ATI Radeon 9250

[mjolnir1134]

Since my computer is only limited to PCI cards, is the ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB card work well enough? I want to run some games like Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and the Sims 2. Don't tell me t get a new motherboard or a new PC, because I don't have the money for that.

Is there any other PCI card that will work better than the ATI Radeon 9250 256MB PCI card? Or should I just stick with that? I heard its the best PCI card ATI can offer...

Anybody who is using this card can tell me all about it! I'd love to know how a brand new PCI card works instead of the built in Intel Extreme Graphics!


Oh, and one more thing! I was thinking for a bit, and wondering, since the graphics I use right now is the laughably horrible extreme graphics, is onboard, and uses the system's memory, and the 9250 is a separate card that doesn't scam resources off the system, will it make my computer go faster, RAM-wise?

[fourthbean]

How much system ram do you have right now?

[mjolnir1134]

I have 512MB DDR SDRAM

[HeadBand]

i think you can get a 5700 LE in pci

the free ram will make your system go a little faster but what will be more important is the cpu cycles it was using up.....obviously the most noticable place will be in games

[Overclocked412]

The fastest PCI video card for gaming is the Xtasy Radeon 9100 (dont be confused by the 9*** names, higher isnt always better) Only problem is, its very hard to find it as they stopped making them. Good luck tho!

Edit: Oh, and if you are going to get the 9250, MAKE SURE you see the words "128-BIT" on it. DO NOT get if it is 64-bit. Its a horribly crippled version.

[Overclocked412]

Posted another post, so you see my edited post above ^ Important edit.

[mjolnir1134]

The fastest PCI video card for gaming is the Xtasy Radeon 9100 (dont be confused by the 9*** names, higher isnt always better) Only problem is, its very hard to find it as they stopped making them. Good luck tho!

Edit: Oh, and if you are going to get the 9250, MAKE SURE you see the words "128-BIT" on it. DO NOT get if it is 64-bit. Its a horribly crippled version.

Where should I look for on the box so it says 128-bit on it?

[-FMA]

Where should I look for on the box so it says 128-bit on it?

Yes the box will say if it is 128-bit or 64-bit

[skuz]

I'd rather get a PCI Nvidia FX5200 or FX5500, much more powerful than an ATI 9250, and do support DirectX 9.

Probably more expensive though...

[Overclocked412]

I'd rather get a PCI Nvidia FX5200 or FX5500, much more powerful than an ATI 9250, and do support DirectX 9.

Probably more expensive though...

God you could be no more wrong.

[Overclocked412]

Go have a nice read here about the best PCI-Cards.

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=445

Like I said, the Visiontek Xtasy 9100 is the best available.

[skuz]

Why would I be wrong ? From what I read, the 9250 is a slightly better 9200 which in turn was a variant of the 8500.

I don't know about the clock speeds, but still no DX9 support.

Do you know numbers I don't know about or are you just sold to ATI ?

I personally am not sold to a make : I have a low end card from each.

[coolguy1986]

What i didnt see up there was the 5700LE which i think would beat them all.

[skuz]

Maybe. Comparing the specs from 5500 to 5700LE would give the answer.

[mike_sanfil]

Why would I be wrong ? From what I read, the 9250 is a slightly better 9200 which in turn was a variant of the 8500.

I don't know about the clock speeds, but still no DX9 support.

Do you know numbers I don't know about or are you just sold to ATI ?

I personally am not sold to a make : I have a low end card from each.

Just having directX9 support doesn't make it a better card.

[SoloCamo]

Just having directX9 support doesn't make it a better card.

sooooooooo true, i had to use a fx5200 128mb vid card in my comp for a while and it really performed horibbly, once i put my ti4200 128mb 8x agp in it i felt like i was on a totally different comp and thats a whole generation leap. the ti4200 doesnt support dx9 like the 5200 but in FPS and quality it KILLS the fx5200

[Whos Theo?]

That article that overclocked412 posted is from 2003. It is very likely that you can get a better card than the one he is suggesting. I would look into the FX 5700 LE to, it is probably a lot faster than the 9100.

[nwo75200]

That article that overclocked412 posted is from 2003. It is very likely that you can get a better card than the one he is suggesting. I would look into the FX 5700 LE to, it is probably a lot faster than the 9100.

no. not a lot, about 15% maybe, but definitelly not a lot since the 5700LE is basically a 5200U or a 5500.

[Lord_Infamous]

when i had my old comp I had a radeon 9100 pci and it blew a**, even OC'ed..

I still have the card in a drawer

it barely played CS