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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hkBst - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
If all you need is a cheap graphics card because your mobo doesn't have one, then it is probably better to consider a mobo which does have integrated (DVI) graphics.Another reason for considering a low-end card though is for dual dvi outputs to drive two monitors, if you don't play games. I haven't seen any integrated graphics which support dual monitors.
JarredWalton - Sunday, May 28, 2006 - link
Actually, Derek has most of the GPUs I think. I've got lots of other stuff around, and enough spare GPUs (most of them I purchased), but parts get scattered. I don't even have any X18/1900 series cards right now, just a couple X1600 Pros.drewintheav - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
"...but if you don't mind dealing with the hassle of filling out forms, photocopying UPCs and mailing them out, and perhaps waiting eight weeks for your check to arrive..."Since when did they accept a photocopy of the UPC?
:)
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
You can tell how often we fill out mail-in rebates. ;-)Seriously, I've purchased about five products in the past year that had a mail-in rebate, and I haven't filled out a single one before the expiration date. One of them arrived two days before the expiration date, and in the end I just look at it, shrug, and figure $10-20 isn't worth the hassle. I figure mail-in rebates are usually a precursor to price cuts anyway, so if you're really worried about saving money just wait another month or two.
Sunrise089 - Monday, May 29, 2006 - link
"...in the end I just look at it, shrug, and figure $10-20 isn't worth the hassle."I think we see where all the anandtech flashing banner add revenue is going, and to think I didn't block them to try to help the site ;)
Seriousely Jarred, you more than earn whatever they pay you, but there are a lot of us on budgets that have the $$$ in the bank to put forth up front, but then need the rebate ammount to make the purchasea affordable. For me spending 10 minutes on forms is worth $20, since I'm not quite pulling in the $120/hour that is basically equivilent to.
PS - I noticed you signed your post to the first poster above. Assuming you actually read this, is "Hardware Editor" a promotion, or were you just assuming a non-regular wouldn't know you were staff?
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
Techincally, I now post (most of) the articles into the engine. I also am doing more work than just SFFs and occasional other articles. Basically, Gary Key and I are now full-time with AnandTech (whereas we were both part-time a few months ago). I used to call myself "SFF and Guide Editor" since that's what I did. Now, "Hardware" is generic enough that I stuck that on, though I should probably drop everything other than "Editor" at this point.It's not the 10-20 minutes that I care about, it's the fact that it usually ends up taking two+ months to get the rebate. You also send in the UPC usually, preventing a return in case you change your mind. There are also some shady MIRs out there, where you never do get that rebate back - I don't think anyone we track does that, but I know places like Officemax have had issues in the past. Cheers!
Jarred
Josh7289 - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
I haven't been paying attention to the computer hardware, especially the video card, market for about six months now, and this is exactly what I needed to bring me back to what's going on. I see there are a few cards that are new to me that you didn't mention in your guide. Can anyone explain to me what the X1900GT, X1800GTO, and if you want, 7300GS are? Also, didn't there used to be an X1300 vanilla?This quote caught my eye, too:
"The best/only price we are able to find on a 7800 GT is the BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB [RTPE: BFGR78256GTOC] going for $305 shipped. With only 20 pipelines compared to 24 on the 7900 GT, there's absolutely no reason to recommend a 7800 GT anymore."
Speaking about pipes, could anyone refresh me on the amount of pipelines each of the ultra-high end cards has, if you don't mind?
Finally, to me, reading this feels very weird:
"The GeForce 7800 GT/GTX used to be very popular."
^^ Anyway, if anyone could help, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much!
ImJacksAmygdala - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
Josh7289,The video card market can be very hard to keep track of. The best places I use to track the market is Anandtech's price guide articles, and Adrian's Rojak Pot comparison charts.
ATI
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&...">http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&...
Nvidia
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&...">http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&...
Hope this helps...
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - link
There are a few cards that we didn't try breaking down further, so the X1300 and X1300 Pro are grouped together. 7300 GS is a competitor to those cards, but really they're all very slow in comparison to the midrange products.X1900 GT is like the X1900 XT, only with lower clock speeds and 12/36 pixel pipelines instead of 16/48. (Basically, the X1900 chips can do three shader operations per pipeline per cycle, or something similar to that.) X1800 GTO is basically the same thing (12 pixel pipelines, 12 ROPs), only using the older R520 court instead of the newer R580 core. X1800 really isn't that bad, but X1900 is just better.
Clock for clock, the ATI X1900 pipelines are now a bit more powerful than NVIDIA's, but NVIDIA has 33% more pipelines with slightly slower clock speeds, so it more or less equals out. Drivers still play a critical role, so there are games that continue to perform better on NVIDIA even though the X1900 hardware is generally faster. I would also have to give the advantage to SLI over CrossFire -- CrossFire is still a far less elegant solution in my opinion.
On the other ultra high-end cards, 7800 GTX and 7900 GT/GTX are all 24 pixel pipelines, 16 ROPs, and 8 vertex pipelines. 7800 GT has 20 pixel pipelines, so even at the same clock speeds it ends up being slower than the others. X1800 XT/XTX are all 16 pixel pipelines and 8 vertex pipelines, also with 16 ROPs.
Hopefully, that clears things up for you. :-)
Take care, and happy Memorial Day weekend!
Jarred Walton
Hardware Editor
AnandTech.com