Best PCI [yes, PCI, not Pci-E] video card

[Overkiller]

Hey all,

Somehow my friend got stuck with a dell about a year ago with a micro-atx motherboard. He plans on getting a brand new gaming system in a year so he doesn't want to spend a lot of money. Right now he has onboard video and does NOT have an AGP port.

What should he get.

Nvidia Geforce 5200 or Radeon 9200/9250? Or something else?


Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm at a loss as I've had AGP as of 3 systems ago.

 

[SynthDude2001]

If you can still find any Radeon 8500/9100's in PCI, that would be a good inexpensive choice (but I'm not entirely sure they still make them). I'm not sure of the performance of the 9250, but it should be similar. On the Nvidia side, I think there may be PCI cards up to the FX 5700 or something around there - but I don't know what they cost. In any case, he's going to be stuck around 2001-era performance at the most.

 

[Hacp]

Ya, heh I'm also looking for a half decent PCI Video card for my 566MHZ celeron system .

 

[lederhosen]

I belive the best Nvidia card is a 7000 for PCI but I'm not sure about ATI.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: lederhosen
I belive the best Nvidia card is a 7000 for PCI but I'm not sure about ATI.

There is no nVidia 7000 card... And if there was, it surely wouldn't be available for PCI

 

[coomar]

the 5700le is the best card for you

there is a low-profile jaton 5700le on newegg for 97 bucks

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Originally posted by: lederhosen
I belive the best ATI card is a 7000 for PCI but I'm not sure about Nvidia.

Fixed

 

[coomar]

best card for ati on pci is 9250

 

[Overkiller]

so its 9250 or the 5700li

$80-90 dollars is fine. like i said, he just wants to move away from onboard for some basic gaming before building his pc.

As i said, he got stuck with it. I feel bad for him.

I doubt it really matters which of the 2 he gets. preferences?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Don't expect games to be very playable. PCI bus is very bandwidth limited by today's standards.

 

[Hacp]

Warcraft3=very playable.

 

[imported_Skorpio]

The fastest PCI Nvidia based card I believe was the FX 5700 or the FX 5700 LE. I just sold it today. I think its better to just geta FX 5200, because I didnt see a huge difference from going from FX 5200 to FX 5700.

My FX5700LE that I sold could play BF2, HL2, Farcry, CS:S...etc...

It ran without suttering and on medium settings on a 1.4Ghz PIII with 1Gb of ram

 

[StrangerGuy]

AFAIK Geforce 5700LE 256MB 128-bit memory.

EDIT: should have been 128-bit

 

[Garlic]

wow some of you guys really dont know anything about videocards....

1. The radeon 9250 is an awful card due to a crippling 64bit memory interface it uses. Yes ALL 9250 cards made have a 64bit memory interface. Most 9200 cards come with 128bit memory which will spank an 9250 with ease. No a higer number model does NOT mean its a faster card.

2. Be VERY carefull. Many geforce 5700le cards also have the crippling 64 bit memory!!

3. NO the 5700le does NOT have 256bit memory thats just rediculous. 128bit is the max. The GPU is 256bit not the memory. Big diff there.

So to sum up....

ATI cards
--------------------------
Radeon 9250
Dont bother, they all come with 64bit memory and are much slower than the 9200. 9100 and 9000, 8500 cards out there.

Radeon 9000/9200 (same card)
Good card for PCI MOST come with 128bit memory, just make sure. Cards with 128bit have 8 memory chips. 4 on the front and 4 on the back. Dont be fooled!!

Radeon 9100/8500 (same card 8500 is clocked a bit higher)
Great PCI card. They are actually slightly faster than the 9000/9200 cards since they process 2 textures per pipeline instead of only 1 in the 9000/9200 cards. I believe all come with 128bit memory.

Radeon 9600/ 9550 (slighly lower clocked 9600)
Hard to find but definitly the ULTAMITE PCI card out there.

Nvidia cards
------------------------------
5200
Good PCI card but watch out!!! This card comes in both 64bit and 128 memory. Make SURE you get the 128bit. Dont be fooled! 128bit will have 8 memory chips. 4 on the front and 4 on the back.

5700le
Its just a regular 5700 chip running at the same speed as the 5200 chips. 250mhz. Its only about 20% faster than the 5200 cards. Again make SURE to get the 128bit memory version!

5600
Only slightly faster than the 5200 cards and slightly slower than the 5700le.

Conclusion
----------------------------
You want the BEST PCI card? Find the radeon 9600 if you can. If not go with either of these 3 = fx5700le, radeon 9100, radeon 8500

Not far behind those choices would be the fx5600, radeon 9200/9000, fx5200

Remember, dont be fooled. Make sure you get a card that has 128 bit memory!

 

[Garlic]

oops...