Geforce FX5500

[Chewy509]

Hi Guys,

Due to now intermittent problems with my gfx card (yep the one I replaced the HSF on a few months ago) in 3D accelerated modes, it's time to look for a new gfx card.

The current card is the ATI R9600XT AGP w/VIVO w/128MB RAM.

I'm wanting to go nVidia now due to running OpenSolaris. ATI drivers for OpenSolaris (which have OpenGL support/acceleration) are basically non-exisitent, and since nVidia support Solaris, it's a no brainer to switch...

I know for my system, the fastest gfx card I can use is the nVidia GF6800 Ultra, followed by the Geforce FX5950 (the GF6600 are known not to work with my motherboard), and the FX5700's. (or the Quadro's of similar spec).

Problem is, I'm finding it damn hard to find an AGP gfx card here in Australia that's not an entry level card, GF4MX, FX5200, etc.

Then I saw the GF5500 AGP and have never heard of it? It is a overclocked/refined FX5200 or a stripped down FX5700? And I've never seen a review on it either? (Google comes up with those e-commerce sites, that claim reviews but just list the specs, or 1 line reviews which are useless).

And how would it compare to what I have?

Or alternatively, anyone local have a GF5700/GF5900/GF6800 AGP that they want to sell?

PS. My motherboard is the Tyan K8W with the AMD-8151 AGP-HT Tunnel. The AMD-8151 has known issues with AGP cards that use a HSI chip. eg the nVidia GF6600.

 

[Chewy509]

I've found the following on THG (I know, I know, but it's better than nothing).

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/05/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page7.html

It places the GeForceFX 5500 in line with the R9000/R9200 segment. According the chart, the GeForce 4 Ti4800 is a better choice than the FX 5500? But I would need the FX5800 or better to match what I have now...

I know that the GeforceFX 5200 were crap, but were they really that bad?

 

[P5-133XL]

The problem with the GeForce 5xxx series is DirectX9. The GeForce 5xxx series were the first DirectX9 series cards. While they are technically HW compatible, they run anything that uses DirectX9 at an unacceptible framerate. Yes, the bottom end ones are that bad. Under DirectX9 the Nvidia 5200 makes the ATI 9600 series look like a rocket ship. The only way I was able to play Counter Strike with a 5200 was to force DirectX8 otherwise it was less than 10fps. For all intensive purposes, the same should be true for all of the 5xxx series, since they basicly share the same HW with different clock rates.

Perhaps it is time to switch motherboards, rather than struggling with video cards.

 

[Chewy509]

Hi Mark,

I've seriously thought about it... But to do a straight motherboard swap (to go from AGP to PCIe), without swapping other parts, would be in the AU$500 mark just for the motherboard, if I could find one. (Tyan K8W to Tyan K8WE). I guess that what happens when one deals with dual socket motherboards w/PCI-X...

Plus the cost of the card.

PS. I thought the 5200's only suffered in D3D stuff, and were acceptable with OpenGL stuff, eg Quake3...

 

[ddrueding]

From a quick scan, it seems the 6800Ultra costs about 500$US on their own...

Is the 7900GS compatible?

 

[P5-133XL]

DirectX is D3d. OpenGL should operate fine and should be semi-comparable to the 9600. The problem is that OpenGL looks to be a dying protocol with most modern games going the DirectX route.

But really, a dual socket server MB. You can probably do better getting a modern Intel MB with a low end Core2Duo (MB, RAM, video card, and processor). What do you need PCI-X for?

 

[Chewy509]

From a quick scan, it seems the 6800Ultra costs about 500$US on their own...

Is the 7900GS compatible?

Sorry, nope. The nVidia 6800's were the last true AGP cards from nVidia. All the new ones use a HSI chip to make a PCIe based GPU to work on the AGP bus.

 

[Chewy509]

What do you need PCI-X for?

All the SCSI kit I have...

I would need a new motherboard, cpu, ram, (PSU should be fine), gfx, and a new PCIe SCSI controller...

 

[ddrueding]

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0
Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
GeIL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
GIGABYTE GV-NX86T256H GeForce 8600GT 256MB
Intel SRCU41L PCI Express SCSI

~$1000$US

I know I wouldn't be putting money into what you have, when better performance is that close. Depending on the amount of SCSI kit you have, it might be time to move on there as well....

 

[time]

The 6200 is supposed to be a native AGP solution.

Ordinarily, I'd say it wouldn't be suitable for gaming - however, it should have twice the grunt of the absolutely pathetic 5200 (from memory).

I've got one here; I'll benchmark it for you if you can nominate a test.

 

[Chewy509]

Time, thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if I can find any cards with the NV44A GPU... (and not the NV44 + HSI). It seems to be the best solution, given current supply issues with AGP cards.

However, it'll be a toss up between performance? http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=505&card2=158

The 6200 with a faster GPU with a 64bit memory bus, but the 5500 with the slower CPU, but more memory bandwidth...

The rest: I know I should be retiring my gear about now (getting close to 2.5yrs old), but don't have a lot of cash, maybe AU$150 to spend. And since I can get a FX5500 for around AU$60 or a GF6200 for around AU$80, doesn't really push me towards spending $$$ just yet, when I am planning on doing a full upgrade in around 18mths. (I budgeted for my current gear to have a 4yr life).

 

[time]

A toss up between performance? I don't think so:

Benchmarks

I'd just like to reiterate that IMO, the 5200 is the biggest fraud that nVidia has ever inflicted on the public.