Ok, this is a wierd 1.
 
I have a reletive that wants me to upgrade his HP PC.
 
HP 510w
 
It has a 1.3 mhz cpu and 128mb ram. It look as the slots are limited to 256mg stick, and he doesn't want to replace the 1 thats there. The PC also only has PCI slots.
 
I have figured I'll buy a 256 PC100 stick for the empty slot, to make a total of 384.  
 
My question is about the video card. I see Nvidea makes a 5200 PCI for around $48.
 
I don't see any PCI cards in the charts so I figured I'd ask here.
 
What is the best PCI card out, I know they all blow but I'm sure you all have reletives like this. He doesn't play new games anyway, but plays a DX6 MMORG. So I guess he will be fine.

All of nVidia's FX series ie. FX5500 should run fine for some simple mmorpg's. You should probably just invest in a FX5500 or 5200.

 
You can buy an entire MODERN computer for what it would cost to mess with what you have...an incredibally slow machine.  here:
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] =ILC-FPM04

 
How'd you get the name Captain?

I have a 2800+, 2gig ram, 6600gt, which is not new by any means, but the other PC is not mine. And you cannot buy a new machine for $75 which is what it will cost for 1 stick of 256 and a PCI card.
 
I did see a 6200 on newegg for $27
 
Anyone know about 5200 vs 6200?
 
I would assume the 6200 would perform better as I don't hear many good things about the 5xxx series cards.

 
Are you spending 75 to upgrade a Win98 system?  I would recommend buying a MODERN computer before spending evn $75 on the computer you are talking about.  There are MODERN systems out there for $299.00 if you look.

 
I didn't even check the specs on this one, but it has Windows XP home.  That upgrade alone is worth wasting your $75.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6883103002

THe 6200 is the best PCI card that you can get; the other options are FX5200, 5500, Radeon 9250, etc.  I think that the best option for PCI is THIS Radeon 9250 for $40 from newegg.

My friend uses an ATI 9250 and swears by it, it seems to perform well and do everything it needs to.  You'll notice it lag in more modern games, but your going to find most laggin.  But, for PCI, its the best you can get for cheap.

my girl friend has a dell pc the cheapest you can get <299$> complete
and i put a fx 5200 in it and it plays cod2 just fine. bf2 is is a little
no wait, well its just horriable anyway i was amazed how it played
cod2, i mean it almost looked as good as my computer.
which is  
amd socket 939 3700
6800gt
2 gigs of ram
and all the other stuff
that is until i found out that on the dell it defaults to dx7
for call of duty, so i set cod2 on the dell to dx9  
and back to a slide show it was lol.
so the best cards for pci are the fx 5 series. for the price
i dont know about the ati 9 series.
i do have a 9200 ati in agp on the computer at my work.
and it is only dx8 compliant
so if you are stuck with pci then the fx 5 series or the ati 9 series
are the only options you got.

The PCI Geforce 6200 with 256MB of memory is the fastest videocard you'll find for your old system.

<heyyou and angry ducky> would the 6200 be worth it as an
upgrade over the 5200?
and where could i find one?

 
I didn't even check the specs on this one, but it has Windows XP home.  That upgrade alone is worth wasting your $75.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6883103002
 
Like I said, it's not for me, and I cannot spend someone elses $. nor am I going to buy him a new PC.
 
Personally I'm waiting to see how the Core Duo vs AM2 thing pans out. I'd really like a Albatron ITX AM2 board, if they decide to add PCI-E, with a 3800 x2 EE and a 7950GX2 in a super small custom case.
 
And the PC they have came with XP home also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] x=0&Go.y=0

dam man i havent seen that before thanks for the link
for thirty bucks i think ill order one

ask and and giv him the facts about a budget pc price, let him decide after that, its nvr rong to suggest an alternative

 
I agree that is is the best you can get, but not the best that exists. did u see the article on the inquirer that says a japanese company is manufacturing x1300pci. im pretty sure that is better than a 6200.

Err i put in a 5200fx to offload my onboard vid on my old Pavilion.  It's garbage w/ it's 64-bit mem.  Didnt wanna go for the 5500/5700 cause i didn't want to strain my PS any further (might want to check if yours is still in good standing).  
 
In any case, dont know if there are any resonably priced 128-bit PCI cards that would make a good investment, seeming how the rest of the system would bottleneck the damn thing.

 
Yup, I did that. He said maybe next year he'll get a new one. I didn't have a prob with that as prices always come down and better stuff always comes out.  
 
He is also not a big gamer, just a few old ones he'd like to see run better, he still plays the original "Unreal Tournament". So I think a 6200 will be pleanty for him atm. He is just stubborn and doesn't want to upgrade now
 
He said next year he'll have $1500-$2000. but if his gaming habits don't change I'll probably talk him into a cheaper 1, or just use a nice CPU and use a budget card until he gets into newer games.
 
I hope SED monitors are out net year, I'm resisting the erge to buy a 21" - 23" LCD.
 
Oh, and thanks for all the responces.

 
Well you can get X1300 in ASIA already, and I remember seeing a GF7300 a while back, but really at this point, they're pretty much all the same.
 
For what he's doing with it and the performance differences, the GF6200 will be equal throughout.