New Video Card
 

XFX NVIDIA® Geforce FX 5200 128MB DDR Video Card, Model PV-T64K-NT - Retail
Specifications:
Chipset: Nvidia Geforce FX 5200
Memory: 128 MB DDR
Bus: PCI
350MHz RAMDACs
Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Optimizations and Support
OpenGL® 1.4 Optimizations and Support
Ports: VGA

or

CHAINTECH Geforce FX 5200 128MB PCI VGA/TV-Out/DVI Model P-FX20 - RETAIL
Specifications:
Chipset:Nvidia GeforceFX 5200
Memory: 128MB SDRAM
Bus: PCI
350 MHz internal RAMDAC
63 Million vertices/ sec
16 texels per pixel with 8 textures applied per clock
256-bit graphics architecture
Full OpenGL 1.4 and lower support
Complete support DirectX 9.0 and lower
Max Res: 2048x1536 @ 75Hz
Ports: VGA + DVI + S-Video Out Model#: P-FX20 128MB Special Free FedEx

is there a diffrence and if so what is it....and also is it worth 75$?

also is this vid card stable?like will it crash alot glitch alot or?

also what should 2 sticks of 512 ddram cost?

also i have a HP computer what is the channces of being able 2
change my case easly...my case is a uATX....if u cant pic of the port locations on back i can get one off HP website....i want one of those coo looken cases...also HP puts crapie cooling places so i wanna add some fans and stuff and there is no room in my case

Why aren't you considering ATI cards?

Also, the ram cost depends on the speed.

I dont know about the video cards, but for RAM prices, either go check pricewatch.com (but make sure you get some name brand stuff, not just the cheapest sticks that pop up, it also helps to check the seller on resellerratings.com) or just go to crucial.com and see what theirs is selling for. Crucial makes some good stuff.

Just a heads up, Nvidia die-hards are hating the problems they are getting with 6x AA support of thier cards. Give the ATI cards a look as well.

Im not hating anything, plz specify w/ "some nvidia diehards" The probablity of your mobo being able to go w/ standard atx cases is very small, but there is always hot glue... or you can drill new holes in the mobo tray.

Do you have an AGP slot or are you stuck having to use PCI? If you stuck with PCI then I'd think about maybe upgrading your mobo before anything else.

woundly it realy be $$ to upgrade mobo's?......wouldnt i need an new processar and sound card cuz its on the mobo.....also case.......and yes all i got is 3 pci slots (

Depends on which kind you want. Get: Geil, Kingston, Crucial, or Corsair. Make sure that they're those brands or you'll suffer for it later. Which kind you need is dependant on which processor and motherboard you have. PC2100 should do the trick to be safe...unless your motherboard doesn't support it, but I imagine it does.

I've never heard of uATX, but I assume it's the same as regular ATX. I know that I own a Hewlett-Packard that came in a mini-ATX case. The power supply was 90 watts (ha ha) and the motherboard was really, really small. About 2 months ago I literally tore apart the HP case and took the motherboard completely out of it. I put it into a regular ATX case with a 350 watt power supply. It works great...and now it has plenty of room. So yes, it can work, but it might take a bit of PC knowledge and experience to get it working.

That'd be the first thing I did. I'd save up and get a motherboard that allows AGP videocards. PCI busses work, but they bottleneck the videocard badly, even when it's designed for PCI. AGP cards are so much faster than PCI cards that it would be better to simply save up and get a new mobo and videocard at the same time. You should be able to use the same processor on the new motherboard as long as you buy the compatible mobo for the CPU. A new motherboard would probably come with sound. Yes, you would need a new case. Good luck!

-Lasereth

Earlier this summer i stripped out the HDs, CD drives, fans, and anything else salvageable out of my dell and put it in an atx case (i had the dell mobo fitting in there correctly, but it sucked) and i bought a a7n8x del. , xp2400+ , 512mb PC2700 , and a volcano 10+ slim all for about 300 from newegg. You should be able to get that setup cheaper now, and its almost like having a brand new computer. Upgrade your vid card, for 200 or so, and you will have a brand new computer.

all i know about my processor is that is a celerion 2.2 ghz.....if anyone knows where i can find info 2 find a new mobo.....cuz i realy dont wanna but a new processor if i dont need one.....

I would never buy a FX5200, it's so bad and cheap. consider a Ati 9600 pro.

Re: New Video Card
 

You;re looking mostly at brand recognition on this one. Chaintech has been around longer than..XFX...? Most all of the cards made are versions of the reference designs, with some small changes thrown in. Your best bet would be to search out some review of both and make some decisions after. Maybe some place like Tomshardware.com or Anandtech.com willl have reviews of both cards. I know there is a new card from a company called XGI. For now, their card does really well on some things, and really bad on other things. I think this may have a lot to do with drivers, but not sure.

It's your money: spend it wisely.

Damn nvidia to hell. All this time and still no refresh rate fix for WindowsXP.

One other issue is that the Chaintech has the multiple ports and therefore supports multiple monitors -- I'm shopping for a dual-head card right now, and I'm sticking with nVidia chipsets. ATI driver support always seems way behind the hardware itself, while nVidia is good about driver evolution

I'd stay away from chaintech. I've heard nothing but negative about them from the people around me that have tried them. Never heard anything good.

Too many people are brand-locked. I started out with 3dfx, loved the Voodoo 1, 2, and 3. Then I switched at the right time to the nVidia GeForce 2 GTS. Then upgraded to a GeForce 3 Ti 200. Wonderful card. then I upgraded to a 64 MB GeForce 4 MX 420. I took it back an hour later and bought a GeForce 4 4200 64 MB. I kept that for a week and returned it. Then I bought an ATI 9500 Pro. I love this card! When I was a fan of 3dfx, I was scared of moving to nVidia, but I made the right choice. When I was afraid of moving to ATI I made the right choice. I have been very lucky. But I do a lot of research now before I buy a new vid card. I am not a fan of any company. I will buy the best card, at the price that I like. Right now, ATI is kicking much ass. When nVidia gets their act together, I would have no problem going back to them. Competition between ATI and nVidia is great for us consumers. At the same time that I went from nVidia to ATI fo the graphics card, I also went from VIA to nVidia for my motherboard.

Don't bother getting the name brand RAM, just pick the Generic stuff! Besides they're all made in the same 3 factories in Singapore.

p.s. you should really consider ATI since they have far more bang for your buck.

Buying generic RAM will cost ya! Your system simply won't perform as well if it's not name-brand.

And ATI is just as bang-for-your-buckish as NVIDIA. Each chipset manufacturer has a videocard that compares to another card of the opposite developer for the same price. Sort of like the FX 5200 and Radeon 9200, FX 5600 and Radeon 9600, etc. You can get a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256 MB for $350 now. I believe that's one hell of a bang for your buck!

-Lasereth

edit

OMG! OMG! 0.5% fps increase!

I've been able to OC friggen valueram as much as kingston, crucial, mushkin, and all the other "uber" rams. It's just like buying a $20 tooth brush, the only different being $10 more than the generic one.

p.s. Azen, (generic) has a lifetime warrenty.

Buying performance RAM is worth it. I won't argue that generic RAM does work sometimes (I'm using 768 MB of it right now), but for overclocking purposes, it's simply luck if you can use generic RAM and get results.

The difference between generic RAM and value RAM is almost 5,000 points on 3d Mark 2001. Buying generic RAM also hinders the amount that you can raise the FSB settings on your motherboard. You may be able to increase the multipliers, but without raising the clockspeed then you're getting nowhere. Raising the multipliers without the clockspeed can make performance go down in some cases.

Simply enough, generic RAM is a luck-shot. My computer isn't overclocked because I got a crap Palomino Athlon XP. Even if I got a nice Thoroughbred B core my RAM wouldn't allow overclocking because of the shit RAM that's in it.

If you want to buy generic RAM and save money, go for it, but it's a random shot as to if it will perform at any rate near the performance brands.

-Lasereth

Your previous comment implied nothing about overclocking.

Thus my previous comment doesn't regard overclocking. Also overclockign wasn't mentioned by the thread started in his initial question. Considering that he was asking this question in the first place means that overclocking is probably not an option he is interested in or able to undertake effectivly.

p.s. cheaper ram overclocks "marginally" less than Uber Ram, applying a heatsink usually brings them neck and neck.

p.p.s. Futuremark is a joke/ploy designed to make nerds feel competative so that they buy the latest and greatest stuff that they don't really need to play the 2 yr old games they're obsessed with.

You're the one that mentioned overclocking first, so I gave my thoughts on it concerning RAM. I know that the thread starter doesn't want to overclock, but I'm simply saying that performance RAM is simply more powerful than generic RAM. Generic RAM works, but that's all it does. It doesn't deliver for the price in my opinion. The margin of performance is HUGE from my experiences. If you can simply change out the same type of RAM and put in a name-brand stick and have performance increase nearly 30% then I'd say it's worth it.

Futuremark is one of the main reasons that computer enthusiasts buy new hardware, but what's so bad about that? The only reason newer graphic cards come out is for the same reason: games and benchmarking. Benchmarking gives a good description of how good your PC is compared to others. Car enthusiasts use a machine to measure horsepower. Everyone has their own hobbies. If making your car faster is a hobby, then why can't making your PC be faster be a hobby as well?

Name-brand RAM isn't too much more expensive than generic RAM. Paying the few extra dollars is worth it if you care at all about performance. The poster is asking which card he should get, so he obviously does care about performance. Name brand RAM offers high performance while generic RAM offers...well, a working memory stick but nothing else.

If he wants to save money and doesn't care about performance at all then generic RAM is the solution. But if he wants a good PC that offers high performance then name-brand is a must.

If you've been able to OC a lot using valueram, then I commend you. I've never heard of that before.

PS: I'm not trying to blatantly argue, I'm just giving my opinion that's based on my experiences. It's great that you've had success with valueram. I wish there weren't a difference. Everyone could save money and get kick ass performance too. Maybe that RAM you mentioned is the best valueram out there? I might check it out next time I build a cheap PC.

-Lasereth