The best PCI video card available?

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SeanT

Member
Oct 5, 2003
33
0
0
Hey all,

My video card sucks on the new dimension 3000 my parents bought me for my graduation/xmas/birthday gift, and I know that this machine does not have anything but normal pci slots.

What is the very best video card that will fit in such a pci slot? I want to play half life 2 and some other games, and am going to have to deal with what I have. Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
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Jeffyboy

Senior member
Dec 17, 2004
276
0
0
I've seen 5500FX around in PCI. PNY makes them. 5200FX are available... I don't know about 5700FX
 
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Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
2
81
radeon 9100 I belive. haven't seen any benchies for the 5500.

Avoid the 5200 like the plague.
 
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modedepe

Diamond Member
May 11, 2003
3,474
0
0
The 5500 is esentially the same as a 5200 with different speeds, so avoid it. So probably either a 9100 or a 5700LE are your best choices.
 
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tweeve2002

Senior member
Sep 5, 2003
474
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0
I dont know, those 5200's are nice, I have a friend who just got a 256MB 5200 PCI and it seems to work just as well, if not better, as a 9100 (another friend has one). The only advantage the 5200 has over the 9100 is that the 5200 is dx 9 while the 9100 is dx 8, plus the 5200 was cheaper.
 
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Sunner

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
11,641
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76
Originally posted by: tweeve2002
I dont know, those 5200's are nice, I have a friend who just got a 256MB 5200 PCI and it seems to work just as well, if not better, as a 9100 (another friend has one). The only advantage the 5200 has over the 9100 is that the 5200 is dx 9 while the 9100 is dx 8, plus the 5200 was cheaper.
Click to expand...

Well you can pretty much ignore that DX9 part since it'll be way too slow to run anything that requires DX9 anyway.
 
StrangerGuy

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
124
106
Inno3D FX5700 PCI 256MB. Bought it for a friend at my local retail store, he has a Dimension 3000 too.

I have seen the dimension 3000 motherboard myself and noticed that there are exposed and unused pins for an AGP slot and 2 DIMM slots. I have no idea why Dell would want to deny users from AGP and 2 DIMMs.
 
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xsilver

Senior member
Aug 9, 2001
470
0
0
Since PCI video cards are bleedlingly expensive -- isnt it more cost worthy to replace the damn thing with something that has AGP -- even if the CPU is SLOWER??
eg. p3 with a 9700 will blow any p4 with a fx5200
thats purely in games FPS, loading times may be different

and for a laugh, I think the voodoo 5-5000 PCI will give all the above cards a run for their money -- too bad it has poor winxp, directx support :)
 
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imported_Zeke

Senior member
Sep 18, 2004
956
0
0
Originally posted by: xsilver
Since PCI video cards are bleedlingly expensive -- isnt it more cost worthy to replace the damn thing with something that has AGP -- even if the CPU is SLOWER??
eg. p3 with a 9700 will blow any p4 with a fx5200
thats purely in games FPS, loading times may be different

and for a laugh, I think the voodoo 5-5000 PCI will give all the above cards a run for their money -- too bad it has poor winxp, directx support :)
Click to expand...

voodoo 5 = viedo card for maschocists
 
P

PezRadar

Member
Jan 16, 2005
156
0
0
Originally posted by: SeanT
Hey all,

My video card sucks on the new dimension 3000 my parents bought me for my graduation/xmas/birthday gift, and I know that this machine does not have anything but normal pci slots.

What is the very best video card that will fit in such a pci slot? I want to play half life 2 and some other games, and am going to have to deal with what I have. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

First off chuck the machine at your parents while screaming curse words and mixing the phrase "PCI" in all those words as well, cause damn.. 3 events "graduation/xmas/bday" all used on a NonAGP machine ... what mean people! :)

Anyways.. :p

Go for the 5700 i think its the best out that can do something like HL2 at least.. hopefully
 
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xsilver

Senior member
Aug 9, 2001
470
0
0

[/quote]

voodoo 5 = viedo card for maschocists[/quote]

LOL -- its spelled masochist -- sorry for being so anal

SLI is making a comeback ;) -- are you implying what I think you're implying :p

and that's not to mention the voodoo 5 6000 :)
 
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Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
0
0
Originally posted by: tweeve2002
I dont know, those 5200's are nice, I have a friend who just got a 256MB 5200 PCI and it seems to work just as well, if not better, as a 9100 (another friend has one). The only advantage the 5200 has over the 9100 is that the 5200 is dx 9 while the 9100 is dx 8, plus the 5200 was cheaper.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you were running, but in every benchmark I've ever seen, the 9100/8500LE wipes the floor with any FX5200 (except *maybe* a 5200Ultra, but I don't think they make those for PCI).

The "best" PCI cards you can get are (search in Video if you don't believe me; this gets asked frequently):

1) RADEON 9100 (AKA RADEON 8500LE) -- now no longer in production and getting very hard to find new
2) GeForce FX 5600 -- apparently few of these were made, and it's damn near impossible to find
3) GeForce FX 5700LE -- probably the easiest to find that doesn't totally suck. Make sure you get a 128-bit one!
4/5) RADEON 9200 or GeForceFX 5200 -- 128-bit versions of either will perform somewhat decently, but 64-bit versions of either will absolutely blow (~GeForce2 performance).
6) GeForce4MX 400 -- older DX7 tech, but performance is better than integrated graphics by a long shot.
 
Todd33

Todd33

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2003
7,842
2
81
I bet the Dell buyers who got screwed with no AGP slot are happy Dell boosted margin by saving $3 on that AGP slot. LOL.
 
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RalphTheCow

Senior member
Sep 14, 2000
897
339
136
You know it!

I just don't understand why they don't make more of an effort to sell you up to a 4700, but I guess they are trying to keep it low key that they stripped the slot out!

It's costing me big bucks - return shipping, and now I'm looking at building for about $1200 or so. I still have one day to agonize over that versus just slapping in a PCI video card.

SeanT, if you're within 21 days, returning is still an option. Your parents would probably understand.
 
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SeanT

Member
Oct 5, 2003
33
0
0
they got 30% off the 3000. I got a 3ghz pentium 4 with hyperthreading and a 17 inch flat panel for 746....so I am not returning it :)

Maybe I'll replace the mobo...but I am out of my league in this regard. I just want to play half life 2 and see it a bit..not really a huge deal if it looks amazing.

Thanks for your help so far guys..
 
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imported_JamesDax

Member
Jan 3, 2005
136
0
0
The 5700LE is the best PCI card availble. PERIOD!!

IF you can find the PCI 5600 then go with that one. But forget about this BS about a 9100(8500LE). No way that card beats a 5700LE.
 
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Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
0
0
Originally posted by: JamesDax
The 5700LE is the best PCI card availble. PERIOD!!

IF you can find the PCI 5600 then go with that one. But forget about this BS about a 9100(8500LE). No way that card beats a 5700LE.
Click to expand...

I'd really like to see some evidence of that. The 9100 is generally about as fast as a 5600/5700 (or a Ti4200), and the 5700LE appears to be considerably slower than those cards.

some benches

some benches with lots of cards

Nobody seems terribly interested in benching the 5700LE, though, so direct comparisons are difficult to find.

 
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SeanT

Member
Oct 5, 2003
33
0
0
I have been looking on froogle and such for the 5700LE and cannot find it anywhere. Anyone know a good place to look?
 
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