FX5200 and FX5500 use same DIE, (NV34), but FX5500 is clocked less (GPU 230/VRAM 100 instead 250/200 )

Greetings
matt

so what makes the 5500 the faster card? Is it unlocked pipes? Or more bit width on ram?

Clockspeeds alone. Otherwise they're the same chip, same design.

VoraciousGorak wrote on 2021-01-22, 06:38:

Clockspeeds alone. Otherwise they're the same chip, same design.

you said the 5500 is clocked lower?

I think you mean to say the 5500 is higher, and the other difference I think is a wider memory bus now that I’m looking more at the issue

So not fake per se but the same chip is just mislabeled for a different release of the same chip otherwise seems legit?

That post may have had a typo. The FX 5200 is the lower-clocked card, as it is the lowest-clocked card in the FX lineup.

There is also a LOT of confusion around FX5200s, no two cards are the same it seems. Some use 64-bit memory, some use 128-bit memory, the memory clocks can be whatever... while the top end of the FX range is pretty predictable, the FX 5200s were the Wild West, especially with OEMs just creating their own for their own PCs, barely beholden to any minimum specifications.

EDIT: And yes, though the FX 5500 may have used a newer revision of the die, the chip itself had the same per-clock performance profile. Sort of like flashing a FX 5900 Ultra to a 5950 Ultra, or an RX 470 to an RX 570.

If the seller sold you that as an FX 5500 though, they either lied (or at least were disingenuous, if I sold a flashed card I'd say it was flashed) or were fleeced by their supplier.

EDIT 2: The baffling thing is there's no reason to flash it and sell it as an FX 5500 aside from clickbait. The 5500 didn't have super tight memory timings or anything, it was still just as cheap a piece of trash add in card as the 5200.

Cool deal thanks! 😀

VoraciousGorak wrote on 2021-01-22, 06:43:

That post may have had a typo. The FX 5200 is the lower-clocked card, as it is the lowest-clocked card in the FX lineup. […]
Show full quote

That post may have had a typo. The FX 5200 is the lower-clocked card, as it is the lowest-clocked card in the FX lineup.

There is also a LOT of confusion around FX5200s, no two cards are the same it seems. Some use 64-bit memory, some use 128-bit memory, the memory clocks can be whatever... while the top end of the FX range is pretty predictable, the FX 5200s were the Wild West, especially with OEMs just creating their own for their own PCs, barely beholden to any minimum specifications.

EDIT: And yes, though the FX 5500 may have used a newer revision of the die, the chip itself had the same per-clock performance profile. Sort of like flashing a FX 5900 Ultra to a 5950 Ultra, or an RX 470 to an RX 570.

If the seller sold you that as an FX 5500 though, they either lied (or at least were disingenuous, if I sold a flashed card I'd say it was flashed) or were fleeced by their supplier.

Given that it says 5200 on it it’s probably not the b version of the die?

The heatsink says 5500 on it. So....

Idono what to think 🤣.

I guess if it works and is stable I will be okay.

That heat sink looks to have been machined specifically to put on that card.

I found the listing on eBay where they're selling it, and see a pre-2006 nVIDIA logo on the heat sink, a DIFFERENT NVIDIA logo on the fan, "FX 5500" in two different typefaces, and "VGA Card". (EDIT: Are those black dots just paint? They're not ventilation holes? 🤣) The card PCB also looks very clean and "new", just like yours, not covered in almost 20 years of gunk from being shoved into the in-laws Compaq Presario and then forgotten for a decade and a half. My guess is: they're salvaging dies off dead 5200 cards, throwing them on super cheap PCBs with just enough wiring to display video, flashing an FX 5500 BIOS on them, and hoping for the best.

I have seen a lot of suspicious looking FX cards on ebay lately. There are some "5950s" circulating around for suspiciously reasonable prices (well, a few hundred dollars anyway). Trouble is I can't find any picture online that match the PCBs. The heatsinks are all different too.

Oh wow, yes. Just searched ebay for: fx5500 new. Some lovely creations 😁

I bought this card a year ago.
Yes it looks kinda sketchy but not "completely" fake.
I would also guess this is from a salvaged FX 5200 chip.
One thing I observed is that this card works with some older driver versions but not newer(even it says FX5500 supported).
It's still usable as part of a retro build but certainly with less "authentic " retro feel.

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-01-22, 06:39:

VoraciousGorak wrote on 2021-01-22, 06:38:

Clockspeeds alone. Otherwise they're the same chip, same design.

you said the 5500 is clocked lower?

I think you mean to say the 5500 is higher, and the other difference I think is a wider memory bus now that I’m looking more at the issue

One source tell, 5500 is lower clocked, most source tell it is just a bit (GPU) higher / (VRAM) same/lower clocked.

That's typical of the newer Chinese AliExpress versions of this card, I've an AGP version that's the same. Assuming it's 256 megabytes of memory, I'll be curious if it will work in your TX board. I have a PCI 9250SE 128 card that works in a Biostar TX board I have, but will not work in my Asus TXP4. I bought an NVS 280 64 meg PCI card for it instead.

Quite coincidentally today, I dug out a board that may become another build, and it only has PCI slots. So I found myself looking at these cards on ebay again. And it turns out Phil has a video featuring them from a couple of years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia1zNRZE8Mg

Curious to hear your experiences OP. I may even end up with one of these down the track.

It won’t show the screen when I put it in the socket 7 board. 🤷‍♂️

Excellent start!

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-23, 09:05:

Excellent start!

🤣 it's doa that's the worst start haha

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-01-23, 09:43:

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-23, 09:05:

Excellent start!

🤣 it's doa that's the worst start haha

I would have been very surprised (but happy for you) if it had worked.