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" > wrote in message
. ..
> 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/

> > 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:
>>> 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 > 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.
>
> 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/...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" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> On Jun 24, 10:47 pm, Larry Lindstrom > 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:
> 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" > wrote in message
. ..
> 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
>