Gotta cheap mobo someone is adamant on getting a better video card for it. I gotta know what the best PCI (NOT PCI-e, NOT PCI-X, NOT AGP) video card is as far as FPS in gaming and such. ATI or NVIDIA--the best. Anybody know?

Again I realise that all PCI video cards suck overall, I gotta GeForce 4 MX420 PCI I know, but what is the best for gaming?

The top card is the GF6200.

however that being said, it likely won't be any faster than the FX5700LE, FX5600, FX5200, R9100, R9000/9200 cards.

Sudhain did a review a while back (you check google, I'm packing up at work) that compared the FX5600, 5200, and R9xxx cards.

Performance is pretty much bottlenecked by the slot.

However the other thing is that these cards are usually extremely rare, and ridiculously priced. Probably wiser AND Cheaper to replace the mobo and add a cheap AGP or PCIe card.

Of course that's just my two frames' worth.

No better than the FX5200?!?! The FX5200 is the worst card in the Universe, nothing can be worse than that!

Yeah, I know PCI isn't worth it, but the guy who wants me to work on his PC is one of those stuck-up hard-headed liberals who refuse to believe that my suggestion could ever best their uneducated guess. They refuse to upgrade the mobo. So...if they wanna get cheap crap, I'll warn them, but if they insist, I'll sell it to em.

Well I won't comment on your politics, but like I said, the fact that these cards are no better than the FX5200/R9100 shows the situation he's in and the uphill battle for sanity you have.

Personally IMO, get the cheapest of those above cards you can find, and really they'll likely offer very little advantage over the GF4MX you were mentioning so if you are already looking at that one in his rig, he's not about to see any significant jump in performance IMO.

Plain and simple, PCI sucks for gaming.

this one it has 128 bit memory interface 256 mb ddr and i have the agp version for my bro's comp it's ok but can play anything good maybe you can find a radeon 9250 for cheap at compusa like i did.it has 256 bit 256 memory and 4 pies it's ok you can play cod2 on it with low settings at 30 fps.

Thanks for the advice. Is there an FX5700 PCI card? What's the fastest ATI PCI card available? Any x1000 series in PCI?

Froogle turned up THIS. Shows what and how much you are searching for...

Give 'em what they want... if they moan... say "I told you so". I run into the "I don't want to upgrade"rs all the time. They're choice! Ussually it's about money... but if they can afford $125 for a PCI vid... they would be better of with a new mobo with current integrated graphics! Some just don't/won't understand.....

Well there is this one, similiar to dvdpiddy's but it's a FX5500. There's also this 5700LE but it's only a 64 bit memory interface.

There's this Radeon 9250 as well, but it is currently not available...yet.

And there is a 6200 PCI card out there...have fun finding it.

If this guy wants to be stupid, then let him waste his money. Tell him he'll be owning us all in no time CS:S with whatever you put in.

hey bourgeoisdude(thats a hard name to spell) i think you should just rip him off by getting a 5200 and tell him it's the pest pci card in the world then when he comes back AND SAYS THET IT SUCKS say then why did'nt you let me upgrade your motherboard oh yeah what kind of system he's got if it's dell dimension then forget it i tried upgrading with pci graphix it would not accept any graphix card! stupid intel AND DELL THEY SUCK!

I would only suggest 2 cards. The 5500 fuzion 256mb or the 6200 fuzion 128mb. Speed wise they are about the same in dx8 but 6200 is more dx9 compatible. The question how ever does your system have a 250 watt psu or a 300 watt psu. The 6200 only works on 300 watt psu's and the 5500 needs a 250 watt psu. The 6200 is clearly faster in dx9 games than the 5500 so I would go with which everone is compatible with the psu. Fuzion has their own web site but they are BFG's cheap cards so both cards have a good support.

The 6200 will run on a 160W psu (I know from expierence)

LOL!

Upgrade the PSU for a PCI card, that's hillarious!

In the end all the cards are going to perform very close to similarly, but hey go for the strongest core for the best price.

LOL!
Now where did i say upgrade your PSU. I simply stated the Video cards PSU min requirements.

radeon 9550?
not sure if theyre pci's...

hell maybe some tnt's with 8/16mb would work!

Gateway has a whole bunch and some are real cheap.

Try this site:

http://accessories.gateway.com/Acc [...] efault.htm

I really liked my old GeForce 4 MX; lots of games, especially Half-Life and its associated titles, play pretty well. If your friend doesn't care enough to upgrade to PCI-E then he probably isn't a particularly hardcore gamer in the first place. How much graphical horsepower do you need to play Solitare, anyway?