FX5500 faster then a Geforce 3 Ti200? [Archive]

View Full Version : FX5500 faster then a Geforce 3 Ti200?

Kerion

10-01-04, 02:57 PM

So I went to Best Buy today and picked up a 5500 as a stop-gap replacement for my dieing GeForce 3 Ti200 until I can afford a 6800 (soon hopefully)...now from what I am reading, the 5500 is actually slower then that Ti200 in 3Dmark01? Wtf? I score a 5000 in '01 with my Ti200, and I hear talk about people scoring that with their 5500's...is this right?!

If so, I am taking it back....I see no reason to replace my Ti200 with a card that is actually slower. I looked at all the stats on the two cards, and it seemed like the 5500 could definatley move more vertices per clock cycle. I didn't want to spend more then about 100 bucks, considering I am just replacing this one with a 6800 in less then a month...but it seems I may have to.

(btw, this is the BFG 5500 OC, so it already comes out of the box overclocked).

Lfctony

10-01-04, 03:06 PM

Kerion

10-01-04, 03:14 PM

Its a card running 270/400, so it should be faster than your Ti200, IF its a 128Bit. The 64Bit version is simply too slow. In 3DM01, 5000 marks are achievable with a 64Bit 5200, a 128Bit 5500 should score at least 8000.

I think I may just take it back and exchange it for the nearly twice as fast ATI Radeon 9600SE, for an extra 30 bucks....I know I know, it's not an NVIDIA card...but this is only temporary.

Kerion

10-01-04, 03:19 PM

Nevermind, the 9600SE is only 64-bits wide...blah, what a rip...is there any way to tell if my 5500 OC is 128-bits wide or 64-bits wide, without opening the box and installing it? Their website doesn't say (nor does the box), which leads me to beleive it might be 64...

CaptNKILL

10-01-04, 04:01 PM

Kerion

10-01-04, 04:06 PM

5500 OC? Is it a BFG? If so, I cant imagine it being anything but a 128Bit. Usually the OC cards are higher quality than most. Im not saying its guaranteed to be 128bit, but its likely... ill look around for some more info.

Yes'sir, it is a BFG. I have heard nothing but good things about them, and being an American company makes me happy (sorry, gotta support my domestic economy)...so I grabbed one. From what I hear, BFG isn't the type of company to skimp out and screw me on the BUS, so I am gonna guess it is 128-bit's. To make sure, I e-mailed their support and asked :)

Lfctony

10-01-04, 04:11 PM

http://www.bfgtech.com/5500OC.html

According to this pic, if its the actual card, its 64bit. That's because the ram chips are split on the 2 sides of the card, they don't occupy all positions on both sides. Again, can't really tell without solid data.

Kerion

10-01-04, 04:14 PM

*sighs* That's not what I wanted to hear....

I guess then, that the 256MB one, which does have memory on all sides of the GPU, is 128-bit?

Lfctony

10-01-04, 04:31 PM

That would be the idea, yes. But I will look into it further. :)

Kerion

10-01-04, 04:35 PM

That would be crappy...but thank you both for looking for me...I am not even sure where to start looking, other then e-mailing BFG, which I did...no response from the source yet...

ragejg

10-01-04, 05:02 PM

Kerion

10-01-04, 05:08 PM

nv34's are only faster than nv20's when the nv34 is equipped with high clocked bga ram, and the nv20 is running @ stock ti200 speeds...

OC a GF3 to ~240/525 and any nv34 has a very hard time catching up... it's more 5600/ti4200 @ stock speeds territory...

Unfortunatley, I am replacing my Ti200 because the memory heat spreaders are falling off...so I don't think OC'ing it is a very good idea right now :P

Kerion

10-01-04, 06:31 PM

Okay, as verified by a phone call to BFG....well hell, they don't even know. The poor support guy was runnin around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to find out for me...but all the engineers had left for the day. I am gonna guess this might mean its a 64-bit width....*sighs* I could install it and check it in RivaTuner, but what a pain...I don't even want to worry about it...I might as well take it back to Best Buy and look at something else.

Kerion

10-01-04, 06:47 PM

And to add more to the story, NVIDIA's website has all 5500 GPU's list as having a 128-bit memory architecture...but does that mean that the card MUST use that much width, or that it can? I guess the card maker could save money by not etching those pipes in the PCB...

anzak

10-01-04, 07:19 PM

I would recommend taking it back for a Radeon 9600 non pro (not the se which is 64bit). You can pick them up for under $100 on newegg and they easily outperform a Geforce 5600 Ultra. Plus most of them can overclock to the pro's core speed.

EciDemon

10-01-04, 07:31 PM

I got a higher score in 3dmarks 2001 with my old OCed Gf3Ti200 then my Fx5200U OCed. The oc on the Fx card didnt do much at all even though it oced alot

but overall the Fx card did perform better in games actually.

You can use Riva tuner to see if it is 64 or 128bit, you get it from www.guru3d.com

Check the main window where the Gpu name and ram info is showed.

Daneel Olivaw

10-02-04, 07:32 PM

ACtually Kerion, If I were you I'd just remove the heatspreaders from the GF3, keep the memory at stock speeds and wait till I have the money for something better.

I have an FX5900xt with ram at 800MHz with no coolling whatsoever on the memory.

Or just stick the heatspreaders back on. A GF3 ti is not a bad car in any way. I'd only replace that with the FX5700s, FX5800s, FX5900s,6800s, 9700, 9800 or x800.

Kerion

10-06-04, 03:01 PM

I actually did just that Daneel :) I am getting a 6800 next friday, when I get paid again :) And it was 64-bit :P One of the main reasons I took it back to Best Buy.

cam9786

10-06-04, 05:59 PM

Actually, just download Rivatuner and you can see if it says 128 or 64 bit NVxx. No one else thought of this?

kkendall

05-27-05, 02:28 PM

http://www.bfgtech.com/images/NVIDIA%7E1.PDF

Shows the memory width of the GeForce FX Family (pg 9)

5900 - 256 bit
5600 - 128 bit
5200 - 128 bit