Best cheap graphics card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dave stockdale
  • Start date Start date
D

dave stockdale

Not a gamer but gonna upgrade to AMD XP2800 Barton/AsusA7N8X Delux/512
Crucial.
Can't decide on a lower end graphics card.
Think its between Geforce FX 5200, Geforce FX5600XT or Radion 9200SE or
Radion 9600SE.
I'd be glad for advice from experienced members.
Also, does anyone know off hand which of the above have passive cooling and
which have fans?
Thank you.
Anne
 
dave stockdale said:
Not a gamer but gonna upgrade to AMD XP2800 Barton/AsusA7N8X Delux/512
Crucial.
Can't decide on a lower end graphics card.
Think its between Geforce FX 5200, Geforce FX5600XT or Radion 9200SE or
Radion 9600SE.
I'd be glad for advice from experienced members.
Also, does anyone know off hand which of the above have passive cooling and
which have fans?
Thank you.
Anne
Click to expand...

I just installed the Radeon 9200se. No fan. Seems to work well. $60 with
free shipping. Since my intent was merely to use the output to TV, I can't
really compare the other cards. Easy setup from CD, dual monitor support at
different resolutions. DVI output also. May be run in "clone" mode, or as
extended desktop. TV output color is good, but resolution much less than
on a monitor. Prior experience with ATI setup helped influence my purchase
decision.
 
I just installed the Radeon 9200se. No fan. Seems to work well. $60 with
free shipping. Since my intent was merely to use the output to TV, I can't
really compare the other cards. Easy setup from CD, dual monitor support at
different resolutions. DVI output also. May be run in "clone" mode, or as
extended desktop. TV output color is good, but resolution much less than
on a monitor. Prior experience with ATI setup helped influence my purchase
decision.
Click to expand...

Im thinking about replacing the 400mx cards I just bought a few months
ago with ATI 9200s. They are finally coming way down into the $50-60
range . The 400mx are ok for text and older games but I found , though
I wasnt that interested in getting high framrates at high res which
itwouldnt do anyway - I have a 9800 for my main PC , unless you have
one of the newer card ssome games already released wont play on the
older MX cards anymore. I was surprised that Silent hill 3 etc refused
to load. Someone did say there was some software emulator thing to
make it work but who wants to hassle that?
 
Not a gamer but gonna upgrade to AMD XP2800 Barton/AsusA7N8X Delux/512
Crucial.
Can't decide on a lower end graphics card.
Think its between Geforce FX 5200, Geforce FX5600XT or Radion 9200SE or
Radion 9600SE.
I'd be glad for advice from experienced members.
Also, does anyone know off hand which of the above have passive cooling and
which have fans?
Thank you.
Anne
Click to expand...

Since you're not a gamer, the remaining question is what you need of the
card, beyond what you'd get with "any old circa '90s" card.

Of the above choices, without need for gaming performance, I'd get the
9200SE. ATI has always been superior to nVidia for video playback (though
less now than in the past) and in the lower end, usually better 2D display
quality.

You're not likley to find a decent FX5600 or 9600SE without a fan, the
faster the card the more likley it'll need a fan.
 
*Don't buy the 5600XT. They're awful. The FX5200 is better and you can get
one without a fan (mine didn't have one and I had no heating problems).

You'll pick-up a 5200 very cheaply if you shop around and that should do you
nicely.
 
TV output color is good, but resolution much less than
on a monitor.
Click to expand...

That's not becouse of ATI. AFAIK the highest resolution any TV can handle is
800x600.

regards
silv
 
The reason I'm muttering on about fans is my existing setup is noisy fanwise
and keen to keep overall new pc noise to a minimum.
Why is the 5600XT awful, Bobby?
Never having had a pc with a card with a fan can you advise would a card say
5600 or 9600 be high on noise levels..if that is a sensible generalisation
question?
Thanks
-------------------------
 
I had an FX5200 and "upgraded" to a FX5600 XT (256Mb) - but it was so bad
that I took it back. I'm now using a Radeon 9600 Pro.

It has a fan but to be honest my PC is no noisier now than it was with the
(fanless) 5200.

The 9600 Pro is a great card - but a lot more expensive than an FX5200.

Bobby
 
dave stockdale said:
Not a gamer but gonna upgrade to AMD XP2800 Barton/AsusA7N8X Delux/512
Crucial.
Can't decide on a lower end graphics card.
Think its between Geforce FX 5200, Geforce FX5600XT or Radion 9200SE or
Radion 9600SE.
I'd be glad for advice from experienced members.
Also, does anyone know off hand which of the above have passive cooling and
which have fans?
Thank you.
Anne
Click to expand...


If you're not a gamer, skip ATi and nVidia and get yourself a Matrox
G550. Better image quality, which is what counts when you are not
gaming. However, if you are set on ATi or nVidia, it would be wise to
get some variant of the Radeon 8500, wether it be 8500/9000/9100 does
not matter, as you will see no performace difference.
 
If you're not a gamer, skip ATi and nVidia and get yourself a Matrox
G550. Better image quality, which is what counts when you are not
gaming. However, if you are set on ATi or nVidia, it would be wise to
get some variant of the Radeon 8500, wether it be 8500/9000/9100 does
not matter, as you will see no performace difference.
Click to expand...

Kyle,

By "better image quality" do you mean still images? I have an old
system that I really can't afford to spend too much money on right
now. It currently has a v. cheap generic AGP card w/8 megs video ram;
IIRC it's some sort of older SiS chipset.

I've seen a fair number of older vid cards for sale on eBay, including
some Matrox, and I've always been a fan of theirs since the old
Millenium; THAT was a nice card for its time!

Basically I'm after low cost, good overall Windows display quality and
performance (quick updates, crisp text, etc), along with the ability
to play various video formats without bogging down.
 
Kyle,
By "better image quality" do you mean still images? I have an old
system that I really can't afford to spend too much money on right
now. It currently has a v. cheap generic AGP card w/8 megs video ram;
IIRC it's some sort of older SiS chipset.

I've seen a fair number of older vid cards for sale on eBay, including
some Matrox, and I've always been a fan of theirs since the old
Millenium; THAT was a nice card for its time!

Basically I'm after low cost, good overall Windows display quality and
performance (quick updates, crisp text, etc), along with the ability
to play various video formats without bogging down.
Click to expand...

Casey,

What I mean by better image quality, is the text sharpness. I think
the G550's have hardware-level antialiasing for 2d images, of course
if you have Windows XP you could always enable "Clear-Type" for
antialiased text. If you are thinking about going the other route
(ATi/nVidia), it is the general consensus from what I've read that ATi
has better image quality (2d AND 3d). Personally, I have a Radeon 8500
64mb on my main machine here at home, and with cleartype enabled it is
like reading a newspaper, with nice and smoothlike text. Good luck on
your decision.

/kyle burnam
 
Casey,

What I mean by better image quality, is the text sharpness. I think
the G550's have hardware-level antialiasing for 2d images, of course
if you have Windows XP you could always enable "Clear-Type" for
antialiased text. If you are thinking about going the other route
(ATi/nVidia), it is the general consensus from what I've read that ATi
has better image quality (2d AND 3d). Personally, I have a Radeon 8500
64mb on my main machine here at home, and with cleartype enabled it is
like reading a newspaper, with nice and smoothlike text. Good luck on
your decision.

/kyle burnam
Click to expand...

Antialiased, clear-type, "smoothlike" text, is the exact opposite of "text
sharpness". Perhaps what you meant to write is that you find it
asthetically pleasing, that you are conditioned to think text is supposed
to be smooth like a printing press would produce. Some people like that,
others don't, would prefer undistorted text with the most sharpness and
contrast.

Maxtrox cards do not internally antialias 2D, unless that is specifically
what the application calls for.
 
Bobby said:
You'll pick-up a 5200 very cheaply if you shop around and that should do you
nicely.
Click to expand...
I have the Asus V9520T Magic GeForce FX 5200 with 128MB DDR.
Since I don't plan to do any heavy duty gaming, I figured this
one would be good. Newegg.com has it for $73.00 (or at least that
was what I paid for it about a month ago).
 
Back
Top