ATi Radeon 9200 128MB vs. nVidia FX5200 128MB

[Syon]

My PC will be running an Athlon XP 2500+, 512 MB PC3200 RAM. Be doing alot of media/media creation/media editing/gaming.

Which would be better? 9200 or 5200. Both are the 128Mb with TV-Out versions. Looking for some pros/cons for each, and some technical jargon.

[Ultima]

If yer gonna be doin alot of gaming and all that, I suggest looking into the Radeon 9600 or the FX5600.

Cause frankly, the cards you named, are real budget cards.

I've tested both multiple times at work, and the 1st is worse then the 2nd one.

Both performed lower then 5800 in 3DMark2001SE when paired with XP2600 and 512Mb PC333 on an a7n8x.

Spend that little extra money, and you'll be a lot happier, trust me.

[iseeu_3]

ahmen Ultima

<shad>

[nurdonsite2]

i have the fx5200 and it worksa great even with new games i just bought (COD and NFS underground). im playing at 1024x768 resolution in both games. but i know nothing about the 9200.

[haxxorpoop]

COD and NFS arnt pixel-shaded intensive though...The FX5200 might be able to handle that, but can it handle HL2? Q3? Halo (currently the only game to pixle shade)?

ATI 9600s are the best budget card. < 250 CDN, and almost the same as the 9800.

[Syon]

NFS Underground is a retarded game though... no self-respecting car lover would be caught dead playing that ricer-game.

But as for this thread, i've decided on the 9600 pro 256, coupled with a ABit NF-2 board, the rest is the same as above.

[Xtreeme]

"but can it handle HL2? Q3? Halo (currently the only game to pixle shade)?"

Actually way way back when I got my G3. The first game to support Pixel Shaders came out to show off the G3's power. Giants Citizen Kubuto had pixel shaders. For the awsome looking shinny water in it. I have another game here that requires P shader to even run. I forget which title it was though. We tried it on my old G2 in a budget rig I built and the game said no P shaders present needs G3 or higher to run. LOL I forget what game it was now. NeverWinter Nights uses them for the shinny water effects also when its enabled. If its greyed out it means your card aint got it..