What's better than the FX5200 for $65?

[scottluebke2003]

Buying a card for a guy needing a budget system. I can get a Chaintech FX5200 128mb for $65, is there anything better for the same price? $65 is the max, nothing more. I am not looking for just speed, but also decent image quality. Any suggestions?

[scottluebke2003]

Is the FX5200 128MB get than the Radeon 9200 128MB? Both AGP
the reviews seem similar, with the 9200 edging the 5200 out by a bit. any experiences?

[MadPistol]

I would suggest going down to something like the radeon 9200 then. If it's a budget system, then he probably isn't going to use it for hardcore gaming. You need a little increase in power over capabilities for this system. Go with the 9200.

[Direct1]

I agree with MadPistol. The FX5200 is just a lousy card. I would get the Gigabyte Radeon 9200 128MB TV/DVI AGP 8X Video Card (http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=GA-920_128&c=pw#). Good luck! :t

[iceblue]

Why don't you try a search for benchmarks? From what I've heard the FX 5200 outperforms the 9200 (which is only a DX8 card), especially with AA and AF turned on. For a good DX8 card, look for a Ti 4200.

[scottluebke2003]

Ti4200 costs too much for this guy. Actually I swapped the FX5200 for that exact Gigabyte 9200 about an hour ago. I read benchies, and they are both fairly similar. But the 9200 edges it out, plus this one is a retail version of a branded card.

[iceblue]

I'm guessing it's probably the wrong benchs. A quick search for "5200 vs 9200" showed the 5200 in the lead. They are very close in non AA/AF scenarios though.

[scottluebke2003]

They are def not the wrong benches. 5200 and 9200 are pretty easy to read ;)

The benches differ slightly, but the 2 cards are very similar in performance. Either one should do about the same.

BTW, the benches I read are from THG, the Dec 29, 2003 VGA charts. You can check em out anytime. :t

[fishybawb]

Most benchmarks show the FX5200 outperforming the 9200.

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Video-Cards/FX-5200-vs-R9200/

[bob05]

Originally posted by fishybawb
Most benchmarks show the FX5200 outperforming the 9200.


Yep, as you can see, the 5200 benches better than a 9200. I had to make the same decision about 3 months ago and I picked the 5200. I think you should do the same too. :t

[bassman]

Originally posted by iceblue
the FX 5200 outperforms the 9200 (which is only a DX8 card), especially with AA and AF turned on
The 9200 is a DX8.1 card and the 5200 DX9 performance is very poor, so I don't see that as a choice criteria...As to AA and AF, the 5200 lacks the Intellisample optimizations, reducing it's performance on those image quality methods, and ATI has always delivered the best performance on those chapters - nevertheless, I haven't seen any test on that matter

I'd go for the cheaper between the 5200 and the 9200, having in mind that the 5200 delivers 5 or 6 more fps on the overall

[Direct1]

The benches are so close that either card will perform relatively the same. It's not going to matter much which card you get. The question *I* would have for "the guy" I'm building a PC for is; "What do you use the PC for mostly"? If he says just to get on-line and to play solitaire -- then you could get even less of a card. If he says, "well, I want to do some video editing and do some gaming" -- even though he said "as cheap as possible", you, being "the professional" (he came to you after all), need to inform him that buying that cheap of a video card will hinder or even worse, will not be able to do some of the things he may want to do. He *may* blame you down the road if the PC doesn't do somethings he wants it to do. Good luck! :t

[bob05]

Originally posted by Direct1
He *may* blame you down the road if the PC doesn't do somethings he wants it to do. Good luck! :t

Which is why buying the cheapest card is best. I'd be less pi$$ed if I paid $60-ish dollars for a card I hated than a $100. And for gaming, the 5200 isn't all that bad. I get good FPS numbers on Halo at 1024x768 with Med. details and really good FPS on RTCW: ET. And that's on a 5200 PCI. He wouldn't be upset at all if he had realistic expectations for his card. :t

[PacNW CE]

Originally posted by bob05
Yep, as you can see, the 5200 benches better than a 9200. I had to make the same decision about 3 months ago and I picked the 5200. I think you should do the same too. :t

So who will win?

The snail or the slug?

I vote 9200 because it does what it says it will do: Play Dx8.1 games.

if a 5200 could play a dx9 title (nevermind that there are so many to choose from) faster than a slideshow, I'd not feel misled by Nvidia's "Directx9 for $79" campaign.

[bob05]

Originally posted by PacNW CE
So who will win?

The snail or the slug?

I vote 9200 because it does what it says it will do: Play Dx8.1 games.

if a 5200 could play a dx9 title (nevermind that there are so many to choose from) faster than a slideshow, I'd not feel misled by Nvidia's "Directx9 for $79" campaign.

I don't know about games like Half Life 2, but the 5200 does decently in other DX 9 games like AOD, Homeworld 2, and Tron 2.0. Of course your not running at resolutions like 1600x900, but nothing lower than 800x600. :t

[scottluebke2003]

This guy would not be doing much gaming at all. Probably a little, and plenty of internet surfing. Both of those cards are so very similar. DX9 support on the FX5200 is not even a buying point because it is a slideshow, so overall performance is the selling point. I am going with the R9200 128 right now, but I am open to changing my mind.

[iceblue]

Overall performance is higher on the FX 5200- already said numerous times over various threads.

However, it looks like you had already made your mind up on the 9200 from the beginning of this thread so you should just go with it and be happy. :t

[scottluebke2003]

Iceblue, at the beginning of this thread I had chosen the FX5200, however I edited the first post when I changed my mind. ;)

30 mins later......I just read that bench for 5200 vs 9200. It does appear that the FX5200 beats the 9200, slightly in most cases. However the 9200 does have only 64mb of memory. I doubt this made too much of a difference b/c 128 doesnt even make the Ti4200 much better of a card over the 64mb model.

I might just have to switch to the FX, we'll see.

[chriswhitelaw]

well bench or no bench with a budget and a better card go with the 5200 I did and I do not regret getting it at all.

[bassman]

Originally posted by scottluebke2003
This guy would not be doing much gaming at all. Probably a little, and plenty of internet surfing.
Get a Geforce4 MX

[scottluebke2003]

GFmx is a little slow. I did look at it also. Thanx for the input.

[Rabbitrunner51]

I am going to say something that is unlike my bias attitude and say yes,..the 9200 by ATI is better then the FX5200 in this price range...

I have a FX5900 and am extremely happy with it ,.but at the lower ranges i would get the ATI cards as they have more bang for the buck!

My friend has a ATI 7000 64MB and it looks and plays awesome

of course you will want a 128MB card and this is a good choice ATI 9200