As my sig indicates I have a Hercules 3D Prophet DDR-DVI graphics card (that's right were talking the first Geforce chipset!) which is years old.. so old that we're now in the Geforce FX series.. which is what I'm hoping to replace my current card with!
I'm fully aware my motherboard isn't able to make the most of a 8x graphics cards but I'm still keen to make a moderate upgrade to something that is remotely better than what I currently have. I'm actually hoping to play Perimeter on this computer. I'm certainly not a keen gamer as you've guessed and high frame rates and immense detail aren't the most important thing to me. However my graphics card is the only thing really letting me down.
I've been looking at various Geforce FX 5200 (and a few 5500/5600) cards but I'm finding most in my price range of around £50(~$90) are from manufacturers I'm not acquainted with, such as:
Gainward
XFX
PNY Technologies
I'm wondering what views people have on these distributors.. if they lack the reputations of companies like MSI and Creative is this really going to have a significant effect on the card's performance if we're talking about the same chipset after all?
Also, I've found varying FX5200 cards with 128MB and 256MB of DDR RAM. I've read though that often the excessive memory is a ploy by the distributors to hide the fact that their card isn't big on performance but bring in the buyers anyhow! I don't particularly want to get caught in the same trap so any advice on any the following cards would be grately appreciated:
Gainward Fx Powerpack! Pro/660 AGPx 8 TV-DVI Fx5200 128MB Retail Box - £39.25 ($71)
Gainward Fx5500 128mb Powerpack! Pro/665 TV-Dvi retail Box - £52.07 ($94)
Gainward Fx 5200 Powerpack Pro 660 8x AGP 128MB DDR Video-Out DVI Retail - £53.93 ($98)
Gainward FX PowerPack! Pro/680 TV/DVI, nVidia GeForce FX5200, 256MB DDR, 8x AGP Retail Box - £57.38 ($104)
PNY Verto Geforce FX5200 128MB 64-bit DDR 8x AGP Retail Box - £42.55 ($77)
XFX Geforce FX5200 128MB DDR AGP8x TV-Out Low Profile Retail Box - £43.37 ($79)
XFX Geforce Fx5200 AGP8x 128MB DDR DVI TV-Out Retail Box - £44.88 ($82)
XFX Geforce Fx5200 AGP8x 256MB DDR DVI TV-Out Retail box - £58.74 ($107)
Xfx Geforce Fx5200 256MB 8xAGP TV-Out DVI with Colin McRae Rally 04 Ga... - £63.16! ($115!)
MSI Fx5200 8x AGP 128MB TV-Out Retail Box - £44.80 ($81)
MSI Fx5200-TD128 8xAGP 128MB TV-Out DVI DirectX 9 Retail - £49.63 ($90)
In certain cases I can't tell the actual differences between some of the similar named cards. Does it often come down to offering DVI or TV-out.. if so, I don't have a LCD monitor nor do I intend to, so could I make a saving by avoiding cards with this included?
I'm quite happy for anyone to recommend other cards and places I can buy them at (especially online stores cheaper than here in the UK but still ship here for reasonable rates - the reason all the above links are from eBuyer is that they are one of the cheapest UK suppliers I've found).
Anything anyone can contribute is great. Thanks!
I'm fully aware my motherboard isn't able to make the most of a 8x graphics cards but I'm still keen to make a moderate upgrade to something that is remotely better than what I currently have. I'm actually hoping to play Perimeter on this computer. I'm certainly not a keen gamer as you've guessed and high frame rates and immense detail aren't the most important thing to me. However my graphics card is the only thing really letting me down.
I've been looking at various Geforce FX 5200 (and a few 5500/5600) cards but I'm finding most in my price range of around £50(~$90) are from manufacturers I'm not acquainted with, such as:
Gainward
XFX
PNY Technologies
I'm wondering what views people have on these distributors.. if they lack the reputations of companies like MSI and Creative is this really going to have a significant effect on the card's performance if we're talking about the same chipset after all?
Also, I've found varying FX5200 cards with 128MB and 256MB of DDR RAM. I've read though that often the excessive memory is a ploy by the distributors to hide the fact that their card isn't big on performance but bring in the buyers anyhow! I don't particularly want to get caught in the same trap so any advice on any the following cards would be grately appreciated:
Gainward Fx Powerpack! Pro/660 AGPx 8 TV-DVI Fx5200 128MB Retail Box - £39.25 ($71)
Gainward Fx5500 128mb Powerpack! Pro/665 TV-Dvi retail Box - £52.07 ($94)
Gainward Fx 5200 Powerpack Pro 660 8x AGP 128MB DDR Video-Out DVI Retail - £53.93 ($98)
Gainward FX PowerPack! Pro/680 TV/DVI, nVidia GeForce FX5200, 256MB DDR, 8x AGP Retail Box - £57.38 ($104)
PNY Verto Geforce FX5200 128MB 64-bit DDR 8x AGP Retail Box - £42.55 ($77)
XFX Geforce FX5200 128MB DDR AGP8x TV-Out Low Profile Retail Box - £43.37 ($79)
XFX Geforce Fx5200 AGP8x 128MB DDR DVI TV-Out Retail Box - £44.88 ($82)
XFX Geforce Fx5200 AGP8x 256MB DDR DVI TV-Out Retail box - £58.74 ($107)
Xfx Geforce Fx5200 256MB 8xAGP TV-Out DVI with Colin McRae Rally 04 Ga... - £63.16! ($115!)
MSI Fx5200 8x AGP 128MB TV-Out Retail Box - £44.80 ($81)
MSI Fx5200-TD128 8xAGP 128MB TV-Out DVI DirectX 9 Retail - £49.63 ($90)
In certain cases I can't tell the actual differences between some of the similar named cards. Does it often come down to offering DVI or TV-out.. if so, I don't have a LCD monitor nor do I intend to, so could I make a saving by avoiding cards with this included?
I'm quite happy for anyone to recommend other cards and places I can buy them at (especially online stores cheaper than here in the UK but still ship here for reasonable rates - the reason all the above links are from eBuyer is that they are one of the cheapest UK suppliers I've found).
Anything anyone can contribute is great. Thanks!
