Best graphics card for $100-120?

[TransAm]

It turns out that my PC problems were due to a fault on my motherboard... which has now been replaced

Anyway, I have also decided to upgrade my video card

I currently have a GEForce4400 64Mb

A question

What would be better out of a GEForce 5200 with 256Mb or a GEForce 5700LE with 128Mb? I've seen these cards at moreorless the same price, about $120. What I am trying to ask here is: Is a newer chipset with less RAM going to be faster than an older chipset with more RAM?

Any other suggestions for a card are welcomed, I just want the best value for money.

The PC gets used more for 2D games and video editing and playback than for the 'latest' 3D games, if that helps anyone suggest a suitable card for my applications.



Note:

Card must be AGP and have DVI / VGA out

System specs: 2.4Ghz P4, 800FSB, 1GB RAM

Thanks very much as always, JW people! :wink:

[5vz-fe]

well, best value for money I would suggest u take a look at the 6600GT AGP card, they are going for about 200 bucks, but it will provide u with much better performance. However, since u did mention u don't play 3D games alot, I guess a 5700LE would be ur choice, the 5200 is kinda old...and get replace by 5500.

[saadie]

i got a 5200 ....dont go fer it ... its old .very old ...
if i had 200 bucks .. i'd go fer a radeon .. its alot better then geforce ...
to be more precice .... i'd take Ati Radeon 9600se .... but 6600 GT is also a good choice ...
and btw ... the ram dosnt make alot of difference ... its the GPU that makes the difference ... the newer the better .. :wink:

[ingko]

Get the radeon 9600 128mb version since those are easily flashable. u can flash those into a pro. if u get the pro, u can flash that to an xt. i think u can get an oem 9600 pro for 110 online.

[TransAm]

Thanks guys!

Radeon 9600 it is, then :D

[saadie]

make sure ya buy 9600 with se ... that makes 9600SE :P :wink:

[oantob]

i agree with ingko...Radeon works pretty well on high res and high colour bit... :mrgreen:

[PATo355]

make sure ya buy 9600 with se ... that makes 9600SE :P :wink:

NO , go for the Abit 9550 Vguru , it has twin bios , one with default clocks and one with 400/500 , same as the 9600pro , it costs around 80 dollars .

With come good cooling in your system ive seen 550/760 clocks in it , which is way better than a 9600xt that you can get for around 150

here :

http://www.computerhq.com/ABIT_Radeon_9550_GURU_R9550_GURU/products/partinfo-id-533617.html

and it performs the same as :

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-152&depa=1

And it can go faster than :

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-008&depa=1



REVIEW :

http://forums.firingsquad.com/firingsquad/board/message?board.id=hardware&message.id=23506

[5vz-fe]

hmm...seems like u get a lot of the money when u go for 9550, but I always hate the ATi drivers. They seems to have way more bugs than Nvidia.

[PATo355]

Yes Ati drivers have problems with opengl , but for the money you cant go wrong ... i have a gigabyte 9550 that goes just like the 9600 pro without problems

[crazidude]

Hrm I've never had any problems with ATI drivers yet. They were plagued with problems when the 8500 came out, but witht he 9xxx series they improved their driver quality greatly.

[TransAm]

**UPDATE**

Thanks again for all the advice guys. I purchased a Sapphire Radeon 9600 PRO Atlantis 256MB AGP8X - it cost $118.00

Now someone suggested I can flash upgrade this 9600PRO to a 9600XT. How would I go about doing that, and if I did will I need extra cooling?

[maxbg]

Ati Radoen 9600 series is indeed the card that's best value for money....

Great Choice.

[ingko]

i'd head over the the sapphire forums and see wut they have now. there was an old post that had a website with all sorts of downloadable bios flashes for ati cards.

[PATo355]

i'd head over the the sapphire forums and see wut they have now. there was an old post that had a website with all sorts of downloadable bios flashes for ati cards.

www.techpowerup.com

[PATo355]

**UPDATE**

Thanks again for all the advice guys. I purchased a Sapphire Radeon 9600 PRO Atlantis 256MB AGP8X - it cost $118.00

Now someone suggested I can flash upgrade this 9600PRO to a 9600XT. How would I go about doing that, and if I did will I need extra cooling?

Hummm ... ok , can you tell me all the numbers in the memories ? Or a picture , the memories are the 4 black stuff that surround the card in form of L . With that info i can tell you how far you can overclock it .

Also , it comes with fan in the core ? Maybe you would want a bigger one .


You dont need to flash it , just overclock it and it will go faster than the XT



There are 2 versions of Saphire 9600pro with 256mb , one with samsungs 3.3ns memories that would give you some 670mhz to 700mhz in the memories , and the 4ns Samsungs that will give you from 500 to 550 mhz in the memories , for the core both should arrive to 550mhz

[TransAm]

Pato:

Here is a link to the product, right now I don't have any detailed pics. Please let me know if the pictures on the website are big enough for you to see what you are looking for, otherwise I can take some pics and post them on Friday when the card arrives

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=8439&sid=UBLX7C8M5AAH8L3037LGFRJXSCDC7G8B

[PATo355]

Need a better pic of the memory modules or the number on em , they ship the 3.3ns and 4ns memories randomly , so there is no way i can guess what you got , and the difference between 550 and 700mhz is a lot .

Also would like to know the speed of the processor on your Video Card , that cooler wont cool it enuf im afraid

[TransAm]

Here you go Pato

http://img199.exs.cx/img199/9761/picture0070fa.th.jpg (http://img199.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img199&image=picture0070fa.jpg)
http://img185.exs.cx/img185/3418/picture0039mg.th.jpg (http://img185.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img185&image=picture0039mg.jpg)

[PATo355]

Ok , www.techpowerup.com , download atitool and give it 500/550 (275mhz ddr)

[TransAm]

Thanks man!

[PATo355]

Worked ?

[TransAm]

Yes thanks. Had to get a softmod of ATI catalyst as well from that site to keep the chip unlocked