Geforce fx 5600 128 meg ultra vs 256 meg reg

[Clive0rz]

compareable in price 256 is like 8 more...umm im under the assumption that the ultra is faster but 256 would have more power...im leaning towards 256 any suggestions?

[brzilian]

This is for a DAW?

[Nick Driver]

The GeForce FX 5x00 series is a gamers video card. It is optimized for 3D acceleration in games. Its Windows application 2D picture quality (what you'll be looking at in DAW apps, wave editors, etc) is rather fuzzy and dull looking. I had a FX 5200 128MB Ultra for about two weeks. It was the biggest waste of money I ever spent on a video card. It wasn't even that good in games either. I quickly replaced it with an ATI Radeon 9500 128MB card which is even faster in the 3D games, has sharp, crisp and vivid color in Windows 2D apps, supports dual monitors (vga and DVI) plus has video inputs and outputs for S-video television capture and output too.

My advice, get a cheap ATI Radeon 9500 or a Matrox instead and apply the difference in money towards more system ram or faster cpu instead.

[This message has been edited by Nick Driver (edited 08-31-2003).]

[wogg]

What Nick said...

And then, from a gaming perspective, the 256Mb cards are just marketing hype for now. Games cannot take advantage of the extra memory unless you're running at 1600x1200 with FSAA. At which point even the $400 cards will be slowing down. 128Mb will be plenty for another couple of years IMO.

[Polaris]

If you want a card that can play games well, but plan to use it for a DAW, get either the 9600 or 9800 Pro version of the Ultimate card.

They have heatsinks, not fans.

[Clive0rz]

ok so i can get a raedon...but one question i ordered a mobo with an nforce2 chipset will a raedon be a bad idea then?

[Polaris]

Originally posted by Clive0rz:
ok so i can get a raedon...but one question i ordered a mobo with an nforce2 chipset will a raedon be a bad idea then?

Why? It's not like a car where you have to have a Nissan engine for a Nissan car.

True, some puter parts don't work well together, but you shouldn't have an issue with the ATI/nForce2 combo.

Lots of guys at the Sharkey forums run this way.

[Clive0rz]

I didnt tihnk they were incompatable im just woindering how much nvidia had a leg up withthe chhipset - im not too comp literate and couldnt find any decent mobos with an ATI chip

[Polaris]

Originally posted by Clive0rz:
I didnt tihnk they were incompatable im just woindering how much nvidia had a leg up withthe chhipset - im not too comp literate and couldnt find any decent mobos with an ATI chip

ATI makes chipsets, but I have heard little to nothing about them.

Better off sticking with nVidia.

[dawboxpro]

Stay away from cards with "Macho" ram sizes and huge heatsinks. They are an indication of a power hungry card. With todays Chips sucking down much voltage if you do not have a good power supply those kinds of cards will simply re-boot your machine out of the blue.

Can you say All in Wonder with a 300W PSU?

I thought you could!!
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

Digital Audio Done Right!

[bubba freaktree]

in my latest computer, i bought an 8x/128mb GeForce card, because my mobo is 8x. i didn't have any idea at all on the latest crop of 8x cards, so i just bought what the guy piecing together my order told me.

the card sucked. the drivers sucked, the picture sucked and it was causing my soundcard to glitch. then i found out from yoshi that you can put a 4x card in an 8x mobo, because they are usually backwards-compatible.

so i returned the lame new card, got another one of my trusty "boring" old cards. and all my problems went away.

the moral of the story is i don't think you want a lot of "excitement" with your video card. get something simple and solid that works.

another moral is to know your computer parts well. the other thing i didn't research was the "fan". i don't have enough opinions on it yet. the guy told me to get a zalman fan. well the thing is loud...lame. so i need to figure out a quiet fan.

so the two parts i didn't pre-research to death i got burned on. not a big deal financially, just an annoying hassle.

so my current batting average is 0 for 2 on just winging it on parts. but i hit one out of the park recently with my KVM switching device, so i'm pretty happy overall.

[This message has been edited by bubba freaktree (edited 09-03-2003).]

[Polaris]

Originally posted by dawboxpro:
Stay away from cards with "Macho" ram sizes and huge heatsinks. They are an indication of a power hungry card. With todays Chips sucking down much voltage if you do not have a good power supply those kinds of cards will simply re-boot your machine out of the blue.

Can you say All in Wonder with a 300W PSU?

I thought you could!!
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

Digital Audio Done Right!

Better to have a huge heatsink on your AGP than a huge fan.

[brzilian]

Originally posted by dawboxpro:
Stay away from cards with "Macho" ram sizes and huge heatsinks. They are an indication of a power hungry card. With todays Chips sucking down much voltage if you do not have a good power supply those kinds of cards will simply re-boot your machine out of the blue.

Can you say All in Wonder with a 300W PSU?

I thought you could!!
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

Digital Audio Done Right!

I'm just gonna keep repeating myself everytime you make that comment.

I had a AIW in a system with a 250W power supply for 3 years and never had the problems you describe.