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Thread ID: 42650 2004-02-18 03:47:00 New vid card robert6655 (5176) Press F1
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216336 2004-02-18 03:47:00 My friend has asked me to researc a new video card for him, he is looking to pay no more than $150 and would like either a lower end 128 or a medium level 64.

Now i have heard that even though ATI has SLIGHTLY better high end cards that the Nvidia lower end cards are still better.

any help would be much appreciated
robert6655 (5176)
216337 2004-02-18 04:08:00 > My friend has asked me to researc a new video card
> for him, he is looking to pay no more than $150 and
> would like either a lower end 128 or a medium level
> 64.

you arent gonna find much on the market for under $150. Perhaps a Geforce FX5200 or Radeon 9200SE. Both these cards really really suck, what do you intend to use the card for? If you arent gaming then theres no reason why you couldn't buy an older geforce card, perhaps a Geforce2 or Geforce 4mx. If you intend to play game then you gonna have to spend around $280 and get a Radeon 9600XT.
Pete O'Neil (250)
216338 2004-02-18 04:38:00 not really my dads comp has a g-froce 4 mx 440 and thats OK but my new comp has an fx5600 256mb and thats awesome and it only cost me $280 i have found lots of decent video card for under 150, u dont need a top end card all the time i have not yet found a game that will not run ok on my dads mx robert6655 (5176)
216339 2004-02-18 05:01:00 If you think gaming on a geforce 4 Mx is good then by all mean buy a cheap card. Anything under $250 is a waste of money.

P.S a FX5600 256mb card ant all the great either, the FX5600 ultra was a dog and the non ultra even worse. 256mb is super overkill and often means the ram runs slower than cards with 128mb meaning a drop in preformance
Pete O'Neil (250)
216340 2004-02-18 05:02:00 Slight difference between $280 and $150 don't you think?

Just for a little real world comparison.

A fx5600 such as yours performs at about 15 percent slower then the previuos generations g4ti4200.

The fx5200 performs slower then the g4mx,again by about 15 percent.Inturn the g4mx is the same chipset as used in the gforce 2 series of cards.


These slowish cards such as the fx5200,g4mx,fx5600 can be pushed along quite well by a powerful cpu and a decent amount of ram,But i can garentee putting the game on high detail,high res, with all shadow and lighting effects will cause them all to pretty much stop dead in their tracks.

And another thing,Out of 2 cards that are the same model but with different amounts of ram,generally the card with less will perform better.The ram used is expensive and the cards with more ram generally use slower ram.
metla (154)
216341 2004-02-18 05:03:00 bugger,Pete covered it already with less then a third the amount of words i used. metla (154)
216342 2004-02-18 05:09:00 While the subjects raised....has anyone noticed the new fx series of cards that have hit the market?They have had XT added on the end of em and are a third cheaper then the non-XT model.

I presume they are an even slower version of the fx5600....which just boggles the mind.I did read a new owners account how his 5600XT had worse performence then his fx5200.

Best i go do a little research,but at the moment Nvidia are becoming more and more the company to avoid.
metla (154)
216343 2004-02-18 05:25:00 the 5900XT is making waves on the net one of the best value cards. Plus been hearing stories of MADD overclocks pulling the card up to or above 5900Ultra levels. Pete O'Neil (250)
216344 2004-02-18 07:33:00 Well even though my 5600 is not a TOP end video card i can still run Desert combat (which i have to run on my mx440 at 800x600) at 1280x1024 with all settings turned up to maximum and it still loads the game in 15 seconds and plays with 0% slowdown so for me i find that definately acceptable performance, i have always stuck with Nvidia cards and unless Nvidia pulls out or their cards become extremely worse i will probably never go to a radeon, all the friends i have with radeons have all had nothing but probs robert6655 (5176)
216345 2004-02-18 08:18:00 oh and i forgot to add my sys specs

GA-79400-L1 mobo
AMD XP 3000+ barton
1024mb DDR 400
Ge-force fx 5600 256mb
80gb seagate barracuda HDD
450watt PSU


I dont get the highest framerates in dc though but my lowest is about 45 and it goes up to over 120 when im not around anyone, i can even play with 64 bots with only minor minor slowdown when around the main bulk of the bots.

im not one of those people who will do anything for the extra 1fps
robert6655 (5176)
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