FX5600 vs FX 5700VE comparison

[Oldcoast]

Hi,

Looking for the best card for this older rig,
its a Dell 8200, with a AGP 4X slot and 1 gig of ram
a 250 Watt power supply. I have been running an Apollo FX5600 256MB in this machine for a few years and it works pretty well, older games run high level setting with no issue and good FPS, and even decently runs new games like the graphic heavy Battlefield 2 at Med/Low settings with AA on in the 15-22 FPS range
not bad for a card the game doesn't even offically support.

Anyway I had PNY FX5700VE 256MB dropped in my lap, and for the life of me I cant find anyone who can tell me what the designation "VE" means? Is it an "LE" is it better than the straight 5700? is it as good as an Ultra??, the 3 speeds on the box are listed 425/400/400 which seem good. I don't want to open the box because if this card won't perform better than FX5600, I am going to sell it and keep what I have as I am going to update to new rig at the end of the year.

Any opinions are appreciated

Thanks

 

[cleeve]

Sell it.

Any non-ultra 5700 won't make a noticable difference over a 5600. It's not worth the value you'd lose once you take it out of the shrink wrap.

If you want a very cheap solution to get you buy, sell both of your cards and buy a cheap used 9700 PRO. Supercheap on ebay and it'll eat the 5600 and 5700 for breakfast, hell it'll even beat a 5700 Ultra with ease.

Then save the rest of your cash for your next rig.

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[Oldcoast]

thanks man, that's the kind of advice I was looking for.

BTW, the 9700 pro is only 128 MB, still an upgrade over my 256MB cards?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by oldcoast on 07/13/05 03:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[danizaken]

Sure, benchmarks have proven that 256mb cards barely have any advantage over 128mb cards, and the 9700 pro has better clock speeds.

 

[Oldcoast]

That is great to know, thanks

 

[pauldh]

Blah, 5700U. What about the 5900 series. 9700 pro is a better all round card than any GFFX IMO. For resale I'd take a FX5950U of course, but to game on, no thx.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[pauldh]

It seems that FX5700ve is clocked with the core speed of a 5700 non ultra, but with the memory speed of a 5700le. It is made in both 64-bit and 128-bit memory interface versions. Anyway, I'd be for selling the sealed box also. No need to test that card. <A HREF="http://www.ixbt-labs.com/articles2/over2k4/index.html#p11" target="_new">Look here</A> and you can see how a 5700 does and how a 5700le does. The VE should be inbetween the two. It's above a 5600U even, but still not worth opening and hurting the resale value.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[Oldcoast]

Hey thanks alot I really appreciate all the info

 

[Oldcoast]

I am going to pick up a 9700 Pro for this rig, 1st question I have is about my 250 Watt power supply good enough? the rig has a 2 Hard Drives, 2 Disc Drives, a Floppy Drive and a Zip Drive (which can I lose if need be) the extra power connection cables are confusing to a tech noob like me,

the spec pages says

<i>
The Radeon 9700Pro must be connected to the computer power supply to meet its performance and high-speed memory requirements.
In order to supply the ATI Graphics Accelerator card with the necessary power, we have included the Power Extension Cable.
Use the Power Extension Cable to connect the Radeon 9700Pro to the computer hard Drive power connector.

1. Remove the power cable from the hard drive.
2. Connect the 4-pin connector of the Power Extension Cable to the Radeon 9700Pro power connector.
3. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the power supply connector.
4. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the Hard Drive connector.

</i>

Which seems self explanatory,

but I have 2 hard drives does it only connect to the main (boot)drive and will it work on both drives?
will I get the same performance off Drive #2 thats not connnect directly to the card?

I am looking at picture of the power cable it looks like it's just a replacement main power cable that runs a splitter for the video card?

So really it's just a method of getting extra power to the card and not directly tied to either drive?
Drive performance with the card would be through the connections on the Motherboard via the card slot?

Sorry if this is stupid.

 

[Guest]

Usually in OEM boxex(like Dell) they put the bare minimum they can get away with. Wich means your 250W is fine but it might crap out if you add anything.
Now im not sure how much more power it will draw compare to the 5600.

So I guess it takes more than a 5600 but more less than a 5900.

Now you can try it and the worst that could happen is having your PSU fry. The problem is that with DELL, they sometime use proprietary PSU format wich stops you from changing it. I suggest you check that first.

As for the cable it doesnt really matter where you plug it,I ussually try to put it on the wire that has the less components or the less power hungry(floppy/cdrom).

So yes its just a method to get extra power, now your PSU needs to supply it!!

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, MSI 6800Ultra stock, 2X30gig Raid0

 

[cleeve]

Nah, the PSU wouldn't fry. The 9700 PRO would crash the system if it's not getting enough juice, it won't kill the PSU so easily.

If you get a 9700 PRO and it starts crashing alot during gaming, upgrade your PSU. But I'd give it a shot first.

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>