my experience with that video card...
i have 2 computers,
my box:
amd 1ghz
768mb pc133 ram
pny ti4400
other box:
amd 2500+
512mb pc2700
pny fx5200 128mb
Shared settings: background resolution: 1280, foreground resolution: 1280, mip-mapping is enabled, texture compression is 'high', on-screen maps is 'compressed', bump mapping, smooth environmental animation, and enable hardware mouse cursor.
the only main difference in the graphic settings is that in the ffxi config i have 'environmental effects' off on the fx5200.
ffxi is a directx9 game, if the video card can run dx9, then ffxi will make the video card do the work. in the fx5200's case, it's too much work.
the ti4400 is a medium directx8 video card. i can turn on environmental effects without a major hit in performance. This machine has some trouble handling Windurst Woods, and the south auction house at a framerate greater than 10 fps or so. This card has problems when there is alot happening on the screen. However, in my mog house it's perfectly fluid.
the fx5200 is a budget directx9 video card. having environmental effects enabled KILLS performance in windy areas (Tahrongi, Burimburu peninsula, must be the alpha **** on the wind). Otherwise, this setup is a lot SMOOTHER than the other one. All of the spells being thown around on a mob does not drop fps at all.
i also know somebody who has a higher end nvidia fx card (5900?) that also has experiences like the fx5200. this leads me to believe that either nvidia needs to work on thier drivers, or squareenix needs to rework thier dx9 stuff, or even allow the ability to disable using dx9 rendering methods.
i have no idea if ati's dx9 cards exhibits the same problem as nvidia's dx9 cards...