Video Cards Price Guide: Demystifying December Edition
by Kristopher Kubicki on December 5, 2004 10:43 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Video Cards Radeon 9xxx
If there is one thing that some of our recent tests have proven, its that the 9800 Pro can still pull it's weight around here when put against the AGP crowd; particularly considering it hovers around that magic $200 number. Unfortunately, if you got a chance to see the GeForce 6600GT AGP review, the $200 Radeon 9800 Pro got trounced by the 6600GT in every benchmark (Anand put it nicely here). Even though you'll pay a little bit more for the 6600GT AGP, the enormous gains you see in games like Halo, CounterStrike and Doom3 are clearly worth the investment.
Our midrange AGP card pick this week is the 9600XT, without a doubt. Even though it is getting long in the tooth, the 9600XT is the most well rounded Radeon 9xxx around, and it's extremely cheap right now too. If you plan on playing a bit of Half Life 2, you might want to check out these numbers here
Video Cards Radeon Xxxx
With the launch earlier this week, Derek put the current state of things best in the conclusion of his X850 introduction article:
- - Radeon X850 XT and X850 XT PE are the extreme gamers cards. They lead in performance and if there's no budget, put this up there with the 6800 Ultra. Of course, ATI says we'll be able to find these on shelves in time to put them in gift boxes for the holiday season, which would tip the scales in ATI's favor, especially if 6800 Ultra cards are still going for extremely high prices and the new X850 XT and XT PE debut at MSRP.
- - Radeon X800 XL is an interesting price point. It hits a spot between the current X800 Pro and the 6800 GT. ATI really needs a $400 price point offering, but dropping something between 300 and 400 may help out consumers who don't have the budget for anything more.
- - Radeon X800 will take the place of the X700 XT and really negates the need for anything else at a $250 price point. This is a good answer to NVIDIA's 6800 non-ultra product, if they ever make it into the same platform space.
Unfortunately, the "if" clauses are going to plague us a bit right now. The X700XT GPU is definitely ATI's $240 gem right now as far as price/performance go right now, albeit availability is very weak. ATI's next available tier, the X800 Pro, sells for $400. It wasn't surprising that ATI put out five cards to fill in the leaking holes in the greater-than-$250 video card market. To us what is surprising is that all of those cards target the 1% of extreme enthusiasts take a no holds barred approach to computer shopping. Although everyone likes to have the newest and fastest, paying $400 for a video card only became vogue a year ago, and yet now the ceiling for video cards is well above $500. Since the price guides exist to help people buy smart instead of buying the extreme, we won't even consider the X800 cards an option this time around.
In fact, for those who follow some of our other reviews, things look fairly favorable for the X700XT on anything test that isn't Doom3, but it essentially ties the GeForce 6600GT in most benchmarks we have seen. Unfortunately, the lack of an fully available X700XT AGP component right now puts it at a disadvantage. As we mentioned earlier, X700XT looks great if you can find it, but on PCIe don't sell yourself short of a 6600GT.
The winner on ATI's hands is the X800 without a doubt. The problem is that there are no cards. Even though we were told to wait a few more days for availability to start showing up, the fact that most merchants don't even have pre-orders does not bode well. As we always say here at AnandTech, but the best hardware available today; constantly waiting for the next best thing will only force you to perpetually wait.
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KristopherKubicki - Monday, December 6, 2004 - link
Questar: The lowest I have sen it for is $310, did you use coupons?Kristopher
Rand - Monday, December 6, 2004 - link
A pity the regular X700 is no where to be seen, it would make an admirable mid-range offering for PCI-E, or AGP for the matter when ATi gets the Rialto bridge ready.Quite a bit faster then the regular GF6600, and competes pretty decently with last generations high end in the likes of the R9800.
It's interesting how slowly the low end has come along since early 2002. Even the now anicent GF4 MX can in many respects hold up quite respectably compared to current generation products marketed towards the entry level consumer graphics market.
Questar - Monday, December 6, 2004 - link
Kristopher,Dell. I just checked before posting this and they appear to be out of them.
JustAnAverageGuy - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
#6" Remember, not everyone uses Firefox, nor wishes to."
A good point.
Opera is still a great alternative to IE. :) Better than FF too.
XT2k - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
i agree with you Cygni, i see that low end is moving cheaper VERY slowly, which is bad.i would prefer an R9550 (not SE) then OC it to 400/250DDR at least so you get some good performance.
XT2k - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
I think the best one for the buck is X800 XL 110nm R430, MSRP $350!Cygni - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
Price points are still way too high to justify it. The low ends price/performance is BARELY creeping forward. I bought a Radeon 8500 for $80 YEARS ago... and after a very mild overclock, it holds its own perfectly well, often BEATING, the cards at that point now... 5700LE's, 9550's, low end 9600's... its ridiculous! They just ADD new price points when they add cards. The high end gets higher and higher... the "middle" moves to $150-200... and the low doesnt move at all. Old cards dont get cheaper, they just vanish.KristopherKubicki - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
Questar: A X800SE for $155? Where??? I recommended the 6600 Non-GT for the midrange PCIe, 9600XT for midrange AGP.Degrador - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
I'm with Questar. It seems it's not just me that thinks the guides were better beforehand when you listed everything. Remember, not everyone uses Firefox, nor wishes to.Questar - Sunday, December 5, 2004 - link
Crappy guide, where's the midrange?I snagged a X800se for $155 that overclocks to 500/800. That's faster that a 9800XT for $60 less.