Which Card to Get?

Computer Forum Video Cards, Displays and TV Tuners
1

I just installed an Nvidia geforce FX 5200 card (I took it from another computer) because my old one was just plain crappy (the old card got around 5 FPS). Well the FX5200 card runs World of Warcraft nicely for me (I get around 30 FPS)… but my problem is that WoW will just crash at random times ever since I installed this card. I have tried everything to fix the problem but I have come to the conclusion that I simply need a new card because I just discovered that NUMEROUS FX5200 users are having problems with it playing WoW.

What I need to know is what is a good card to go with, and should I buy one on Ebay? My friend bought a nice card from Ebay the other day and I was thinking I might.

I just need something a little better than your average card that will run most games on medium settings.

The price range I’m looking at is around $75-$150.

Heres the info that I could come up with as of right now (with my geforce fx 5200 still installed):

2.13 GHz, 768 Mb of RAM

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2600+
OS: XP (Service Pack 2)
DirectX: 9.0 or better

Card: Nvidia GeForce FX 5200
Video BIOS version: 4.34.20.42
IRQ: 16
Memory: 128 mb
Forceware Version: 77.72
TV Encoder type: Integrated (MV)

I just need a nice card, but not anything that’s gonna blow me away. :good:

2

9800pro would be good

3

Nvidia 6600gt
Fast card, best value.
Refurbished for 130$, Retail for 150$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=6600gt&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Radeon 9800pro
Slower then the 6600gt with less features, still good though.
Refurbished for 100$, retail for 130$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&bop=and&description=9800pro&InnerCata=48

Make sure your motherboard contains the right agp/pci-e slot before buying any video card.

4

Ok thanks for the info.

Someone else said something to me about 9800 Pro as well so I think I’ll look into that.

*edit:

Oh and I gave both of you a thanks.

5

If its in your price range, you’re better off with the AGP 6600GT.

6

yeah, and the 6600GT is also overclock hungry so if the performance ever slows, you can probably overclock to the level you’d need. Id recommend an eVGA 6600GT which contains opengl 2.0 instead of the usual 1.5

Its a very good card for the money

7

I’ll look into that card too.

Thanks

8

The next step up is the 6800LE which isn’t much faster so save your money. Beyond that is the card I have, the 6800 (non GT/Ultra). It’s easlily faster than the 6600GT obviously but only a tad more than you’d be paying so it’s a good deal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150068
Should play WoW and Doom 3 at blazingly fast speeds on high settings:good:

9

but with a vanilla 6800 you could unlock pipelines and one vertex shader unit, but i wouldn’t recommend

the 6600GT plays everything good today

10

I don’t think the man is looking for top of the line. If he was putting in a 5200 then he will be fine with a 6200 or an X300 SE.

11

we know, but the 6600GT is just alot for the money and it will last him longer

12

Yea, just depends on how much he wants to spend.

13

75 to 150$, sure we’re going the max with the budget, but still it will last long, and its very overclockable

14

i would reccomend x700 pro, its around $130 on www.newegg.com and thats a good store! :slight_smile:

15

Yeah it is a very good value, it performs similarly to the 6600GT in most tests:good:

16

Thanks for all the help guys. :cool:

17

The thing is, the FX 5200 is going to be PCI or AGP, while the X700 is exclusively PCI Express and won’t work with PCI or AGP slots.

18

Ah jeeze I didn’t even think of that! Good work B, yeah go 6600GT or 6800 then.

19

yeah make sure you get the right one and if you want a PCIe card look for a good motherboard as well for future upgrades, i have an Fx 5200 (AGP 8x), its fine for what i do as i dont game,