How about this card?

[Stratocaster]

GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, AGP, 128MB DDR
 Price:   $99.99


I curently have a geforce 2......... would this be compatible? 1.69 Ghz
P4 CPU 1.70 GHz
256 MB of ram

[Makarov9]

5200 FX is a waste of money. It's at the bottom of the heap on Tom's Hardware video card comparison. I have one in my spare system and it is not worth $99.

The best card for that price range is the ATI 9600 . However the best cost/perfomance is probably the ATi 9600 Pro or XT.

[dracon]

Agree!!

I am totally impressed with my ATI 9600XT.  I've had it since Christmas.  Running Omega 5.2.44 (CAT 4.5's)

[Gixer]

GeForce FX isn't very good. Best bang for your back by far is the ATI 9600XT have one in my system after ditching a GeForce 4200ti and it's much better get 75fps constant in AH2.

However one point to remember like AH1 AH2 is (unfortunetly) more dependent on CPU then graphics card. Which maybe dosn't say much for the graphics engine.



...-Gixer

[Stratocaster]

THanks for the help guys at 26 bucks more I think I will get one...... but hold that thought..... with my given specs would the new card improve my FR?

[Stratocaster]

Hold the phone.............. I could get a new comp altogether.... somone check this out... http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

its the dimension 2400

tell me about it

[snapperhead]

128MB of SHARED system memory, hell I am suprised it will even run XP with that.  If you plan on buying that you might as well take $500 and literally flush it down the toilet.

[snapperhead]

Do you live anywhere near Dallas or in California?  $64.99 XP2500+ and motherboard at Fry's.  Add $150 for 512MB memory, add $150 for vid card and that computer would smoke the Dell you were looking at and end up beaing cheaper


http://newspaperads.dfw.com/p2_images/17/ROP/ROPAdSubregions/3956227.gif.gif

[gofaster]

Originally posted by Stratocaster
THanks for the help guys at 26 bucks more I think I will get one...... but hold that thought..... with my given specs would the new card improve my FR?

ATI 9600XT is the way to go.  I dropped one into my Dell Dimension P4 1.2 (or 1.3Ghz, I can't remember exactly) Ghz machine and I'm getting frames between 30-70 in AH2.  I had added system memory a year or so ago, and I would suggest you do, too.  You don't need a new system.  Yours is good for another year or two, if you add the ATI 9600XT and maybe some memory.

Check out http://www.provantage.com for price and speed of delivery.  I ordered my ATI 9600XT on Tuesday, got it on Thursday via FedEx (FedEx rocks!).



edit: Here's the one I bought: $173.63.

If you do a search on ProVantage's site, it'll generate some other makes of the ATI Radeon 9600XT (Asus, for example).

[ergRTC]

careful stratocaster, your prices look a little high.  5200s have been under 70 dollars for ages...
http://accessmicro.com/content/products/productinfo.cfm?partnumber=VGACHFX20&product_id=49615

I would suggest the 9600xt too though.  I have never used ati myself, but I did try a 5200 for a couple of hours, and was not all that impressed.  It will work though.

That 9600xt will be about 100 dollars more than the 5200, and with your system, hmmm..


That dell is a joke, dont even think about it.  You will still want a decent vid card, and your system should do fine the way it is.  If you get a good vid card now, you can always move it to a new system later.  If you get that pos dell now, you have only a harddrive and some memory to move to a decent system later.

[streakeagle]

Why get a 9600XT for $150 when you can get a 9800 Pro for $170? Gotta love Pricewatch

But for older slower computers, a Radeon 8500/9100 128MB is still a great choice at a great price.

Of course even in slower computers that bottleneck cards like the 9800 Pro, you can run AF and FSAA full tilt without any effects on frame rates. I should know. The 9800 Pro only marginally increased my frame rates, but now I play with AFx16 and FSAAx4 at 1600x1200x32 with every game

I still use the 8500 and 9100 with all of my other computers. I just have to vary the quality settings with every game to support 1600x1200x32 or stick with 1024x768x32 with max quality.

[soda72]

What about the new cards coming out?

Radeon x800 XT P.E. or the Geforce 6800 Ultra..

[Stratocaster]

hehe a 9600 pro seems the way to go eh? but I want to get away with this for under 150..

how about this? http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=308486&pfp=BROWSE

[snapperhead]

Originally posted by streakeagle
Why get a 9600XT for $150 when you can get a 9800 Pro for $170? Gotta love Pricewatch

But for older slower computers, a Radeon 8500/9100 128MB is still a great choice at a great price.

Of course even in slower computers that bottleneck cards like the 9800 Pro, you can run AF and FSAA full tilt without any effects on frame rates. I should know. The 9800 Pro only marginally increased my frame rates, but now I play with AFx16 and FSAAx4 at 1600x1200x32 with every game

I still use the 8500 and 9100 with all of my other computers. I just have to vary the quality settings with every game to support 1600x1200x32 or stick with 1024x768x32 with max quality.

Better beware of Pricewatch many of those cheap 9800Pro's are throttled down and run at 128bit bus which is essentially a 9800SE as opposed to the 256bit bus true 9800 pros run at.

[MOSQ]

Originally posted by Stratocaster
hehe a 9600 pro seems the way to go eh? but I want to get away with this for under 150..

how about this? http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=308486&pfp=BROWSE

Strato, Here's my two cents, and that's about all it's worth!
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=118835