XFX GeforceFX 5200

[EMunEeE]

Originally posted by 1m4g1n3
When I got this card, I knew it was cheap (that's why i got it), this brand in particular - it only came with a big aluminum heatsink and no ram cooling. However, what i didnt know is that they put CHEAP ram in it, which is only at 333 mhz. It is vdata vdd8616a8a (-6b). I looked on the fact sheet for this, and it said it was 133mhz in the ordering information (which makes 333 mhz effective) however, it did not tell me the MAXIMUM speed that it can attain. I just wanted to make sure, but i am almost certain that these guys did not underclock this thing, as they did in the MSI version with the samsung ram.

I will get a Vantec Iceberq4 cooling kit with a good active cooler and 4 aluminum ramsinks - i was wondering if i could reach 325/425 from 250/333 with this kit easily.

If you can geta FX 5200 and a Vantec Cooling kit and ramsinks, you can afford to step up to the next level of video cards....5600U/9600Pro/5700U/9600XT...you can find at least of on those cards for under $150 on the internet.

[1m4g1n3]

I think not. I am thinking of two cards right now:

MSI fx5200-vtd
Asus v9520vs

They are both virtually the same price, just a couple of bucks apart. The asus one has ramsinks, etc, and seems like a more quality product. However, the msi version has 4ns ram which is underclocked to 400, therefore can go to 500 easily. Could anyone tell me what ns the asus one is? On some japanese site it said 5ns, but i am not sure. I could not get a screenshot of the ram's serial number so i couldn't. Thanks for your help.

[EMunEeE]

Originally posted by 1m4g1n3
I think not. I am thinking of two cards right now:

MSI fx5200-vtd
Asus v9520vs

They are both virtually the same price, just a couple of bucks apart. The asus one has ramsinks, etc, and seems like a more quality product. However, the msi version has 4ns ram which is underclocked to 400, therefore can go to 500 easily. Could anyone tell me what ns the asus one is? On some japanese site it said 5ns, but i am not sure. I could not get a screenshot of the ram's serial number so i couldn't. Thanks for your help.

Why?

[ragejg]

Look, we really usually don't try and talk ppl out of getting a card that they want, but the regular 5200's are in a grey area right now as far as their "worth it" -ness. Is there a specific reason you want to get a 5200 regular raher than an ultra... or a 5600?

We just wanna help you get the best bang for the buck.

[Malfunction]

Originally posted by 1m4g1n3
It can't be 266 mhz effective though, it is 333 mhz somehow. Also, i overclock the memory to 390-400 mhz (even though there is no cooling on the memory) and i do not experience any artifacts whatsoever and the card has never crashed yet. I may be stressing the ram i guess, but when i get aluminum ramsinks this will be fixed. Also, I got this card for $90 cdn, which is $60 cdn cheaper than the msi version with samsung ram and vivo, and i would LIKE to return it and get the msi, but it has been almost 2 months since I bought it and I am not sure if futureshop will accept it back If they do though, I will be sure to get the msi version, as i have not been able to find the 'ultra' version anywhere in canadian stores.

I know why I purchased my FX5200U (hold over card), though I am not quite sure why you have. If this is gonna be a card that you are gonna want to really make a difference in gaming, I'm affraid to say it's not gonna do a whole lot for you. I have enough CPU power to make up for alot of the inability of the FX5200U, which is why it can hold me over till the NV40 debuts. If this card is not something to sit in place of the newer generation videocards that will be coming out next year, I suggest you do what ragejg and $E Mun$ have suggested. Saving up a bit more or using that money that would have went towards the better cooling would be a better value to you if you followed their suggestions.

Originally posted by ragejg
If you have a 17" monitor and enjoy gaming @ 10x7, and want to use some AA and AF, and you don't wanna kick details down in the newest games, get (in order of performance) a GF3 for ~$50, a GF4ti 64mb for ~70, a fast GF4ti for around $90-100, an evGA 5200 Ultra for $107 shipped from Xtreme Gear, a real 5600 for around $110, an ultra for around $125, a rev2 for around $140, or IMO a VERY spankin deal, an eVGA 5700 for ~145...

I think you'd basically be a ripped-off customer if you spent $150 on a 5200 when you have all these other cards that are more powerful.. some of them costing only a third of what whoever's askin for that MSI VTD series card...

... my $0.02..

Originally posted by $E Mun$
If you can geta FX 5200 and a Vantec Cooling kit and ramsinks, you can afford to step up to the next level of video cards....5600U/9600Pro/5700U/9600XT...you can find at least of on those cards for under $150 on the internet.

And the coversion worked out to be $114.62 US = $150.00 CND

Peace,

[1m4g1n3]

First of all, All of the other cards are out of my price range. The only one that is close is the radeon 9600se which is (cdn) 170 bucks.. however, the only thing different about this is that it has a 325/400 clock setting, while the asus v9520vs has a 250/400 (which is easily overclockable). Also, it only has a 64-bit memory interface which the 9520vs has 128-bit (i believe).

Also, I do not want to buy an OEM card, and I have seen what the 5200 can do. At 2xaaaf, it can do pretty good. On my pc, which has sdram, it would be stupid to spend (cdn) 200 bucks on a video card which will not make much of a difference on my system, because i will only be using about half of the card's capabilities: i have sdram and 4xagp. Please note that I am not keen on playing games at 1280x1024 or 1600x1200: 1024x768 is good for me.

However, i have heard that the 5200's are not good with new dx9 games and will be very sucky in the future. What do you think of that? Also, if someone knows if the asus v9520 vs has a 128 or 64-bit memory, please tell me, beacuse last time i bought one that didnt say the memory interface, and i ended up returning it. This time, i want to make a good decision before i spend my money.

Finally, I heard the new generation of cards will come out in march 2004..so will the gpu prices come down before then? Thanks.

[Malfunction]

Originally posted by 1m4g1n3
However, i have heard that the 5200's are not good with new dx9 games and will be very sucky in the future. What do you think of that? Also, if someone knows if the asus v9520 vs has a 128 or 64-bit memory, please tell me, beacuse last time i bought one that didnt say the memory interface, and i ended up returning it. This time, i want to make a good decision before i spend my money.

Finally, I heard the new generation of cards will come out in march 2004..so will the gpu prices come down before then? Thanks.

Well, as far as the lame DX9 support... it still offers it when ATi's 9200 doesn't. So that is pretty fair, but it doesn't mean it's great either. I still enjoy having the option to play DX9 games regardless of what people say about DX9 and Nvidia. So far, I have not seen a game yet that has been built soley on DX9 tech alone. It is typically a mixture of DX8.1/DX9 Shaders, and that results in playable frame rates at least.

As I said before though, this card is a stand by card. It is filling in till the next gen cards are released which seems around the time I will actually have the money to purchase something anyway. I would have loved to snag up one of those 5900 Non Ultra's, but I can't right now. If you do go with an FX5200U, make certain it is a 128bit memory interface. Might wanna try looking around at NewEgg to see what people have said about them or other sites that sell them. There's no doubt that every manufacturer out there has been very vague about the spec's of a FX5200, though generally the Ultras are suppose to have a 128bit interface.

GPU prices are dropping at a pretty good rate now, it is actually a pretty good time to buy.

Peace,

[1m4g1n3]

That poses another problem: I haven't found a store in Canada that sells 5200 Ultras, only 5200's. And the best ones i've found so far is the asus v9520 video suite and the msi-5200vtd. At eVGA site, the price for a 5200u is $130us, and so it is quite expensive, but I'd also end up paying more for delivery and costs for passing it through the border. So, I cannot setlle between these two.

The advantage with MSI's version is that their ram is rated at 4ns, which means it can go up to 500mhz from the default 400mhz (no ramsinks).


http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=468

The advantage with the ASUS version is that it has great cooling with ramsinks, and it has a better reputation for quality. I know that I can overclock the gpu easily from 250 to 325 with any fan/heatsink combo which is standard on these two. The ram however, i am sure i can get to 450 without stressing it on the asus, and 500 without stressing on the msi. However, with the msi, there is no heatsink on the ram chips, plus they do not have much of a reputation for quality. I like both of these cards because they have VIVO and dual monitor (which is virtually standard today).


http://usa.asus.com/products/vga/v9520vs/overview.htm#

What has got my stumped is that I can't figure out if these guys have 128-bit interfaces or 64, although i am pretty sure they both have 128. Just gotta call the manufacturers and find out i guess. For someone who is kind enoguh to help me decide, let us assume that they are both 128 bit and there is (virtually) no price difference.

I do understand that this nv34 gpu is pretty slow, however, in a couple of years from now i will be far in my university studies and I won't be worrying about being able to play games all the time. For a couple of years at least, I'll be able to play games at 1024x768 2xaa, 2xaf, which will satisfy me grandly. Plus, I'll be upgrading my mobo and ram when the 64-bit stuff's prices will be going down, so by that time there will be much better cards, which will slash the prices on the high end cards that are out right now. At the moment, anyways, having sdram and 4xagp will limit my graphics power anyways, so this is the smartest generation of card to buy. I hope I've made my ideas about why I am buying such a low-end video card clear.

Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

Cheers.

P.S.: I got my money back for that 64-bit piece of junk that xfx tricked me into buying, so I can make a clear decision on buying a video card now.

[-=DVS=-]

Originally posted by 1m4g1n3
First of all, All of the other cards are out of my price range. The only one that is close is the radeon 9600se which is (cdn) 170 bucks.. however, the only thing different about this is that it has a 325/400 clock setting, while the asus v9520vs has a 250/400 (which is easily overclockable). ect ect ect ect.

if that is not a miss type and that is ATI Radeon 9600 it will kick the crap out of any GFFX 5200 , you can safely ignore MHZ becouse it doesn't mean much same as Intel vs AMD Megaherz doesn't mean FASTER !!


but if its 9200Se witch is based of 8500 core no ? it will be still faster in DX8 games for sure !! it was direct competitor to GF 3.

GFFX 5200 none ultra is more or less MX class card even if it have DX9 support its useless !

[1m4g1n3]

It was a Radeon9600SE 128mb, but it had a 64-bit memory interface... I've seen how slow a 64-bit interface is. Click here for my post which is left on the first page..it is the last one on the first page.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...0&pagenumber=1

[1m4g1n3]

As a sidenote, I have found a GeForce FX 5600xt by MSI for $160 cdn, and i am not sure if it is a typo or just a cheap version. It says DH on it, and i am not sure what that means. plus, how can i find out if it has 64 or 128-bit memory interface?? On the MSI site, it doesn't say anyhting.

http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/produ...d=4416&cid=231

[1m4g1n3]

Yeah apparently its not a typo . However, what is the diff between the regular 5600 and the 5600xt?