Good low end graphics card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dave stockdale
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dave stockdale

Not a gamer but going to 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 said:
Not a gamer but going to 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've got a similar setup - except that I use 1Gb RAM - and I installed a
GeForce FX5200 (which is passively cooled). Performance is so dismal (4,200
on 3DMark2001SE) that I'm looking for an upgrade at this very moment; no,
I'm not a gamer, but I think that with all the money I spent on the machine,
I should get performance proportionate to the rest of the kit. The money
spent on the FX5200 was thrown down the drain.

Regards,

Pete.
--

Peter Connolly | Macromedia Certified Dreamweaver MX Developer
http://www.acutecomputing.co.uk
Derby
UK
 
dave said:
Not a gamer but going to 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...
Anne + Dave,

Look at the Sapphire models for passive cooling (even Radeon 9600):

http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/products.asp

Roy
 
dave stockdale said:
Not a gamer but going to 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.
Click to expand...

FX5600 is basically a heavily overclocked 5200 (they are the same tech),
whereas the 5700 and 5900 are a higher tech. The 5200 and 9200 probably only
have passive cooling, the rest would usually have fans.
 
Peter Connolly said:
I've got a similar setup - except that I use 1Gb RAM - and I installed a
GeForce FX5200 (which is passively cooled). Performance is so dismal (4,200
on 3DMark2001SE) that I'm looking for an upgrade at this very moment; no,
I'm not a gamer, but I think that with all the money I spent on the machine,
I should get performance proportionate to the rest of the kit. The money
spent on the FX5200 was thrown down the drain.

Regards,

Pete.
--

Peter Connolly | Macromedia Certified Dreamweaver MX Developer
http://www.acutecomputing.co.uk
Derby
UK
Click to expand...
 
.. The money
spent on the FX5200 was thrown down the drain.
Click to expand...
I made a big mistake thinking that the 5200 was going to be the bees knees
and was sadly let down. Don't know why but I have twice now built all
singing all dancing systems and spoilt them with cheap video cards - first
time it was a TNT2 M64 and then the GeForce FX5200; hopefully I have
redeemed myself with the latest system as I have a FX5900 on order to
replace the FX5200.

Andy
 
dave said:
Not a gamer but going to 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.
Click to expand...

Beware:
* With Nvidia, "XT" means cards with lower clock speeds.
* With ATI, "SE" means severely reduced memory performance, mostly due
to only half the memory bus width. "XT" denotes faster cards.

Also, there seem to be different FX5200 versions on the market, the
passively cooled ones apparently are often crippled with a slower memory
interface. Yup, the graphics card market is about as transparent as a
brick wall.
In terms of 3D performance, a normal performing FX5200 is a bit above a
Radeon 9200, while the FX5600 and Radeon 9600 are a class faster. (Among
ATI based cards, the "SE" ones are considerably slower than their non-SE
counterparts, virtually the same applies to Nvidia's "XT"s.) I would
suggest a decent Radeon 9600 based card for that system (a number of
Radeon 9600 Non-Pros are passively cooled, like those from Sapphire or
HIS).

Stephan
 
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