| Value | 4.5 | | Performance | 4.5 | | Ease of Use | 4.5 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4.5 |
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4 of 5 Useful Upgrade for Older PCs Wednesday, April 08, 2009 David from Tennessee
The EVGA GeForce 6200 with 256-MB of RAM is a cost-effective system upgrade for a Windows user with older hardware.
A close relative had to have her ATX tower rebuilt in 2004. Over a month before, she suddenly had problems booting into Windows XP after she pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL to enter her password. She was in the middle of a project and I created an ad hoc bootloader diskette containing the core files XP Home needed to boot. This quick hack worked for about a month, until the PC would not even turn on.
NOTE: I did not, and do not, recommend this type of hack (unless it is used once in order to back up data to an external drive). The cause of the problem (OS corruption and/or failing hardware) needs to be diagnosed and resolved, because such a hack will cause the loss your data and custom settings!
In this case, the surge protector prevented a power surge from "frying" the system immediately, but the PC would not turn on within a month.
I was unavailable to rebuild the system and the local Computer Renaissance basically "threw together" a new system (with a system drive of 'I:\' and not asking my relative if she wanted an SATA drive -- and the motherboard supports SATA-I -- but instead installing a 40-GB (without consultation), IDE, WD hard drive that soon failed.
The motherboard had onboard networking, AC '97 sound, and a video chip that needed system RAM, and the rebuilt system had one 512-MB DIMM.
I installed an SATA-II drive ("throttled back" via a jumper to SATA-I speed), upgraded the RAM (after the generic 512-MB DIMM constantly generated BSODs as it failed), and an EVGA GeForce 6200 with 256-MB of RAM.
The 4X AGP slot cannot take full advantage of the AGP 8X GeForce 6200, but the GeForce supports 4X AGP slots. My relative runs no 3D software and plays no games -- except for Solitiare, Spider Solitaire, Sudoku, and on-line crossword puzzles -- and she has no need for the S-video port or room for a second display, but the 6200 allowed her to increase her display resolution from 1024x768 to 1152x864, which was especially helpful for Corel's suite, and the display quality was markedly better and brighter.
I use Debian GNU/Linux on most of my computers and Nvidia's proprietary driver taints the kernel, but this "binary blob" is the only way to take advantage of dual-head Nvidia cards. The driver must be uninstalled and reinstalled for every kernel update, and Debian provides security updates to the kernel often. Every Linux user who wants to use two monitors with a dual head card faces this problem (although ATI released open-source drivers through the 9250-series), but I realize most readers are using Windows.
AGP cards are becoming as rare as floppy discs and Zip cartridges, which are required for older motherboards -- and nonstandard OEM motherboards cannot be replaced by standard PCI-E motherboards. OEM power supplies may also be a "gotcha"; please note that this video card requires a 300-watt PSU.
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4 of 5 works fine Thursday, April 02, 2009 David from Vermont
My old one died and I needed a replacement. I was disappointed at the cost -- AGP cards seem to cost double what a comparable PCI express card would cost. But this one arrived quickly, installed easily and is working fine. The dual display is useful. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great Value Monday, March 23, 2009 mickey from GA
This product is a great value. The video is crisp and clear and for a low price. The delivery was quick and inexpensive. Buy.com is an easy merchant to do business with. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great Video and 3D from my old computer Sunday, March 22, 2009 Keith P. from Phoenix, AZ.
Finally I have great Video and 3D on my old slow HP Brio BA410 with XP Pro. Can finally utilize the High Rez Monitor. Installed easly by following the instructions exactly. The only problem so far is trying to get the picture to fit the sceen on my standard def TV. I don't really understand how to set the advanced settings. I am going to ask for help with this from EVGA Support. If support is lacking I'll let you know. Breathed new life in an otherwise lackluster computer. No problem with my AGP 4X slot. Received product in 1 1/2 days. Great service from Buy.com. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Works well Tuesday, March 03, 2009 Brian from Arizona
Not the latest, but works perfectly and dependably within its limits. Dual display mode. Exactly what I wanted. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Works with AutoCad 2004 Sunday, February 22, 2009 A Customer from Atlanta, GA
I bought this card to use in a client's PC. He uses AutoCad 2004 and purchased a new LCD monitor. HIs integrated video worked poorly with the monitor in AutoCad but he only had an AGP slot - no PCI Express - so my choices were limited in video cards. This one is cheap and it works. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great Product Wednesday, February 18, 2009 jason from jerome, ID
Best deal you can get on a mid-range agp graphics card. Works great with Avid, in case anyone is wondering. 5-10 minute install time, works perfectly with no problems. The dual display also works great with no problems. If you're looking for a good cheap agp graphics card, look no further. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great card for the money! Saturday, February 14, 2009 Jean from Sacramento, CA
My old ATI 9800 pro was failing so I needed something to replace it with. I didn't want to spend a fortune on an expensive AGP card as I'll soon upgrade from the 865pe chipset board to another with pci express. Since I've used plenty of ATI and Nvidia cards I went ahead with this one. No problem installing it, no issues, everything is working as it should.
Can't beat it for what it cost with free s/h.
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5 of 5 Good card Wednesday, February 11, 2009 BumperBob from Bluffton, OH
I bought this card to replace an older Nvidia card, primarily because it was fanless. My old card had started making quite a racket, the fan was going bad, and nothing seemed to help it. It was making the computer sound like it was on it's last breath. The new card is at least as good as the old one, and I'm not much of a gamer anymore, but I do a lot of graphics/photo editing, and it's working fine for that. If you're looking for a high end gamer card, there's a lot of power house cards to choose from, but if you just need a good solid card, with solid drivers and support, this is a good choice for the money Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Easy Install Monday, February 02, 2009 Jeff from Stone Mountain, GA
The graphics card was easy to install in my computer which is a Pentium 4 2.0 GHz with 1024 MB of RAM. After the physical installation, the driver install also went without a hitch. The card is perfoming well in my machine. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Best you can get for affordable performance on AGP Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Jesse Safir from Carrboro, NC
I have built 3 home theatre PCs (HTPC) with these GeForce 6200 AGP graphics cards. They have no moving parts so no fans to fail and make noise and they perform very well. I believe it's the best you can get on an AGP bus for affordable performance... Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great Graphics for a good price Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Mike O. from Bristow, VA
Bought this card for my son's computer after he started playing World of Warcraft. After upgrading his memory to no avail, we decided to upgrade the graphics card. This made a huge difference and he is very happy now with the performance of his machine. Unfortunately he has an older machine without a PCIe port. Those cards can be had for cheaper prices for some reason, while I had to pay slightly more for an AGP card with the same specs. But the results are great. The game graphics improved significantly. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 New Video Card Sunday, January 04, 2009 Bob from Mechanicsburg, PA
I was working on a friends computer and decided the problem was a flakey video card. I replaced their card with this digital video card and it is functioning great, better then their original card from 2004. Great digital Video Card, good value & fast shipping. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Replacement video card Sunday, October 05, 2008 Les from CL, IL
I needed a replacement AGP graphics card for my older computer. This card installed easily and performs nicely. Good value. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 great card Thursday, September 11, 2008 A Customer from Bloomington, IN
It's an inexpensive card for my old motherboard. It's fanless and works great. However, XP wasn't able to load properly after hibernation. The problem was solved by using EVGA's driver. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Worked just fine Friday, May 23, 2008 Texgran from North Central Texas
Installed easy and worked fine after I downloaded the latest drivers from EVGA. It corrected the Video card problem I
had in Windows XP. Thanks Buy.com for your great service. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 good value Saturday, March 15, 2008 A Customer from Yakima, Washington
product was shipped quickly and received before expected, easy to follow install and set up and performance meets expectations Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Good video card - Great Price Sunday, March 09, 2008 Mickey from Hinsdale, IL
I was having trouble with a computer and thought my video card was the problem. Replaced my ATI card with this inexpensive Nvidia card. Turns out it was not the problem. Ended up having to replace the motherboard. But I kept this video card in the machine over the ATI card. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Works Great Monday, December 03, 2007 A Customer from Pittsburgh, PA
I bought this card for my kids computer- an old Athalon XP1700 with a 4X AGP slot. I was not sure what to expect, but it worked great and the installation was completely uneventful. The kids can now play some of the latest video games with no problems at all. The Buy.Com price was icing on the cake! Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 good for the price Wednesday, November 28, 2007 A Customer from Woodhaven, NY
very nice product performing very well, only thing lacking is the Digital video output Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 EVGA (n-Vidia chipset) GeForce 6200 Video card Sunday, October 07, 2007 A Customer from West Palm Beach, Florida
Never could test this card casue my motherboard is too old. It wouldn't even recognize it in the AGP slot. Was this review helpful?
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