New Iyonix computers are shipping with Nvidia FX52 series graphics cards and RISC OS 5.12 fitted as standard. The FX5200 and FX5500 cards are newer than the dinosaur Nvidia GeForce MX 2 that shipped with original Iyonixes, plus they feature dual-head and DVI output capabilities. RISC OS support for these two functions is understood to not yet be fully complete, however. The new cards are also mildly faster than the MX 2 devices, speeding up graphics operations by an estimated 25 to 30 percent.
If I recall correctly, the Nvidia FX5200 is one of the highest-end graphics cards that doesn’t have active cooling, aka no fan. I got one in my P3-500.
It’s probably not going to be required for RISC OS games any time soon, but it’s nice for those (still) using RISC OS for (amazingly quiet) video editing.
edit: ok, there are higher end cards with passive cooling, quick research reveals: http://www.sparkle.com.tw/News/7300GS_LE/73GS_LE_E.html
Edited 2006-08-20 21:47
This is OT but thanks for the tip off, might be worth getting for a mythtv.
“If I recall correctly, the Nvidia FX5200 is one of the highest-end graphics cards that doesn’t have active cooling, aka no fan. I got one in my P3-500.”
Hardly. I’ve got a Radeon 9800 with passive cooling and there are Radeon X1600s with it as well.
My XFX GeForce 7600GS also runs w/ passive cooling just fine 🙂
no way that FX5200 is highend , it’s so darn slow here
It was the fastest passively-cooled 3d card when it came out but has been surpassed many times over by current ATI and nVidia offerings.
I bought a 5200 the month they came out and was a bit underwhelmed, probably due to nVidia’s marketing magic back then. They said the card’s FX engine would make for the best, most immersive visuals to be seen on the PC. They were half-right…it did indeed render beautiful images, but at half the framerates of a GF4Ti.
Still, it makes an excellent ultra-low-budget 3d card for alternative OSes, as it can be had for ~$15-25 most anywhere on the net. You can even play current games such as World of Warcraft on it at an acceptable level of performance; not bad for a three-year-old card.