at the moment i have a very poor SiS graphics card thats built into my motherboard. im hoping to upgrade to a geforce 4 5200 128mb card, but i dont know if it will work if i have a built in one, and if it will work, how do i disable the SiS one?

any advice would be appreciated, thanks

When you say 5200 i guess u mean Geforce FX 5200, The FX5200 is a horrible card, i suggest you do not buy it, but it still is better than the intergrated graphics you have. the card will work in your computer all you have to do is disable the onboard graphics in the bios.

BUtta My Fries

Any GeForce is better than Integrated.

k? thx.
-FuRY

CaCForums.tk

The FX5200 isn't worth the money! My dad bought a 256mb one and it performed no-better than his 3 year old 32mb Geforce2 MX200 in most games (Call of Duty mostly). Then he changed it for a Radeon 9600XT 128mb. If it has to be an FX5200, go for 64mb because you won't see any difference between them in performance, so you might as well save wasting more money on pointless ammounts of memory.
The FX5500 isn't much better than the FX5200 either.

Pay just a bit more for an FX5700 or Radeon 9600.

AMD Athlon XP2200+
Aero7 lite
512mb Crucial pc2700
Abit NF7-s V2.0
Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb
SB live 5.1 Digital
WinXp Pro + SP1

Nobody answered the question...

You didn't give any info about your system. There may be a jumper on the board to enable/disable the integrated grpahics, but more than likely, it's in the BIOS. If you have the manual for your board, check the BIOS section...if not, either go to the manufacturer's website & download the manual, or simply look thru the BIOS & see what's available. It may be an enable/disable setting, or it may be something about "Shared Memory"...also, some boards automatically disable the integrated graphics when an AGP card is detected.

As for your choice of video card...I don't think the FX5200 is quite as bad as it's made out to be. It's definitely on the low end, but I find it hard to believe that it's comparable to "32mb Geforce2 MX200". The MX200 was definitely a P.O.S.!

This link is getting a bit outdated, but it should help you with your decision. Look at the benchtest results & try to find one that has the best numbers, but still falls into your price range.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

I agree. How on earth is a 5200 not head over heals better than a GF2 MX200?!

The 5200 does have its place in the market. but it's hard to say if it's for the original poster of this thread since we don't know what he's doing.

Also, go go Jam for answering the question.

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

Actually, Mechruler did answer it in the 1st response...I just expanded on it

Well the FX5200 should be a much better card, but the graphics were just as jerky in both COD multiplayer and singleplayer. I didn't benchtest them, just made the observations during play. As always, I'm not convinced with benchtests anyway. Sometimes one card is the best and some times the opposition wins??? Might as well pull random numbers out of a hat if that's what really floats your boat.. Some cards perform much better than others in certain games, but who spends between £100-£400 on a graphics card to dedicate it to one game anyway??

AMD Athlon XP2200+
Aero7 lite
512mb Crucial pc2700
Abit NF7-s V2.0
Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb
SB live 5.1 Digital
WinXp Pro + SP1

You dont even know how much Alex is willing to spend. Dont try and convince him of higher priced cards like the R 9600xt when he mite not want to spend that much.

Post back Alex with ur price range and wat kind of games u want to be able to play.

--------------------
Asus P4P800S mb
P4 2.4Ghz (800Mhz)
1Gb DDR3200 Ram
Asus Geforce FX 5600 128mb

Look man, even Nvidia said the FX series was a mistake, trust me man, all they did was take some kind of MX440 or somethin put a little better clocks and some DX9 capabilities and OMFG IT'S DX9 CARD! trust me man, if you wanna even THINK about playing games like Farcry or Halo... If you get fx 5200 you will cry. You will cry when you realize you just wasted 50 dollars. You will cry like my idiot friend who spent 100 dollars on a sad ass P.O.S PNY fx 5200 at bestbuy. You will cry when you see how ugly Farcry is at 640 x 480 everything at low just so you could play it. Then you will cry when Doom 3 comes out in about a month or so, and you can't even play at lowest settings, cuz remember, the game is locked at 60 fps. Trust me man, if you are an average gamer like me, get AT least a 9600, no dude, i don't recommend getting any FX series card, unless it's part of 5800+ series. Cuz only the 5900 really compares to the ATI cards. Right now, I'm not really a fanboy for ATI either, considering the 6800's power over the x800 series. Well, go to newegg.com. If you want to get a decent card, AT LEAST DEDICATE YOURSELF to spend 90+ dollars. At newegg.com, there's a crapload of nice cheap cards with free shipping. My recommendation is a Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis (make sure it's not SE). It's 95 bucks for 128 MB version and 106$ for 256 MB version. Plays Halo like a charm and plays Farcry good. Plays almost as good as my friend's 9600 PRO. Oh yeah, When i installed my sapphire radeon 9600, I just switched my monitor port to go into my video card and worked fine, didn't need to disable anything, my system just detected it. Fact is, unless you like playing games like Quake III and older games like dat shiz, get an fx 5200. Otherwise get 9600+ series or 5800+ series.

Halo 2 Plx.

LOL, look, I don't think the FX5200 is a very good card either. But it actually does play Halo, just not at the res and image quality levels you and I want at the speed we want.

The Fx5200 has its place in the market. You don't know what he's playing.

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

You don't HAVE to get a DX9 compatible card. How about one of the past great cards...like a GF4 Ti4200? Or a Radeon 8500? or even a GF3?

BTW, you don't need all the eye candy turned on to enjoy a game

Actually jam depends on the game your playing.
RPG's-No
FPS with middling storylines (farcry) then yes

Well, Alex has been mysteriously absent from the conversation. As heropsycho pointed out a couple of times, we don't even know what his plans are. Since he posted in the gaming forum, we assume he wants to play games, but until he posts back & says exactly what games his interested in, it's difficult to say which card will best suite his needs

Something I neglected to mention...or should I say, "ask"...I don't have Farcry, nor have I ever played it. I know the minimum specs state a DX9 compatible card is required...does that mean it won't play at all on a DX8 card? or will it just play poorly?

Seems to me that's setting the spec pretty high & is probably cutting into their sales...DOOM3 & HL2 won't even require DX9 cards...sure, they'll run much better with a DX9 card, but by keeping the specs lower, they should be able to sell more games

U dont need a Dx9 card to play FarCry.

As for OMFGanELITE, ur an idiot. For the reasons i explained that Alex hadnt given enough info and u rich hardcore gamers think everything is crap if it cant play the latest games on the highest res.

Some ppl buy their pc's themshelves or cannot offord to spend big dollars on a video card. Dont criticise ppl for that. Its THEIR choice on what THEY want, he mite not even hav an AGP slot?

So dont post any ridiculas advise when ur not even sure on what Alex wants.

--------------------
Asus P4P800S mb
P4 2.4Ghz (800Mhz)
1Gb DDR3200 Ram
Asus Geforce FX 5600 128mb

Don't blame OMFGanELITE. All he knows is it's a slow card compared to other ones out there, so it's "crap".

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

What u ppl dont understand is that THERE IS A MARKET FOR SUCH A CARD. Ppl that cant spend $$$$$ and dont want to play the latest and greatest games at a high level, wats wrong with a FX 5200?

You get what u pay for.

--------------------
Asus P4P800S mb
P4 2.4Ghz (800Mhz)
1Gb DDR3200 Ram
Asus Geforce FX 5600 128mb

There is a market for almost everything.

The graphics card industry are currently engaged in a smoke and mirrors game with the public.

Example. (I've said this before). A Radeon with XT at the end of it's title is an ENHANCED version of the card. A Geforce with XT at the end is a CUT DOWN version of its card.

Example. The Radeon 9800 comes in a 128bit and 256bit types. One is ok, the other is awesome. but unless you are VERY careful in your research you might buy the wrong one. That's if you ever get to find out there are two different types (why they name two cards with the same name, 9800, with majorly diffent performance can ONLY be to confuse!)

The geforce FX5200 is low end. But it's much newer than say the Geforce Ti4600. Most of us forum members know the Ti4600 would whip it's ass. But the public would NOT think a 3 year old card would be better than a new one.

The Radeon 9700 cards were being shipped with 128 meg and 256 meg. People thought, hmmm 256 must be better, but sites like Tom's Hardware blew that scam out of the water when they told everyone the 256 meg version was shipped with SLOWER ram (to offset cost) and in real world performance they were almost exactly the same. But the price was not of course.

I would rather have a Geforce2 GTS 64 meg than a Geforce4 MX with 64 meg. I would Rather have a Geforce 3 Ti200 64 than a Geforce 4 Mx with 128 meg.

I think I have made my case. There is a market place for the 5200. In most of the crappy Dell's, HP's and eMachines sold as 'BUDGET GAMING' machines.

Would you go out and buy a budget factory fitted stereo for your car to replace the current factory one? No. You'd buy a Kenwood or JVC or Sony. Something BETTER.

Go to ebay, get yourself a Radeon 9000 PRO (even that won't play Halo very well and was the reason for my upgrade, the Geforce 5600 standard, which STILL doesn't play it all to well (only 128 meg on the card). if you want a card that will hold you for a year or two, buy yourself a Radeon 9700 or 9800, or a Geforce 5900. It costs a bit more, but in the long term you save money.

Very well put XxxFrancisxxxUSA.
Wow gone for a days and 18 posts.....
Alex Hasint responded, its odviusly not that importaint.

BUtta My Fries

Francis...well put.

It means do your homework. ;-)

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

hi, sorry about not replying, ive been on holiday since i made that post

thanks for all the advice and everything, ill certainly check out all the other cards you recommended, but which would you say is the best one i could get for under £100? i just want it for your average fps games really; ut2004, doom 3 etc.

cheers

HI

I have A leadtek FX 5200 THD OCed to 300 MHZ core and 500 MHZ memory and can play Halo, Need for speed underground, Doom 3, UT2004, max payne 2,Americas Army all at high resolution and still get good Frames per second. It isnt as bad as people say it is, and at a very good price. Even OCed it has never crashed and is very stable. I also use a passive zalman ZM80C-HP vga cooler. OCed this would match my dads stock FX 5600 easily. If you have the extra cash and play alot of games get a higher spec card. But this is a good card for its price.