Geforce 6200

[achanth]

I did not want to splash on new motherboard, ram and cpu for some amateur picture jpeg editing. So I did this:
1) spent about $200 trade in to have a total of 1000 MB RD Ram (this old system, but wanted this because of wide pipeline?)
2) spent another $100 on Geforce 6200 by fxforce.

Then I had problems:
a) very low readings with 3dMark5: only about 775 ! not even a thousand. When I compared my system with a similar, the other party had over 7000+. [My system is Abit TH711 motherboard, 1 GB RD Ram, fxforce geforce 6200. other peripherals are creative audigy, aztech usb moden, 7200 rpm hdd. Oh yes, 1.7Ghz, the comparative system was just over 2.0GHz)


One problem is that the driver NV 44 is not recognised digitally by Windows XP, and the geforce is not recognised by the system, until I used 3dguru's forceware driver 7311 (I think?)

The performance of the new card was slow, comparable to my old card GTS2 geforce2. This however could not run 3Dmark5, but based on pix editing software.

What would you advise?
Thx for your time.
achanth

 

[Kovie]

That score is probably close to right for that card, depending on its core speed (ranges wildly from vendor to vendor) and whether its 64 or 128 bit memory. There isnt even a remote chance a 6200 can get 7000 in 3DM05, as thats 850XTPE territory, you absolutely had to be looking at 3DM03 scores.

 

[Pete]

No current card scores 7000 in 3DM05--at least, not without voiding its warranty. No new $100 card scores anywhere near that, that's for sure. I'd imagine 775 is about right for a 6200, which isn't exactly a performance demon. That 7000+ you quoted, well, that's definitely not from 3DM05 or 3DM03 given your price range. You sure it's not from a GF2 or similar card in 3DM01? Because I think my Radeon 9100 (equivalent to a GF3) scored about that with my old Athlon 1700+ (slightly to somewhat faster than your P4, I'm guessing).

Do you know the memory bus width of the new card? I don't know, its possible it'd be slower than a lowly GF2 if it has only a 64-bit memory bus, rather than the full 128-bits.

Did you follow the instructions to first uninstall and then physically remove the GF2, then to physically install the 6200, and finally to cancel the Windows New Hardware Detection app and simply double-click on a download of the latest WinXP drivers from nVidia's website?

Man, $300 for RDRAM and a 6200? Probably a silly question, but any chance you can return the RAM and the 6200? Because you can probably achieve better overall performance by buying a whole new system (motherboard with integrated graphics, CPU, DDR RAM) for ~$300. Heck, even a used Athlon XP system would be a nice step up from a P4 that uses RDRAM.

At the very least, return the 6200 and look for a used 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro, both of which should be below $100 used (the latter is only ~$125 new). Both will be much faster than a 6200 (though the 9800P will score only maybe double in 3DM05, it'll be much faster in regular games--when it's not bottlenecked by your relatively ancient CPU, that is), though they also require decent 250+W power supplies (300W to be on the safe side, if you have a cheapo PSU).

I'm not trying to insult your PC or anything, just letting you know that your CPU is very, very slow for newer games. If you won't be playing newer games, then I guess that's not really an issue, but I can't imagine what else you'd use 1GB of RAM for.

Oh, right, I just caught that "amateur picture editing." I guess the extra RAM would help there, but a new video card won't do diddly for picture manipulation.

 

[A554SS1N]

The 6200 NV44A for AGP is 64-bit, however that doesn't hold back performance too much and is quite acceptable for a low-end card. The card should score around 1200 in 3D Mark 05 according to reviews i've seen, so 775 is still quite low - this could be down to the processor speed (1.7Ghz), or because of poor driver support from NVidia for this particular card.

[Edit] Actually, it should score closer to 1300 in 3D Mark 05, according to this review: http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nv-gf6200agp-roundup/index02.htm

OT: I wish Anandtech had a review of this card compared to the standard 6200 and the 6200TC - would be interesting to see how 64-bit of dedicated memory performs against the 64-bit Turbo-Cache cards...

 

[Fardringle]

There is only one result submitted on Futuremark for 3DMark 2005 for a GeForce 6200. It is recorded as running with a P4 1.7GHz CPU and the score came out as 1494 with the card overclocked to 299/450MHz. Results for AMD XP CPUs in the 1.7 to 2 GHz CPU range go from 1139 up to 2921 for a HEAVILY overclocked video card at 540/658MHz.

There aren't any results for 3DMark 2003 for a GeForce 6200 on a P4 under 2 GHz, but there are several Athlon XP scores on CPUs between 1.8 and 2 GHz and they range anywhere from 3627 to 6474.

It's hard to say based on only one 3DMark 2005 result, since some people deliberately post 'faked' scores, but while it sounds like your score is lower than it could be, there's no way your system could score 7000 points, even in 3DMark 2003, and certainly not in 2005.


Try running 3DMark 2003 and see how your scores compare.

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: Fardringle
There is only one result submitted on Futuremark for 3DMark 2005 for a GeForce 6200. It is recorded as running with a P4 1.7GHz CPU and the score came out as 1494 with the card overclocked to 299/450MHz.

Just a note - the 128-bit 6200 has default clocks of 300MHz core/550MHz effective memory, and the 6200 64-bit (NV44A) has default clocks of 350Mhz core and 500Mhz effective memory - so it isn't overclocked at 299/450Mhz - that's an underclock!

 

[Fardringle]

Oops, you're right. I'm not sure why I was thinking it was an overclock.

Anyway, it's still highly unlikely you'll get close to even 1/4th of a score of 7000 in the 2005 test with an XFX GeForce 6200.

 

[blckgrffn]

The 64 bit bus hamstrings any video card. Even the Geforce4 MX with the 128 bit mem bus performs about twice as well as the ones with 64 bit bus. 9200SE's such the big one, if you get my drift... getting a 64 bit card to actually play games on is fool hardy at best. Memory bandwidth is very important, heck, at 64 bit 250 mhz actual ram speed you are getting like, what, 4 MB/s bandwidth? GF2's have had more! My GTS that I had a while back did!

OP, please return your RAM and Video card, get an A64 or used P4 and board that supports regular DDR400, buy your gig for $80, buy a 6600GT or 9800 Pro or so, and really play some games

*Edit* The slow system performance is probably based on your slow CPU. So even if you aren't playing any games, you would still benefit from the upgrade of that. Is your board socket 478 and support a 533 FSB? If so, give a bios flash to the latest version and I have a 2.66 P4 that will give your current system a shot in the arm that you will really be able to feel!

 

[daclayman]

Here is my stock Leadtek 6200A(edit: oops, A6200TD) 3DM2005 benchie (4 pipes). I'm gonna do one with 8 pipes in a couple of minutes.

System Configuration

General Information
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP
DirectX Version 9.0c
Mobo Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Mobo Model P4P800
AGP Rates (Current/Available) N/A / N/A

CPU Intel Pentium 4 Xeon 2809 MHz <----P4m 1.8 @ 2.809ghz, NOT Xeon
FSB 234 MHz <----3-4-4-8 1T PAT enabled
Memory 1022 MB

Display Information
Graphics Chipset NVIDIA GeForce 6200
Driver Name NVIDIA GeForce 6200
Driver Version 7.1.8.9
Driver Status WHQL - FM Approved
Video Memory 128 MB
Core Clock N/A
Memory Clock N/A


Benchmark Settings
Program Version 3DMark05 Revision 2 Build 0

Resolution 1024x768@32 bit

Anti-Aliasing None
Texture Filtering Optimal
Vertex Shader Profile 3_0
Pixel Shader Profile 3_0
Force Full Precision Off
Disable DST Off
Disable Post-processing Off
Force Software Vertex Shaders Off
Color Mipmaps Off
Repeat Count Off
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 1486 3DMarks
CPU Score 3447 CPUMarks


----8 pipes / stock-------
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 1947 3DMarks
CPU Score 3524 CPUMarks

3dm2005 = 2348 --> 8 pipes / 350 core 650 mem
3dm2003 = 5836 --> 8 pipes / 350 core 650 mem

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: A554SS1N
The 6200 NV44A for AGP is 64-bit, however that doesn't hold back performance too much and is quite acceptable for a low-end card. The card should score around 1200 in 3D Mark 05 according to reviews i've seen, so 775 is still quite low - this could be down to the processor speed (1.7Ghz), or because of poor driver support from NVidia for this particular card.

[Edit] Actually, it should score closer to 1300 in 3D Mark 05, according to this review: http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nv-gf6200agp-roundup/index02.htm

OT: I wish Anandtech had a review of this card compared to the standard 6200 and the 6200TC - would be interesting to see how 64-bit of dedicated memory performs against the 64-bit Turbo-Cache cards...

That doesn't sound quite right. The FX 5900 only gets around 1300. I know the FXs suck, but the 6200 isn't that close to it.

 

[Kogan]

2) spent another $100 on Geforce 6200 by fxforce.

Unfortunately, Nvidia/ATI releases the same speed video cards every year - Only the top-end cards are faster and worth buying or upgrading to (if you already have a top-end card of the previous year).

Your 6200 card is actually slower than an old geforce4, (which can be had for $45 used). In comparison, you can get an ATI 9800pro card that's 4-5x faster than a geforce4 for around $100, or you can get a geforce 6600gt for around $150 that's probably about 1.5x faster (on average) than the 9800pro.

Even try putting your geforce2 gts back in. I'm still using one in another system and it stacks up to current low-end video cards quite well (it played half life 2 for me just fine).

It pains me to see these 6200 cards for sale at the local stores.. The flashy packaging makes people actually buy them

 

[Munky]

Well, you get what you pay for, only in this case you could have gotten a lot more for a similar price. The 6200 cards are low end cards, obviously they suck at gaming. If you really want a decent gaming card, get a 9800p or a 6600gt (or a 6600 vanilla and OC it). Does Nvidia have some kind of spell over people where everyone thinks all their cards are so great? If you can get a 9800p for like $115, why would anyone buy a gf6200 for $100? It's crazy, I tell you, that card should cost no more than $60, it's slow as crap.