You do realize videos are pre-rendered right? Unless you mean dvds that your playing off your own dvd's. All codecs to is decompress the already rendered video...
the problem is ur comparing 2 cards that are way different. the 9600 pro is a good card as of now and will last u quite of time, but the 5200 is substancialy lower in video cards and was meant to compete i guess with the 9200.
As for the 5200 Ultra, the 9600 Pro simply doesn't compare to it; in most games, the 5200 Ultra is only a couple steps above the GeForce4 MX 440 and Radeon 9200, and slower than the previous-generation GeForce4 Ti cards.
the problem is ur comparing 2 cards that are way different. the 9600 pro is a good card as of now and will last u quite of time, but the 5200 is substancialy lower in video cards and was meant to compete i guess with the 9200.
You also have to remember that the FX series was released to counter the 9700 Pro back in 2003. The FX 5600 was the responce to the 9700 and the 5200 was, i guess, the responce to the 9500 (which totaly sucked). The 9600 was release as a degraded version (just in clock speed and a few features less) of the 9700 as a responce to the FX 5200.
And about ATI >ing nVidia, IMO the 6800 series might have a chance this time (technology wise).
MY NVIDIA CARD HAD A HARDWARE FAILER A LONG TIME AGO (GFORCE 2 MX 200) SO ATI CARDS R MORE TRUSTWORTHY -- BY THE WAY IS A GFORCE FX 5200 MEANT TO MAKE ALOT OF NOISE WHEN U TURN A PC ON!!??
MY NVIDIA CARD HAD A HARDWARE FAILER A LONG TIME AGO (GFORCE 2 MX 200) SO ATI CARDS R MORE TRUSTWORTHY -- BY THE WAY IS A GFORCE FX 5200 MEANT TO MAKE ALOT OF NOISE WHEN U TURN A PC ON!!??
From what I have heard most NV30 cards are rather loud and take up the adjacent PCI slot, but since the 5200 is low-end it may not have a fan on it...Because I know the ATI 9200 doesn't have a fan