Good Video Card For Modest Machine?

Hi Folks: I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers are third party. They work OK. I lost a drive and need to re-install Win 2000 and a new version of Solaris, so perhaps this would be a good time to look at a newer video card. This isn't my gaming machine, but if someone comes over to the house, it might be nice to fire this up for some multi player. I would like to get a card that would make it the best gaming machine it can be, and I'm thinking some of the cards that shoulder the burden of Direct X and OpenGL could breath a little more life into the old dog. These have been out a few years, and I'm thinking yesterdays bleeding edge are probably affordable now. What would you recommend? Thanks Larry

"Larry Lindstrom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (7 lines)

> Hi Folks: > > I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's > a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it > years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers > are third party. They work OK. >

My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight Simulator 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron 3D - that the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. Hope that helps. -- MJB Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop: http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/

Quoted text (21 lines)

> > Hi Folks: > > > I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's > > a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it > > years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers > > are third party. They work OK. > > My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. > > http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ > > It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight Simulator > 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron 3D - that > the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. > > Hope that helps. > > -- > MJB > > Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/

Just going to agree there. I had a 5200 for a long time, they do struggle with some games these days, but for a "modest system" it's a nice, modest video card.

Tim Wheatley wrote:

Quoted text (24 lines)

>>> Hi Folks: >>> I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's >>> a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it >>> years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers >>> are third party. They work OK. >> My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. >> >> http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ >> >> It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight Simulator >> 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron 3D - that >> the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. >> >> Hope that helps. >> >> -- >> MJB >> >> Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/ > > Just going to agree there. I had a 5200 for a long time, they do > struggle with some games these days, but for a "modest system" it's a > nice, modest video card. >

Thanks MJB and Tim: I didn't mention, the old PC uses AGP. This card seems to be going for around $30.00. Solaris has drivers for GeForce and Radions, text is important. This P3/600 isn't my primary machine for anything, but it does work for a living. That's a great price, but now I'm wondering. While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. What designated by the FX, MX, XE, LE and other alpabet soup? Am I correct that these cards don't just support DX9 and OpenGL, they run the interfaces? Can I see improvements with the 5200 and more improvement with more powerful cards? How far up the GeForce, or Radion, product line can I go, and get worthwhile improvements? At what point does my old computer's performance become the limiting factor? If the 5200 is the sweet spot then that's what I want. It sounds like I've asked you for your advice, and now I want to ignore it, but I do appreciate the effort you have taken to help me. Thanks Larry

On Jun 24, 10:47 pm, Larry Lindstrom <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (58 lines)

> Tim Wheatley wrote: > >>> Hi Folks: > >>> I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's > >>> a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it > >>> years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers > >>> are third party. They work OK. > >> My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. > > >>http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ > > >> It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight Simulator > >> 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron 3D - that > >> the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. > > >> Hope that helps. > > >> -- > >> MJB > > >> Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/ > > > Just going to agree there. I had a 5200 for a long time, they do > > struggle with some games these days, but for a "modest system" it's a > > nice, modest video card. > > Thanks MJB and Tim: > > I didn't mention, the old PC uses AGP. > > This card seems to be going for around $30.00. > > Solaris has drivers for GeForce and Radions, text is > important. This P3/600 isn't my primary machine for anything, > but it does work for a living. > > That's a great price, but now I'm wondering. > > While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get > for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. > > What designated by the FX, MX, XE, LE and other alpabet soup? > > Am I correct that these cards don't just support DX9 and > OpenGL, they run the interfaces? Can I see improvements with > the 5200 and more improvement with more powerful cards? > > How far up the GeForce, or Radion, product line can I go, > and get worthwhile improvements? At what point does my old > computer's performance become the limiting factor? > > If the 5200 is the sweet spot then that's what I want. > > It sounds like I've asked you for your advice, and now I > want to ignore it, but I do appreciate the effort you have > taken to help me. > > Thanks > Larry

I suggest you visit Tom's Hardware Larry, this link should be really useful: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/11/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/

Larry Lindstrom wrote: > While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get > for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. Can you permit me to use that quotation as a signature? I like it. -- Stupot http://insignity.blogspot.com

You can't get any sort of decent gaming experience on a P3 so I wouldn't bother trying. If you want to play some very basic (or old) games, a GeForce 6200 would suffice. If you don't mind going second-hand (ie. Ebay), you could get an old Radeon 9800 or 9700 for a little more. These a way ahead of the 5200/6200/9200 cards and would probably be the best bet. If you are feeling flush, you could get a 7800GS or an X1950 on AGP - both would cost a couple of hundred dollars probably. But in this case, your CPU and RAM would become a bottleneck.

"Tim Wheatley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (34 lines)

> On Jun 24, 10:47 pm, Larry Lindstrom <[email hidden]> wrote: >> Tim Wheatley wrote: >> >>> Hi Folks: >> >>> I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's >> >>> a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it >> >>> years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers >> >>> are third party. They work OK. >> >> My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. >> >> >>http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ >> >> >> It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight >> >> Simulator >> >> 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron 3D - >> >> that >> >> the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. >> >> >> Hope that helps. >> >> >> -- >> >> MJB >> >> >> Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting >> >> Workshop:http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/ >> >> > Just going to agree there. I had a 5200 for a long time, they do >> > struggle with some games these days, but for a "modest system" it's a >> > nice, modest video card. >> >> Thanks MJB and Tim: >> >> I didn't mention, the old PC uses AGP. >> >> This card seems to be going for around $30.00.

I got mine for free when one of my friend's upgraded his box. And it fit and ran beautifully in my P3 box. >> >> Solaris has drivers for GeForce and Radions, text is >> important. This P3/600 isn't my primary machine for anything, >> but it does work for a living. I keep a win98 box around because I have a bunch of software I need for on-going projects that I cannot install on winXP. Plus I like having a retro-gaming box handy. >> >> That's a great price, but now I'm wondering. >> >> While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get >> for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. Just make certain your power supply will run it. I had to swap the power supply out of my XP box for a much bigger one when I installed my Nividia 6800 GT. Followed then by a couple of new fans to deal with all the extra heat being generated. I didn't have to do anything special to make the 5200 FX run in the P3 / 800 box. >> >> What designated by the FX, MX, XE, LE and other alpabet soup? Hell, I have no idea. I figure it's mostly just to confuse the customer into buying a lesser card for more money than it's worth... >> >> Am I correct that these cards don't just support DX9 and >> OpenGL, they run the interfaces? Can I see improvements with >> the 5200 and more improvement with more powerful cards? Yes. And yes. But will your P3/600 handle a more powerful card without shutting down due to lack of power or over-heating? >> >> How far up the GeForce, or Radion, product line can I go, >> and get worthwhile improvements? At what point does my old >> computer's performance become the limiting factor? Beats the crap out of me. Like I said earlier, the 5200 FX was a gift. I just know it was a big improvement over the original card and allowed me to pretty much run all my win98 games at a very high detail level. But then I've also got all the memory my P3 motherboard can handle. >> >> If the 5200 is the sweet spot then that's what I want. The 5200 is a 'modest' card. Whether or not it is the 'sweet spot' is dependant entirely upon what your computer can handle. Which you can only discover by actually buying a card and seeing if it will work properly. Or you do a lot of research on a site like Tom's hardware. But even that won't help sometimes. I bought my 6800 GT video card and my XP box met all the requirments for the card - but it didn't work properly until I installed a new power supply and a lot more cooling. And Tom's Hardware didn't tell me that... <weak grin> >> >> It sounds like I've asked you for your advice, and now I >> want to ignore it, but I do appreciate the effort you have >> taken to help me. What effort? I have a P3/800 and it's running a Nividia 5200 and you have a P3/600... I do think your agonizing a little too much over four or five dollars in difference. Especially when it's not your primary computer... <grin> -- MJB Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop: http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/

Stuart Chapman wrote:

Quoted text (7 lines)

> Larry Lindstrom wrote: > >> While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get >> for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. > > Can you permit me to use that quotation as a signature? I like it. >

Hi Stuart: Clever site. Sure, you can use it. Larry

I found a 5900xt to be faster then a 6200 or a 5200... Should be real cheap these days... "Larry Lindstrom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (26 lines)

> Hi Folks: > > I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's > a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it > years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers > are third party. They work OK. > > I lost a drive and need to re-install Win 2000 and a new > version of Solaris, so perhaps this would be a good time to look > at a newer video card. > > This isn't my gaming machine, but if someone comes over to the > house, it might be nice to fire this up for some multi player. I > would like to get a card that would make it the best gaming > machine it can be, and I'm thinking some of the cards that > shoulder the burden of Direct X and OpenGL could breath a little > more life into the old dog. > > These have been out a few years, and I'm thinking yesterdays > bleeding edge are probably affordable now. > > What would you recommend? > > Thanks > Larry >

Geforce 6600GT. 'Nuff said.

I had my p2 1000mhz Abit BHX machine, with a nice geforce2 mx 64 meg card, the PC had at least a 512 m of memory, more like 768 if I recall, but that is hard. I then bought me a nice used geforce 6800 with 128 meg ram, and IMHO I did NOT see much performance increase. BTW I took that vid card to a p3 2.4 ghz (400 fsb) and saw a huge improvement. last thing I did was buy a GF 7800 gs with 256 (all are agp versions) again no gain in perfomance (framerates especially) to speak of (and again IMHO) so the next machine became a nice cheap Conroe 2.3ghz machine on a cheapo but nice Abit Dual Vista (because it has both AGP and PCI-e slot, even though the PCI-e only goes up to 4x, the AGP is fairly well polished setup. again this machine screams nicely with that 7800 card even today. In other words, my experience is you mightfind you are more "processor limited" than gfx card limited with them old PC's. MJB wrote:

Quoted text (113 lines)

> "Tim Wheatley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> On Jun 24, 10:47 pm, Larry Lindstrom <[email hidden]> wrote: >>> Tim Wheatley wrote: >>>>>> Hi Folks: >>>>>> I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's >>>>>> a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it >>>>>> years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers >>>>>> are third party. They work OK. >>>>> My win98 computer is a P3/800 and I've got a Nivida 5200 FX in it. >>> >>>>> http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia-nv34/ >>> >>>>> It's run every flight simulator - European Air War, Combat Flight >>>>> Simulator >>>>> 2, Mig Alley and the Full Canvas Jacket super-patch for Red Baron >>>>> 3D - that >>>>> the old box can handle. Plus it's also DX9 compatible. >>> >>>>> Hope that helps. >>> >>>>> -- >>>>> MJB >>> >>>>> Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting >>>>> Workshop:http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/ >>> >>>> Just going to agree there. I had a 5200 for a long time, they do >>>> struggle with some games these days, but for a "modest system" >>>> it's a nice, modest video card. >>> >>> Thanks MJB and Tim: >>> >>> I didn't mention, the old PC uses AGP. >>> >>> This card seems to be going for around $30.00. > > I got mine for free when one of my friend's upgraded his box. And it > fit and ran beautifully in my P3 box. > >>> >>> Solaris has drivers for GeForce and Radions, text is >>> important. This P3/600 isn't my primary machine for anything, >>> but it does work for a living. > > I keep a win98 box around because I have a bunch of software I need > for on-going projects that I cannot install on winXP. Plus I like > having a retro-gaming box handy. > >>> >>> That's a great price, but now I'm wondering. >>> >>> While I certainly don't want to blow $500, what do I get >>> for a little more? Newegg has several 6200 cards for $37.00. > > Just make certain your power supply will run it. I had to swap the > power supply out of my XP box for a much bigger one when I installed > my Nividia 6800 GT. Followed then by a couple of new fans to deal > with all the extra heat being generated. > > I didn't have to do anything special to make the 5200 FX run in the > P3 / 800 box. > >>> >>> What designated by the FX, MX, XE, LE and other alpabet soup? > > Hell, I have no idea. I figure it's mostly just to confuse the > customer into buying a lesser card for more money than it's worth... > >>> >>> Am I correct that these cards don't just support DX9 and >>> OpenGL, they run the interfaces? Can I see improvements with >>> the 5200 and more improvement with more powerful cards? > > Yes. And yes. But will your P3/600 handle a more powerful card > without shutting down due to lack of power or over-heating? > >>> >>> How far up the GeForce, or Radion, product line can I go, >>> and get worthwhile improvements? At what point does my old >>> computer's performance become the limiting factor? > > Beats the crap out of me. Like I said earlier, the 5200 FX was a > gift. I just know it was a big improvement over the original card > and allowed me to pretty much run all my win98 games at a very high > detail level. But then I've also got all the memory my P3 > motherboard can handle. >>> >>> If the 5200 is the sweet spot then that's what I want. > > The 5200 is a 'modest' card. Whether or not it is the 'sweet spot' is > dependant entirely upon what your computer can handle. Which you can > only discover by actually buying a card and seeing if it will work > properly. Or you do a lot of research on a site like Tom's hardware. > But even that won't help sometimes. I bought my 6800 GT video card > and my XP box met all the requirments for the card - but it didn't > work properly until I installed a new power supply and a lot more > cooling. And Tom's Hardware didn't tell me that... > > <weak grin> > >>> >>> It sounds like I've asked you for your advice, and now I >>> want to ignore it, but I do appreciate the effort you have >>> taken to help me. > > What effort? I have a P3/800 and it's running a Nividia 5200 and you > have a P3/600... > > I do think your agonizing a little too much over four or five dollars > in difference. Especially when it's not your primary computer... > > <grin>

Deys all pretty much good now. "Larry Lindstrom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (26 lines)

> Hi Folks: > > I have an old P3/600 with a Voodoo video card. I think it's > a 5500 something or other, top of the line card when I got it > years ago. But, as you know, 3DFX is long gone and the drivers > are third party. They work OK. > > I lost a drive and need to re-install Win 2000 and a new > version of Solaris, so perhaps this would be a good time to look > at a newer video card. > > This isn't my gaming machine, but if someone comes over to the > house, it might be nice to fire this up for some multi player. I > would like to get a card that would make it the best gaming > machine it can be, and I'm thinking some of the cards that > shoulder the burden of Direct X and OpenGL could breath a little > more life into the old dog. > > These have been out a few years, and I'm thinking yesterdays > bleeding edge are probably affordable now. > > What would you recommend? > > Thanks > Larry >