Well let's start.
Bouth cards where tested on this System:
Mainboard: Abit NF7 (nforce2)
Cpu: AMD AthlonXP 2700 Mhz
Ram: DDRAM 2x256 at 333mhz fsb

Tested with: 3DMark03

About:
ATI Radeon 9200 (128mb): doesnt have dx9 and pixel shader 2.0 support
Geforce Fx 5200 (64mb): it seems to have all of that

TEST:

1st test was made with Ati card.
from 4 games just 3 worked
RESULT: 1020pts

2nd test made with the GeForce card.
Al 4 games worked, pixel shader 2.0 test worked... what can i tell .. everything from the test worked not as good as with the ati card but worked
RESULT: 860pts

So ... to buy a Ati Radeon 9200 that will run some games very good and other games will aint run ? or to buy a GeForceFX 5200 ... all games will work ... not very good but will work somehow?
This is a realy hard question dont you think?
Any questions?
         P.S. hmm to bad i couldnt take bouth cards with 128mb ... you think that if the GeForce had 128mb it could do much better ?


*************Im back.****************

The test was finaly made with fx5200 128ddr 8x

Asus V9520 FX 5200 128MB DDR TV 8x AGP

Test made on the same computer.
This card get 960pts ... all games worked and still radeon 9200 has an bigger "score" well maibe is 9200 good but for games i think NVidia rocks what about the last 6800 card of them ... what can u say that is not enough ... it isnt making cake ?)

Radeon 9200 is like it's predecessor, the Radeon 9100, based upon the Radeon 8500 core (and not on the core that the Radeon 9600 and 9800 use). So the fact that you've got no DX9 support with this card is only logical.

nvidia geforce fx5200 is a total crap for playing purposes, ati 9200 card is much better than that one. pixelshader 2.0 on fx5200 is totally useless because it's too slow to use it. Actually for that money you could buy used graphics card like geforce4 ti4200 which could blow away all 5200's, 5600's of fx series.

128 bit fx5200 good radeon 9200 bad

Are those 2 cards your only choices?

I don't think you should buy a 9200 because it's outdated now and has no DX9 support. BTW, what ever you do, DO NOT buy a 9200 SE card. The SE cards are all crippled.

The FX5200 does not perform well in games so I don't like that card either.

If you are open to a different choice, I would suggest buying a Radeon 9600-128Mb card. At NewEgg.com they have one for $94 which isn't much more than the 9200 is. An even better choice would be the 9600 Pro-128Mb card is @ $107.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-289&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-291&depa=1

The 9600 supports DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0. I think that card will be a lot more compatible with the newer games than the 9200.

I see you live in Romania so I don't know if there is a greater price difference there or not.

Personally, I think you should just buy one that will get the job done and that will run most games in good graphics.ATI has its good side of good prices for the graphic cards, but most of the cards are kind of bad. And Geforce fx 5200 is good for its ability to run newer games in good qaulity such as Doom 3.But the Ati 9200 has over passed The Geforce Fx 5200 with doom 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004, but Half life 2 and HaloCE blew it away.