So I got an FX5200

.....without reading about it first :-(

Seemed like a bargain, it's going back!

Anyone able to offer an alternative for me? I have a Celeron 2.2GHz
processor, Intel IM845GL motherboard (NO AGP SLOT!) and 512MB
of memory.

I need:

a PCI card;
decent 2D image quality - most of what I do is web design and DTP
work, on a 1280x1024 TFT screen;
nVidia (I had a Radeon 9000 and while the performance was pretty
good, it cause delayed write errors on the hard drives - not a problem
I have had since removing it);

What's a decent PCI nVidia card, and how much should I pay for one?

Bryan Anderson

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 13:15:48 +0000, Bryan Anderson
wrote:

....without reading about it first :-(

Seemed like a bargain, it's going back!

Anyone able to offer an alternative for me? I have a Celeron 2.2GHz
processor, Intel IM845GL motherboard (NO AGP SLOT!) and 512MB
of memory.

I need:

a PCI card;
decent 2D image quality - most of what I do is web design and DTP
work, on a 1280x1024 TFT screen;
nVidia (I had a Radeon 9000 and while the performance was pretty
good, it cause delayed write errors on the hard drives - not a problem
I have had since removing it);

What's a decent PCI nVidia card, and how much should I pay for one?

Bryan Anderson

IIRC, there is one, and I mean *only* one, company out there that
actually makes a PCI card with the better FX 5600 on it. Otherwise,
you're stuck with all the budget stuff like the FX 5200 you already
got.

A bigger problem may be your processor. Your Celeron 2.2 is about on
the level of a P4 1.7.

Bryan Anderson wrote:
....without reading about it first :-(

Seemed like a bargain, it's going back!

Anyone able to offer an alternative for me? I have a Celeron 2.2GHz
processor, Intel IM845GL motherboard (NO AGP SLOT!) and 512MB
of memory.

Probably not what you want to hear but with the price of motherboards these
daya (ie, damn cheap) why not replace the board with one that has an AGP
slot to give you the options you require?



I need:

a PCI card;
decent 2D image quality - most of what I do is web design and DTP
work, on a 1280x1024 TFT screen;
nVidia (I had a Radeon 9000 and while the performance was pretty
good, it cause delayed write errors on the hard drives - not a problem
I have had since removing it);

What's a decent PCI nVidia card, and how much should I pay for one?

Bryan Anderson

....without reading about it first :-(

Seemed like a bargain, it's going back!

Anyone able to offer an alternative for me? I have a Celeron 2.2GHz
processor, Intel IM845GL motherboard (NO AGP SLOT!) and 512MB
of memory.

Probably not what you want to hear but with the price of motherboards
these
daya (ie, damn cheap) why not replace the board with one that has an AGP
slot to give you the options you require?

There are still some good PCI cards out there suitable for 2D DTP.

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 12:10:06 -0600
Indiana wrote:

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 13:15:48 +0000, Bryan Anderson
wrote:

....without reading about it first :-(

Seemed like a bargain, it's going back!

Anyone able to offer an alternative for me? I have a Celeron 2.2GHz
processor, Intel IM845GL motherboard (NO AGP SLOT!) and 512MB
of memory.

I need:

a PCI card;
decent 2D image quality - most of what I do is web design and DTP
work, on a 1280x1024 TFT screen;
nVidia (I had a Radeon 9000 and while the performance was pretty
good, it cause delayed write errors on the hard drives - not a
problem I have had since removing it);

What's a decent PCI nVidia card, and how much should I pay for one?

Bryan Anderson

IIRC, there is one, and I mean *only* one, company out there that
actually makes a PCI card with the better FX 5600 on it.

I'm curious--have you found a reliable statement that that board is in
fact PCI? I've found the board listed on a few Web sites but looking at
other stuff the sites I found list, it wouldn't surprise me to
find that what they're really selling is an elephant's foot
umbrella stand that they've somehow mislabelled. The manufacturer's
site doesn't give much description and doesn't say PCI explicitly, at
least not for the board I found listed, but perhaps you're thinking of a
different board.

Otherwise,
you're stuck with all the budget stuff like the FX 5200 you already
got.

A bigger problem may be your processor. Your Celeron 2.2 is about on
the level of a P4 1.7.



--
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Sunday, cowboyz wrote:

Probably not what you want to hear but with the price of motherboards
these daya (ie, damn cheap) why not replace the board with one that
has an AGP slot to give you the options you require?

That was the answer I was getting round to admitting to myself. I know
Windows inside out, am getting good with Linux but as far as hardware
goes....my limits have been adding ram and a new hard drive!

I can't afford to upgrade the processor/memory at the moment, so I
would have to look for a motherboard that took the Celeron 2.2 that I
have and the memory that I have, but would allow me to upgrade these
later to a 'real' Pentium4.

I don't need on-board sound, video or firewire. I do need Lan and USB2
but they could be added later.

Any ideas for a decent (ie low!) price option that would do the job?

Bryan Anderson

On Saturday, Mark A wrote:

There are still some good PCI cards out there suitable for 2D DTP.

I have no problem at all with this FX5200 for the 2D stuff. General
Windows work, graphics and office, etc - it's fine. It's only when I
try a more graphics-intensive game that I hit problems. Oh...and
if I try a demo - I tried the Dawn demo from nVidia...it even says
on the web page that it's for FX5200 cards.....hard to count, but I
don't think I was getting more that three frames per second!

I'm sure it's a combination of the card, the PCI bus and my 2.2Ghz
Celery processor and not only the fault of the card, but it does mean
I'm on the lookout for (a) a new motherboard/processor/video card
and (b) some cash to pay for it all!

Bryan Anderson

On Saturday, Indiana wrote:

A bigger problem may be your processor. Your Celeron 2.2 is
about on the level of a P4 1.7.

I am getting round to that way of thinking. I've seen an offer for a
new motherboard, Athlon XP 2500 and memory that I can just about
squeeze into the budget (if the kids don't eat this month!).

Out of interest - is there any benchmarking software that will look at
the video results and determine whether the problem is with the video
card, processor, memory or PCI bus? So that I can pin it down a bit
more before I commit to spending my hard-earned?

Bryan Anderson

Bryan Anderson wrote:
On Sunday, cowboyz wrote:

Probably not what you want to hear but with the price of motherboards
these daya (ie, damn cheap) why not replace the board with one that
has an AGP slot to give you the options you require?

That was the answer I was getting round to admitting to myself. I know
Windows inside out, am getting good with Linux but as far as hardware
goes....my limits have been adding ram and a new hard drive!

well thats half way there. honestly. A 3 year olds jigsaw is harder than
putting a PC together these days.


I can't afford to upgrade the processor/memory at the moment, so I
would have to look for a motherboard that took the Celeron 2.2 that I
have and the memory that I have, but would allow me to upgrade these
later to a 'real' Pentium4.

I am an AMD fan really. Actually AMD/Nvidia. I haven't even looked at
another combo in years. Bias I know but it works for me. But if you can't
afford a new motherboard now then wait till the cash builds up a bit and get
a combo deal. Better than throwing money at a PCI card that is just going
to **** you off at the end of the day.


I don't need on-board sound, video or firewire. I do need Lan and USB2
but they could be added later.

Any ideas for a decent (ie low!) price option that would do the job?


Bryan Anderson

On Sunday, cowboyz wrote:

I am an AMD fan really. Actually AMD/Nvidia. I haven't even
looked at another combo in years. Bias I know but it works for
me. But if you can't afford a new motherboard now then wait
till the cash builds up a bit and get a combo deal. Better than
throwing money at a PCI card that is just going to **** you off
at the end of the day.

I've done some hunting around today and this is one that caught my
eye:

http://www.savastore.com/products/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=Savastore&product%5Fid= 10261463&pid=1

It's a package of the motherboard, processor and memory and seems
to be a good trade-off of price against performance. Do you know if
I'll see much of an overall system performance going from a Celery
2.2 to and Athlon XP2400?

Anyway - something like this, with a new case and PSU will be my
start point for the new year. Hope to then look around for a decent,
mid-range AGP card to then get the most out of it.

Bryan Anderson