NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

The NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 is an end-of-life, single-slot AGP 8x GPU from the GeForce FX generation. It uses the NV18C chip on TSMC's 150 nm process, with 29 million transistors in a 65 mm² die and a transistor density of 446.2K per mm². The architecture is Celsius. The database records no benchmark samples: the benchmarks array is empty, avgBenchmarkScore is 0, and nearestRivals is empty. The only aggregate placement is percentileVsAllGpus at 50, so this analysis is based on the listed specifications.

Benchmark Performance

The absence of benchmark scores is the first finding. The benchmarks field is empty, and the average benchmark score is 0. The percentileVsAllGpus value of 50 places the FX 5200 at the midpoint of the database's GPU population, but that placement is not backed by any nonzero averaged benchmark result. Because nearestRivals is empty, no exact percentage deltas can be reported. There are no rival names, scores, or deltaPct values in the entry.

The spec sheet does provide throughput ceiling numbers. The FX 5200 has 4 TMUs and 2 ROPs. The database lists a pixel rate of 500.0 MPixel/s and a texture rate of 1.000 GTexel/s. Those are the maximum outputs for pixel writes and texture fetches. They are the main quantitative performance descriptors in the record. The memory clock is the only clock listed: 200 MHz, with 400 Mbps effective signaling. No core clock, boost clock, or game clock is present.

The entry also does not specify shading units, ray tracing cores, tensor cores, FP16 throughput, or FP32 throughput. Each of those fields is null. The only performance-side number families are the fill rates, the memory bandwidth, and the aggregate percentile of 50.

The API table records DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL 1.5, with no Vulkan support. That defines the feature scope of any workload the card can accelerate. The combination of 500.0 MPixel/s, 1.000 GTexel/s, 128 MB memory, and 6.400 GB/s of memory bandwidth describes a part with fixed, low rendering ceilings. But without a benchmark score or a nearest rival, those ceilings cannot be converted into a performance comparison or a percentage delta.

Who Should Consider It

The FX 5200 is for a system that already matches its bus. The interface is AGP 8x, and the board is single-slot. It was released on 2003-03-05 and is marked end-of-life. The display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video, so it can drive legacy monitors with analog or digital inputs.

Resolution and settings guidance follows the throughput numbers. A pixel rate of 500.0 MPixel/s means the number of pixels the GPU can write per second is fixed. Higher resolution multiplies pixel count and consumes that rate more quickly. Lower resolution and lower detail are therefore the settings direction implied by the data. A 128 MB frame buffer also limits how much color, depth, and texture data can reside on the card at once.

The memory bandwidth points the same way. With 6.400 GB/s over a 128-bit bus, large frame buffers and high-resolution textures will compete for bandwidth. The memory clock is 200 MHz with 400 Mbps effective data rate, which is a modest data path. The card is a reasonable fit for legacy DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL 1.5 software at conservative settings. The API table stops at DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL 1.5, so users should not expect support for workloads that require later APIs.

Power constraints are straightforward. The suggested PSU is 200 W, and the power connector field is None. Users with such a system can install the card in one slot, using its 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video outputs.

Power and Cooling

The TDP field is not specified. The database gives no wattage number for the GPU, so power analysis must use the process and board data. The NV18C is built on TSMC's 150 nm node and integrates 29 million transistors in a die size of 65 mm². That works out to a transistor density of 446.2K per mm², which is a structural fact of the silicon, not a thermal measurement.

The board is a single-slot design. The powerConnectors field is None, meaning the card does not use an auxiliary power connector. The suggested PSU is 200 W. The bus interface is AGP 8x, so the card connects through the AGP bus rather than a separate power lead. Dimensions are not recorded, so cooler volume cannot be quantified. The production status is end-of-life.

For a system builder, the actionable power and cooling constraints are: one expansion slot, no auxiliary power connector, and a 200 W PSU suggestion. Because TDP is absent, no further thermal envelope can be stated from the record.

How It Compares

The FX 5200 has no nearestRivals entries. The database lists no rival names, scores, or deltaPct values, so a product-by-product performance comparison cannot be made. The only aggregate number is percentileVsAllGpus at 50, which indicates a midpoint position among all GPUs tracked in the database. That is not equivalent to a comparison against a specific card.

The product lineage gives structural context. The predecessor field names GeForce 4 Ti, and the successor field names GeForce 6 AGP. The record provides no benchmark scores for either of those products. Therefore the FX 5200's relationship to them is positional, not quantitative. It sits between GeForce 4 Ti and GeForce 6 AGP in the NVIDIA product order and was released on 2003-03-05. It is marked end-of-life.

Without a nearestRivals list, statements such as "faster than" or "slower than" a named rival are unsupported by this database entry. The comparison section is limited to lineage and the 50th-percentile aggregate field.

Memory Subsystem

The FX 5200 has 128 MB of DDR memory on a 128-bit bus. The memory clock is 200 MHz, and the effective data rate is 400 Mbps. The resulting bandwidth is 6.400 GB/s. These are the complete memory specifications in the record.

Memory is central to high-resolution performance. A high-resolution frame requires more pixel data to be written and read, and the 128 MB capacity limits how many color, depth, and texture surfaces can be stored. With a 128-bit bus and a 200 MHz clock, the bandwidth ceiling is 6.400 GB/s. Any workload that exceeds that ceiling will become bandwidth-limited.

The memory subsystem also interacts with fill rates. The GPU side can output 500.0 MPixel/s and 1.000 GTexel/s, while the memory side can move 6.400 GB/s. A high-resolution workload can saturate either the fill-rate units or the bandwidth. The 128 MB capacity adds a hard limit on the working set of textures and buffers.

The DDR type, 128-bit width, 200 MHz clock, 400 Mbps effective rate, and 6.400 GB/s bandwidth are the numbers that define the FX 5200's memory behavior. They point to conservative resolution and texture detail as the practical operating range.