Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Best PCI board for old PC
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polsol   08-31-2007 at 07:42:42 AM

Hi all,

I am looking ath the ATI 9250, X1300 or Nvidea Geforce FX5200 for a PCI card with DVI out.
Looks like the FX 5200 is very old technology in comparison with the X1300? Cannot find comparison on graphics charts on Tom's either.
Would prefer low power consumption as only have 200 W supply (but could rig a bigger PS if necesssary).
I'm not running games but need a decent card with DVI capable of 1680 by 1050 for 20" LCD. Note that this is available on the FX 5200 (according to NVidia on their driver download page) but cannot find the same info on the X1300 (ATI) site.

My on boards graphics (SIS 651) won't support the required resolution (even with latest drivers) and has problems (weird colours sometimes in text and also some 'fuzziness' on alternate lines on VGA out - DVI is OK but resolution problem) and I only have PCI slots (2) on the ASUS.

Any recommendations/comments desperately needed!

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TenaciousleyDead   08-31-2007 at 07:47:51 AM
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performance wise im pretty sure the 5700Ultra was the fastet Pci card, not sure about the power reqs. i would just go for the cheapest one if performance dosent matter. and if your positive one supports it and the other dosent just buy it.

Reply to TenaciousleyDead
runswindows95   08-31-2007 at 08:01:16 AM
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Buy the cheapest one that does what you need to do.

Reply to runswindows95
sojrner   08-31-2007 at 08:21:04 AM
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I have a 9250 and it will post those resolutions. the 1300 will too if I am not mistaken. If only b/c the FX gen cards sucked soooo bad, stay away. The 1300 will use less power than the others (newer, smaller process) I believe, but all 3 will do what you need. (you may want to double check my claims on power, I am only going off of memory on the process/power reqs for each)

the 1300 would be max for pci, as anything more would go unused... the 1300 is my gut call for what you should get though.

------------------------------ "Hey, I'm a reasonable guy, but I've just experienced some very unreasonable things" - Jack Burton
 Reply to sojrner
mactronix   08-31-2007 at 09:17:06 AM
- 0 +

You can get a 1550 pci from overclockers well they list it anyway.
Mactronix

Reply to mactronix
polsol   08-31-2007 at 10:33:49 AM
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Thanks for all the info gentlemen.

Thanks for confirming the 1680 by 1050. Looks like the X1300 is the one for me.

Good point by Sojrnr that the later chipsets have less heat dissapation.

Any idea of a place that will export internationally (from Europe) or I can buy for collection by one of the normal couriers?

Reply to polsol
mhujm   09-08-2007 at 10:43:38 AM
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I'm in a similar situation and would like to avoid the overkill of buying more than my machine can use.

Is there a straightforward way to calculate (even estimate) where that overkill level begins?

In my case, I'm rejuvenating two old boxes to give some extra ubuntu surfing machines to family.

In case you're wondering:

box1:
Gateway gp6333c
Celeron 333 mhz
256MB PC100 RAM
PCI graphics bus

box2:
Dell xpst500
pentium4 500mhz
512MB PC133 RAM
AGP 2x bus


I'm happy to do my own math - I'll be grateful if I can just get a method or guideline of how to properly size an old card to an even older machine.

Many thanks
Mace

Reply to mhujm
sojrner   09-10-2007 at 03:54:09 PM
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IMO, a good way to start on figuring what works best would be simply look at the best GPU of the same generation as the machine. You will probably not find most of them still in production, but it gives you a solid baseline. As I do not think there is any "calculation" that will get you the upgrade ceiling you are looking for I think that is the best way.

Once you have that baseline, look at a revision or two newer (or "tier" as in the toms video card hierarchy table on the "best card for the money" articles) as the THEORETICAL max for gaming. If you are not after gaming, then any of the above mentioned video cards will do. My method of course assumes you have knowledge of the video card market history and know how to look at the tom's chart. Happy hunting.

------------------------------ "Hey, I'm a reasonable guy, but I've just experienced some very unreasonable things" - Jack Burton
 Reply to sojrner
utaka95   09-10-2007 at 04:34:48 PM
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mhujm, those old machines would MAYBE work with any MX4 series nvidia cards, anything any newer is iffy at best.

------------------------------ "How can he possibly resist the maddening urge to eradicate history at the mere push of a single button? The beautiful, shiny button? The jolly, candy-like button? Will he hold out, folks? Can he hold out?"
 Reply to utaka95
KyleSTL   09-10-2007 at 06:16:20 PM
- 0 +

mhujm, I have an old MX4000 AGP I just took out of my girlfriend's computer that works perfectly. It was only used for ~9 months. I can take offers if you're interested.

I kinda wanna keep it around as a back up in the case of card failure, but if I can get an acceptable amount out of it, I'd sell it.

Here's the manufacturer's specs for it:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product [...] MX4000-T64


Message edited by KyleSTL on 09-10-2007 at 06:22:51 PM
------------------------------ Lian-Li PC-7B | XClio Greatpower 550W | P4 3.2 Prescott SL7E5 | Scythe Ninja
2GB DDR400 Corsair VS (4*512) | eVGA nVidia GF 7600GS AGP vmod 1.46/1.91 OCd 759/907
WD 160GB & 640GB SATA
WinXP MCE 2004
 Reply to KyleSTL
mhujm   09-15-2007 at 07:38:42 PM
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Thanks for all the feedback.

sojrner - thanks for the hierarchy chart - great reference

utaka95 - good call. orig card was a viper770 32MB TNT
For the AGP box, I'll shoot for:
2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200, 7500

For the Celeron, I'll throw in whatever (near) freebie I can get my hands on

KyleSTL - thanks for the offer. It'd probably be overkill. I'll try to remember if I find a more recent AGP box on my hands.

Reply to mhujm
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