Upgradeing card..!

[ocoini]

Hey,
I'm looking to upgrade my video card.
Right now I have a

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 64mb card.

I am considering 2 cards.
It would mainly be used for gameing.

- XFX GeForce FX5200 256MB DDR AGP8X
- Leadtek Geforce 6200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP4X/8X

(not 100% familiar with theh US currency, but I can get the 'XFX GeForce FX5200' about 15$ cheaper than the 'Leadtek GeForce 6200' , and it is 256mb (how come more MB is cheaper? confuseing...))

But firstly, is it worth doing an upgrade to this level of 3d card now?
(I try to buy cheap with a little performance)

I get that theese are not among the best cards out there.
And I am not after a really fast card, I dont mind sacrificeing some grapichs to get a game to run "fluid". But I do want it to be fluid and not TOO sluggish.
The MX 420 is beginning to get a little annoying in this respect, although I am able to run pretty much everything with it.
Will I NOTICE an improvement if I upgrade to one of the cards above? I just bought Guild Wars and I think I like it, but the game is just a little choppy when I look around.


I'm not familiar with 3d card lingo etc, so if you do suggest another card or something else, please type it out. If you say like "You should get the 443xxs card" ; I will be like "HUH?"

Thanks for all advice !!

 

[ddogg]

go for the 6200 anyday. the extra ram that the 5200 is absolutely useless since the card is not powerful enough to make use of it. another reason to go for the 6200 would be because it is fully DirectX 9 complaint and has SM3 both of which are lacking in the 5200. You will definetely see a performance increase if u upgrade with either of the two but i would nod toward the 6200. u can search for a used ati radeon 9700/9800pro for about $80- 100. u would see a performance increase of atleast 2X.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Welcome to the forums.

I suggest you take something else. Maybe a 6200 with a full 128bit memory bus. And a non-TC model. (Don't know if that's TC or not)

 

[ddogg]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Welcome to the forums.

I suggest you take something else. Maybe a 6200 with a full 128bit memory bus. And a non-TC model. (Don't know if that's TC or not)

Yup its called TC. ya preferably dont get the TC version of the card.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

For under $100, I agree with trying to find a used 9700pro if you can.

A used Geforce4 (non-mx) would also be a good upgrade for cheap ($50 or so probably).

If you need to go new, a radeon 9600pro is under $100 and would give you a good performance boost.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ddogg

Originally posted by: Kensai
Welcome to the forums.

I suggest you take something else. Maybe a 6200 with a full 128bit memory bus. And a non-TC model. (Don't know if that's TC or not)

Yup its called TC. ya preferably dont get the TC version of the card.

I thought all TC models were PCI-e

ocoini, do you need an AGP card?

 

[ocoini]

Yes I think so, my motherboard is a dell dimension 8200 (I think).
I do have an AGP slot, that I know.. no idea about PCI-E, I doubt it..

 

[ddogg]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: ddogg

Originally posted by: Kensai
Welcome to the forums.

I suggest you take something else. Maybe a 6200 with a full 128bit memory bus. And a non-TC model. (Don't know if that's TC or not)

Yup its called TC. ya preferably dont get the TC version of the card.

I thought all TC models were PCI-e

ocoini, do you need an AGP card?[/q]

hmm...not sure about that...well considering the fact that he has a geforce4MX hes definetely looking for AGP

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ocoini
Yes I think so, my motherboard is a dell dimension 8200 (I think).
I do have an AGP slot, that I know.. no idea about PCI-E, I doubt it..

If you have AGP, you're not going to have a PCI-e slot so that TC 6200 isn't going to be an option for you (unless it's AGP and I don't know what I'm talking about)

Are there any other cards in that pricerange you could get? (I don't know what your source is for getting these cards)

 

[ocoini]

various web shops in norway...

How about this one, Radeon 9550 256MB AGP DVI TV-Out 128Bit Retail ?

The price from this up to Radeon 9600 128 with DDR memory goes up by about 10$..
I am only looking at AGP versions.


Is it easy to control refreshrates etc on Radeon cards?
How's the compability with games in general, old and new. I need it to run at 640x480 100hz, and 85hz at higher ressolutions.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you can get a 128mb version of any of these sub-$100 cards for cheaper than the 256mb version, do it.

The extra memory doesn't get you anything because they are too slow to utilize it, and often times to keep costs down, companies will actually put 256mb of slower memory in which actually reduces performance compared to 128mb of faster memory.

A radeon 9550 128-bit is a good budget card.

Is that a radeon 9600 pro or regular? Either way, I think a 9600 would be a good option for you.

Compatability with all these cards should be fine for you. They should all run 640x480 at 100hz (and well over that too). I haven't had problems with refresh rates for any of my cards in the last few years.

 

[ocoini]

I did some more searching and I am getting one of theese ::
Connect3d-
Card Radeon 9550 128MB AGP DVI TV-Out 128Bit Retail
Card Radeon 9550 256MB AGP DVI TV-Out 128Bit Retail
Cant see any PRO versions.

Hmmm.. sounds very odd in my ears, are you guys SURE about this memory thingy ?
Says on page here they use the same memory. DDR SDRAM

The 10$(about) jump up to Radeon 9600 is just not something we can afford right now.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ocoini
I did some more searching and I am getting one of theese ::
Connect3d-
Card Radeon 9550 128MB AGP DVI TV-Out 128Bit Retail
Card Radeon 9550 256MB AGP DVI TV-Out 128Bit Retail
Cant see any PRO versions.

Hmmm.. sounds very odd in my ears, are you guys SURE about this memory thingy ?
Says on page here they use the same memory. DDR SDRAM

The 10$(about) jump up to Radeon 9600 is just not something we can afford right now.

DDR isn't the speed of the ram, it's more like the type. If the memory speeds (like 300mhz for example) are the same, then the memory isn't slower on the 256mb card. (Also, if they do list the speed of it, make sure you're comparing the ram speeds and clock speeds to be the same for the cards)

look at the benchmarks on starting on this page and go through and look at some of the tests. Pay attention to how the 9800pro and the 9800pro 256 compare (not the 9800xt). In most tests there is barely any performance increase to go to 256mb, and it even seems to hurt in a couple tests.

The 9800pro is a much faster card too (as you can see compared to the Radeon 9500 levels in the test). A budget card like the ones you're considering certainly will not benefit from the extra ram. Even if they would in newere games, if you played on a setting that would use the extra memory for textures, the card wouldn't be able to keep up at that detail level.

 

[ddogg]

i would suggest searching on ebay...or maybe newegg(not sure though!!) for a used 9700 or 9800pro. they are still good cards and are inexpensive. new ones cost around 170 i think so a used would cost in the range between 70 - 100max. it should suit ur needs!!

 

[ocoini]

Thanks for all the help everyone !

 

[Munky]

On pricewatch they have new 9800pro cards for like $135 and the AGP gf6200 for $120. Considering that a 9800pro will totally blow away any 6200 card, I'd say the 6200 is way overpriced (unless they have them for <$100 somewhere). Anyway, if it's still too much, a 9550 is a good budget card, I don't know how it compares to a 6200 though.

 

[IntegraGSR]

readeon 9550s are GREAT budget cards (and excellent overclockers for that matter).. softmoddable to 9600pro (they have the same core as 9600 series).. if you get a 9550 make sure you get the 128 bit version and not the 64bit version (9550se), stay away form the SE!!! i payed $65 for mine and am VERY happy with the results.. if you are interested in overclocking at all, the palit 9550 is known for having 2.5ns hynix RAM (DDR800) -->http://www.3btech.net/3btech/paatira9512a.html<-- my abit 9550 came with 3.6ns samsung memory which still works great

the only reason you would to get a 9600 series over the 9550 128 bit version is if you were 1) getting the 256bit 9600 pro softmoddable to 9600xt, or 2) if you were getting the xt (both of these are a good bit more expensive than the 9550)

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Have you considered refurbished cards? They're usually a good ~$30-$40 cheaper than new ones.

 

[lavaheadache]

here is a sapphire 9800 pro from newegg for $110, now buy like a man, will ya