Best PCI video card?

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Biggrich76

Limp Gawd
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Mar 16, 2005
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I am building a dual Xeon system soon but the motherboard doesn't have an AGP or PCI-X slot so I'm considering getting a "good" PCI video card. Can anyone post some specs and test results of the top of the line PCI video card (game benchmarks, 3dMark scores, etc.)? Thanks in advance.
 
This is one of the questions that we always end up answering the same way, it should be in FAQ.

The FX 5700 LE is the best PCI card out there.
And by today's standards it is not very good at all.

If you don't like Nvidia, ATI's most adavanced PCI card is the 9200 SE.
 
mentok1982 said:
If you don't like Nvidia, ATI's most adavanced PCI card is the 9200 SE.
Click to expand...


Correction, I believe the 9250's a bit better . . . and it comes with 256mb of RAM. Useless!

Edit: I second the "I hope you're not planning on doing any high-end gaming". Actually, edit that to "I hope you're not planning on doing any 3d gaming . . . at all." My 9250s support DX8.1, but they have trouble (well, not --trouble--, per se, but . . . it's a bit laggy) displaying single 3d objects when I do map editing and whatnot for games like UT2004. However, they rock with the 2d.
 
I've used ATI 9100, 9000, and nVidia FX5200 PCI cards and they work fine for games up to UT2K3 @ 1024x768 (this is on a [email protected] with 1gig of RAM). UT2K4 is OK, but you have to drop to 800x600. I doubt Doom 3 or anything newer would be playable over the PCI bus.
 
Also, unless your goal is to play directx 9 games (which, again, is not recommended), the 256MB 9250 is just as good as the 5700LE, especially for the price. I also suggest this be put into the FAQ. I think this is the 4th time in 2 weeks I have seen this question.
 
BigBadBiologist said:
I've used ATI 9100, 9000, and nVidia FX5200 PCI cards and they work fine for games up to UT2K3 @ 1024x768 (this is on a [email protected] with 1gig of RAM). UT2K4 is OK, but you have to drop to 800x600. I doubt Doom 3 or anything newer would be playable over the PCI bus.
Click to expand...


Wow . . . those are higher numbers than I would've expected.

I will investigate when I return to my dwelling place!

Edit: Maybe play some BF2 at 64x48 :) ?
 
You could always OC the 5700LE, but the PCI bus is probably more of a limiting factor there.
 
The PCI bus is total crap for playing newer games. This thread should be taken out back and shot. Horray for progress. :p

I read somewhere that because PCI does not use GART it has nowhere near the performance of and AGP device.
 
Every two or three days we get this question: "Which PCI card best"? Is there some kind of conspiracy going on?
 
mentok1982 said:
If you don't like Nvidia, ATI's most adavanced PCI card is the 9200 SE.
Click to expand...

Uh, the SE has ultra-low memory bandwidth and outright SUCKS compared to the 9200 (no letters), and the 9250, not to mention the 9200 pro.
 
forumposter32 said:
Every two or three days we get this question: "Which PCI card best"? Is there some kind of conspiracy going on?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a conspiracy! All your PCI are belong to us!

I did see some of the other threads but (like this one) nobody posted any gaming benchmarks for comparison. I was really trying to get a view of how well one of these cards would perform compared to a Ti4200. Although, in order to use the Ti4200 I would have to buy a new mobo with AGP and new SCSI controller.
 
Dual Xeon? Are you trying to build a gaming rig out of a server? It may be best to explain what you are looking for and what you plan on doing, as you don't need to have a 'good' video card for a server.
 
RogerX said:
Wow, so it has on-board video? watch out that you turn it off or set Init PCI video first in the BIOS or you will likely experience issues. :) (Speaking from experience.)

The fastest PCI 3D card ever made is the nVidia FX 5700 series. I hope you're not planning to do any high-end gaming! :)

Link is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139166
Click to expand...


I thought they did a 5900 Ultra PCI
 
Firebot said:
Dual Xeon? Are you trying to build a gaming rig out of a server? It may be best to explain what you are looking for and what you plan on doing, as you don't need to have a 'good' video card for a server.
Click to expand...

Well, it's mainly going to be used for media storage and Audio/Video encoding but I would also like to be able to use it as a backup gaming rig. I currently have a A64 3200+ system as my main and a P4 2.4C system as my backup/server. I think I will sell my P4 system to make more room (or convert it into an HTPC) so I wanted to be able to use the Xeon as a backup gaming rig as well.
 
The Xenons are going to be way worse than the 2.4C for gaming. Personally, I think for what you're using it for, you should just stick with the 2.4C. The Xenon's and i's MoBo are going to stink for every thing you want to use them for except for being a server and they're really expensive.

The is no such thing as a good PCI card. And if there was it would be useless because of the low bandwidth.
 
Biggrich76 said:
Yes, it is a conspiracy! All your PCI are belong to us!

I did see some of the other threads but (like this one) nobody posted any gaming benchmarks for comparison. I was really trying to get a view of how well one of these cards would perform compared to a Ti4200. Although, in order to use the Ti4200 I would have to buy a new mobo with AGP and new SCSI controller.
Click to expand...
From one of my previous posts on this topic:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=1238
I'll leave it up to you to find the 4200 numbers. Shouldn't be too hard.
 
All your oil are belong to us is a popular phrase on the Internet. Don't know why.

Well, if server machines are no good for gaming then maybe you'll end up looking at a mobo with PCI-E. In that case, a X700 Pro would be minimum I think.
 
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