What video card is comparable to a Nvidia FX5700LE AGP8x 256MB?

The fan on my 2 month old video card is starting to play up. Rang my computer builders and they said to return it, but they might not have the same card in stock. So as i'm not really that clued up on this...what card is comparible/as good as etc to the Nvidia FX5700LE AGP8x 256MB? So i know i'm not going to get given a crappy 1 instead.

Thanks, Rory

PS Oh yeah, please could you say what to steer clear of aswell.

 

LE's suck. Don't buy an LE if you want to do even the slightest gaming. but if you don't do gaming or anything 3d/graphics related you'll be alright

 

What NF means is that as far as graphics cards go in both the ATI and NVIDIA ranges you will find most models of video cards to have an "SE" or "LE" version.

"SE" is used for ATI and "LE" is used for NVIDIA, basically these cards run slightly slower memory / clock frequencys than the standard version of the cards, which isn't a biggy however they usually only have 1/2 the pipelines or vortex shaders and 1/2 the Bit in memory.

If they do not have this card in stock then make sure the card you get is a non-LE one.

Your 5700LE is the Nvidia version of the 9500 - 9600 ATI Range, the 5700LE being the equivalent of a 9600SE or a 9550 128MB (ATI)

But since your card has 256MB memory i suspect it would be slightly more expensive, i would try and get either:
ATI 9600Pro 128mb
Nvidia 5700 128mb

The non LE or SE versions of the cards that are in the same range as your 5700LE are around £30-£40($60-$70) more.. and for that money you might as well spend £40-55($60-$80) and get a ATI 9700Pro 128MB

 

What's the difference with 128MB and 256MB, do i want to drop down to a 128MB, isn't 256MB better???

Rory

 

Sometimes a 259mb card will have certain advantages but a lot fo the time the difference isn't noticable. Also note that although a 5700LE card is a lowered card, it does have a newer GPU than the cards which have equal speed like an FX5600 Ultra and you will have more detailed and cleaner textures with the fx5700LE.

 

So the FX5700LE is a good card, i don't play games much (if at all). It's mainly for web surfing and multi-media applications for uni and stuff.

Rory

 

Yea its ok for un-intensive games and the like.