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
Actually, I think what they wanted was to have each table sorted by price, not just grouping similar cards together. This is an often requested feature, and our pricing engine people are aware of it. Unfortunately, there are many factors that come into play with adding this feature to the tables that get generated. Hopefully we can get that one of these days -- along with better searching capability (like the ability to search for regular expressions rather than specific strings). Herrrcn - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Ah yes, I forgot to address that portion of their request.However, for the time being, if you go to our RTPE and http://labs.anandtech.com/cats.php">browse by category, you can sort by prices after you select which card you're looking at. This goes for all other products, not just video cards. =) Hope this helps.
Josh7289 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
You mentioned the X1900GT certainly packing a punch, but what kind of a punch does it pack? At $260 after rebate, it is priced identically to the 7900GT, so I'm curious as to specifically how it performs compared to other cards in its price range, like the 7900GT.Also, for $140 after rebate, the X850XT is about the same price as the 7600GT, maybe a little cheaper, so I'd like to know how that card also performs similar to others in its price range, like the 7600GT.
Thanks ;)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
I've updated the text on page 3 to reflect this information. The 7900 GT could easily be classified as a high-end card, but the search string (GeForce 7900 GT) also picks up the GTX cards, so we just put them all on the ultra high-end page.bobbyto34 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
It's not the same generation. The X850 are not SM 3.0 compatible. Some effects won't be avalaible.In some games, you'll have the same amount of fps, but you wont have the same graphical effects.
I would surely choose the 7600GT because :
- Less heat and lower power consumption
- Special AA filter ( better filtering on trees).
- Lower impact of HDR
- SLI (??) : I'm not fan of SLI, because it would cost more than a 7900GT, for the same performance.
Dfere - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
This is a truly buggy situation. Windows does not pick it up as a Sapphire using drivers provided by Sapphire, o/c utility will not install. I can remove drivers with ATI uninstaller but then XP will not allow for install of updated generic catalyst drivers. I haven't seen these types of issues since the days of the S/B 32 wavetable era. I am way past what Newegg will consider for an RMA. It could be my intel mb. Anybody wanna buy a x1800gGTO?imaheadcase - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
"you should know that the support is unofficial, meaning you can't complain to NVIDIA if things don't work right. "Um yes you can complain, its nice nvidia sells a graphics card $500-600 that does not include that. lol I guess if your a sucker to buy one you would also justify any complaint that came with it..
Seems to be a trend in hardware, release said great product, drivers 6 months later that work right. (Creative anyone?) :P
Eric2203 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
And since when is nvidia selling a quad-SLI system ? They're not. So no, you have no room to complain. The product that is being sold has working drivers, no room to complain.
bobbyto34 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Nvidia driver are not updated as quickly as it used to be.There is nearly 2/3 months between graphic cards drivers OFFICIAL update.
For chipset driver, it's nearly yearly updates !!!
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
The *Quad SLI* support is unofficial. The only official Quad SLI support will come through system vendors (Falcon Northwest, Dell, Alienware, etc.) that ship the system. There are a lot of things that need to be done to guarantee a stable QSLI setup, so NVIDIA allows you to try it, but you're on your own as far as support goes. Now they just need to take the next step and give unofficial support for SLI on non-NVIDIA chipsets....