MSI 7300LE 128MB PCI-Express Video Card

[GZeus]

I posted this link in response to a hardware forum question, then thought to share it here. Could be of use to someone.

MSI 7300LE for $33 delivered at ZZF

 

[Pabster]

Nice deal on a cheap card with hardware acceleration that runs Vista Aero. :thumbsup:

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Very nice indeed, been looking for something cheap to replace the PCI FX5200 in my Vista Ultimate MCE box, thanks op!

 

[DongTran]

+ sales tax in CA.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Something a little better than my GeForce 6100 til I get around to buying a decent card. Thanks for the find OP. $2 2 day shipping is a nice touch too.

 

[jeffspam]

Finally able to put the ol' 8500 into retirement. Thanks for the post!

 

[I4AT]

If you're willing to wait for an alternative deal this Freetech 6200 is often on sale for $29.99AR.

Unlocks to 8 pipelines, and has 128-bit memory. Last rebate was dated April 24th though.

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx
Very nice indeed, been looking for something cheap to replace the PCI FX5200 in my Vista Ultimate MCE box, thanks op!

PCI?
These are PCI-Express/PCI-E - hope thats what you meant

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Originally posted by: jeffspam
Finally able to put the ol' 8500 into retirement. Thanks for the post!

8500 (Radeon ATI I presume?)? they are AGP- these are PCI-Express/PCI-E
SO I hope you have a new system to go with this

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Originally posted by: I4AT
If you're willing to wait for an alternative deal this Freetech 6200 is often on sale for $29.99AR.

Unlocks to 8 pipelines, and has 128-bit memory. Last rebate was dated April 24th though.

thats been a nice looking deal, but I groan at that "oem Geforce2 class" heatsink and fan
these 7300 have a nice large no fan heasink -
oh- and MSI has 2yr full warranty (3rd year partial).
I really dont consider any new cards under $60 as meant for a system one would run 3d games on, so while the freetech can play some games better, I dont think either of these cards are what gamers need be concerned with
but hey- options are always good

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI

Originally posted by: jeffspam
Finally able to put the ol' 8500 into retirement. Thanks for the post!

8500 (Radeon ATI I presume?)? they are AGP- these are PCI-Express/PCI-E
SO I hope you have a new system to go with this

LOL at your catches...this could be a big "oops" moment for them

 

[jalaram]

I have a 6150 integrated (with DVI/VGA/Component), so I'm debating this card at the moment.

 

[crimson117]

This is actually a surprisingly capable card. It's nice to talk about the 8800's and everything, but I've seen an Asus 7300LE in action in a core 2 duo system and it runs counter-strike:source very well at a moderate resolution.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: jalaram
I have a 6150 integrated (with DVI/VGA/Component), so I'm debating this card at the moment.

I found some benchmarks to help with your decision. Looks like the 7300LE has about 3x the 3D power of the 6150:

6150 gets about 600 3DMark05: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2626 (but review states results were unexpectedly low, so maybe something's up)
7300LE gets 1894 in 3Dmark05: http://www.hwspirit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=181

In any case, I would definitely spend the $33 on this, jalaram.

 

[Tullphan]

I'm "moving up" from an A64 3200 S754 to an X2 3800 (AM2). I presently have a 9800 Pro (AGP, of course).
How much difference will I notice going from it to this budget PCI-e card?

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: crimson117

Originally posted by: jalaram
I have a 6150 integrated (with DVI/VGA/Component), so I'm debating this card at the moment.

I found some benchmarks to help with your decision. Looks like the 7300LE has about 3x the 3D power of the 6150:

6150 gets about 600 3DMark05: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2626 (but review states results were unexpectedly low, so maybe something's up)
7300LE gets 1894 in 3Dmark05: http://www.hwspirit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=181

In any case, I would definitely spend the $33 on this, jalaram.

Cool. Thanks.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: Tullphan
I'm "moving up" from an A64 3200 S754 to an X2 3800 (AM2). I presently have a 9800 Pro (AGP, of course).
How much difference will I notice going from it to this budget PCI-e card?

Actually it seems the 9800 Pro is more powerful than the 7300LE. This is primarily because the 9800 Pro has a 256-bit memory bus, while the 7300LE has a measly 64-bit memory bus.

The 7300LE will be silent (it's fanless) and produce less heat overall, but will not perform as well as the 9800 Pro.

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Agreed- the 9800pro trounces this class of card
only thing the 7300 has is shader 3 support which is pointless on such a low horse-powered card...
coming from a 9800pro I would not accept anything less than a 7600GT
so Tullphan- are you replacing your motherboard with a PCI-E capable one or...?

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
Agreed- the 9800pro trounces this class of card
only thing the 7300 has is shader 3 support which is pointless on such a low horse-powered card...
coming from a 9800pro I would not accept anything less than a 7600GT
so Tullphan- are you replacing your motherboard with a PCI-E capable one or...?

Yes.
I'm pondering the Biostar TForce 550.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Pabster
Nice deal on a cheap card with hardware acceleration that runs Vista Aero. :thumbsup:

Yep,

Have one in my HTPC (Vista Ultimate).. Works great.

I think I paid 50-60 for it a few months ago too :|

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Originally posted by: Tullphan

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
Agreed- the 9800pro trounces this class of card
only thing the 7300 has is shader 3 support which is pointless on such a low horse-powered card...
coming from a 9800pro I would not accept anything less than a 7600GT
so Tullphan- are you replacing your motherboard with a PCI-E capable one or...?

Yes.
I'm pondering the Biostar TForce 550.

Ok, well, If you play games do NOT get this 7300LE card to use on the new setup considering you had a 9800pro before, as you will be SORELY dissatisfied

So first step to finding a PCI-E card with decent performance comparable to a 9800pro is finding one with GDDR3 memory (like the x700pro did for me.)
Look here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...96%3A9641&PropertyCodeValue=684%3A9614
as you can see the 6600GT BFG is best bet for $39 after $40 rebate- shader3, fast ram, BFG lifetime warranty...


a slower card- budget dx10 PCI-E deal : 8500GT $69 after $10 rebate
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321125
but probably not a good idea since a bit slower than a 9800pro

so go for the BFG 6600GT

 

[nealh]

will this card run vista aero at all? I only need a 2D card and for $33 this looks good

does it use turbocache? EDIT*** Yes

I think you can turn off turbocache...does nayone know if this is correct?

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

yes- pretty much any shader2/3 capable video card will run Aero (although I wouldnt expect too much from the fx5XXX series)
Ive never had luck turning off turbo cache, but its SUPPPOSED to only kick in dynamically when gaming, but with VISTA the card will always be in 3d mode, so... yeah- could lose some usable RAM , but then again if you were serious about running windows VISTA you would have 2GB RAM anyway

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
yes- pretty much any shader2/3 capable video card will run Aero (although I wouldnt expect too much from the fx5XXX series)
Ive never had luck turning off turbo cache, but its SUPPPOSED to only kick in dynamically when gaming, but with VISTA the card will always be in 3d mode, so... yeah- could lose some usable RAM , but then again if you were serious about running windows VISTA you would have 2GB RAM anyway

I have 2GB of ram...I am only using my machine for Dragon Nat Speaking 9 med...it is a memory hog(no not 2GB but I hate for othe rprograms to use or hold ram for any reason)

do you have this card?

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

I ordered 3 of them(not here yet), but i dont use Vista on any machines here so I cant give any more input