High-End Graphics
Besides the fact that most of these cards are really overpriced, there really isn't much else to say about these high-end cards. For the best price/performance, we recommend you take a look at the mid-range or ultra high-end cards. For the amount you would be paying here, you would be better off going with an ultra high-end card. Still, let's take a look at what we have available.
Here we have the GeForce 7800GS cards that come only in AGP form. There is a great selection of these cards available, but the best price we can bring you as of today is the eVGA GeForce 7800GS CO 256MB [RTPE: 256-A8-N506-AX] for $280 shipped, with a $15 mail-in rebate knocking the price down to a total of $265. As you skim through the rest of the chart, you will notice that there are many cards available for under the $300 price tag. Competing with the X850 XTPE, the 7800GS does an excellent job at filling out the top of the NVIDIA AGP performance spectrum. It is slightly underpowered compared to the X850 XTPE AGP, but the 7800GS is priced about $120 less. Honestly, we have to say that you're better off upgrading to a PCI-E motherboard and graphics card for an extra $100, but it's far easier to change graphics cards than to swap out an entire motherboard.
ATI's X850 line is rather interesting, as it performs better than the X800 line and is currently priced lower. The AGP cards are still pretty expensive, but the Sapphire Radeon X850XT 256MB [RTPE: 100106] priced at $165 is actually more of a midrange price with high-end performance. This is about the only "high-end" card that we would seriously recommend right now, and how long it stays in stock at this price is anyone's guess. Also note that CrossFire X850 cards are relatively expensive, and R400 CrossFire really wasn't a very elegant solution. We recommend you stick with single X850 cards if you plan on purchasing one.
It isn't really much of a deal, but the Gigabyte Radeon X800XL 512MB [RTPE: GV-RX80L512DE] is somewhat interesting, currently priced at about $200. (Ooooh! 512 MEGA-bytes!) Still, there's no point in getting this over one of the similarly priced X850 XT cards. The X800XT cards are also overpriced. For the price of these X800XT cards, you can easily purchase a 7900 GT or even something faster. Really, these cards are on the way out, and basically we're just seeing the last few remnants being sold.
What can we say that we haven't said before? Skip these cards over and head on to the ultra high-end cards if you're looking to spend anywhere near the amount these 6800GTs are going for. (And don't even think about the 6800 Ultra cards!) Alternatively, check out the next page for our mid-range batch of cards. Several of them will at least match performance of the 6800 GT, but do it at a lower price.
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Egglick - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
I'm kinda confused as to why there are so many old cards in this guide. The entire range of last-gen PCIe cards is pretty much obsolete because of the performance of the 7600GT for only $150. Aside from the X850XT for $159, it's a joke to even list most of those cards up there.I also think that the X1600Pro should have been touted quite a bit more. For $100, you get the entire AVIVO feature set, in either PCIe or AGP flavor. This makes them extremely useful for HTPCs, and negates just about the entire low end range.
Also, no discussion whatsoever on the $239 X1800XT 256MB?? That's a pretty big descrepency.
tayhimself - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
The old cards (barring a few AGP models maybe) should be removed from the guide. I would put them all in a not reccomended list page. But it may be more important for you to get advertising $ by providing a direct buy link which would explain the old shitty cards still in the guide. Oh well...JarredWalton - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Every time we put out a price guide, we get complaints if we don't list just about every conceivable option. Catch-22. I don't know where the cheap X1800XT is, but it doesn't show up in our pricing engine right now, which is why it doesn't get mentioned. Anyway, if you can find some better deals than we have listed here, that's great; these articles are a snapshot in time, and we don't track every vendor on the planet for a variety of reasons.Egglick - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Scratch that.....you can get the X1600Pro for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">$85 after $15MIR (PCIe model).bloc - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Your price engine is rather nice, but...to make it the ultimate price guide is to factor in fps. Even though you don't have fps for most games and cards, it would help to show the ones you do have.You made some arguments about 6600 GT, x1600 XT, 7600 GT...well if you look at the price vs fps...I believe all three are on a similar line.
Meaning they're equal in value...and you're getting the appropriate performance for the price you pay.
JarredWalton - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
X1600 XT is about as fast as 6600 GT (not even quite that!), so not worth it in my opinion since it costs a bit more. 7600 GT runs about 75% faster (provided you're not CPU limited), and it only costs may 40% more. Best bang-for-the-buck out right now, I think.bloc - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Using anand's oblivion benchmarks http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2746...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2746...And the top graph because it stresses the cards the most:
256 mb cards - taking lowest price from the chart
6600 GT - $120
x1600 xt - $140
7600 gt - $153
oblivion gate - bloom
6600 GT - 18.05 - 0.15 fps/$
x1600 xt - 26 - 0.186
7600 gt - 30.3 - 0.198
oblivion gate - hdr
6600 GT - 14.3 - 0.119 fps/$
x1600 xt - 19.1 - 0.136 fps/$
7600 gt - 25.7 - 0.168
The higher the fps/$ the better the bang for the buck
for reference
7900 GT - gate hdr - 33.5 $280 has a fps/$ of 0.119
1800 xt - gate hdr - 42.4 $290 has a fps/$ of 0.147
Conclusion: the 7600 GT has the best bang for the buck, followed by the x1600 xt then the 6600 GT. (for this game of course)
See how fps/$ or $/fps is a better indicator?
bloc - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
btw the 7600 GT price is $153 ($35 MIR)..which is a lot lower than the average of $170. With the adjusted price, the x1600 XT and 7600 GT fps/$ ratio is about even. But my point was to highlight how price charts is an alright solution...while a fps/$ is better.the Chase - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
The MSI X1800XT(512MB) is only $269.99 after $30 MIR at Newegg.the Chase - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
Price engine missed the $50 MIR on the ATI X1800XT at Newegg that brings the price down to $289.99. Not a bad deal for the 512MB 1800XT.