New PCI video card

[cmt9000]

Hi, I have a Dell 3000, 3.0 GHz P4, with 1GB of ram. Having the Dell 3000, I have no AGP port, so I am stuck with choosing a PCI card. After looking around on newegg.com, I've narrowed my choices down to a Geforce and an ATI card.

Here are the cards I'm looking at:

CHAINTECH P-FX20 256MB Geforce FX5200 256MB DDR PCI Video Card
SAPPHIRE 100114 LB Radeon 9250 256MB DDR PCI Video Card

I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on either of these cards or might suggest another card.

Thanks!

 

[deepred98]

i have a 9250 in one of my computers

its okay and in my opinion a pretty sturdy card, i could even play some games (enemy territory, and some RTS) on it

 

[BlacKJesuS]

Id say the 9250......but try to look for a cheap 5700LE or a 6200(best bet) both are like $60-70

 

[Eureka]

With that nice of a system, I'd shell out 80 for a PCI-e mobo... and then get a good card later on.

Norm

 

[Sunrise089]

If you keep your motherboard, 6200PCI no question.

 

[daveybrat]

Here is the fastest PCI video card on Newegg currently:

PNY Geforce FX5500 128MB PCI

This card has 270MHz core speed, and 400MHz memory, but the key is that the memory is 128-Bit, not the crappy 64-Bit that most of the PCI cards are.

:thumbsup:

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: daveybrat
Here is the fastest PCI video card on Newegg currently:

PNY Geforce FX5500 128MB PCI

This card has 270MHz core speed, and 400MHz memory, but the key is that the memory is 128-Bit, not the crappy 64-Bit that most of the PCI cards are.

:thumbsup:

If you can find it I belive the 6200 is superior, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[BlacKJesuS]

yes...6200's are

 

[cmt9000]

Thanks guys...I posted this same question on another popular video card forum and they all said I NEED to get a new MoBo with AGP or PCI Express.

I guess games like Farcry, Doom 3, and HL 2 just won't run well with any PCI card.

I also want to play then next game after Morrowind.

 

[SH0GUN]

yeah, the 6200 would definitely be a good buy

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: cmt9000
Thanks guys...I posted this same question on another popular video card forum and they all said I NEED to get a new MoBo with AGP or PCI Express.

I guess games like Farcry, Doom 3, and HL 2 just won't run well with any PCI card.

I also want to play then next game after Morrowind.

you dont NEED a new mobo. the 6200 will perform decently...not even close to other cards on faster interfaces, but decent.

 

[Captante]

Your best bet would be to sang a new mb first before spending a dime on a crappy PCI video card.

 

[cmt9000]

I am starting to agree that I will need to purchase a new mobo and pci express video card. While I do believe that getting a new PCI video card for my existing mobo would help a little, I am sure I'd be disappointed in it eventually.

Thanks!

 

[Statzere]

Be careful before you go out and buy a new motherboard. Companies like Dell are notorious for using non-standard sized motherboards and mounts inside their computers. I would make sure you know exactly what kind of board is in your case right now, or you're gonna end up with a lot of headaches\wasted money somewhere down the road.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Statzere
Be careful before you go out and buy a new motherboard. Companies like Dell are notorious for using non-standard sized motherboards and mounts inside their computers. I would make sure you know exactly what kind of board is in your case right now, or you're gonna end up with a lot of headaches\wasted money somewhere down the road.

This is a very good point... while most newer Dells in tower cases have standard ATX mb layouts, I'm not sure about the power supplies... they used to use a propritary pin-out for the plug on the psu & you would kill a normal ATX board plugging in a Dell psu & vice-versa.

 

[cmt9000]

I could always buy a new case...no biggie. I can still use the CPU, RAM, and hard drive from the Dell.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: cmt9000
I could always buy a new case...no biggie. I can still use the CPU, RAM, and hard drive from the Dell.

That might be your safest bet... just make sure you either buy a seperate power supply so you get enough juice, or if you want to get them together Antec isn't the cheapest, but they
make top quality cases & very reliable psu's too ... a solid 400 watt unit should be enough, but more is always better.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: SH0GUN
yeah, the 6200 would definitely be a good buy

There is a "TC" version that supposedly is quite good as an AGP card. There seldom is much available for plain PCI, and to have the 6200 come out before the 6xxx nVidias are all obsolete is a rare opportunity for a Dell PC owner.

Whether our OP buys a new system, upgrades the existing one, whatever, assuming he's still reading this, whether I posted to the "wrong" message or not, he should be aware that the VGA producers are pulling a scam when they bump the RAM on an old video card past 128 MB's. If a slow card has only a 128 bit interface, it'll never get around to USING the extra 128 MB's of RAM, so it's only an excuse for the manufacturer to bump the price and make an extra claim on the box!

Of the Radeon 9xxx series, AFAIK, only the 9800 XL (hmmm? I meant "XT", and I don't think that there was any "XL" back then) had a 256 Bit interface, and for nVidia's FX's, I think only the 5900 (and 5950) Ultra had that.


:disgust:

 

[daveybrat]

Why is everyone recommending a 6200 video card???

Someone PLEASE link me a PCI 6200 video card as i've never known them to exist.

I've never seen one in PCI, only PCI-express, and he needs PCI!

 

[tvdang7]

can these pci cards play CSS smoothly? im wondering cuz i want my grilfriend to get a card but she can only get pci

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: daveybrat


Someone PLEASE link me a PCI 6200 video card as i've never known them to exist.

I've never seen one in PCI, only PCI-express, and he needs PCI!

Google is your friend!

http://www.chumbo.com/Info.aspx?id=304966

 

[Ryland]

Does anybody know of any sites that the the PCI 6200 in stock?

 

[eversa]

I have a dell too, so I am also considering a PCI video card and need help deciding what to get.

It looks like only one company makes a geforce 6200, and it has only a 64 bit memory interface:
http://www.chumbo.com/Info.aspx?id=304966

Likewise for the geforce fx5700le:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139166

There are several fx5500 with 128bit memory interfaces.

Sorry, I don't know anything about radeon cards for comparison, but I think I would prefer an nvidia card anyway.

 

[imported_Finny]

No... It says "128-bit memory" right on the page. Just scroll down & see.

As for the 6200's preformance, I can say with personal experience that it will definitely be a massive improvement over the integrated graphics. As for how games preform, well...

Doom 3: 800x600 on high, mostly playable with a few minor slowdowns. (It's a bit of a slower game to begin with though, so the dips don't tend to hurt too much)

Half Life 2: 1024x768, 2xAA 8xAA all settings high, and quite playable with few minor slowdowns.

Far Cry: No personal experience, but a friend of mine got one with his 6200 (XFX version tho- Passive cooling & probably clocked a bit lower than mine), and it apparently isn't playable above low details. Can't give a definite answer on that though.

I myself am using the BFGTech 6200 OC on an AGP board, but the PCI shouldn't be too much different, but there probably will be a bit of a bottleneck. Still, it's the least expensive choice.

Also, just to note, do NOT pay attention to the 128/256 meg debacles concerning these lower-end cards; these cards aren't even powerful enough to make full use of the potential in 256 megs of memory. The 128 here will be plenty on a card of this class.

 

[WelshBloke]

er does the 6200 have dual link dvi?

Thats a dell 3000 he's trying to run