NVIDIA GeForce 5200 FX and Doom3 FPS (1 Viewer)

[Timon Russo]

I was a little sad to find that I had to run Doom3 at 640x480 to give me a playable frame rate. But I just read an article in PC Mag on the new line of super vid cards, with chips like the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra, and they use Doom3 at 1,600x1,200 as a benchmark. Granted, the frame rate wasn't great, but it is comparable to what I believe I am getting now at 640x480. So, does my card just suck, or is something very wrong here? Are those new cards THAT much faster?

BTW, I have a Dell dimension 4600 (Pentium 4, 3 GHz), 512 ram

 

[Scott L]

Yes! A 5200 isn't a gamer's card. Dell just sticks that in since it's cheap, the bottom of the barrel. You can always use Anandtech.com or Tom's Hardware as research. A 9800 Pro would cost you around $200 and would murder that 5200.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...142-009&depa=1

 

[Timon Russo]

Thanks Scott -

Now I've just got to round up some $!

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

I would also consider the new Gforce 6600GT card also once its released. The price will be around $200, In the majority of the benchmarks I have seen it is equal to or faster then then 9800XT. In open GL games like doom 3 it holds it own against an ATI X800 which costs twice as much. Though the 9800 Pro is a great card too, I have one now, and I get about 35-40 fps in Doom 3 at 800x600 or 1024x768

Here is a review and benchmarks for the card

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2196&p=1

 

[Mike Fassler]

yeah 9800 pro is awesome, I can run Doom 3 easily at max settings at 1024x768 with my 9800 pro and 2 ghz proc with 1 gig ram. can run any other game out there such as FarCry at max settings without a hitch as well.

p.s. the 6600 is pci express only for the moment so unless you wanna fork out for a new mobo as well, ditch that idea

 

[DaveGTP]

The 6600GT does appear to be better at that price point if you can wait until November to get one. Honestly, the latest X700XT benchmarks have been OK too (although the 6600GT seems better). Both of the new budget cards should be better than a 9800pro.

I needed a card now, not later, as my 8500 was wigging out. So I bought a refurb MSI 9800pro for $170. R360 core, clocked it to about halfway to 9800XT speeds (wouldn't hit XT speeds, and I like to be conservative on o'clocking - I don't do it at all for processors).

My 9800pro works good for Doom3, but I am CPU limited...I need more memory bandwidth - it chugs at any resolution in certain conditions (opening doors, turning corners, etc). (1800+ Athlon XP).