[Tomasina]

Hello,

I am in a scenario where I need to get the best gaming card available on a very limited budget. I realize that having hundreds of dollars for a great card would be better, but in my scenario I need to purchase 13 identical graphical cards and as such am on a very limited budget.

I have limited my search to the following cards:

- Geforce MX4000 128 MB PCI
- MSI NX6200TC-TD64ES Geforce 6200TC Supporting 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
- SAPPHIRE 100120L Radeon X300SE HyperMemory 128MB Hyper Memory(32MB VRAM on board) DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card

Which of these cards is best for my needs? The systems I am building are built upon a 3.02 Ghz processor and they have 2 Gig of DDR RAM. I realize that these may not be able to play the latest games out there... but I would like to be able to play BF 1942 and Wolfenstein ET without too much pain. I am also open to similar cards that you might know of in the similar budget range.

Thanks, any advice is very appreciated.

Tom

Edited by Tomasina, 11 July 2005 - 04:54 PM.

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For games like Battle Field 1942 and Wolfenstein you really want a card with at least 128mb of RAM, 128-bit graphics interface, and support for Direct-X 9. So I was looking at your choices and and dicovered that none of them had a 128-bit graphics interface and went looking for budget cards to see if I could help. Here they are -
Nvidia Geforce 5200 PCI interface - $59.99 plus shipping http://www.tigerdire...33850&CatId=319
Better Choice is this X300se which differs from the one you picked as it has a 128-bit interface and has 128mb onboard but will support upto 256mb by dedicating some of your system ram to it. - $52.50 + $4.00 shipping. http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102528
Both are exellent budget cards, just that the 5200 can be used in even very old computers and computers that don't support AGP or PCI-express. The x300se is better if your computer can support PCI-e.

Edited by bmc2k7, 12 July 2005 - 05:24 AM.

[bmc2k7]

For games like Battle Field 1942 and Wolfenstein you really want a card with at least 128mb of RAM, 128-bit graphics interface, and support for Direct-X 9. So I was looking at your choices and and dicovered that none of them had a 128-bit graphics interface and went looking for budget cards to see if I could help. Here they are -
Nvidia Geforce 5200 PCI interface - $59.99 plus shipping http://www.tigerdire...33850&CatId=319
Better Choice is this X300se which differs from the one you picked as it has a 128-bit interface and has 128mb onboard but will support upto 256mb by dedicating some of your system ram to it. - $52.50 + $4.00 shipping. http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102528
Both are exellent budget cards, just that the 5200 can be used in even very old computers and computers that don't support AGP or PCI-express. The x300se is better if your computer can support PCI-e.

Edited by bmc2k7, 12 July 2005 - 05:24 AM.

[warriorscot]

Yes make sure you are using a board that is pci-e if you want a pci-e card. the pci fx5200 is really quite poor though wolfenstein plays poorly on AGP versions not to mention the inferior pci versions.
An fx 5500 would do the x300 isnt bad but ATi cards arent that great when you get to lower end they are really supposed to be integrated graphics deals but not many people want to buy integrated graphics. The ATI 200 motherboads come with an x300 integrated. The x300 would probably suit you best though as it has dx9 support.
By the way im just curious what is it that you want 13 of these for.

[Tomasina]

The 13 cards are due to the fact that we are building a lab.

The motherboards we are using have 3 PCI-E slots so that is what I am planning on using. So when dealing with the PCI-E I am now down to the following two cards:

- MSI NX6200TC-TD64ES Geforce 6200TC Supporting 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card

- X300se, has a 128-bit interface and has 128mb onboard but will support upto 256mb by dedicating some of your system ram to it. - http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102528

Between these two cards, everyone is pointing towards teh X300se since it has the 128 bit memory interface. Let me show my ignorance by asking what this is, and how it helps with what I am doing. I am used to Nvidia's and am just a bit nervous about switching to a Radeon... is this fear unfounded?

Thanks again,

Tomasina

[warriorscot]

Completely nvidia are good but are a bunch of rip off merchants. Whats the lab for will you be making use of graphicly intense software or would you prefer something that does word processing etc. and no more. Remaber you need a x16 pci-e slot for gfx cards.

[Tomasina]

I am looking into what speed the PCI-E slot is... but let me ask a couple questions.

The systems each have 1 pci slot, 2 PCI-E slots, and 2 PCI-X slots.

The room is to be used for both standard application, as well as some graphical applications. I have been tasked with finding a card that will handle both. If the PCI-E is not a x16 slot, I should probably find a PCI-X card which is my next best option. In this arena I have found the following:

- XFX GeForce FX 5200 / 128MB DDR (can tell if this has the 128 bit interface)
http://www.tigerdire...33850&CatId=319
- SAPPHIRE 100112-BK Radeon 9250 128MB DDR PCI Video Card
- SAPPHIRE 100114-BK Radeon 9250 256MB DDR PCI Video Card

In deciding between these, which should I choose if my PCI-e slot is not x16?

Thanks,

Tomasina

[bmc2k7]

The 5200 is a better bet, I have owned them, used them and they have performed very well for the price and limited market of PCI slot cards. The 9250 is weak non-directX 9 card. The 256mb is especially worthless as that much ram is not needed and really goes unused also the 128mb version of the card usually performs about the same for a lower cost. Also PCI-X slots are Higher Speed PCI slots as they are also backwards compatible with older PCI cards unlike PCI-e which a totally new kind of slot. This is for people that don't know what they are. Do not fear switching to ATI cards...they are all equivilents of different brands and perform almost identically to its Nvidia counterpart. For instance the 6200TC is equivilent to the X300se with Hyper Memory. Honestly though I am a bit biased twoards ATI as the cost to performance ratio is usually better. If you really want an nvidia of similair status here it is http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814121193 It costs a little bit more and doesn't have as much onboard memory (64mb). To answer your other question the 128-bit interface allows the card to process graphics aplications that demand a more advanced graphics engine (up to 128-bit which a majority of graphics programs and games advise you to have) For example an NES (old school nintendos) Have an 8-bit graphics interface opposed to the XBOX which has a 128-bit graphics interface. The higher the interface the better a graphics card will process the visual information.

Edited by bmc2k7, 12 July 2005 - 03:25 PM.