Mid-Range Graphics
Here we are back at some cards worth discussing. Several of these cards will match the performance of more expensive "high-end" cards, offering fairly stellar performance for their current pricing.
Performance-wise, the 7600 GT falls in between the 6800 GS and the 7800 GT. This card replaces the very successful 6600 GT, and of all the other cards listed here, this is one of the few we can recommend with confidence. (You will see why later on.) For an even $153 after a $30 mail-in rebate, you can have the XFX GeForce 7600GT Extreme 256MB [RTPE: PV-T73G-UDE3]. You will find that the 6800 GS already does better than the X1600 XT, and since the 7600 GT is priced to about the same, we would highly suggest you go with this offering from NVIDIA.
If you're looking to save some money, you might be tempted to go with the 7600 GS instead. Clock speeds are significantly lower (400/800 vs. 560/1400), however, so the extra $50 is probably a reasonable investment for gaming. Still, the lower clock speeds do come with one advantage: noise levels. You can pick up the fanless EVGA GeForce 7600GS 256MB [RTPE: 256-P2-N549] for $120, with a $15 MIR.
Since the 7600 GT cards are able to perform slightly better than the 6800 GS at a lower cost, the answer is obviously to go with the 7600 GT. However, since the 7600 GT doesn't come in AGP format, the 6800 GS is a viable option for those without PCI-E boards. The single AGP card that is showing today is the eVGA GeForce 6800GS CO 256MB [RTPE: 256-A8-N397], on sale for about $230. However, do keep in mind that you can go with a 7800 GS for an additional $35. We would suggest the 7800 GS, but if you're looking to save a few bucks, this 6800 GS is a reasonable alternative. It really is up to you.
For AGP users, the 6600 GT still appears to be an adequate choice considering its price and performance, as you can't really get a card that performs better without also upping your budget quite a bit. However, for PCI-E users we would suggest a 7600 GT. Sure, you can pick up the Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT 128MB [RTPE: GV-NX66T128D-SP] for $120, but for an additional ~$35 for the 7600 GT we mentioned above, you get 50 to 75% more performance; we think it's well worth the cost.
While it costs a bit more than the 7600 GT, the X1800 GTO competes very well. Depending on the game you're running, the two cards trade place for being the fastest midrange card. We are only picking up two X1800 GT cards at present, but both are relatively easy to obtain. The Sapphire Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB [RTPE: 100155] gets the clear recommendation, coming in at an even $200 shipped (or a few dollars more for the retail version). You might be wondering if there's any specific game that clearly benefits from having an X1800 GTO instead of a 7600 GT. You may have heard of a certain game that goes by the name Oblivion, and in most areas we would say the X1800 GTO posts more consistent/faster results. Of course, if you plan on running multiple video cards, X1800 GTO is a relatively poor choice.
The X800GT/GTO cards are also decently priced. The PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB VIVO [RTPE: X800GTO256MBDDR3] is near its lowest price to date, going for about $115 shipped. Not a bad offering at all for a reasonable performing mid-range card. With a bit of overclocking, you can even reach X800 XT performance levels. This is certainly a viable alternative to the 6600/7600 GT.
Just as we mentioned with the 6600 GT cards, we feel you'll get more for your money if you spend the few extra dollars and select the 7600 GT as your choice rather than the X1600. There are still a couple options you might consider, though. The AGP Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB [RTPE: 100148] is a reasonable budget/midrange AGP offering, going for about $115. Gigabyte also makes a couple silent (fanless) X1600 cards a few of you might be interested in. However, with performance generally lower than the 6600 GT, the X1600 offerings really aren't very attractive for gaming purposes. If you prefer ATI and AVIVO over NVIDIA and PureVideo, though, X1600 is still a good economical choice.
We won't even mention any X700 cards - they would make a better budget offering, but they currently continue to carry their midrange price. Considering the X1600 prices, X700 is basically done, and we're just seeing old inventory floating around.
Let's check out the last and final segment covering the low-end graphic card solutions.
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koomo - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
First, glad to see the price guides back. What a tremendous improvement in price/performance from what we thought was the cat's meow earlier this year!Would you please consider comparing systems in your future High-Range Price Guides to those systems previously recommended? By the time they are ready (I assume you will be waiting for Conroe) I know there will have been an enourmous leap in the past year, but I would very much like to see it graphically with your testing.
Also, what's the safe bet on DX10 card arrivals? I imagine they would be ready for release once the system is ready for sales, but will they require some time for optimization? Will it be awhile before games are capable of utilizing DX10 well? (Such as the somewhat languid adaptation of dual-processor advantages.)
In other words, it seems to me that a very good card purchased today could still be quite competitive a year from now, and not made "obsolete" when DX10 arrives.
Thanks again.
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
AFAIK, DX10 won't come until *after* Windows Vista, so that means we're at least 6-8 months away from DX10 hardware. I also expect games to lag behind by quite a bit, just like with SM3.0 support. DX9.0L (WGF1.0) will be available for Vista launch, but I'm not sure what it adds.I'll see what I can do with the high-end buyers guide. Generally speaking, we let the CPU/chipset/etc. articles cover performance; otherwise, the guides end up taking a long time to write.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
Do your sources suggest DX10 hardware will be delayed until Vista is released, even if the hardware is ready and Vista suffers yet more delays? Let's face it, Vista is likely to be delayed more than the next-gen DX10 compliant cards intended to be released near the end of this year. I mean in Jan 2007. Or Feb 2007. Or sometime early next year which seems to be the current Vista release data. Along with "when it's ready" which is a very good thing for quality, but not so good for release dates.JarredWalton - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Derek probably has more info than I do. All I know is that NVIDIA and ATI are both working on DX10 hardware, but they aren't discussing any of the features that will be present - at least not with me.Sahrin - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
"The X1900 AIW has lower clocks than the X1900 XT (500/960), but you also get VIVO support, and the price is lower. "The vanilla X1900XT supports VIVO as well. Doesn't it?
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
I believe the X1900XT only has TV out, though I suppose some manufacturers might add non-AIW video in hardware.Missing Ghost - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
but when the 6800gs was announced they said it would be a short-lived product.PrinceGaz - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
One reason for purchasing a low-end graphics-card you didn't mention is if your mobo does not have integrated graphics, which includes every nForce3 and nForce4 mobo sold-- in other words the vast majority of people with an Athlon 64 processor. If they're not a gamer then a cheap card is pretty much a necessity in order to use the computer.Another reason would be if you've got a good graphics card already but want an emergency replacement than can be immediately swapped in should it fail (not all of us are hardware reviewers who have hundreds of graphics-cards in the closet). If you've made the jump from AGP to PCIe like I did last year, you probably don't have any other PCIe cards you can use if something should go wrong, so unless you have an old PCI card available you're stuffed unless you have a cheap PCIe card as a spare. Which is the situation I'm in as the fan on my 6800GT has almost died judging from the racket it is making which means my main box may be out of commission for at least a week while it is RMA'd as I have nothing to replace it with.
Obviously for people with integrated video available, the only reason for a low-end card would be for DVI output or higher-quality analogue output like you said.
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
There are various reasons for budget cards. Our point was that you shouldn't buy one hoping for moderate gaming performance. Buy at the bottom of the price bracket, because the extras are mostly worse than getting just about any mid-range offering. If you buy one as a temporary replacement, though, you're basically buying hardware that's not going to be used much.If you are purchasing a new PC and just need any GPU (i.e. because you don't have IGP), then go ahead and buy one as well. I purcahsed four 6200TC cards for my brother's dental office for exactly that reason, but they were all the $50 versions rather than spending even $20 more for faster clocks.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
I agree 100% on the purchasing a cheap low-end card for boxes that don't have a mobo with integrated graphics. Not spending even slightly more on cards that would be quite a bit faster for 3D stuff is also wise. The arrival of Vista sometime next year will make 3D performance important for workplaces that might migrate to it over the computer's lifetime, though most workplaces won't even consider migrating until it has been out for a year and then when all their applications have been thoroughly tested (probably another year) so by then the ROI has already been covered.The temporary replacement scenario I pushed isn't as daft as it might sound. Obviously it's not going to be used much, that's the whole point of the emergency stand-in solution to keep the box working. But for a single-user scenario, if you've got important recently updated files on a system with a PCIe graphics-card and that card suddenly fails, then you're stuck unless you have an old PCI graphics-card (I have a friend with a Trio64 gathering dust) or a cheapo PCIe that could be instantly swapped in to get me back up and running. I've got three AGP cards but none of them will be any use in my current system when I have to return the PCIe card, and I now regret not also spending a tiny bit extra on an X300 or 6200 last year when I bought this 6800GT.
Like I said we aren't all PC hardware reviewers with hundreds of graphics-cards lying around the house we could choose from if one fails. My PCIe 6800GT is on it's last legs and I don't have another PCIe or PCI card to replace it with while it is RMA'd (though it can run passively in 2D or if downclocked in 3D so I can choose when to RMA). I imagine you have a closet stacked to the ceiling with everything from X1900XTXs and 7900GTXs from several manufacturers, through everything back all the way to the Trio32 and earlier. The rest of us don't have that luxury unfortunately. And yeah, I know you don't really have hundreds of graphics-cards in your closet as most have to be returned, but it's nice to imagine that :)