Could anyone recommend a decent PCI card?

[Memphis901]

Im putting a new system together for myself this Christmas and im kinda feeling guilty about my friend owning a gaming PC with intergrated graphics. I dont want to go all out a buy a new mobo for him partly because I dont even know which one would be compatable (I dont wanna ask him or he would know i was up to somthing).

The PCI cards im seeing are all fairly cheap, but I dont really know exactly what would be good with PCI standards.He needs one mainly for mmorpgs and some games that aren't that graphically demanding.I started to buy the most expensive one I could find, but I thought id ask some proffesionals first.

 

[gwag]

9100 pci is still the best i think make sure it has 128bit memory although, followed by 5200 ultra 64M vram is fine on both.

 

[Memphis901]

I found an old PCI thread and decided im gonna go with the 9100 pro or an fx 5200.

 

[Hacksalot]

radeon 9200 is very good

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Hacksalot
radeon 9200 is very good

Radeon 9100 is actually better, though!

 

[Mloot]

Yep, the 9100 is the best of the group, unless you want to spend ~$100 or more on an FX 5600 PCI. Not really sure about the 5700LE PCI's, but it looks like some of them may be saddled with a 64-bit memory bus, in which case a 128-bit 5200 would be a better performer.

 

[geoffkin]

Which IS the best PCI card for gaming these days?
I was just looking around Worst Buy and saw these two:

PNY GeForce FX5500 - 128 MB for $103 after $20 rebate

ATI Radeon 9250 - 256 MB for $130

One of these the BEST?

 

[Mloot]

Text


9100 PCI 128mb

or...

FX 5600 PCI 128mb

or...

FX 5700LE PCI 256mb


The 256mb 5700LE PCI actually states that it has a 128-bit memory interface, while all the 5700LE PCI's w/128mb of memory that I have seen have all had a 64-bit interface.

 

[geoffkin]

I already have an ATI Radeon 9100 in it, would upgrading to one of these make a noticeable difference?
Also, I'm not sure if a 256 MB card would work in a DELL 2400 system. It's a low end system and might have compatibility issues?

 

[Mloot]

If you already have a 9100 PCI, then no, you won't notice a big difference, unless you happen to buy a card with a 64-bit interface. Then you'll notice a drastic drop in performance. If you are dead set on playing a newer game like D3 on your 2400 (which I wouldn't recommend on ANY PCI card), then you might (emphasis on the "might") notice better performance on the 5700LE, since it's a DX9 card, and it has better shaders than the 5600 PCI. IMO, it's definitely not worth the cost, though.

Also, the amount of video ram on the card will have no effect on whether it will work in your Dell or not.

 

[geoffkin]

Thanks, just wanted to make sure the 9100 was about the top of the line, no use to think about upgrading in the future. When it won't play the newest game I buy, it will be sent to the kids' room.
Right now I'm playing Max Payne 2 and it looks and plays NICE. What would you guess is about the newest games I can play on the P4 2.4 2400 with a gig of ram and the 9100?

 

[Mloot]

Hmm, not too sure about that. My 2.4 Dell w/9100 PCI stopped being my gaming machine several months ago when I finally built a pc w/an AGP slot. Ironic, because now that I have a decent gaming rig, I find I don't really have the time to play games anymore.

 

[geoffkin]

Could someone suggest the best games that will probably play good on this system?

 

[Mloot]

If you haven't already, I would ask that question over in the Dell Dimension Video forums. There are alot of folks there with similar systems, and you'll probably get better/more answers to that question with them.

 

[Triforceofcourage]

Duke Nukem 3d would run like a dream on that POS

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: geoffkin
Could someone suggest the best games that will probably play good on this system?

Depends on what kind of games you like... you shouldn't have any problems playing games at their lowest settings @ 640 x 480, imho.