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PCI Video Cards: Do you want one?

 

It seems every week at least this gets asked. Do you really need a PCI video card? Do you meet the following criteria?

 

-No AGP Port on your PC

-Using integrated graphics (Yuck)

-Don't want to upgrade to a new motherboard or new pc?

 

(Why so many people recommend the last option, I have no clue, not everyone can afford to purchase a new pc, nor have the know-how to replace a motherboard, come on, were serving casual gamers here)

 

So, you still want to buy a PCI video card? Keep in mind that due to the nature of PCI, it won't be nearly as fast as the same model or lower rated model AGP card. So expecting mega frame rates from new games is pretty much out of the question. But for 1-2 year old games, you'll probably be more than satisfied.

 

If you plan on buying a PCI card at this point in the game... better get a 128mb model, that’s probably as good as it will get L   any less, and its pretty much a waste, what game uses less nowadays?

 

What are the top of the line PCI cards?

 

(All specs taken from newegg.com, tigerdirect.com)

 

ATI Radeon 9200se (GeXcube, Powercolor,Diamond, VisionTek Xtasy)

ATI Radeon 9100 (VisionTek Xtasy)

ATI Radeon 9000 (Sapphire)

 

Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 (XFX,PNY,Jaton,Chaintech, Mad Dog Multimedia)

Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 (Apparently only available in China, hard to find info about it)

 

Which card is the best of these? Keep in mind that the only Direct x 9 compliant card are the FX cards. However, this doesn’t mean much, since dx9 performance will likely be quite poor compared to its AGP big brothers.

 

Now you have your heart set on a model, but what manufacturer? The only difference I can see is that each different manufacturer has different clock speeds for their respective card.

 

(clock speed/memory speed, in MHZ)

 

ATI Radeon 9200se

-GeXcube (200/333)

-Powercolor (200/400)

-Diamond (200/333)

-VisionTek Xtasy (200/166)

 

ATI Radeon 9100

-VisionTek Xtasy (250/250)

 

ATI Radeon 9000

- Sapphire (250/400)

 

Nvidia GeForce FX 5200

-XFX (250/333)

-PNY (250/400)

-Jaton (250/400)

-Chaintech (250/332)

-Mad Dog Multimedia (250/450)

 

 

And last here is the only PCI graphic card benchmarks I have ever come across. I don’t know about the reliability of this site, but dig in: http://sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=445

 

Update: Daniel D., a reader, submitted this link to a review of the Gainward GeForce FX 5200 PCI 64 megabyte card.

http://www.themodfathers.jolt.co.uk/?page=&action=show&id=6223  I’d like to give him a big thanks for helping me keep my page here up to date!

Remember you guys(gals),  If I’m missing something here feel free to let me know, I’ll update ASAP! :-D

 

 

Last off, if I’ve left off any information, or got something wrong, tell me. And if you know of any other sites that have benchmarked PCI cards, please tell me so I can add it to my little mini faq here J

 

Contact me  at jeffescobedo@hotmail.com

 

Or my name on IGN is darksim19, so you can pm me there as well.

 

See ya, hope this helped!

 

Updated 1-13-04

 

 


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