I debated starting this thread way back, and never got round to doing it. We have numerous messages posted on the forums each week asking questions we've answered a lot on the power of graphics cards. What I'd like to see is a relatively concise (not like the old P4 vs AMD thread got to by about page 80) guide to those looking to upgrade their graphics or get a new system. We'll try for honest, evidence-supported viewpoints, minimal fanboyism and keep with the news of all new developments. Be nice to get such a thread running that it's worth stickying. The occasional reputable benchmark could be thrown in too. Suppose I'd better set the ball rolling. Firstly, budget segment, what do you choose? Nobody usees integrated graphics for gaming, come on even Intel's latest incarnation is hopeless for anything modern or otherwise. Neither the GeForce 6150 or Radeon X200 are great either. So you've got a few options, GeForce 6200, Radeon X300, GeForce 7300 and Radeon X1300. What would you go for? As for Midrange, we have the Radeon X800GTO, GeForce 6600, Radeon X1600Pro and the GeForce 7600GS. For higher end, Radeon X1800GTO, X1800XT and GeForce 7800GT. Higher still, The X1900XT and 7900GTX. And, the pointless arena of Dual graphics? For those where dollar bills are used for heating, these systems make sense as they give 20% performance in some specific games for double the cost. Nevertheless, who's the winner? SLi with it's unrivalled performance but iron-specific and locked architecture? Or Crossfire with its ease of setup, but questionable performance and big external cable? Who's a winner in each of these categories? Without sounding fanboyish my initial support went in ATi's direction for their reputed higher image quality (which is still very arguable). However, given the current price of nVidia's low-mid range stuff, you can't doubt their dominance, in fact a recent survey conducted by Steam, the software behind Half Life 2 and others, for those under a rock revealed that over 20% of the PCs surveyed used a 6600GT graphics card! Let's stir some opinions!
well for my next pc ill be looking to buy a mid to high range graphics card. ive looked around and ive found the x1600xt for 165 cdn. i was wondering if anyone has this card and has any opinions on it or if they could reccomend me a graphics card which is under 225 which is better. imo like sammorris said, i think that ati ahs the edge in the visual side but the prices of the mid range nVidia's are amazing. i myself have and nVidia fx 5200, which i know sucks and i cant wait for my next computer. thats just my 2 cents worth.
Yeah the FX series was nVidia's weak point as they tried to blag high performance by engineering their drivers to give double their real performance in 3dmark, so while the FX series beat the Radeons in 3DMark and got soem sales because of it, they were actually very poor, sometimes only 60% of the speed of the ATi equivalent. The X1600XT is an okay midrange card, but at the moment the best value for money graphics card money can buy is the X1800GTO. The 7600GT isn't far behind, though.
i heard that the X1800GTO has HDR and plays some games better than the 7600GT like oblivion but other than that is the X1800GTO worth paying the extra money
There's very little difference in the cost between them, and ATI cards can run AA/AF and HDR simultaneously. with nVidia you have to pick one or the other. In my neck of the woods an X1800GTO is £125.13, and a 7600GT is £129.95, so if anything an X1800GTO is cheaper. AT a different website the X1800GTO is £123.32 and the 7600GT is £129.19. Oddly, in the US market the X1800GTO is more expensive, but I'd still recommend it over the 7600GT, unless you're either an nVidia fanboy or want to use SLi (don't).
im not thinking of burning money that i could use on other stuff than use it on SLi i just get SLi boards because i like the goodies they have
well to try to liven up this thread (these are all based off my opinion) for low end cards: the GeForce 6200 vs. ATi X300 the GeForce 6200 wins the 7300GS vs the X1300 the X1300 wins winner of low end cards X1300 for midrange cards the X800GTO vs 6600 the X800GTO wins the X1600 PRO vs the 7600GS i'd go with the 7600GS winner out of midrange 7600GS then higher end X1800GTO vs the 7800GT 7800GT wins X1800XT vs the 7800GT X1800XT wins winner of the higher end X1800XT then highest end the X1900XT vs 7900GTX winner X1900XT so hope this helps
Here's my two cents. A month or two back I upgraded from a Radeon 9550 to a x800gt. I got the x800gt used for $100 and am very pleased with it, however, I wish I had held out and gotten a better card. It does very well with hl2 and the source games. It kicks the sh** out of the 9550, but I am dissapointed with its performance in Battlefield 2. It will work on the medium video settings beautifully, but lags when I turn it up to high. Overall, a good card for the money. Sadly I am limited to AGP cards until I build a new computer. I got the mobo and chip (P4 @ 2.8ghz) as a christmas gift so I cant complain.
That's pretty OK for something that cheap, assuming this is 1024x768 Normal, an X1800XL can only be expected to get 7000 with a brutally fast CPU. so £750 gets you 7000 marks (CPU+GPU cost, since thats mostly what 3dmark's about) versus £130 for 2500 marks. It's better value in any case. Can't be knocked, but you'd sturggle to run top titles with that card, 3dmark scores aren't always indicative.
