GeForce3 > GeForceFX?

Here's a technical conundrum for the hardware wizards out there. I've been the happy owner of a GF3Ti500 for the past couple of years, but recently the fan began "chugging" and it had problems with the latest set of drivers, so i decided it was time to retire the old boy. And so i did. Since this was only going to be a temporary replacement card until i decided to upgrade my system, i went with an ultra cheap card from Aopen, a GeForceFX5200. Sporting 128mb of DDR RAM, as well as the FX architecture i figured it should atleast be an equal with the old card. It isn't. Not by a LONG shot.

So here's my question: Why in the nine hells is a card with twice the memory, better drivers and an enhanced design running worse than a 2-3 year old card? :bucky!:

Thats odd, I'm running an old Geforce3 200ti and I still havn't had any games I couldn't run smoothly with the excetption of DeusX2, guess Nvidia must have been doing something right back then.
As for your queston I'm gonna leave that to someone who is abit more "in the know".

Slight update, i decided to install Aopen's own "handwritten" drivers, thinking maybe it's one of those crazy cards that doesn't work with reference drivers(hey, it was worth a shot!). Get this, the drivers on Aopen's site ARE the reference drivers, and not only that, it's the 45.23 version. Jesus, if they're going to be using the reference drivers the least they can do is keep them updated.

SL, you made me cringe when you said you'd baught that FX5200, its nothing but shit, if i were you, try to trade it back in say, lie and say you dont have AGP support or something, i meen, the 5200 can bearly run DX9 games, even though thats apparently what it is designed for... if you can afford, or trade in, i suggest a 5600Ultra, or an ATI Radeon 9600XT (the 9600XT is my personal favirot Atm )

Why would i want to shell out for a 5600Ultra when i'm planning on upgrading the whole system to bleeding edge standards in a 3-4 months? That's why i bought the 5200, it's was simply meant as a temporary replacement for a rather noisy GF3Ti500, not as a permanent addition to my system. The fact that it is shit was something i was very much aware of, the fact that it was WORSE than a 3 year old supposedly inferior card, that was new.

If you had suggested an ATI card to me a couple of days ago, i would have raised my nose in the air and said: Nvidia rules! But given the quality of the 5200, maybe it's time to reconsider.......

Originally posted by Sarafan Lord@Dec 13 2003, 01:01 PM
If you had suggested an ATI card to me a couple of days ago, i would have raised my nose in the air and said: Nvidia rules! But given the quality of the 5200, maybe it's time to reconsider.......

Go read some reviews and see some benchmarks, and you'll soon realise how downhill nVidia have gone brining out the shoddy FX series, they even had to cheat on some occasions to get better scores <_<

Radeon 9000 Pro, pick one up somewhere around $90.

So far no one has answered Sarafan's question.

If you can return the 5200 for a full refund, I suggest you do so. Just clean up the Geforce3 Ti500. Buy some air-compressed-in-a-can and spray the fan. Or you could check out FrozenCPU's website and look under GPU coolers for a new fan.

Thanks, Orion, i'll go with your advice since it doesn't involve any further gambling on cheap cards. Luckily the store i bought the card from has a 72 hour no quibbles refund policy, so i should be able to return the card on Monday. Still annoying though, especially since i now have to revert back to the old GF3. I think one of the older replacement fans still has some life in it, maybe i can use that.......

I'm not ready to convert over to ATI just yet though. Seems to me like every other game out there requires a patch to deal with an ATI specific issue.

Well, I play Battlefield 1942, Desert Combat, Max Payne 2, Enter the Matrix, MOHAA, Red Faction 2, Freelancer, Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal 2, Command and Conquer: Generals, GTA: Vice City, Splinter Cell, and KOTOR and I never ever had to download anything to make any one of these games compatible with my ATI Radeon 9500 Pro nor with my ATI Radeon 9800 non Pro.

I am not loyal to either company but I highly suggest an ATI Radeon 9800 non Pro. I picked one up for $200 at Circuit City. So when you do decide to build your next system, I am sure you will be able to pick one up for around the same price or maybe even lower. Good luck buddy. :thumbup: