Bandwidth Place 2

http://www.mylilsite.net/images/sd6200le7200gs1.jpg
http://www.mylilsite.net/images/sd6200le7200gs2.jpg

They're the same? What makes you say that? LOL

That's messed up. I only see very few differences in the two and there small. On the rear, upper right of each board, the UB2 chip is missing in the top photo and present in the bottom. Same goes for the q86 chip towards the middle. very small differences in each card for such a different card.

Those are some sharp eyes you got there. o-o I still don't see the "UB2" label you speak of.

A good article was linked a while ago on some forum but I can't find that thread nor the article... my google keyword eventually expanded to: "ati scalable design gpu nvidia monolithic die" and I still can't find a good article. If you can find an article going into more detail about the traditional GPU design method and ATI's new method, I'd say its a good read.

Anyway, I think the traditional GPU design method explains why the 6200/7200 can be soldered to essentially the same board. The traditional method being to design a monolithic and powerful GPU and as time goes on, shrink/disable functions on the chip to meet the demands of lower price points. This apparently doesn't just happen within a GeForce generation, and as you can see here: http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php ... &card2=516
the two GPUs are almost identical in specs, but one is 90nm and clocked higher while the other is 110nm.

Sounds interesting. If it wasn't for the fact your comparing a 6 series and 7 series I would never have looked for a difference. I can see from a low end (ie 6200) to a high end (ie 6800) card that the changes could be hardware inside the semiconductor/chips and software/hardware enabling. But from one series to another I expected more of a new look, so to speak.
The only difference I see on the front of each card is the (memory) chip manufacturer. The top shows "nynix" and the bottom is "samsung". On the back, if you go to the upper left (photo expanded) and start moving to the right you will see a chip on both card tagged "QB3" or "OB3" on the board. About a quarter the distance that you traveled right, down from that chip is the "UB2" location. The chip is missing from the top card. These tags are on the board, not the chip. I also see "QB6" or OB6" chip missing from the top and present on the bottom. This along with a few other slight differences. I just expected there to be more.

lol

Directive wrote:The only difference I see on the front of each card is the (memory) chip manufacturer. The top shows "nynix" and the bottom is "samsung". On the back, if you go to the upper left (photo expanded) and start moving to the right you will see a chip on both card tagged "QB3" or "OB3" on the board. About a quarter the distance that you traveled right, down from that chip is the "UB2" location. The chip is missing from the top card. These tags are on the board, not the chip. I also see "QB6" or OB6" chip missing from the top and present on the bottom. This along with a few other slight differences. I just expected there to be more.

I see the UB2 chip now, but its location and your directions above do not match the original directions:

Directive wrote:On the rear, upper right of each board, the UB2 chip is missing in the top photo and present in the bottom.

The "nynix" is actually "hynix" and both memory brands seen are Korean (I found that interesting). After checking the actual card, the label is "QB3". The printing itself is pretty bad to begin but I'm pretty sure its not O in order to avoid O/0 confusion.

whatever.....

The point is, these are two very different series of nvidia cards that are, in my opinion, very similar in make (or maybe I could say "texture"). Is the performance of each as similar as they are in make or as different as it is in series? Or maybe neither. This is something I am to keep in mind next time I shop for a video card. As if there wasn't enough to compare.

The 7200GS has a notable performance improvement over the 6200LE, probably because it is clocked higher. Perhaps we should be thankful towards similarities in the makes of models, because that way the same models of coolers can fit on multiple models of video cards (as they have been). When I look at video cards, all I check for are if they have the basic features I'd expect a video card to have, and then check benchmarks with multiple review sites to see how their performance compare with competing models. The fact that these two GPU models from different generations are able to be placed on the same board is shocking, but as long as the model does what you want, does it matter?

Looking at CPUs show the same concept anyway, motherboards with the Intel 965 chipset could handle the previous generation P4s as well as Core 2.

And that is the reason I ask this forum questions like, whats a good/inexpensive video card. Cus yall do the legwork and I'm too lazy

Speaking of which, what brand of sound card rates the highest and next in line. Creative is really pissing me off and am wondering if they are good enough to stick with through there BS. I would look for 5.1 support because these speakers sound good.

ASUS Xonar is hands down the best choice of sound card, better than X-Fi from what I've read. However, I remember that some features it has that allows it to compete with the similar features from Creative are Vista-only. Its been a while though, they may have improved support beyond Vista.

Other good alternatives to the Creative flavor are the Bluegears b-Inspirer and Auzentech X-Meridian.