Medium-low?

[The_YongGrand]

I'm planning to get another budget graphics card, but will do quite okay and fast in some new games like San Andreas and HL2. Which one do you suggest?

I'm doing all NVidia, so my options are here:

1. NVidia Geforce4 MX440 128MB
2. NVidia GeforceFX5200 128MB 64bit
3. NVidia GeforceFX5200 128MB 128bit
4. NVidia GeforceFX5500

My budget is quite limited, around $50 or less will do. I'll be only doing light stuff on this card. What do you think?

[ror_b211]

Out of those an FX5500, I would highly reccommend an ATi at those prices, such as a 9200 or 9250, or even a 9500 pro if you can find one cheap enough. I doubt any of those cards will give you decent FPS in Half Life 2.

[The_YongGrand]

I want to change the current ATI 9200SE, as someone told me that ATI graphics card doesn't work correctly with m/bs with VIA chipsets... What do you think?

[allburnintegrated]

I have a VIA chipset and my old Radeon 9550 worked great with it.

[The_YongGrand]

With no VPU recover whatsoever? I'm experiencing it everytime I use the computer, at least once will happen. Sometimes, it crashed. When I ripped out the card and move it to another computer, surprisingly it doesn't has any VPU recover using for almost 2 hours.... What could it be?

[ikari120378]

Mine is a P42.24G on an asus p4v533mx mobo with via chipset, works fine with R9700pro, and also with my old GeF4MX 420. I'd also recommend radeon-based cards since it's better than nvidia's in that class. Your previous crashing might be just coincidence. I wouldn't have had any idea if I were in the same situation, and try reinstalling anything wouldn't work also

[The_YongGrand]

Ooooh. I see. You mean a 9250 can do as well as Geforce FX5200?

Edit: Oh, I already got myself a good 9250 Radeon. Now I have a DVD player too, and I want the video card to fully utilise the DVD function thingy (I mean the technology in the card)....

The Cyberlink PowerDVD said that the video card is not in use when playing DVDs. How can I make the video card to be fully accelerating the DVD, or is it automatic?

[glc]

You aren't going to do any better than a 9250 for 50 bucks.

Do the DVD's play smoothly without maxing out the CPU? If so, don't worry about it.

[The_YongGrand]

Oh, the Radeon 9250 costs less than 50 bucks. I bought it from a PC expo. I think it's only around 30 dollars. Well, to tell you the truth, the framerates for certain games have slightly more improved. And it's stable too. The card is PowerColor, and it doesn't have a fan! Is it going to hurt the card that way with only the heatsink? Heh.

Well, I hope I can get a 9550 Radeon actually, but let me test the intergrity of my m/b first. Maybe the m/b doesn't like my Radeon 9200SE...

Oh, it didn't max out my CPU. Strangely I can do other stuff while watching DVD.
But on the PowerDVD, it said that it's not using the video card for the encoding stuff. How to make the video card to do the work? Or is it doing its work by itself?

[glc]

As I said, don't worry about it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

9250's work fine with passive cooling, the GPU is not that powerful. One less fan to make noise and fail.