Author Topic: PCI vid (Read 361 times)

JB39 · « **on:** January 20, 2006, 06:13:38 AM »

Anyone have a PCI video card any better than my ATI 9250 they could sell? I am stuck with the PCI slot for at least 3 months. I don't know if there is any other card that could at least bring up the fps a bit. I'm dealing with 27 down to 5. UG. I'm using the ATI 4.12 drivers at the moment. It gets worse overclocked and hates ATITray Tools and ATI Tools. Iv'e tried NGO, DNA and Omega drivers too. ANYTHING?
I've had it with this card- I realize PCI sux for graphics, but I am stuck with it for now. Thanks.
(Followed the guide from Skuzzy too)

FOGOLD · « **Reply #1 on:** January 21, 2006, 04:08:26 AM »

I see no ones replying to you JB.

sadly, your situation is not good. Old style PCI cards are very hard to get hold of and any you find new or old will be no better than what you have.

Time to get saving for that new games PC. No need to spend a fortune, just make sure it has a PCI Express slot and plenty of room for more memory.

The good news is that PC's do not go out of date as quickly these days. For example a 4 year old Athlon XP2000 with plenty RAM and a 9800Pro will still run AH perfectly well.

It won't upgrade readily, but it would get you going.

A rig like that could be had on the second hand market for I would guess $200 or maybe less. Find some more-money-than sense upgrade freak and you'll pick up a good rig for peanuts:D

Good luck.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #2 on:** January 21, 2006, 08:09:16 AM »

Matrox sells high-end pci cards but I have no idea on how their gaming performance is.

JB39 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2006, 10:53:13 PM »

Thanks, I ended up getting a Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 256DDR. It was $30. It smokes the ATI. I am actually getting up to 88fps with it on a PCI connection. My ATI averaged 27 and got down to 5. The ATI scored 2677 on 3DMark and this card scored 4889. Quite a difference. It's also Dx9 ready wheras the ATI was not. Only problem is I can't blame my crappy score on the card anymore-:rofl

FOGOLD · « **Reply #4 on:** January 22, 2006, 01:46:20 AM »

WTG. I had no idea you could get them. I do apologise for being so dogmatic and sure of myself!:o

JB39 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2006, 02:17:38 AM »

No problem at all. Besides, PCI is a shi*y bus for graphics, and it's older than dirt. A docked laptop was never meant to be a gaming platform anyway. I moved, sold my desktop and convinced myself I needed a laptop this time around. Then I starting having AH withdrawl. (Not fun) I saw that the laptop dock had a PCI slot, so *AHA!* I can run AH

I've been chasing framerate #'s ever since. My budget barely covers AH, so a new system is close to being a wet dream.

Skuzzy took me off his Christmas card list due to my mass mailings for video help...

Verbal · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2006, 04:55:13 PM »

i just put in the GeForce 5500 DDR 256MB like yourself, an upgrade from the older GeForce MX 4000 64MB. still haven't figured out all of the adjustments right now, but with 1G of RAM, and a mostly slow 2.4Ghz pentium cpu, i run AH great. just be sure to turn off water effects. do you have issues with the waters color with that card, mine gat black/blue with the change. it so dark i had trouble seeing planes sometimes.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:07:26 PM »

Make sure you're all running the 61.77 version of the nVidia drivers for those the FX5xxx series of cards or you'll eventually run into trouble.

I used to love my old MX440. Not because it had a great FR, but the fact that the FR never changed, no matter how thick things got.