How big of a jump is from a EVGA 7200gs to a MSI 8400gs?

I bought a 7200gs Recently to upgrade from my Onboard 6100 and well I wasn't too satisfied so I ordered the MSI 8400gs from newegg hoping to get better performance...I cant really seem to find benchmarks about the 8400gs on crucial games like...Rainbow Six Vegas, Bioshock, Crysis, and Dirt.

I wanted to know if playing those games in ultra low everything with the 8400gs would give me smooth fps?

I have a AMD Athlon 64 3500+
With 2 GB of PC3200
Stock PSU of 300watts

I'm on the biggest budget and I will not wait to get a better one..

I'm currently building another pc so im just buying for this cheap one i use to play some games in the meantime..

Thank you..

-SkateFam

Those are cards are really not for 3D apps at ALL so you won't see good performance at any setting, also out of the 4 games you mentioned one is the biggest graphical powerhouse (crysis) even on low it still takes some power to run, R6 Vegas is HORRIBLY optimized so you're going to need also a decent card, and from what I've heard Dirt isn't easy on the hardware either.

However you might be able to play bioshock on the lowest of settings, but just remember that these cards are NOT for gaming.

The 8400GS is NOT equivalent to a 7600GT, a 8600GT is about as fast (or a bit faster) than a 7600GT, the 8500GT is FAR below that level and the 8400GS is even further below (around 7300GS perf I think).

An 8400g doesn't have a hope in hell of matching the performance of the 7600 GT. The 8600 GT matches the 7600 GT.

An 8400 GS is about as good as a Geforce 7300 GS. Bottom end 8000 series cards suck for gaming.

At the very least, if gaming is your thing, get a 2600 PRO for $70. That's the bottom barrel gaming card, anything less than that - 2400 series Radeons or 8500 series Geforces - are bottom feeders.

Yes, listen to cleeve on this one: a 7600GT is far and BEYOND a better 3D solution then the 8400GS. If you want a good run down of the class it's actually in, check out this:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318

Is it an upgrade from a 7200GS? Yes... Is it much of an upgrade at all?
Not at all when you consider the competition. Do yourself a favor and save a little more and buy one of the solutions already mentioned by previous posts: x1650pro/XT, 7600GS/GT, 2600Pro ($70 is quite a bargain for the performance margin).

Hope this helps!

I always find it hilarious when people order something then decide to come the forum to ask a question about it. Why didn't you ask the question before you ordered it. If you hadn't wasted your money buying the 7200gs in the first place you would have more money now to buy something better.

Oh and the 8800gs is a peice of junk.

8400gs?

64 bit memory interfaces on both cards. 'Nuff said.

The bottom line is, you've spent money on a card that, in general, will offer you no perceivable performance benefit. And it sounds to me like you bought the card for a performance increase, no?

You spent your money on the wrong thing. If it's not too late to take it back, do so.

If you're on a budget, try ebay: lots of cards you can get there that will outperform the hell out of an 8400 GS for the price.

Is it better spending your money on something that provides no benefit?

On ebay, at least you have a chance of a performance increase...
And if you're worried, only buy from a seller with a good rating.

How much did that 8400 GS cost you?

Ah... can't return it. Bugger.

Well, you might get a performance increase in older stuff. As for Rainbow 6, Crysis, and Bioshock - well, I hope I'm wrong and the 8400 shows you some nice gains over the 7200.

If you don't find it up to snuff, and need a cheep card that will do the trick, you should seek out a 2600 PRO...

Sorry to hear about you GPU misfortune SkateFam. The good news is that if your rebate goes through you can probably pawn that card off for close to what you paid for it.

To play the games you listed you will realistically need to spend at least $60 on a card. Newegg has an HD2600PRO for $69.99 right now. That would be a decent card if you can live with low settings.

Also according to youtube you can get dozens of AA batteries out of a lantern battery.

Lol @elpresidente2075. As far as your graphics card is concerened, $27 dollars isn't that bad a price of the card, at least you have GPU based video decoding. I'd say you'd be able to play most games in their lowest settings, except the highly unoptimized ones.

I'm able to play BF2/BF2142 with a 7100 IGP on my laptop. That's with medium textures and full view distance @1280x800 and get a constant 30FPS except when arty goes off. I'd say if you can find something better on eBay, go for it. If you can't, just wait until you're ready to build a new rig and duke it out at very low settings.

On a side note, I wonder which one would be better, a 6600 or a 8400GS? Because if he can get 6600 performance out of it, that is usually good to play at medium settings at low resolutions on semi-older games like BF2.

Haha check this Newegg review out.


Reviewed By: on 1/15/2008
Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4
Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg.com

Pros: Installed and works with Vista flawlessly. Great card for the money.
Cons: Only increased my Windows Experience - Vista Aero raiting from 3.3 to 3.6.... However, it did increase my graphics raiting much higher.
Other Thoughts: I am not a gamer but my son claims this card runs Call of Duty 4 with highest settings. He was very impressed with the card.

I'm sure it will buddy.

Does anyone know of any Tom's Hardware VGA chart-like Comparisons? Would anyone say the MSI 8400gs is the Best GPU <$50?

I bought the 7800GT in my system for that. Also, about a year ago, I bought 2 (vanilla)6600's for $50 as well.

Well, it's ebay, but hasn't failed me yet.

I have a nice 7600GT I'll sell you for 85 dollars.Now that's an upgrade worth doing.Neither the 7200 or the 8400 is meant for gaming.Both have a 64bit mem interface and a minimal number of pixel pipes.In a nut shell,they suck.And no you won't be able to play crysis even with everything on low.You'll get nothing but chop.Goodluck.

Dahak

M2N32-SLI DELUXE WE
X2 5600+ STOCK (2.8GHZ)
2X1GIG DDR2 800 IN DC MODE
TOUGHPOWER 850WATT PSU
EVGA 8800GT SUPERCLOCKED
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
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WIN XP MCE SP2
3DMARK05 15,686
3DMARK06 10,588

If a $28 video card could play Crysis, I'm pretty sure Electronic Arts would just put a free one in the box so we could all play. The OP should strongly consider comparing benchmarks (not NewEgg reviews) before making a purchase decision.

It may be playable (like 15fps), with everything set to low @ 640x480. As it has been stated before, there won't be much of a performance increase from a 7200gs. There seems to be a general consensus that you have wasted your money by buying two very low end cards rather than saving that money and buying a decent card.

I have a 7600gt and I can only play crysis at all low @ 1024X768.

Here's an article on HDMI cards at the low end. It has benchmarks for the 8400gs in Battlefield 2142 as well as more intensive games like Oblivion:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/1 [...] age10.html

For some reason, the last page of Tom's the best video cards for January 2008 does not have either the 7200gs or the 8400gs in the Nvidia column of the "What about the other card?". That feature's good because it shows what higher end older cards are equivalent to a lower end newer card. For example, a 7300gtddr 2 is the last generation equivalent of the 8500gt.

Tom's interactive GPU charts compares a 7300gs with an 8400gs and they are close, with the 7300gs at 14.0 fps and the 8400gs at 15.6 fps in Battlefield 2142.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=275

There's no mention of a 7200gs, but I'd assume it's a few fps slower than the 7300gs, so an 8400gs might be a viable upgrade for awhile until you get your newer computer all up and running.

I hope this helps. Me, I'm waiting for my second W2, and for the IRS to accept my turbo tax return. When it gets accepted, I'll count the days till it's in the bank, then I'll count the days until Newegg gets a couple of 20" Viewsonic LCD monitors and a couple of 3870's. My wife finally agreed that she wants the 3870 and not the 3850.

Finally, a year with a 7600gs will soon be over!!! I only got that card because I wanted to pay as little as possible February 2007 because I had high hopes for the 8600GTS and the 2600XT, those hopes were dashed and I wasn't impressed with the 8800gs 320 or the X2900XT at those prices and Vista performance.

At least there are some decent graphics cards out now. Hellgate London, here I come, soon, real soon!

We've also had these 17" Viesonic CRTs for three years and I'd like to get above 1280 x 1024 for once. So, the Viewsonics will be nice too. Anyone have any advice on how well this will do for games?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824116091

How common are dead pixels? Should I get this at Fry's where I can see it on display? The 17" monitors I bought locally because of the cost of shipping, but this isn't too bad.

Yeah I'll go for that 2600 PRO if I'm not merely satisfied with the 8400gs...I am about to sell this 7200GS for $30...Thats a good start...I'm young and I dont have to pay for utilities...So I think I'm good..For now

Also take note that those benchmarks are with the games at full detail...15 FPS in 2142 is really good for me if it's at max Quality...All I have to do is just turn everything to a minimum and It would be playable right? Anyone have a good guess as to what would my FPS be in 2142 if i turned everything down? (Using the 8400GS that should ship in today...)

Just goes to show that if you try to cheap out on components at first, it can end up costing you more in the end.

Never, ever rely on "bigger numbers" and assume they will outperform "lower number" video cards.

Research first, then buy.

Hey dude honestly he wasn't lying, It's possible to play it on the highest settings....but of course on low resolution...It still looks sweet though. i turned the slider in the nvidia control panel towards quality too.