I was thinking on getting a video card and wondered Does it matter what the name of the video card is if the chipsets are the same? I was looking at GeForce FX 5200 128mb ddr AGP 8x cards. I was lookin at newegg and get over 30 results. Should I get one with a fan? Should I stay away from any certain brands? If they are all the same chipset what makes them so different in price??

nVidia only makes the chipset...actually, it's a Graphics Processing Unit (aka GPU). They don't manufacture video cards, just the GPU...other companies manufacturer the actual card using the nVidia GPU ATI on the other hand, manufacturers GPUs, & manufactures video cards as well...but they also sell GPUs to 3rd party companies for use on their cards. These companies will state "powered by ATI" There are a lot of variables in the cards...different type of memory (DDR or SDRAM)...64MB, 128MB, 256MB...64-bit, 128-bit, 256-bit. Fan cooled or just a heatsink...TV-out, DVI, etc 1st you'll have to decide what you want...I suggest you stay away from 64-bit cards...they're low end. Decide the GPU you want & the amount of RAM, then narrow it down to a few...then go to Google & search for reviews... Tom's Hardware may help: http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

Brand does matter, some manufacturers use cheap parts, develope bad firmware and provide no support. There are no free lunches when it comes to pc components, you get what you pay for 99% of the time. Since your shopping Newegg, use the user reviews to help you decide.

Reponse #2 is great. But imo the you get what you pay for part applies only to vid cards.

no one will probably read this post any more but I ended up gettin a XFX Geforce FX 5200 with 128mb ddr svga,tv svideo, and dvi out. works great.