eVGA nVIDIA GeForce FX5700 ULTRA Video Card

FreshFish

Golden Member
May 16, 2004
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Anyone have any thoughts on this video card? It got great reviews at newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-178&depa=0

I am planning on upgrading from: 4X AGP 3D Graphics Hardware Acceleration (nVIDIA® TNT2 M64)
32 MB Video Memory (SDRAM)

I am planning on getting a P4 2.4GHz 400FSB processor and maxing my mobo out at 512 SDRAM...so I hope I can atleast get some good gaming performance with this setup. What do y'all think?
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Here is a review that shows a 5700 Ultra as well as a 9800 XT, 9700 Pro and other likely contenders: Review at AnandTech

The 9800 Pro ought to fall between the 9700 Pro and the 9800 XT. You can see how the 9800 XT and 9700 Pro really start to pull ahead when antialiasing and ansiotropic filtering are being used, making the ~$45 upgrade to a 9800 Pro instead of a 5700 Ultra seem reasonable.

Like I said before, I do feel concern about your Sony VAIO handling the power drain and heat production of a 9800 Pro... ATI recommends a minimum 300W power supply and I'd guess your Sony is packing about 200-220W?

Anyway, it should be a whole new world compared to the performance of a TNT2 M64 :p Good luck with the decision :)
 

FreshFish

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May 16, 2004
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wouldnt a 9800Pro be bogged down by not-so-much RAM or do you think it would perform good enough to make a real difference?

Couldnt I buy a new power supply? Any recomendations? Also, any ideas about getting rid of the heat problem because i'm pretty sure that there would be an issue there. Thanks for the replys!!
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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I could research the power supply question, what precise model is the Sony?

The ventilation capabilities of the case are not easy to change beyond perhaps adding a PCI-slot centrifugal exhaust blower below the video card in order to draw some of its heat production straight out f the case. If the case already has an exhaust fan besides the power supply's own fan, that is a plus.
 

FreshFish

Golden Member
May 16, 2004
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PCV-RX560 is the model #, let me know if you are needing more info. Thankyou for the help!
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Originally posted by: FreshFish
PCV-RX560 is the model #, let me know if you are needing more info. Thankyou for the help!
No problem :) Cheetahs will do anything for Fresh Fish :D

Off to endure Sony's website... back in a few :)
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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All right, Sony's site yielded a not-very-useful manual with this diagram. First impression: maybe microATX? SFX? :confused: Hard to be sure. And they don't say what the wattage is either.

On to Google for a little more research, and I found this: Sony RX-series power supply From this photo, I can't be sure if it's completely proprietary, or if it's a standard form-factor unit in a quick-release carrier thingamabob. Again, not sure what the wattage is. Your unit should have a label that says what its wattage rating is, so if you open up your system, look for that.

Suffice it to say, finding a high-quality 300W+ microATX or SFX power supply is not easy. Since one of the possible side effects of PSU overload is that the dying PSU toasts the whole system, new video card and all, it just doesn't seem very prudent to push one's luck. Some people think I'm way overboard on PSU wattage recommendations, so take that with a grain of salt, but I know that if I get a Radeon 9800 Pro, I'll want a name-brand 350W+ unit to have some "cushion." And in my home system I actually have a 430W Antec TruePower... I got the "towing package," if you will :)
 

FreshFish

Golden Member
May 16, 2004
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Haha wow, that's a lot of power. Yea I need to just open the 'ol boy up and see whats inside I guess. You were right about those pics, they werent very helpful.
I read up on the performance tests of the videos cards (the link you posted) and I am pretty sure I want to go with the 9800 Pro. It performed better in virtually every test.
I am going to start looking into power supplies just in case. Thanks again though, you've been a big help.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Sure thing :) If it came down to it, we could try to determine if your existing power supply uses a standard ATX plug. They have 20 pins (two rows of ten pins) to deliver the power to the board. If the arrangement of the wires matches that of a standard full-sized ATX power supply, then you could conceivably transplant your VIAO's insides to a new standard-ATX case with a new power supply.

Of course hmm, the CD and DVD drives look to be somewhat proprietary, ditto for the floppy... :p and down the slippery slope we go. Suddenly the mobo, CPU and existing memory become the only parts being retained and heck, at that rate, why not replace them too... so it becomes a can of worms fast. You're left with a butchered Sony, whereas you could restore it from its Restore CD's and sell it in one piece to get some money out of it. :)

Just off the top of my head, some stuff that could fit your needs if you cave in and decide to go for the full bang-for-buck upgrade:

Antec SLK3700AMB case with SL350 power supply $85 (shipped)
Shuttle AN35N Ultra motherboard $55
AthlonXP 2500+, retail $80
512MB Crucial PC3200 memory, one module $105
Radeon 9800 Pro $210
Hitachi 120GB 7200rpm hard drive with 8MB cache $85
Lite-On SOHW-812S 8X DVD burner (black), retail-boxed with software $90
Sony floppy drive (black) $12
Windows XP Professional $135

Ouch, about $860US! :p But it would be an upgrade in more ways than just its gaming capabilities (you get a DVD burner and a big, faster hard drive). You would lose Firewire (substitute an Abit NF7-S motherboard for Firewire and the SoundStorm hardware-accelerated audio if desired, add about $45).

Another option would be the Shuttle MN31N motherboard, which has onboard GeForce4MX-level video (two monitor ports, even) plus an AGP 8X slot. The beauty of this one is that 1) it comes with Firewire and the hardware audio processing, and 2) since it has onboard video that will eat your TNT2 M64 alive, you could pick up the Radeon 9800 Pro a little later when its price has dropped, thus easing the all-at-once cost by $210. The drawback to the MN31N is that it doesn't have support for the two AthlonXP's that use a 400MHz bus (the 3200+ and one of the 3000+'s), and is not as much of an overclocker.

I had better stop before I drown you in Too Much Information :D but I hope that was some help.


EDIT: one other remark... if you do pick the MN31N with the intention of using its onboard video for a while, then getting two 256MB memory modules will increase the onboard video's 3D capabilities by about 50% because the motherboard can run both of its memory controllers when it has two (or three) modules, and that lets the onboard video hit its stride better. You could later add a third module, probably a 512MB one, to fill 'er up to 1024MB total when the need arises. Some current games and certainly some future games will take advantage of 1GB of memory, so it's nice to have an upgrade path available.
 
Jan 31, 2002
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Mech, you're gonna kill the poor no0b! :Q

Yes, that is a MicroATX case - it's set up such that the PSU is positioned directly above the CPU. Good for silence, BAD for cooling - especially if you have aspirations of high-end 3D. Unless you're willing to cut case - or possibly if there's enough front intake and a PCI slot-blower - there's no way you'll get sufficient cooling in that to handle the heat outputs. With all the heat going out through the PSU along with it being pushed to its limits of power, it'll likely BBQ itself in short order.

I'd go with a full upgrade. ;)

- M4H
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Mech, you're gonna kill the poor no0b! :Q

- M4H
You hold him down while I cram some more information down his throat, ok? This is SO much easier in teams of two. ;)
 

FreshFish

Golden Member
May 16, 2004
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Originally posted by: mechBgon
Of course hmm, the CD and DVD drives look to be somewhat proprietary, ditto for the floppy... :p and down the slippery slope we go. Suddenly the mobo, CPU and existing memory become the only parts being retained and heck, at that rate, why not replace them too... so it becomes a can of worms fast. You're left with a butchered Sony, whereas you could restore it from its Restore CD's and sell it in one piece to get some money out of it. :)

Haha I wonder how much I could truly get for it. You know, if I could get some money out of selling my existing machine, I would honestly love the experience of building my own. The only problem is: i'm not going to get enough money from selling this as I would want to submit to. Ha, I wouldn't even know where to look to sell it for a decent amt. Thanks for the tips and ideas though
 

Wahsapa

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
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go to the 'buy and trade forums' ;) ALSO it would be worth mentioning that you would need to replace your sony soon anyway; with the system that was laid out above you would have a solid preformer for the next couple years. but im always one to bite the bullet...
 

Tango57

Senior member
Feb 22, 2004
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yep you can try selling it here on the for sale/trade forums or on eBay. if you really want to go with the full size graphics card like a 9800 pro and since that's probably a microATX case you should make sure the card will fit first. you also would most likely need a AGP/PCI riser card as well to get it to fit in such a smaller space. but again like MercenaryForHire mentioned, you're gonna have heating problems in that small case so for long-term i'd just recommend a pc upgrade to the ATX form.
 

Mingon

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2000
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I have a pc9300 lian li which is MATX I use for my HTPC. I have a gigabyte 865pe board 2.4c@3.1ghz dvd drive, 80gb and 9800seAIW modded to pro. All of this is running off a 180watt PSU, so its possible. Chieftec have a decent 230watt SFX PSU available.