On the card itself. This is actually a good example of an FX5200, without the crippled memory bandwidth of some rival brands. If you just need a 'real' graphics card so you can play Championship Manager, the Sims or online games then this should do the trick. It should also cope well with any game released BEFORE 2005.

BUT, don't think that this sort of card will give good performance in modern 3D games - you'll need a 6600 model for that (they cost 70). The difference between this an a 6600 will be very significant and the extra 30 could be well worth it.

Also, don't be fooled by thinking 256MB of memory or 8xAGP are meningful indicators of performance. This is totally unimportant for a "low-end" card like this. With graphics cards, it's the model name that matters, not the amount of memory. This card will be totally outclassed by a 128 MB Geforce 6600 or a Radeon 9600Pro.

WARNING, TECH-SPEAK FOLLOWS: This card will struggle to cope with 64MB of graphics texture, let alone 256MB. Only the latest 150+ cards are able to cope with 256MB of textures.
It also comes nowhere near 4xAGP data rates, let alone 8xAGP. This may be a relief for people with older computers that lack 8xAGP. This card will run in those computers at 4xAGP (probably even 2xAGP) with no reduction in speed.

I was quite suprised to see an old FX5200 model as the top-seller on Amazon. I'm giving it 3 stars because it's good at what it does, which is to make a few games playable for people who have an old or cheap computer which came with no specialised graphics card. But if you want to play modern 3D games on medium or better detail settings then get a better card. There's a PNY 128MB Geforce 6600 on Amazon for about 70 quid, which should be considered.


serious gamers look here?   February 27, 2006
 4 out of 7 found this review helpful

I brought this graphic card six months ago, it works wonders with my 64bit amd proccessor and 64bit msi mother board. I can play all of my games including premier manager 05-06 i had real problems playing this game until i upgraded my graphoics card. Also before you buy this product make sure it is compatible with your mother board and that you have suffiient hardware for it to run. So game on gamers also it is comatible with the lastest direct x on the market.


Rubbish   January 23, 2006
 6 out of 29 found this review helpful

I got this to boost my game graphics. Its made my Sims 2 all lagy and stuff is happening on it which is not meant to happen!! I have all 3 Sims2 games and all the patches. My computers hard drive i have found was much better!! I have lost money,time and lost my computers good power


Best deal around!!   June 24, 2005
 19 out of 22 found this review helpful

When I first started looking around for a grapics card I came across this one many time, but thought 'ah it's must be rubbish its too cheep' How wrong was I. This card has let me play on such high grapical games such as 'Battle for Middle Earth' and 'Star Wars Galaxies'.
So for the price it's is well worth it if you want a cheep card that works, Although it's not as powerful as other expencive cards but what do you expect, I'm completely happy with my purchase as it has made my games grapics better :-)