Upgrade to Radeon 9250 or Geforce FX 5200 or 5500?

[crazy_comp_dude]

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?

 

[vnf4ultra]

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.

 

[crazy_comp_dude]

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

 

[vnf4ultra]

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?

 

[pizzada]

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

peace..

 

[lostfuze]

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.

 

[vnf4ultra]

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.

 

[lostfuze]

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.

 

[crazy_comp_dude]

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.

 

[vnf4ultra]

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.

 

[UnluckyNelson]

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!

 

[crazy_comp_dude]

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

 

[WMVlad007]

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

 

[Overclocked1319]

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?

 

[WMVlad007]

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.

 

[Overclocked1319]

i asked a gateway tech

wait i had the power supply wrong. it has 300. will it run now?

 

[vnf4ultra]

300watter

I think it should work with 300w as long as it isn't a complete piece of trash psu. If you had a high quality 250w it probably would work depending on the rest of your system.

 

[Overclocked1319]

Thinkin of

I was actually thinkin of going with the Geforce FX 5500 OC 256 MB

But here are my system specs:
2.70 GHz celeron
504 MB of ram
300W power supply
40 GB hard drive space.

 

[isatippy]

Go with a 5700 le or 5800 a 5500 is like a 5200. :bounce:

 

[crazy_comp_dude]

So I came home from school today and as soon as I sat down on couch there was a knock on the door, I got up and wondered who it was.... low and behold it was the dilivery man with my graphics card :giddy: . Very fast shipping! And so i have been playing halo and far cry and there is so much improvment from my crappy radeon 9200se! yay Geforce FX5500! :grinthumb

 

[vnf4ultra]

video

Glad the 5500 works good.

For you other people(in usa) interested in the best pci check out the 5600 256mb pci at amamax.com
http://amamax.com/ge56pciwddrd1.html
I think it's the best pci that is actually "available".
Beats the 5700le.

 

[@12if]

what about this

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=1138554
and
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=319178&pfp=BROWSE

is fx5600 256 better than fx5500 that i list above?

 

[vnf4ultra]

best pci

The 5600 is better than either that you listed. The 5600 should have 325mhz core clock, 550mhz memory, and 4 pixel pipelines. The 5500 should have 250mhz core clock, 400mhz memory, and 2 pixel pipelines. The Bfg 5500 is overclocked to 290mhz core but it looks like the memory is only 350mhz, so it's a little faster than a standard 5500 for core speed, but slower in memory speed. The 5600 has a 35mhz core speed advantage over the 5500bfg, and a 200mhz advantage in memory speed. The 5600 also has 2 more pixel pipes which let it process more data at a time. The 5600 is better, but it is more expensive.

cliff notes:
5600 325mhz core, 550mhz memory, 4 pixel pipes.
5500 250mhz core, 400mhz memory, 2 pixel pipes.
5500bfg 290mhz core, 350mhz memory, 2 pixel pipes.

 

[@12if]

do u know where can i get the 5600 that u mention??

 

[@12if]

sry to ask again.. what about 5700le 128mb and fx5600 256 mb???.. is 5600 still better??.. any other pci video card that is better??.. my comp is dell 2400, the pci slot is 8x or 4x or wad??.. thanks! :giddy: