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

It won't be much of an upgrade, if it is at all.
 
The reason that you won't find any benchmarks for it is because the card wasn't meant for gaming.
 
You would have been much better off if you had just saved your money and bought a half decent card like a X1650pro or 7600GS.

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.

 
I think the 8400g is equialent to a 7600gt, which i know from when i had one was a good card, and is certainly ALOT faster than a 7200.  It looks sad compared to the top cards now, of course, but put it this way you'll get alot more frames and detail out of the 8400.  On dirt you should get 1024x768 all on medium no aa 30fps 0xaa or something, very playable anyway.

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).

 
 
Unfortunately, that is just not the case. The 8400 was developed first for OEM's to put in a low-cost solution into their machines without leaving the consumer with a built-in solution. Thus, it was built on the 8200 core. Not even close in perf to the 7600.
 
@OP:
To get decent (playable) framerates on those games you're gonna have to spend at least $150-200. You might get away in the ~$100 range, but trust us, $50 just isn't gonna cut it. For my part, I will recommend the 7600GT as others have, as it is a decent performer, and cheaper by the day.

 
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.

ok looks like i was wrong then lol

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 can say like me, I have been running some games, like medieval 2, total war and the expansion for that on a 7300LE, although thankfully that will be replaced in a few months, waiting on more cash and to see what else is released.  What your best chance is, get into the graphics options and use the advanced tab, make sure the slider is set for performance.  You won't get all the little niceties, but you may be able to get things to run well enough so you can enjoy a little gaming.  

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.

 
yes your probably right, although toms charts are a bit of a wänk reference though lol.  

8400gs?

hmmmmmm yes i spotted that too.  Hes right about the 'its funny when people enquire about things after theyve bought them' thing lol

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

Haha I understand that but Like I said I'm strictly on a budget....the only income I get if from making profit of buying and selling....so yeah and I can play dirt with everything low at around 10-15 fps....and Crysis at 15-20 fps on my 7200GS. Sure it's def. not for gaming but it handles it right? I honestly do not care that much about graphics, but more into performance... I do go in the Nvidia Control panel and set everything for performance....I read reviews on newegg about that 8400gs saying that it could play crysis at smooth fps, most likely it means with everything low but I am happy with that...I play with a Xbox 360 controller and as long as the game does not skip that much it's okay....And what about the videos on youtube? I went to youtube and searched 8400gs and watched the videos recorded while playing Crysis and thats pretty much why I was sold to buying it.

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.

Then you have the risk of a douche giving you a messed up card ....because then I wouldent be able to refund it would I?

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?

Yeah Thank you cleeve I'll try to sell this 8400gs after I get my mail in rebate ..if i get it....