Simviation Forum - Considering a GeForce FX 5600

May 4^th, 2003 at 10:23am

Maccers Offline
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Goodbye old friend
NEWI Campus, Wrexham. UK

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I've been browsing for a new graphics card and this poped up.
for £250 its got (apparently) the only 256-bit GPU designed for DX9, 256Mb DDR memory and Advanced Intellisample Anti-Alaising technology. Shocked

The model im thinking about (Gainward Ultra/780XP Prof) also has a custom fan and heat sink that doesnt chrun out as much noise as the factory standard Nvidia coolers.
The problem is its not out till next month. But is it worth it? or get somthing now instead?

&&Athlon XP 1800+, 1GB RAM, Asus V9560 FX 5600 256Mb, 40Gb HDD

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Reply #1 - May 4^th, 2003 at 1:54pm

Iroquois Offline
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Well, there's a big review of the GfFX going on right now by Guru3d. The card is almost like a mini computer, it's self contained for cooling, requires an AGP and PCI port, and has to draw power directly from the power supply.
Read the various reviews at http://content.guru3d.com/article.php?cat=review&id=22

I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. Heck, that's what lawyers, car mechanics, and IT professionals do everyday. Wink

&&The Rig: &&AMD Athlon XP2000+ Palomino, ECS K7S5A 3.1, 1GB PC2700 DDR, Geforce FX5200 128mb, SB Live Platinum, 16xDVD, 16x10x40x CDRW, 40/60gb 7200rpm HDD, 325w Power, Windows XP Home SP1, Directx 9.0c with 66.81 Beta gfx drivers

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Reply #2 - May 4^th, 2003 at 2:45pm

Maccers Offline
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Yeah, I've read the review (great excuse to get out of a college lesson, say you're reading up about bus archutecture Grin

LOL)
I think the size of the thing is for the 5800 only, or for Nvidia's default cooling . In either case, it'll be the 5600 with Gainward's customized heat sinks & fan.
As you can see, much smaller 8)
http://www.gainward.com/c-1.html?id=95

&&Athlon XP 1800+, 1GB RAM, Asus V9560 FX 5600 256Mb, 40Gb HDD

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Reply #3 - May 5^th, 2003 at 4:04am

congo Offline
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Hi Maccers,

I just went to Tom's Hardware Guide and checked out the benchmark tests for the FX 5600. In 3D mark it looks like it's a bit slower than the GF4 TI4200.

But, the card has more modern graphics features than the GF4 TI series (DX9 compliant).

The price you quote seems exhorbitant. The 5600 here in Australia is from $317 up. That is 124 pounds your money. So, it may pay to look around, but I've noticed that video cards in U.K. are expensive.

So, I'd price a G4 TI card (if you dont already have one) and see if there are savings there.

If you already have a fast card, I'd wait until the GF FX cards drop in price some more as not many applications / games support dx9 yet anyway. If you wait, you may get the non-crippled FX 5800 for a similar price when all the FX hype dies down.

******************

Hmmmm.........

I was just looking around a bit and the Gainward from your link above looks pretty impressive, though I haven't found any performance figures for it yet. I haven't got time now, but the card looks like it has potential, nice choice. Wink

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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Reply #4 - May 5^th, 2003 at 2:31pm

Maccers Offline
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Goodbye old friend
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Nvidia have some performance specs on their site, but they are a bit biased as you can guess. Roll Eyes

Graphics cards are not the only thing that is expensive in the UK, i have thought about importing from abroad but never had the chance (Never had my own Visa card untill now either Wink

)
As for my old card, take a look at my signature, its a 64Mb card. my computer really slows down on CFS3 cos ive bolted all the big tasks onto my 1Gb system ram (Colours go inverted sometimes Roll Eyes

)

&&Athlon XP 1800+, 1GB RAM, Asus V9560 FX 5600 256Mb, 40Gb HDD

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Reply #5 - May 5^th, 2003 at 6:43pm

Iroquois Offline
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$317AUD, that's about $283CND, not bad concidering. I've seen some ATI cards up to $500.

I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. Heck, that's what lawyers, car mechanics, and IT professionals do everyday. Wink

&&The Rig: &&AMD Athlon XP2000+ Palomino, ECS K7S5A 3.1, 1GB PC2700 DDR, Geforce FX5200 128mb, SB Live Platinum, 16xDVD, 16x10x40x CDRW, 40/60gb 7200rpm HDD, 325w Power, Windows XP Home SP1, Directx 9.0c with 66.81 Beta gfx drivers

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Reply #6 - May 6^th, 2003 at 4:05am

Maccers Offline
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There are GF4's and ATi's that are £50 cheaper, and other cards with 256Mb are around £1,500. So I'm gonna go for it 8)
Ill try and get some before and after shots

&&Athlon XP 1800+, 1GB RAM, Asus V9560 FX 5600 256Mb, 40Gb HDD

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Reply #7 - May 11^th, 2003 at 11:18am

congo Offline
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Australia

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Just a word about video card memory size. It's here that size sometimes doesn't matter. The speed of a video card is primarily determined by the type of graphics chip itself, not the amount of ram on board.

Also, the Speed of the cards ram chips will determine the performance of the graphics chip, not the amount of ram.

If the card's graphics chip and ram chips are fast, then extra ram is a bonus to help with massive load on it.

An example is the GeForce TI4200 64mb card which shipped with faster ram chips than the 128mb version. The 64mb cards are noticeably faster.

Gainward cards are excellent for providing fast ram on their "Golden Sample" range of cards at a budget price.

Maccers, very interested to hear what benchmark, say... 3dmark 2001, results you might get with the 5600.

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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Reply #8 - May 11^th, 2003 at 12:20pm

4_Series_Scania Offline
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I'd consider you re-think your choice......... Wink

Strikes me, the GF4ti 4800 is a better choice, if overall performance is your thing!

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030311/geforcefx-5600-5200-10.html
For further information.

Posting drivel here since Jan 31st, 2002. - That long!

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Reply #9 - May 11^th, 2003 at 12:34pm

Paul2k12 Offline
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I wouldn't get this card. It seems quick and it is but there are others that will beat the Nvidia on performance e.g Radeon 9700 & 9800 PRO.

Also you would need to have a massive processor to give the card all the info it needs to get the potential out of it. What is you PSU as it would probably need a 300W+ to run without crashing.

Paul2k10

&&&&

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Reply #10 - Jun 19^th, 2003 at 10:35pm

JBaymore Offline
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HI.

I bought a GeForce FX 5600 256 meg card.

See the thread in the general FS2002 forum called "More Frame Rates.... a Puzzling Problem" for documantition of my experiences....and travails.

I so far cannot get them to work (bought the equivalent card from Asylum and also PNY.

Be advised.

best,

..................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #11 - Jun 20^th, 2003 at 6:50pm

JBaymore Offline
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I just traded in the GeForce FX 5600 on a ATI Radeon 9600. Worked the first setup and a simple procedure to get it going. Seems so far to work beautifully.

best,

...............john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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