GeforceFX 5500 pci 128mb...memory interface?

[sadffffff]

so, I've got a pci geforceFX 5500 128mb card, how can I find out if it has a 64 bit or 128 bit memory interface?

can i tell by the memory chips/configuration on the card? or will i need to install this in a system?

 

[aka1nas]

According to gpureview, the FX 5500 PCI only came in a 128-bit configuration.

 

[sadffffff]

cool, thanks!

now, second question: What would be faster, an agp geforce3 64mb, or this pci geforcefx 5500 128mb now that we're pretty sure it has a 128bit memory interface?

 

[sadffffff]

looking a little more at gpureview, it seems like the 5500 should be the faster of the two. not that i'll be doing too much gaming on it anyhow.

now to hack off its puny HSF which has gotten very loud and perhaps make this thing passivly cooled

 

[aka1nas]

The 5500 has Dx9 support, though it is probably too slow to run most Dx9 games to be honest. Should be fine for non-gaming stuff.

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: sadffffff
cool, thanks!

now, second question: What would be faster, an agp geforce3 64mb, or this pci geforcefx 5500 128mb now that we're pretty sure it has a 128bit memory interface?

Do you have AGP at all, if so, get an AGP card??

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
The 5500 has Dx9 support, though it is probably too slow to run most Dx9 games to be honest. Should be fine for non-gaming stuff.

All of nVidia's FXes performed SM2 via a non-standard shader system that proved to be very slow for any game using the functions heavily (Oblivion, for example). Not even the FX 5950 runs that game at a decent speed outdoors.

Given the poor bandwidth of the PCI bus itself, any improvement in speed that a real AGP card with a 128 bit memory system might have over its 64 bit counterpart would most likely end up being lost on the slow plain PCI bus anyway.

I have had two GF3 cards -- Ti 200 and Ti 500. The 500 was pretty fast. I have also had a Ti 4200, which was very fast in Dx8. None of those have any Dx9 capability. An AGP version of the FX 5500 is slower in Dx8, by quite a bit, than the GF4 Ti-4200. I think it may be about the same speed for Dx8 as the Ti-500, though. Overall, it's quite slow compared to the ATI cards in its generation. Then if you take the little Hobbit that it is, and cut off its legs at the knees, say, you then have the PCI version.