oh, never mind, the card is AGP

Yes i also have a question

my video card is a Radeon 9250 yeah i only have PCI also. Now i have a 250Watt power supply if i buy that Geforce FX 5700 LE will it run fine or no?

that depends on the rest of your PC components. my guess would be no though. however, dont worry about it that bad, power supplies are dirt cheap and don't limit your video card due to a power supply.