Ultra High-End Graphics
NVIDIA's ultra high-end graphics offerings kick off our price guide. The new addition to our video price guides is the GeForce 7950 GX2. These cards are essentially SLI packaged into a single X16 slot solution, although you will need a motherboard with a BIOS that properly supports PCI-E devices other than graphics cards in the X16 slot. While there is some debate about whether or not this is truly a "single graphics card solution," the 7950 cards certainly are fast. We previewed the reference card performance last month and found that the 7950 GX2 is in general faster than 7900 GT SLI. There are a couple reasons for this. First, the GPU core is clocked slightly higher (500 MHz versus 450 MHz). You also get 512 MB of RAM per GPU instead of 256MB, though this is balanced out somewhat by the fact that 7900 GT cards ship with faster memory (1320 MHz versus 1200 MHz). Many of the 7900 GT cards come factory overclocked, though there are also a few 7950 GX2 cards that ship overclocked. Here's the list of GX2 cards.
The cheapest GX2 is currently from MSI [RTPE: NX7950GX2-T2D1GE] at $530 after rebate. Leadtek [RTPE: PX7950 GX2 TDH] and Gigabyte [RTPE: GV-3D1-7950-RH] are both priced similarly to the MSI offering ($563), but without the rebate. The XFX XXX model [RTPE: PV-T71U-ZDD9] is priced about $100 more and is still on pre-order, but it ships factory overclocked at 570/1550 MHz core/memory, making it the fastest GX2 card we're currently tracking. If you really want to drain your bank account, you could even purchase two GX2 cards and go for quad SLI. You'll need an SLI compatible motherboard, of course, and be sure to get a really beefy power supply (700 Watt recommended -- the Fotron Source FX700-GLN would be a great choice). Also, you should know that the support is unofficial, meaning you can't complain to NVIDIA if things don't work right. As we understand it, the 91.33 drivers and later should support quad SLI with the 7950 GX2 cards, though we haven't been able to internally verify this yet.
Dropping down a level, we have the 7900 GT and GTX cards. The 7900 GTX performs right up there with ATI's X1900 XT and X1900 XTX. It's difficult to say which is better as the 7900 GTX brings some excellent competition to ATI. The 7900 cards also generate less heat, use less power, and generally run quieter than their ATI counterparts. The main deciding factor between these cards will be the price and features, as well as the intended use. We would say that ATI tends to have the performance advantage in many games right now, but there are still titles that favor NVIDIA's cards. If you're inclined to run multi-GPU setups, we would have to give the edge to NVIDIA. ATI still performs better with X1900 CrossFire in many titles, but the simple fact of the matter is that NVIDIA's multi-GPU drivers feel far more mature than ATI's CrossFire drivers. Taking a further step down in performance, we've discovered that the 7900 GT performs slightly better than a 7800 GTX, which puts the 7900 GT at or slightly above ATI's X1800 XL and X1800 XT.
At the moment, the MSI GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB [RTPE: NX7900 GTX-T2D512E] is the cheapest priced GTX we are seeing this week, going for $420 after a $30 mail-in rebate. Leading the 7900 GT pack this week are two cards, the MSI GeForce 7900 GT 256MB [RTPE: NX7900GT-VT2D256E] and the XFX GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB [RTPE: PV-T71G-UDE7] which are on sale for $260 after a $20 and a $30 mail-in rebate, respectively. You'll note that many of the 7900 GT/GTX cards come factory overclocked, so if you want the performance bump but don't want to overclock on your own you should pay attention to clock speeds.
The GeForce 7800 GT/GTX used to be very popular. However, we are only picking up two GT cards this week as all the others are now out of stock and we've gotten better performance out of the 7900 GT cards. All the other 7800 GT cards listed in the RPTE are coming up as pre-order only, so you won't see them displayed in the above chart. The best price we are able to find on a 7800 GT is the BFG GeForce 7800GT OC 256MB [RTPE: BFGR78256GTOC] going for $300. With only 20 pipelines compared to 24 on the 7900 GT, there's absolutely no reason to recommend a 7800 GT anymore. If you already have one and are looking to upgrade to SLI, you can get a moderate performance increase, but that's about the only reason to even think about the 7800 GT cards.
In the 7800 GTX line-up, the best price we're pulling up on is again from BFG, the GeForce 7800GTX OC 256MB [RTPE: BFGR78256GTXOC] which is currently going for about $380 shipped. As with other models, these 7800 GTX cards come with many different package alternatives, so read the details carefully to get what you really want or avoid what you don't. Given that the 7900 GT is over $100 cheaper and will generally overclock and outperform a 7800 GTX, we feel your money would be better spent elsewhere - or just save it for the next graphics card generation.
Shifting over to ATI's ultra high-end offerings, the X1900 XT cards are really the best choice. The best price we're seeing is the MSI Radeon X1900XT 512MB [RTPE: RX1900XT-VT2D512E] for $360 after a $30 mail-in rebate. We would also like to suggest the HIS Radeon X1900XT 512MB [RTPE: HX190XT512DVN] on sale for $367 shipped after a $25 mail-in rebate. Since the X1900 XT and 7900 GTX perform similarly, the deciding factor will usually be the price. As you can see here, the X1900 XT wins this week by a considerable margin.
The X1900 XTX cards continue to drop in price every week, though they're not much faster than the XT cards. The MSI Radeon X1900XTX 512MB [RTPE: RX1900XTX-VT2D512E] is selling for $415 shipped after a $30 mail-in rebate. If mail-in rebates aren't your thing, we've found the Gigabyte Radeon X1900XTX 512MB [RTPE: GV-RX19X512VB-RH] going for approximately $473 shipped. The XTX cards are only about 5% faster than the XT cards, and of course if you ever upgrade to CrossFire you will be stuck with XT speeds anyway. We definitely recommend the XT cards, as the extra $55+ really isn't worth spending. If you need a CrossFire card, we recommend going with the cheapest offering, as all the cards carry the same clock speeds. Unfortunately, the CrossFire cards cost more than even the XTX models, so you'll be paying at least $467 for the Sapphire model [RTPE: 100159]
These X1800 cards aren't very appealing these days because of the faster options you have available above. However, prices on the X1800XT have continued to drop, and we are currently showing the Sapphire X1800 XT for only $287 [RTPE: X1800XT]. You can also see the sole X1800 CrossFire card we're tracking, again from Sapphire [RTPE: 100-435716]. For $358, we would recommend bypassing this upgrade even for those who already own an X1800 XT card.
Let's head on over to the high-end graphics cards and take a look at what we have there.
NVIDIA's ultra high-end graphics offerings kick off our price guide. The new addition to our video price guides is the GeForce 7950 GX2. These cards are essentially SLI packaged into a single X16 slot solution, although you will need a motherboard with a BIOS that properly supports PCI-E devices other than graphics cards in the X16 slot. While there is some debate about whether or not this is truly a "single graphics card solution," the 7950 cards certainly are fast. We previewed the reference card performance last month and found that the 7950 GX2 is in general faster than 7900 GT SLI. There are a couple reasons for this. First, the GPU core is clocked slightly higher (500 MHz versus 450 MHz). You also get 512 MB of RAM per GPU instead of 256MB, though this is balanced out somewhat by the fact that 7900 GT cards ship with faster memory (1320 MHz versus 1200 MHz). Many of the 7900 GT cards come factory overclocked, though there are also a few 7950 GX2 cards that ship overclocked. Here's the list of GX2 cards.
The cheapest GX2 is currently from MSI [RTPE: NX7950GX2-T2D1GE] at $530 after rebate. Leadtek [RTPE: PX7950 GX2 TDH] and Gigabyte [RTPE: GV-3D1-7950-RH] are both priced similarly to the MSI offering ($563), but without the rebate. The XFX XXX model [RTPE: PV-T71U-ZDD9] is priced about $100 more and is still on pre-order, but it ships factory overclocked at 570/1550 MHz core/memory, making it the fastest GX2 card we're currently tracking. If you really want to drain your bank account, you could even purchase two GX2 cards and go for quad SLI. You'll need an SLI compatible motherboard, of course, and be sure to get a really beefy power supply (700 Watt recommended -- the Fotron Source FX700-GLN would be a great choice). Also, you should know that the support is unofficial, meaning you can't complain to NVIDIA if things don't work right. As we understand it, the 91.33 drivers and later should support quad SLI with the 7950 GX2 cards, though we haven't been able to internally verify this yet.
Dropping down a level, we have the 7900 GT and GTX cards. The 7900 GTX performs right up there with ATI's X1900 XT and X1900 XTX. It's difficult to say which is better as the 7900 GTX brings some excellent competition to ATI. The 7900 cards also generate less heat, use less power, and generally run quieter than their ATI counterparts. The main deciding factor between these cards will be the price and features, as well as the intended use. We would say that ATI tends to have the performance advantage in many games right now, but there are still titles that favor NVIDIA's cards. If you're inclined to run multi-GPU setups, we would have to give the edge to NVIDIA. ATI still performs better with X1900 CrossFire in many titles, but the simple fact of the matter is that NVIDIA's multi-GPU drivers feel far more mature than ATI's CrossFire drivers. Taking a further step down in performance, we've discovered that the 7900 GT performs slightly better than a 7800 GTX, which puts the 7900 GT at or slightly above ATI's X1800 XL and X1800 XT.
At the moment, the MSI GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB [RTPE: NX7900 GTX-T2D512E] is the cheapest priced GTX we are seeing this week, going for $420 after a $30 mail-in rebate. Leading the 7900 GT pack this week are two cards, the MSI GeForce 7900 GT 256MB [RTPE: NX7900GT-VT2D256E] and the XFX GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB [RTPE: PV-T71G-UDE7] which are on sale for $260 after a $20 and a $30 mail-in rebate, respectively. You'll note that many of the 7900 GT/GTX cards come factory overclocked, so if you want the performance bump but don't want to overclock on your own you should pay attention to clock speeds.
The GeForce 7800 GT/GTX used to be very popular. However, we are only picking up two GT cards this week as all the others are now out of stock and we've gotten better performance out of the 7900 GT cards. All the other 7800 GT cards listed in the RPTE are coming up as pre-order only, so you won't see them displayed in the above chart. The best price we are able to find on a 7800 GT is the BFG GeForce 7800GT OC 256MB [RTPE: BFGR78256GTOC] going for $300. With only 20 pipelines compared to 24 on the 7900 GT, there's absolutely no reason to recommend a 7800 GT anymore. If you already have one and are looking to upgrade to SLI, you can get a moderate performance increase, but that's about the only reason to even think about the 7800 GT cards.
In the 7800 GTX line-up, the best price we're pulling up on is again from BFG, the GeForce 7800GTX OC 256MB [RTPE: BFGR78256GTXOC] which is currently going for about $380 shipped. As with other models, these 7800 GTX cards come with many different package alternatives, so read the details carefully to get what you really want or avoid what you don't. Given that the 7900 GT is over $100 cheaper and will generally overclock and outperform a 7800 GTX, we feel your money would be better spent elsewhere - or just save it for the next graphics card generation.
Shifting over to ATI's ultra high-end offerings, the X1900 XT cards are really the best choice. The best price we're seeing is the MSI Radeon X1900XT 512MB [RTPE: RX1900XT-VT2D512E] for $360 after a $30 mail-in rebate. We would also like to suggest the HIS Radeon X1900XT 512MB [RTPE: HX190XT512DVN] on sale for $367 shipped after a $25 mail-in rebate. Since the X1900 XT and 7900 GTX perform similarly, the deciding factor will usually be the price. As you can see here, the X1900 XT wins this week by a considerable margin.
The X1900 XTX cards continue to drop in price every week, though they're not much faster than the XT cards. The MSI Radeon X1900XTX 512MB [RTPE: RX1900XTX-VT2D512E] is selling for $415 shipped after a $30 mail-in rebate. If mail-in rebates aren't your thing, we've found the Gigabyte Radeon X1900XTX 512MB [RTPE: GV-RX19X512VB-RH] going for approximately $473 shipped. The XTX cards are only about 5% faster than the XT cards, and of course if you ever upgrade to CrossFire you will be stuck with XT speeds anyway. We definitely recommend the XT cards, as the extra $55+ really isn't worth spending. If you need a CrossFire card, we recommend going with the cheapest offering, as all the cards carry the same clock speeds. Unfortunately, the CrossFire cards cost more than even the XTX models, so you'll be paying at least $467 for the Sapphire model [RTPE: 100159]
These X1800 cards aren't very appealing these days because of the faster options you have available above. However, prices on the X1800XT have continued to drop, and we are currently showing the Sapphire X1800 XT for only $287 [RTPE: X1800XT]. You can also see the sole X1800 CrossFire card we're tracking, again from Sapphire [RTPE: 100-435716]. For $358, we would recommend bypassing this upgrade even for those who already own an X1800 XT card.
Let's head on over to the high-end graphics cards and take a look at what we have there.
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
7600GT is over twice as fast as X1600 XT, and even more than that compared to X1600 Pro. X700 Pro would be about the level of X1300 Pro, minus features. Performance of X1600 XT compared to 6600GT showed the 6600 GT to be faster http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p...">in almost all games, so yes, the X1600 really aren't that attractive. You may not "see a bit of difference", but are you just going by impressions or are you actually running benchmarks? Honestly, most games you won't see a difference unless you drop below 60 FPS, which might require higher resolutions or other games for testing.slashbinslashbash - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Right now the X1900 AIW is at $275 at most places (NewEgg, ZZF, etc.). Over the past weekend NewEgg even had it at $225. It's the cheapest way to get into the X1900 with a full 16/48 pipeline config. About as cheap as the X1900GT with only 12 pipelines. Plus of course the AIW also has the VIVO and TV tuner capabilities and comes with a software bundle of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements (worth $100). For me, it's a no-brainer.JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Sorry for the omission. I've gone back and added the AIW card to page 3. It's definitely a reasonable choice, as it has performance roughly equaling the X1900 GT plus you get VIVO support. If you're after faster graphics performance, however, there are better solutions.Spacecomber - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
I was wondering if more might have been said about this card, the X1600 Pro for the AGP slot. It strikes me that this card is at the top of its particular class, budget AGP game cards.These cards often sell for just a little over $100, and this seems to give them a good bang for your buck value compared to their competition, which I take to be the AGP versions of the 6600 GT and X800GTO.
I've not seen a good head to head comparison of these cards, but looking at their specifications, I would think that they should perform fairly similarly.
Anyone else have any thoughts on what is a good buy in the $100-$150 range for the AGP slot? I know that there are some good prices on things like refurbished models that are no longer available new, as well as your close out bargains; however, I'm focusing on those cards that are readily available.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
The 6600 GT easily outperforms X1600 Pro AGP. The only reason to get X1600 over 6600 is if you want support for AVIVO.Spacecomber - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
That's interesting to know. You wouldn't necessarily have guessed that looking at their specifications.X1600Pro:
500 core, 800 memory, 128-bit, 256MB GDDR2, 12 pipelines
6600GT:
500 core, 1000 memory, 128-bit 128MB GDDR3, 8 pipelines
Any guesses as to what is holding the X1600Pro back? Is it the slightly slower clocked GDDR2 memory, compared to the faster clocked GDDR3 memory that you find on the 6600GT?
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Possibly. I figured it would win, because on the high end X1800/X1900 the ATI cards seem less dependent on memory bandwidth. However, http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p...">in testing, the X1600 just doesn't perform as expected - even the X1600 XT can't outperform the 6600GT in most cases! Possibly some features were cut that ATI isn't telling.Exodus220 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
I absolutely love reading your overview of the video cards and other computer hardware. However, I always run into the same frustration of trying to locate the cheapest product in your list. Sure you guys will give your recommendation but it would be so much easier if you could just sort them by lowest price to the highest price. I don't know if it has been a consideration but it sure would help my reading experience and process in searching for what you have listed as the best option.Spacecomber - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
I had the same thought when reading this guide. It is especially confusing since you often have different models mixed in with each other, such as 7600GS and 7600GT lumped together. Sorting by price should indirectly sort the models, as well, and those models by a particular manufacturer that seem to not be with their group (after sorting by price) will stand out as either being a good deal or being over priced.rrcn - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
I have gone ahead and sorted all the cards I can. Unfortunately, I cannot sort the 7900GT and GTX cards due to the way we must enter the search code that displays the charts. Entering in the code to display the GTX cards is fine and dandy, but when I search for the GT cards, it also displays the GTX cards.