S-Media GeForce FX 5200
Ameya Dalvi, Jul 07, 2003 0000 hrs IST
This 8X AGP card from S-Media is based on the nVidia GeForce FX 5200 chipset.
Excellent value for money, Good build quality, DirectX 9 compatibility
Lacks a bit of muscle power
In the last few weeks, we witnessed the battle of the ultra high-end cards. They offer supreme performance but their price tag puts them beyond the reach of most of us. Today, let's look at something much more modest and affordable to common mortals like us who in spite of enjoying 3D games are unwilling to trade their house or organs for the extra FPS (Frames Per Second).
The Card and the Package
This 8X AGP card from S-Media is based on the nVidia GeForce FX 5200 chipset. The 256-bit GPU core runs at 250 MHz and the onboard 128 MB, 128-bit DDR memory runs at an effective clock speed of 400 MHz. It sports dual RAMDACs with a clock of 350 MHz each for multiple displays. The build quality of the card is pretty good. The GPU is covered with a round Heat sink and Fan combo, which does its job well. There are no Ram sinks present on the Hynix modules but then I don't think they are quite necessary in this case.
The back panel comprises of the usual VGA out, an S-Video out and a DVI Out connector for flat panel displays. An S-Video to composite converter and a composite video cable are included in the package. Also bundled are a couple of CDs. One comprising of the drivers and the other with licensed version of three Intervideo softwares: WinDVD, WinProducer and WinCoder. Neither games nor game demos are included in the package. That can be overlooked considering the fact that this is a value package.
Now let's see if the youngest member of the FX family can pack some punch.
Test Bench:
Following is the configuration of the system that we used to review this card:
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with Hyper Threading Enabled
Motherboard: Intel D850EMV2 (i850E chipset)
Memory: Samsung 512 MB (256 x 2) PC1066 RDRAM
Hard Drive: 40 GB Samsung 7200 RPM HDD
Case: ADCOM Lg. ATX Tower with 300W Power Supply
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
- DirectX
3DMark 2001 SE
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (Demo - Little Trouble) (4 Modes)
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo (Botmatch - Antalus) - (4 Modes)
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo (Flyby - Citadel) (4 Modes)
Aquamark (Multi-resolution) (4 Modes)
OpenGL
Quake III Arena (Demo - demo1) (4 Modes) (Multi-resolution)
Return To Castle Wolfenstein (4 Modes) (Multi-resolution)
The Benchmarks
Aquamark
Quake III Arena
Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo
3DMark 2001 SE
Performance revisited
As we can see from the benchmarks, the performance of the S-Media FX 5200 lies right between the GeForce4 Mx 440 8X and the GeForce4 Ti 4200. Its performance level is closer to the MX 440 when AA (Anti Aliasing) and AF (Anisotropic Filtering) setting are disabled, but it shifts towards the Ti 4200 when AA and AF are enabled. Though it's nothing outstanding, it offers a decent amount of power for a medium level card in its price range. Also, let's not forget that this card is fully compliant with DirectX 9, which means that the owners of this card will be able to play most of the future DirectX 9 games with all the eye-candy enabled. But this card might just lack the muscle power to draw high FPS at higher resolutions. But then, that's what value cards are all about.
Conclusion
Finally the price. I am glad to tell you that S-Media doesn't disappoint us. It continues with its aggressive pricing strategy. The S-Media GeForce FX 5200 is priced at Rs.7370. That makes it the cheapest DirectX 9 compatible card available in the market. With a decent level of performance, impressive pricing and a bit of head room for future applications, this card certainly offers great value and is highly recommended for gamers on a modest budget. However the hardcore gamers will have to look at something more powerful
Test Unit Sourced From: X-Serve India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.
USER COMMENTS
I have an AGP 4x Slot Can I use this card
by Haggy, Banglore, on Feb 19, 2004 12:17 AM, Report abuse Reply
i too have this problem, so plz mail me the answer
by vineeth, kochi, on Jul 08, 2005 01:32 PM, Report abuse
by nVIDIArulz, Tokyo, on Jul 08, 2003 01:39 PM, Report abuse Reply
i have little problem with geforce fx5200. i have just bought philips 17"crt and it works like charm without geforce but with geforce it gives mix 60 hertz freq with 1280 resoution and also my board has 4x agp slot and card is 8x. it was working fine with 4x slot with 15" monitor without ghost or moire or shadow effect. but after 17" monitor in any resolution it gives shadow after all icons.. like vanishing shadows 6 to 7 and ghost.. can anyone guide me how to solve ?
by Mital Patel, Ahmedabad, on Oct 19, 2004 12:18 PM, Report abuse
the best product in this range .The best offer price/performance .Great potential for a cheaper card like FX5200 - DX9 .Even DooM3 run very good on this card on medium quality with a avg 40 fps .That's quite well for 50-60$ card on this beautiful ID's product . Some people says that dx9 games are unplayable on this card and this stultify the dx9 support in that card.That's not true.FarCry is dx9 game and in 800x600 medium quality with FX5200 the game run with avg35fps wich is not a slideshow and it's playable.At all if you don't have much money and you are pretentious this card is exactly for you .Performance between mx440 and Ti4200 with the possibility of new gen. expensive cards
by Mladen G., Targovishte (Bulgaria), on Sep 10, 2004 04:17 AM, Report abuse Reply
can i use this card in my 4x agp slot
by Prasun, kolkata, on Sep 05, 2004 01:57 PM, Report abuse Reply
can i use this card in my 4x agp slot please reply as quick as possible i'm hungry to know this.
by Prasun, kolkata, on Sep 05, 2004 01:49 PM, Report abuse Reply
all games like enter the matrix,wwe raw, batman the movie etc run on intel onboaed agp.i have tested it.They r running only on intel extreme graphics 2
by meenakshi, kolkata, on Jun 07, 2004 06:57 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hello! I Have a GeForce 4 MX card and i am satisfied with the performance when running High end Games and Graphical Appliations.can Anybody tell me what is the need to spend on the latest NVidia GeForce FX Kind of cards when this is more than satisfactory.
by Surya Prakash, K.G.F, on Jul 21, 2003 06:02 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi Surya prakash....u r my kind of person...as i told b4 ...theres REALLY!! no need for going to GFX5200 coz u get the EXACT performance on your GEFORCE4 ......my dear PALS plz dont ever waste your money...THINK TWICE B4 U BUY
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:19 AM, Report abuse
Hey m8.. I had the GF2mx.. Performance wise its really good.. I went onto a GF-FX5200.. Performance wise both are same but if u see the Quality and effects'''' it'll blow u back man.....
by vidi, kandy, on May 26, 2004 05:31 PM, Report abuse
Well...i'm quite not really satisfied with this product....'coz it has no Fan but just a Heatsink on it...which make the card sore hot!!! after 1/2 hr....& so i fell like shutting dn my pc., "**IT MAY DECREASE THE LIFE OF DA CARD" Also i tested it on NFS6:HP2 with it...but when i played it with all EFFECTS ON... the game wasnt any smooth...untill i LOWERED some EFFECTS...so i'm stiil sticked with my Geforce4 MX 440-se 128MBDDR..which OVERALL gives me the 99% same performance as this card gives.....& i'm happy with it. SO theres no need to invest Rs.5400/- for it......but u can get the same performance with any GEFORCE4 OR GEFORCE 4 TI.....AT 2900-/ TO 8000/-...B'WARE...
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:11 AM, Report abuse Reply
Hey u guys,Lets Clear up some confusion shall we?
1.This Card does have active cooling, Look at the pic!
2.FX 5200 Reference design has Passive cooling(i.e Only HeatSinks), Hence a Fan is unecessary(Unless U have a horribly ventilated PC, U should be fine).
3. ForceWare Drivers Apparently Improves the performance of FX5200, Even if the perf. between MX440 and FX5200 was same(Unlikley), FX is still better coz it uses DX8 and DX9 calls (Including the Shaders), which cannot be done by an MX card as it doesnot even fully DX8 compatible (No Shaders).
4.With MX card
a.U cant play Prince Of Persia:Sands Of Time(Because it requires V1.0 Pixel and Vertex Shaders)
b. Need For Speed Underground wont have the cool "Tunneling Blur","Light Trails",and the characters which strips the fun out of the game
c. UT2003 and Splinter Cell wont run at peak coz even those use shaders
d.Comanche 4 again uses shaders
e.HALO will also Suck on an MX card(Halo can use either Version 1 shader or version 2)
f. Though Upcoming HL-2 uses DX9, It is also compatible with DX8 & 7,that means MX can handle HL-2, but with VERY LESS graphics, Though theoratically FX5200 should be able to run da game under full settings,It lacks the HorsePower...
---And Trust me guys, If u guys say that u R 'HARDCORE GAMER' get something like FX5950 (or @least FX5600 Ultra)or Radeon 9700pro or 9800. for rest of the masses, FX5200 would suffice
** Message edited by moderator **
by abilash aka all, Chennai, on Jan 24, 2004 02:39 AM, Report abuse
Basically if someone can afford near about 8ks on a card then 5200 series is kinda low but there is no comparison between mx 440 and fx 5200. I have both . The biggest failure on nvidia's part is that mx 440 doesnt include pixel shading!!! Makes games like nfs:u absolutely useless and ya try running POP:sands of time without a patch on mx 440 :P. Mx 440 is not a good card more over because it confuses people by the name geforce 4 mx 440 ..where as a geforce 3 ti 500 has 30-40% better performance than it (and it has pixel shader). The cooling fan does confuse me a bit though, as I believe it should have heat sink fan but it doesnt :s wonder why?!Also please do not use nfs:hp2 as a benchmark, its 3D engine sux horribly to say the least. Only card good enough for that game would be a dual gpu 1 gig ddr agp :P or maybe the ATI radeon 9800 .
** Message edited by moderator **
by Anando Das Gupt, New Delhi, on Apr 10, 2004 09:09 AM, Report abuse
hi can anyone tell me the latest price for this card?
by vaibhav, mumbai, on Feb 11, 2004 07:47 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hi vaibhav,i found this card on chip magzine at 3850 Rs.
by Lokesh, Gwalior, on Feb 15, 2004 02:59 PM, Report abuse
the price is wrong in the CHIP
by You, Hell, on Feb 16, 2004 11:17 PM, Report abuse
Whats the current price of this S-Media GeForce FX 5200 (Diesel Power ??)
by Haggy, Banglore, on Feb 16, 2004 11:02 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi the prices for the above card i.e FX 5200 is 6750 rs u can directly get the card deliverd to u at that price a mail them at info@xserves.com
by Atul, mumbai, on Feb 16, 2004 11:14 PM, Report abuse
what is the latest price of this card?does the price go on varying or it is stable?
by rahul, mumbai, on Dec 22, 2003 11:55 AM, Report abuse Reply
I am desperately searching for a middle range graphics card . Im not a hardcore gamer. I found the GeForce FX 5200 very suitable for me. Please tell me where I can buy it in Mumbai.
by Rishabh Saxena, Mumbai, on Nov 09, 2003 08:33 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi rishabh....well u can buy the Geforce FX 52000 at Lamington road......shop name "COMPUTER SELECTION" Tel 23824567....enjoy..
by nirmal, mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:03 AM, Report abuse
Hi Rishabh Rahul here. i think u are facing the same problem what am facing now am too searching for a midrange card. here i have some information for u. Listen if u want to buy the best card with best performance in an affordable price then go for S-Media Geforce FX 5200 (128 mb) price:7000. or Gainward pro/660/tv/dvi Geforce FX 5200(128mb)
price:-7100.
u can get both this card in the shop named "Mediatech India" 022-56396696 or there is one more shop called "computer slection" 022-23824567.
for more information on the performance of this card get the digit magazine of october 2003 issue.
** Message edited by moderator **
by rahul, mumbai, on Dec 07, 2003 05:11 PM, Report abuse
Anyone who want information about the products of ATI and Nvidia's can get here
"http://www.nvidia.com/page/home"
and here
"http://www.ati.com/index.html"
** Message edited by moderator **
by rahul, mumbai, on Dec 04, 2003 11:46 PM, Report abuse Reply
I am interested in buying this product from where can I purchase this in india? help me pals...send me detailed product info.
by NEELONJON GOON, DHARWAD, on Oct 15, 2003 08:57 AM, Report abuse Reply
I think u can get this card in Lamingtom Road in Mumbai shop name computer selection tel:- 23824567. u may get the card here or maynot am not kind of sure.
by rahul, mumbai, on Dec 04, 2003 11:36 PM, Report abuse
i have the game enter the matrix but i dont have a geforce card has anybody tested this game???which card should i buy for this my investing limit is upto 6,000/-
by rahul, mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 12:22 PM, Report abuse Reply
Also i bought this card & due to unsatisfaction...i returned it the very next day..& bought a GEFORCE 4 TI 42000......NOW THATS WHAT ROCKS.....????
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:36 AM, Report abuse Reply
sounds cool, what about the price. Guess its high time we got some reasonably priced cards .
by marko, mumbai, on Jul 08, 2003 02:50 PM, Report abuse Reply
If u havent realised, its a 7 page article. Check the 7th page.
by Neo, Techtree Test Labs, on Jul 08, 2003 06:16 PM, Report abuse
marko...the price is from Rs.5000/- to 5700/- depending on the company u r buying...asus/XFXPINE/maxforce/arbatron.....smedia.......but dont buy it....read my review....***STRICTLY
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:28 AM, Report abuse
The agp card looks superb. I need more photos as this.
by senthil, erode, on Jul 14, 2003 03:40 PM, Report abuse Reply
welll senthil.....i'll say that SMEDIA V CARDS R NOT REALLY AVAILABLE EASILY available in mkts......also the FINISHIn of these cards is not good......better go for XPINE XFX......but hey plzzzzzzzz read my REVIEW b4 u but this card.....
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:24 AM, Report abuse
Sorry folks!,it's me back again I have a query to ask you; I have a PIV-MFM with VIA P4M266 chipset,socket 478 design,I read in my motherboard manual that I have an agp slot with 4x mode,I would like to know if it's safe for me to purchase this card with out performance glitches......
by NEELONJON GOON, DHARWAD, on Oct 21, 2003 01:35 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hi neelonjon....well u've the same pc which i've ....VIA P4 P4M266...yes it has AGP 4X support ..but i WARN** u dont buy this card...READ MY REVIEW ABOVE...STRICTLY...
by nIRMAL-------HA, Mumbai, on Nov 30, 2003 11:15 AM, Report abuse
I am a fully satisfied customer!! The card is really a performance warehouse! Kudos to the developers,Pity no games CD were provided with the package..
by Prashanth Patil, Baroda, on Oct 23, 2003 01:32 PM, Report abuse Reply
This card sounds really tank and i will go and buy it!
by Cool Cowboy, The Computer Cowboys, on Aug 07, 2003 09:38 AM, Report abuse Reply
where can i get this? want it right now? am ready with the cash? u ppl should start online shop for such things...... thnx 4 the review
by Vivek, Mumbai, on Jul 08, 2003 11:59 PM, Report abuse Reply
Write at info@xserves.com to check out for delivery schedule
by Bhavna, Bangalore, on Jul 09, 2003 03:37 PM, Report abuse
hmm .. why would u go in for smedia gf fx 5200 when u get asus gf fx 5200 orginal for more or less the same price in india ..
by hardwarejini, bombay, on Jul 13, 2003 06:42 PM, Report abuse
Hey Hardwarejini... ya would like to have the asus card. plz tell me where can i get it. name of a store & the area. also if you know the price plz tell me.
by Vivek, Mumbai, on Jul 14, 2003 12:12 PM, Report abuse
hi! Hardwarejini, can u tell me the difference between Smedia GF FX 5200 and Asus GF FX 5200 ? I am a multimedia professional and want to buy a Multimedia PC, for mainly 3D designing and animation. I know these days technology updates very fast, but I want a Grpahic Card that can play any current 3D title without a glitch or error, and should not be outdate for atleast 2 years? Please tell me the Name and series of the card and its price ?
by john, New Delhi, on Jul 20, 2003 05:23 PM, Report abuse
i like the product it�s very good
by amrit, iquique, on Jul 20, 2003 01:48 PM, Report abuse Reply
this GPU is awesome. i'll sure purchase it.
by cool buddy, New Delhi, on Jul 16, 2003 10:52 AM, Report abuse Reply
by GoldCrystal, Lko, on Jul 11, 2003 07:30 PM, Report abuse Reply
do u guys make something that's affordable by a common man ok or give these types of pheripherals for free.
by vijay, bangalore(india), on Jul 08, 2003 09:31 PM, Report abuse Reply
Let me be as clear as I can be....These kind of peripherals aren't meant for the common man....If you're a common man..you won't be playing the games that would need this card... and if you aren't...then you might as well cough up a little extra money to enjoy them properly....
by NINFAN, Mumbai, on Jul 09, 2003 12:47 PM, Report abuse
by nVIDIArulz, Tokyo, on Jul 10, 2003 03:02 AM, Report abuse
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i've buy this graphic card..but it say that 'no suitable chipset available when i put in the cd'..why?..what is the suitable chipset for this card
by pacot, Klang, on Jul 31, 2007 06:52 PM, Report abuse Reply