FX5200 or FX5500

[nightslide]

Hi there,
Hope you can help. I can get a FX5200 128 MB MSI video card, or can spend the extra $60 canadian and get a FX5500 with 256MB MSI. Should I spend the extra money, and how far 'behind' am I going to be? I currently have a GeForce 2 Ultra, so I'm wondering how much of a jump I'm going to be seeing. And no, not planning on getting Doom 3 anytime soon.

Thanks very much,

d

 

[priyajeet]

the FX5200 SUCKS !!!! STAY AWAY FROM IT.

<i> <font color=blue>Futile is resistance,</font color=blue><font color=red> assimilate you we will.</font color=red> </i>
<b>Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.</b>

 

[nightslide]

Does that mean the 5500 is that much better?
Or is there a better option? This way is only going to cost me about $110 Canadian.
Any idea how much of a jump I'll see from my GeForce 2 Ultra?
Thanks, d

 

[mediocer]

If you order from an American supplier, that might save you some money.
Hence the exchange rate.
When i purchase books for school, its $70 american or $85 canadian.
If you save money, you can get a better card.
Not an expert in this area, just trying to help.

<font color=red>Expert user</font color=red>, <font color=orange>Novice questions</font color=orange>. :tongue:
<i>A64 3400+ 1mb</i>

 

[priyajeet]

5500 might be better than 5200, but aint that great. Both cards are not that good. See the graphic card buyers guide for tips as to which to get.

How much r u willing to spend ?

A geforce Fx5700 will be around $80 USD ~ $110 CD

thats a better card than the other two...
also try looking out for ATI too..

<i> <font color=blue>Futile is resistance,</font color=blue><font color=red> assimilate you we will.</font color=red> </i>
<b>Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.</b>

 

[cleeve]

If you want to get something local for cheap in Canada, your best bet might be the Radeon 9550... at $125, it's basically a 9600 with lower clocks and a full 128-bit memory interface (*unlike the crappy 9600SEs):

<A HREF="http://www.cbit.ca/mb/retail_productdetail.asp?Cat=31&SubCat=901&offset=30&ProdNo=VID-H10-810" target="_new">http://www.cbit.ca/mb/retail_productdetail.asp?Cat=31&SubCat=901&offset=30&ProdNo=VID-H10-810</A>

... but because it's clocked so low you should be able to overclock the mofo's core to 9600 PRO speeds at least, probably more.
The memory won't overclock well, but it should still perform much better than a 9600SE because of the full 128-bit memory interface.

If you don't mind ordering from the US, you could probably get a full-fledged 9600 PRO for that price, or 5700 non-ultra... but the 9600 PRO is still the best performing card in the low price range, IMHO.


________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 329/337)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2750+</b></font color=red> <i>(2400+ @ 2208 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,876</b>

 

[phial]

A geforce Fx5700 will be around $80 USD ~ $110 CD

oh it <b>will</b> be eh?

<A HREF="http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=11780&vpn=FX5700-TD128&manufacture=MicroStar" target="_new">cheapest 5700 I could find.</A> its 190$, and a cheap brand

im sure you could find one for a few bucks less, but as you can see they arent in teh price range you mentioned. you can get a 9600pro for 190$-ish, and its a far superior card

best deal for 110$ .. hard to say. ill try looking some more.

edit: theres no $110 cards that i can recommend. they are all shite. best deal i could find is a <A HREF="http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=11184&vpn=1024-HC19-3C-SA&manufacture=SAPPHIRE" target="_new">9600xt for $199</A>. its a damn good card

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[daddywags214]

I agree, try to find a 9600 Pro... I have one of those, and on a $$$/fps basis, it's better than my 9800 Pro!

AHHH <b>MOTHERLAND!!!!!</b>

 

[nightslide]

Okay, I can get a $5700LE with 256MB for about $160, about $50 more than the 5500 w/ 256MB(it's through a buddy, whom sells computers). Both cards are MSI.
After looking at the specs though, I'm wondering.
I see the 5500 has Intellisample, the 5700 doesn't.
The 5500 runs at 350/400 (says two different things), but the 5700 runs at 400.
As a gamer, though NOT hardcore one, is the 5700 worth the extra bit of cash? And what about the missing Intellisample?

Thanks,

d

 

[pauldh]

The FX5700LE is a SLOWER clocked 5700 that performs like an FX5600. It's too slow a card to spend that much on. I can't help on canadian pricing, but many people on this forum sure can.

I also think a cheaper Radeon 9550 is a better deal, or a 9600. But if you want to stay with NVidia, you'd be better off with a much cheaper/yet generally faster GF4Ti4200 than any of the cards you are mentioning. Look for a deal on A GF4Ti if you can find one. Used they are dirt cheap, and new can be cheap too if you look around. Otherwise, Depending what you play, Less than a Radeon 9600 Pro, isn't going to keep you happy for too long.

This review has many of the cards you are talking about:

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0704/itogi-video-fc-wxp-1024.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0704/itogi-video-fc-wxp-1024.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index0407.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index0407.html</A>

Notice, the FX5500 being just a slightly higher clocked FX5200, performs about identical to the 128-bit FX5200. The 64-bit FX5200 is far slower yet.




ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[phial]

intellisample is nvidia's anti-aliasing. its to remove jagged edges


the 5700 certainly supports anti-aliasing as well. <A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_intellisample.html" target="_new">"Intellisample"</A> is a marketing catch phrase.


i dont know what core the 5500 has, but if its based off the 5200, then the 5700 (which is a better core) would definately be better.

ok found <A HREF="http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/galaxy/5700le/index.php?p=7" target="_new">this review of the 5700LE</A> and its definately a better card than the 5500

<A HREF="http://://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=670&dPage=4" target="_new">another benchmark </A>. 5500 in this one. 8000 in 3dmark2001 is pretty weak for new cards, i dont htink the 5500 is worth your money AT ALL . my 8500le which is a 3 year old card and 2 generations older got 8000 in 3dmark2001, and my processor was 1/3 as fast as the P4 3.2EE that they used in that review

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[phial]

oh nice linx

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[pauldh]

The FX5700LE looks far better in your reviews, didn't it. I guess until you see it compared to better cards anyway.

Look at the TRAOD benchies and even at 1024x768 most low end cards are slideshows. Also strange how many cards scored better with the P4 than the A64 in that game. But considering TROAD came with my R9800 Pro and I haven't played it yet, those scores don't seem too important to me. Interesting anyway though since that game is often used on review sites.


<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0704/itogi-video-traod-wxp-1024.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0704/itogi-video-traod-wxp-1024.html</A>


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[priyajeet]

yeah, but i dont like digit life's benchmarks of HL2.

cant he order one 5700 from the US for $80...shipping 25-30 bucks...

well he pays me I can send him 1 card.

As it is I have a 9600 XT to sell for $140 if hes interested...i ll give a lot of games...

<i> <font color=blue>Futile is resistance,</font color=blue><font color=red> assimilate you we will.</font color=red> </i>
<b>Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.</b>

 

[phial]

he is in canada

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[Mr5oh]

Sounds like you just want something cheap, and for this case, you may even want to look at an older TI-4600, TI-4400, or TI-4200, the only real downside to these cards is that they are DirectX8, however they would be better than the 5200 for sure. I played Doom3 in 800x600 High Quality on a TI-4400, so these are decent cards. The TI-4400 can be found on eBay for $15-30, making it a very good deal.

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[phial]

OH DUDE

totally forgot.


Ti4200 is a powerful card. highly recommend, and they are cheap as hell like you said ;D

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[Mr5oh]

Yeah even still today the TI series cards are still very powerful, and would be much better than the 5200, the great thing is that they are dirt cheap, deffaintly worth looking into.

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[nightslide]

Okay, after looking at your benchmarks, it almost looks like I should go for a 5200 Ultra.
The one thing I wasn't sure about though, is the 5700LE listed there with 128MB or 256?
After looking at the benchmarks after your post, it appears the 5700LE w/ 128 is twice as fast as the 5500 w/ 128.
I'm assuming both of these specs would be similar if both cards have 256MB, as both cards I'm looking at are 256MB.

Thanks again to all for all your help.

 

[cleeve]

Just thought I'd throw in benchmarks of the Radeon 9550 VS the Geforce 5700:

<A HREF="http://www.digital-daily.com/video/gecube_radeon_9550_pe/index04.htm" target="_new">http://www.digital-daily.com/video/gecube_radeon_9550_pe/index04.htm</A>

You can see, the 9550 has much better shaders than the 5700, even at stock clocks. The 9550 looks about on par with the 5700 stock in the benches, losing some and winning some... but in advanced shader titles, the 9550 looks much stronger, and overclocked the 9550 is about as good as a 9600 PRO... which is a much better card all around.

And since the 5700 is better than a 5200 ULTRA... well, you might not be an Ati fan, but in this price segment you're doing yourself a gaming disservice by ignoring the 9550, mate...

If you're only going Nvidia, get yourself a Ti4200 or pay the extra cash and find yourself a nice 5900XT.

But if you're stuck in this price segment, do yourself a favor and buy for performance... not brand preference. You'll thank yourself in the long run.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 329/337)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~2750+</b></font color=red> <i>(2400+ @ 2208 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,876</b>

 

[Mr5oh]

Cleeve has a very good point. I am a huge Nvidia fan, but the truth is, in the lower end cards ATI tend to do a little better. They are deffaintly worth looking into.

How did you end up picking the 5200 card, I don't remember seeing anyone who recommended the 5200 at all. Nividia has been doing pretty good on the high end cards, but for low end stuff, you get more bang for the buck with ATI.

Anyways, I still think that the TI series would be a better choice than the 5200. There are better cards, and are much cheaper.

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[nightslide]

Well, it all started out when my cousin wanted to buy a computer, cheap. A friend of mine who builds them for a living put together a system, which came with a 5200. To save my cousin some money, and upgrade my card at the same time (mine is a GeForce 2 Ultra), I'll swap the card, give him some cash.
After looking, I was debating to upgrade the card a bit while I'm doing that, and here's where the whole debate started. Exactly how far to 'upgrade'.
Thanks again for all your help.