Geforce FX 5200 or GF3 Ti200 for cheap newbuild?

[cockeyed]

I'am building a new Celeron4-1.7ghz box for a friend and want the most performance for the least money; it is replacing an old P233 box. For the videocard, I can get a Gainward Golden Sample GF3 Ti200 ($79) or an eVga Geforce FX 5200 ($88). I don't care about the DX9 function or AGP 8x, only the one which would give the better performance overall. I want to use a GeForce card, so which one would you guys choose?

 

[vss1980]

Well considering the early tests of the FX 5200 (including Anand's here) show the FX 5200 Ultra card to be close to a Radeon 9000 Pro which itself is close to the GF3 ti200 performance can only leave me thinking that the normal FX 5200 would be a bit slower and closer to a Radeon 9000 non-pro or GF4 MX440 (Ultra is clocked 325MHz/650MHz, non-ultra 250MHz/400MHz). Of course I would expect future drivers to help it out a bit and other chip optimisations, but it is a significant performance drop compared to the results gained in some tests.

The FX does have a few features though outside of performance such as the improved video processing that came along with the original FX 5800 and GF4 MX cards which are technically superior.

In pure speed terms the ti200 I think would be the average winner except in places where the newer architecture would help.

 

[nemesismk2]

Get the Geforce FX5200, I'm sure it's performance will improve with new drivers.

 

[vss1980]

Digit-life just put up a review with a GF FX 5200 here and they compare it to a R9000, R9000 Pro, and GF4 MX440.
It is competitive with the group its in, but considering the GF3 ti200 usually beats out the GF4 MX440, I'd still put my money on the GF3 (besides its cheaper anyway). If performance enhancements are coming with newer drivers they will have quite a defecit to overturn and I doubt they will.

 

[cockeyed]

Thanks for the info guys. The review was helpful since I wasn't able to find much comparison to the FX 5200. This gives me something to chew on, but from what I hear, other than the new features that the FX 5200 would offer, the GF3 Ti200 can still hold its own. Also, the Gainward Golden Sample Ti200 has a slight OC right out of the box. The machine I'am building can be upgraded in the future, to a P4-2.4+ or Celeron 4-256k with a more powerful GeForce FX Ultra version, if needed. Any other input would be appreciated.

 

[sash1]

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you can check out the rest of the tests, but that is the 5200 Ultra absolutely owning the competition. The 5200 non-ultra is clocked slower than the 5200 Ultra, but it can OC to near Ultra-speeds.

As well, the 5200 core is much better, as you can see in that link, absolutely killing the competition with AA enabled. If the Ultra can outperform cards with ease, so can the non-ultra.

~Aunix

 

[Audiofight]

I would go with the GFFX 5200

It is a very slim difference in price, but the driver updates are only going to keep improving the 5200. The GF3 is pretty much dead when it comes to new enhancements via drivers. It may get faster as well with driver updates, but the newer features built-in to the GFFX may come to light near the end of the year when DX9 games start coming out. I think the GFFX will start to out-perform the GF3 in "real world" situations once those games hit the market. Benchmarks can show one thing, but AA can be run on the GFFX with alot more ease than it can on the GF3. That alone can make a game look a lot better while still holding on to a playable fps.

My .02 on the matter.

 

[oldfart]

For $79 you can get a PNY GF4 Ti4200 on sale @ Best Buy. Sale ends today 4/12.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: AunixM3
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you can check out the rest of the tests, but that is the 5200 Ultra absolutely owning the competition. The 5200 non-ultra is clocked slower than the 5200 Ultra, but it can OC to near Ultra-speeds.

As well, the 5200 core is much better, as you can see in that link, absolutely killing the competition with AA enabled. If the Ultra can outperform cards with ease, so can the non-ultra.

You say this a lot... with 5ns RAM there is **no way** you will ever get the RAM to overclock from 200MHz to 325MHz or even half-way!
That said, it's still a decent card (if cheap enough) and with no overclocking at all is somewhere between 60-70% of the speed of a 5200 Ultra. Not bad for fanless.

But if you can get a TI4200 for under $100 there's no question - go for it!

 

[vss1980]

I like AunixM3's comment about overclocking it...... almost as if the ti200 cant be overclocked. Most ti200 cards I've seen can hit not far off GF3 straight speeds with no problems.

I have to admit the GF FX will absolutely b!itch slap the GF3 when it comes to AA and AF performance, but I sense that in this case the intended owner would only consider this a mere technicality and would probably just be interested in best raw speed for the money.
In which case the ti4200 is easily the winner and has good enough AA and AF features.

 

[cockeyed]

Unfortunately, the Best Buy $79 deal for the Ti4200 is over (now $170) and they have none in stock; I checked 2 stores. I agree that the Ti4200 would have been a great value. They do have an Asylum Ti4200 for $110 after a $50 rebate. I find it hard to believe that the Ti4200 is selling for $170 in the stores. I only paid $157 for my Gainward Golden Sample Ti4200 128mb 5 months ago. I'll see if the person I'am building this box for can spring for another $30; if so I'll get the Asylum Ti4200. Otherwise, I'll have to think about this some more. I have to admit that I like the OC abilities of the Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample card. Thanks for all of the input!