ATI Radeon 9250 vs Nvidia 5200

First, here is my system (relevent specs only):

- HP Pavilion 514n
- 2.2 Ghz Celeron Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Internal Intel 845GL chipset
- 3 PCI expansion slots
- 17 inch ViewSonic VA800 monitor
- Operating system is Windows XP (or in another bootable partition,
Fedora Core Linux)

Without further modification the 845GL chipset handles all the video
for the system as well as performing a number of other tasks,
supposedly simultaneously.

Last year about this time (late November) I decided to upgrade the
video. My local Circuit City installed an ATI Radeon 9250 for me. It
was great. I could get higher resolutions than what was available from
the 845GL alone (I prefer to work with a 1280x1024 screen). Scrolling
down long pages while browsing the Internet was quick and snappy. And
I could play or try out games I could not even run before.

But two weeks ago the ATI card stopped working. The video went all
haywire. And, for whatever reason, the PC refused to install ATI
drivers, new or old.

I'm a physically disabled person. Packing up the PC and hauling it
back to Circuit City or Best Buy myself is not an option (visiting out
of town relatives helped me haul the PC off to Circuit City for last
year's upgrade). So I called one of those
we-come-to-your-house-to-fix-your-PC outfits. It cost me $129 to have
the PC's video returned to reliance on the 845GL chipset ($30 for the
home visit, $99 for a portion of an hour's work). The technician also
could not get any ATI drivers to load. He said it was a common and
well-known problem.

After some discussion the technician recommended an Nvidia card. He
estimated a new card would cost $150 to $200. He would also have to
charge me another $129 for coming to the house and installing the new
card. An estimated total of $279 to $329.

I ended up not doing more business with that outfit. But did take the
advice of acquiring an Nvidia card. After checking out Circuit City's
and Best Buy's websites it turned out the only Nvidia card I could find
which would work with my HP's old-style PCI slots was an Nvidia Geforce
5200. Which I acquired at my local Best Buy for $82.

Unfortunately, this card is clearly inferior to my previous ATI card.
Since the Nvidia is older technology, I installed the newest drivers.
I also used the Windows XP Device Manager to disable the HP's built-in
Intel graphics controller.

The Nvidia card seems to work ok for ordinary screen reading stuff
(like wordprocessing or internet browsing), though pages scroll down in
an annoying wavy manner; not at all like with the ATI card. It does
give me a good 1280 x 1024 resolution. But there are problems:

- The Windows Device Manager clearly lists the card, but says the card
will not start.
- Long pages viewed on the Internet scroll up or down in a slow, wavy
manner.
- The Nvidia Control Panel is nowhere to be found.
- Games I was able to play with the ATI card (Diablo II, Civilization
IV, and Age of Empires III Demo) will not run. One reports the 256 MB
card has no RAM.

And the three manufacturers involved are absolutely no help.

Nvidia allows you to submit questions, but makes it clear on its
website it will only answer those it deems worthy of their attention.
When and if they feel like it.

Even if you register with HP so you can send them an e-mail they
repeatedly loose your information, forget who you are, ask you again to
register, and ask you if you want information about a totally different
computer model. I could not get their online chat service to work with
either Firefox or IE7.

And PNY.com, distributors of the 5200, provide no means to submit
questions. All three eagerly offer up totally useless FAQs which don't
go near my problems.

I don't know about you, but I won't be buying any more Nvidia cards or
systems containing Nvidia cards. I do plan to buy a new PC with my
expected March income tax return. But it won't be an HP and it will
likely contain an ATI video card.

"Tim O'Laguna" wrote in
ps.com:

First, here is my system (relevent specs only):

- HP Pavilion 514n
- 2.2 Ghz Celeron Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Internal Intel 845GL chipset
- 3 PCI expansion slots
- 17 inch ViewSonic VA800 monitor
- Operating system is Windows XP (or in another bootable partition,
Fedora Core Linux)

Without further modification the 845GL chipset handles all the video
for the system as well as performing a number of other tasks,
supposedly simultaneously.

Last year about this time (late November) I decided to upgrade the
video. My local Circuit City installed an ATI Radeon 9250 for me. It
was great. I could get higher resolutions than what was available from
the 845GL alone (I prefer to work with a 1280x1024 screen). Scrolling
down long pages while browsing the Internet was quick and snappy. And
I could play or try out games I could not even run before.

But two weeks ago the ATI card stopped working. The video went all
haywire. And, for whatever reason, the PC refused to install ATI
drivers, new or old.

I'm a physically disabled person. Packing up the PC and hauling it
back to Circuit City or Best Buy myself is not an option (visiting out
of town relatives helped me haul the PC off to Circuit City for last
year's upgrade).

You might check and see if there's a local PC Users group, all volunteer
support in my group we help people with problems free of charge..Santa
Barbara CA PC users group here...been doings so since the XT's-
AT's....ummm what city/state are you?

Sometimes A Good Way To Fix A PC Is To Go To Bed

While falling off to sleep last night an idea occurred to me; why not
try restoring the PC to a previous state before I started having
problems?

This morning I tried that first thing. I restored the PC to the state
it was in on November 4. And it worked.

- Now my Nvidia supported graphics are sharp and snappy.
- Pages appear and scroll instantly or as expected.
- And my favorite games are working again!

Restoring to an earlier point evidently restored a Microsoft signed
Nvidia driver I had apparently erased when trying to resolve my ATI
card problems. The newer (and older) drivers I tried evidently won't
work with my HP Pavilion 514n system.

So now I humbly take back all the bad things I said about Nvidia. If I
get a new PC with my expected tax returns it will now likely include a
shiny new Nvidia card. My deepest thanks are extended to all my new
friends who helped me with my problems. I really appreciate the
advice, guidance, and new knowledge I have gained through this
experience.

Thanks specifically for the advice about finding a local PC users
group. I'll look into that. I live just south of Sacramento,
California.

Yer Welcome wrote:
"Tim O'Laguna" wrote in
ps.com:

First, here is my system (relevent specs only):

- HP Pavilion 514n
- 2.2 Ghz Celeron Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Internal Intel 845GL chipset
- 3 PCI expansion slots
- 17 inch ViewSonic VA800 monitor
- Operating system is Windows XP (or in another bootable partition,
Fedora Core Linux)

Without further modification the 845GL chipset handles all the video
for the system as well as performing a number of other tasks,
supposedly simultaneously.

Last year about this time (late November) I decided to upgrade the
video. My local Circuit City installed an ATI Radeon 9250 for me. It
was great. I could get higher resolutions than what was available from
the 845GL alone (I prefer to work with a 1280x1024 screen). Scrolling
down long pages while browsing the Internet was quick and snappy. And
I could play or try out games I could not even run before.

But two weeks ago the ATI card stopped working. The video went all
haywire. And, for whatever reason, the PC refused to install ATI
drivers, new or old.

I'm a physically disabled person. Packing up the PC and hauling it
back to Circuit City or Best Buy myself is not an option (visiting out
of town relatives helped me haul the PC off to Circuit City for last
year's upgrade).

You might check and see if there's a local PC Users group, all volunteer
support in my group we help people with problems free of charge..Santa
Barbara CA PC users group here...been doings so since the XT's-
AT's....ummm what city/state are you?

"Tim O'Laguna" wrote in
oups.com:

Sometimes A Good Way To Fix A PC Is To Go To Bed


Thanks specifically for the advice about finding a local PC users
group. I'll look into that. I live just south of Sacramento,
California.


http://www.sacpcug.org/

Sacramento PC Users Group
Computer Users Helping Computer Users



BTW I just retired a Winfast/Nvivia AGP GF2 mx400 Dual head Pro for an Ati
9250 AGP Dual head...and installed a fan for the GPUs didn't come with one


Dtemp - hard drive temperatures monitor freewaretake a look

http://private.peterlink.ru/tochinov/

I'm an ATI fan.....but.
I would rather have a Nvidia based 5200 (hardware supports Direct X 9) over
an ATI based 9250 (hardware supports Direct X 8).
Also the 9250 has 64 bit memory access, 5200 (ultra version) has 128 bit
memory access.
And I'm of the option that PNY makes good quality cards.

For the price you paid for the new card, you could have gotten 2 used ones
off EBay.
(and I'm sure at least one of them would be in good working order)

Even after you've uninstalled the ATI software
There still could be ATI stuff floating around in your computer.
Which might contribute to your problem(s)
Use the program Driver Cleaner Pro to clear out what the normal uninstall
does not get.
http://www.drivercleaner.net/professional.php

Also go into the BIOS and disable things you do not need, like Serial or
Parallel ports, etc.
(if you do not use them)
See if you can turn off the integrated graphics in the BIOS, even better
then using device manger.
Free up your computers IRQs, Windows XP works with devices sharing IRQs.
But I would rather have each device to have their own IRQ (if possible).

Does your computer have all the current updates from Microsoft (Express &
Custom)
Do not download any Intel graphics software updates from Microsoft.
ATI asks/requires that you install .net Framework for their latest
drives/software.
Not sure about Nvidia.


"Tim O'Laguna" wrote in message
ps.com...
First, here is my system (relevent specs only):

- HP Pavilion 514n
- 2.2 Ghz Celeron Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Internal Intel 845GL chipset
- 3 PCI expansion slots
- 17 inch ViewSonic VA800 monitor
- Operating system is Windows XP (or in another bootable partition,
Fedora Core Linux)

Without further modification the 845GL chipset handles all the video
for the system as well as performing a number of other tasks,
supposedly simultaneously.

Last year about this time (late November) I decided to upgrade the
video. My local Circuit City installed an ATI Radeon 9250 for me. It
was great. I could get higher resolutions than what was available from
the 845GL alone (I prefer to work with a 1280x1024 screen). Scrolling
down long pages while browsing the Internet was quick and snappy. And
I could play or try out games I could not even run before.

But two weeks ago the ATI card stopped working. The video went all
haywire. And, for whatever reason, the PC refused to install ATI
drivers, new or old.

I'm a physically disabled person. Packing up the PC and hauling it
back to Circuit City or Best Buy myself is not an option (visiting out
of town relatives helped me haul the PC off to Circuit City for last
year's upgrade). So I called one of those
we-come-to-your-house-to-fix-your-PC outfits. It cost me $129 to have
the PC's video returned to reliance on the 845GL chipset ($30 for the
home visit, $99 for a portion of an hour's work). The technician also
could not get any ATI drivers to load. He said it was a common and
well-known problem.

After some discussion the technician recommended an Nvidia card. He
estimated a new card would cost $150 to $200. He would also have to
charge me another $129 for coming to the house and installing the new
card. An estimated total of $279 to $329.

I ended up not doing more business with that outfit. But did take the
advice of acquiring an Nvidia card. After checking out Circuit City's
and Best Buy's websites it turned out the only Nvidia card I could find
which would work with my HP's old-style PCI slots was an Nvidia Geforce
5200. Which I acquired at my local Best Buy for $82.

Unfortunately, this card is clearly inferior to my previous ATI card.
Since the Nvidia is older technology, I installed the newest drivers.
I also used the Windows XP Device Manager to disable the HP's built-in
Intel graphics controller.

The Nvidia card seems to work ok for ordinary screen reading stuff
(like wordprocessing or internet browsing), though pages scroll down in
an annoying wavy manner; not at all like with the ATI card. It does
give me a good 1280 x 1024 resolution. But there are problems:

- The Windows Device Manager clearly lists the card, but says the card
will not start.
- Long pages viewed on the Internet scroll up or down in a slow, wavy
manner.
- The Nvidia Control Panel is nowhere to be found.
- Games I was able to play with the ATI card (Diablo II, Civilization
IV, and Age of Empires III Demo) will not run. One reports the 256 MB
card has no RAM.

And the three manufacturers involved are absolutely no help.

Nvidia allows you to submit questions, but makes it clear on its
website it will only answer those it deems worthy of their attention.
When and if they feel like it.

Even if you register with HP so you can send them an e-mail they
repeatedly loose your information, forget who you are, ask you again to
register, and ask you if you want information about a totally different
computer model. I could not get their online chat service to work with
either Firefox or IE7.

And PNY.com, distributors of the 5200, provide no means to submit
questions. All three eagerly offer up totally useless FAQs which don't
go near my problems.

I don't know about you, but I won't be buying any more Nvidia cards or
systems containing Nvidia cards. I do plan to buy a new PC with my
expected March income tax return. But it won't be an HP and it will
likely contain an ATI video card.

"Frodo" wrote in
ink.net:

I'm an ATI fan.....but.
For the price you paid for the new card, you could have gotten 2 used
ones off EBay.
(and I'm sure at least one of them would be in good working order)


right you are the Diamond Stealth S85 I bought offa Ebay was $17.00 +4.95
postage....