warnign about geforce fx5200 128MB

Not much improvement in the graphics card and gave me far too much grief. Im gonna upgrade to a FX5600 256MB

Your FX5200 is a slow 64bit video card. I built a Barton 3200 / Nforce2 setup for someone who insisted on an MSI FX5200. It benched identically to yours. In comparison, a 3 year old Radeon 8500 on the same system did 11,500. Which is about what a Ti4200 or Ti4400 would do. The only FX5200 that's of any value at all is the FX5200 Ultra which has higher core and memory speed as well as 128bit memory. It will do around 10,000 in 3DMark2001.

The standard FX5600 is only marginally faster than your FX5200. Buy it and you'll be in for another round of disappointment. There's a 5600 Ultra, but get the 5700 Ultra instead. This performs at a Radeon 9600XT level. The 5900 is comparable to the 9800 Pro.

"Augustus" wrote in message news:mI8Bc.22397$by2.8019@edtnps84...
Not much improvement in the graphics card and gave me far too much grief. Im gonna upgrade to a FX5600 256MB

Your FX5200 is a slow 64bit video card. I built a Barton 3200 / Nforce2 setup for someone who insisted on an MSI FX5200. It benched identically to yours. In comparison, a 3 year old Radeon 8500 on the same system did 11,500. Which is about what a Ti4200 or Ti4400 would do. The only FX5200 that's of any value at all is the FX5200 Ultra which has higher core and memory speed as well as 128bit memory. It will do around 10,000 in 3DMark2001.

The standard FX5600 is only marginally faster than your FX5200. Buy it and you'll be in for another round of disappointment. There's a 5600 Ultra, but get the 5700 Ultra instead. This performs at a Radeon 9600XT level. The 5900 is comparable to the 9800 Pro.

The dirty trick is that most Nvidia cards are sold as trashy half-cuts (64 bit) as well - even the FX5700! This way the inexperienced buyer is falling victim to cunning dealers pretty quick. You have to know exactly which type of card u are looking for.

Good info people. So give people like me (on a very tight budget) the brand
of FX5200 that has a 128bit memory bus. Upgrading from a (still performing
well, long in the tooth GF2MX 400)

How about the PNY or MSI
Bob
"Steven K" wrote in message
...



"Augustus" wrote in message
news:mI8Bc.22397$by2.8019@edtnps84...
Not much improvement in the graphics card and gave me far too much grief.
Im gonna upgrade to a FX5600 256MB

Your FX5200 is a slow 64bit video card. I built a Barton 3200 / Nforce2
setup for someone who insisted on an MSI FX5200. It benched identically to
yours. In comparison, a 3 year old Radeon 8500 on the same system did
11,500. Which is about what a Ti4200 or Ti4400 would do. The only FX5200
that's of any value at all is the FX5200 Ultra which has higher core and
memory speed as well as 128bit memory. It will do around 10,000 in
3DMark2001.

The standard FX5600 is only marginally faster than your FX5200. Buy it
and you'll be in for another round of disappointment. There's a 5600 Ultra,
but get the 5700 Ultra instead. This performs at a Radeon 9600XT level. The
5900 is comparable to the 9800 Pro.

The dirty trick is that most Nvidia cards are sold as trashy half-cuts (64
bit) as well - even the FX5700! This way the inexperienced buyer is falling
victim to cunning dealers pretty quick. You have to know exactly which type
of card u are looking for.

"Bob" wrote in message

Good info people. So give people like me (on a very tight budget) the
brand of FX5200 that has a 128bit memory bus. Upgrading from a (still
performing well, long in the tooth GF2MX 400)

How about the PNY or MSI
Bob

Well, u need to be more specific what u call a tight budget if u want useful
replies!
First of all, ask yourself whether u are one of those benchmark hunters -
plainly buying "big" cards to be able bragging loudly their scores into
newsgroups OR u just need a sufficient card for office and/or current games
not caring about benchmark scores? Depending on this the price will vary
greatly. Usually, I go to those brand manufacturers websites first and read
through their card's details pin pointing the *exact* product name of the
card I want (bus width/clock speeds). After that I do a Internet search or
product search for this particular card and product name. Once u are on the
retailers web site watch out what he wants to sell u for this exact product
type - I found it quite amusing how many retailers trying to fool around
with their potential buyers. Of course, the literate buyer usually walks
away from such a shop. It does not really matter which brand u buy if you
are not an overclocker - just go for the best price.

my 2 cents..

Steve

Thanks Steve. No I am not a benchmark hunter nor a bragger. As I said I
have been using a GF2MX400 for over two years and BF1942 and MOHAA are a
little choppy. Received some cash for fathers day and want to upgrade to a
more recent class of videocard. It just concerns me that the three shops I
have talked with can't tell me if the cards are 64 or 128bit bus. Waiting
to hear from manufacture tech support. Buy the way your response is worth
more than 2 cents.

Thanks
Robert

"Bob" wrote in message
news
Thanks Steve. No I am not a benchmark hunter nor a bragger. As I said I
have been using a GF2MX400 for over two years and BF1942 and MOHAA are a
little choppy. Received some cash for fathers day and want to upgrade to a
more recent class of videocard. It just concerns me that the three shops
I have talked with can't tell me if the cards are 64 or 128bit bus.
Waiting to hear from manufacture tech support. Buy the way your response
is worth more than 2 cents.

Thanks
Robert

Robert,
Usually u don't need the tech support since all major card manufacturers do
have *reliable* product details/specs listed on their website. Only the
retailers' web sites and infos must be approached with extreme caution -
they usually like to mix up facts.