Radeon Help and More

[Darklighter]

Howdy...

Ok, 2 questions:

1. I have a Radeon Card I pulled out of an old system... it has no 100/102 number and only says "Radeon LE" on the card. The chip is covered with a back heatsink (which I don't want to try ripping off). It is AGP and has 4 Samsung memory chips on it (ID'ed as 6ns DDR RAM). I've tried googling every number on the card, but nothing. The closest I got was a site listing it as a "generic" Radeon (no number), btu I didn't know they made those... thought they started at like 7000 series or something. Anyway, if anyone has any clues about what this card might exactly be, I would appreciate it.

2. Opinions (unbiased please)... which is better for gaming:

Radeon 9250
or
GFX5200

Both are AGP 8X and 128MB. GFX is $10 more.

Thanks!

 

[Powermoloch]

First of all, I'm wondering where you're buying the cards...I'll go a head with the 9250 since it is better than the 5200. trust me.

 

[phaxmohdem]

The Radeon LE was the first version before the 7000. They are essentially about the same damn thing, and suck Equally. Avoid it like the plague is my advice. The 9250 is a good card but MAKE SURE you get the 128bit memory bus version. Otherwise, it will also suck.... The GF5200 is OK if you're not a gamer. (9250 is not much better at games honestly)

 

[Captante]

The Radeon LE is an old card ... useful for 2d only in an old AGP 1x/2x system and nothing more. The FX5200 & the Radeon 9250 are both very slow 3d cards but the 9250 is slightly better.. I just compared the two in an AXP 2400+ system I'm building my 8 year old daughter for x'mas & both cards are slower then a GeForce 3.

 

[Darklighter]

Thanks for the replies. The Radeon LE was free... just pulled it out of an old computer. I may be able to get ahold of a GeForce3Ti200 128MB... maybe I'll use that. This card is going to replace a 9600XT that was in a system I built for my Dad. He normally doesn't play games, but he likes ST Elite Force. If I can't get the GF3 I guess I'll go with the Radeon 9250.

The Radeon 9250 is $59CAN and the GFX5200 is $70CAN ... both at the local computer shop here in Sidney BC, Canada.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Darklighter
Thanks for the replies. The Radeon LE was free... just pulled it out of an old computer. I may be able to get ahold of a GeForce3Ti200 128MB... maybe I'll use that. This card is going to replace a 9600XT that was in a system I built for my Dad. He normally doesn't play games, but he likes ST Elite Force. If I can't get the GF3 I guess I'll go with the Radeon 9250.

Ugh... all pretty poor choices.

The 9250 and 5200 perform pretty similarly -- if they are at the same memory bus width (128-bit = good, 64-bit = bad). There were a LOT of 64-bit versions of both of those cards produced (since they were the cheapest models, and going 64-bit on the RAM makes them even cheaper), and those are just terrible performers. The 128-bit models aren't stellar, but at least the cards aren't crippled.

A GF3Ti or GF4Ti (or a RADEON 9600/9600Pro) would be significantly faster; something like a GF6600 or a RADEON 9700Pro/9800Pro would be the next step up.

 

[Darklighter]

FYI... That old card turned out to be a Radeon 7200 32MB. Didn't even know they made those...