Mid-Range Graphics
Getting back to cards that are worth discussing, we come to the mid-range market. Several of these cards will match or even exceed the performance of more expensive "high-end" cards, offering great performance for their current pricing.
Performance-wise, the 7600 GT falls right in between the GeForce 6800 GS and the 7800 GT. This card was launched to replace the already very successful 6600 GT. Of all the mid-range cards listed here, this is one of the best options. For about $169, the EVGA GeForce 7600GT KO 256MB [RTPE: 256-P2-N554] can be sitting in your rig. You will find that the 6800 GS already performs better than the ATI X1600 XT, and since the 7600 GT is priced about the same and performs even faster, we would highly suggest you go with this offering from NVIDIA. If you're thinking of building a budget gaming system, you can get an idea of the performance offered by the 7600 GT in our recent Budget Buyers Guide article.
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 $100 after a $15 mail-in rebate.
Since the 7600 GT cards are able to perform slightly better than the 6800 GS at a lower cost, the smart answer is to go with the 7600 GT. However, since the 7600 GT doesn't come in AGP format, the 6800 GS is a possibility for those without PCI-E motherboards. Unfortunately, the single 6800 GS card that is showing today is the PNY GeForce 6800GS Overclocked 256MB [RTPE: VCG6800SXPB]. This is a PCI-E card and it's on sale for an even $200; all of the AGP offerings are out of stock, and it's doubtful we'll see more. You could go with a stock 6800 card for $236 or the 7800 GS for an additional $45, but really you should start to look at upgrading to a PCI-E system if you're going to spend over $200 on a graphics card.
For AGP users, the 6600 GT is still an excellent choice considering its price and performance. 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 Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 128MB [RTPE: PX6600GT TDH] for $110, but for an additional $60 for the 7600 GT we mentioned above, you get about 50 to 75% more performance.
While it costs a bit more than the 7600 GT, the X1800 GTO is a great competitor. Depending on the game you're running, the two cards trade place for being the fastest mid-range 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] is the one to go with, coming in at about $210 shipped.
The X800GT/GTO cards are also decently priced. The PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB VIVO [RTPE: X800GTO256MBDDR3] is near its lowest price to date, priced at about $106 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 practical substitute to the 6600 GT/7600 GT, generally beating the former while slightly trailing the latter.
Rather than going with an X1600 or the X700, we feel you'll get more for your money if you spend the few extra dollars and select the 7600 GT as your choice. Gigabyte has an interesting fanless X1600 option that some of you might want to consider. However, with performance generally lower than the 6600 GT, the X1600 offerings really aren't very attractive. We won't even bother to mention any X700 cards - they would make better budget offerings, but they continue to carry their mid-range prices.
Let's move on to the last and final low-end solutions segment.
Getting back to cards that are worth discussing, we come to the mid-range market. Several of these cards will match or even exceed the performance of more expensive "high-end" cards, offering great performance for their current pricing.
Performance-wise, the 7600 GT falls right in between the GeForce 6800 GS and the 7800 GT. This card was launched to replace the already very successful 6600 GT. Of all the mid-range cards listed here, this is one of the best options. For about $169, the EVGA GeForce 7600GT KO 256MB [RTPE: 256-P2-N554] can be sitting in your rig. You will find that the 6800 GS already performs better than the ATI X1600 XT, and since the 7600 GT is priced about the same and performs even faster, we would highly suggest you go with this offering from NVIDIA. If you're thinking of building a budget gaming system, you can get an idea of the performance offered by the 7600 GT in our recent Budget Buyers Guide article.
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 $100 after a $15 mail-in rebate.
Since the 7600 GT cards are able to perform slightly better than the 6800 GS at a lower cost, the smart answer is to go with the 7600 GT. However, since the 7600 GT doesn't come in AGP format, the 6800 GS is a possibility for those without PCI-E motherboards. Unfortunately, the single 6800 GS card that is showing today is the PNY GeForce 6800GS Overclocked 256MB [RTPE: VCG6800SXPB]. This is a PCI-E card and it's on sale for an even $200; all of the AGP offerings are out of stock, and it's doubtful we'll see more. You could go with a stock 6800 card for $236 or the 7800 GS for an additional $45, but really you should start to look at upgrading to a PCI-E system if you're going to spend over $200 on a graphics card.
For AGP users, the 6600 GT is still an excellent choice considering its price and performance. 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 Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 128MB [RTPE: PX6600GT TDH] for $110, but for an additional $60 for the 7600 GT we mentioned above, you get about 50 to 75% more performance.
While it costs a bit more than the 7600 GT, the X1800 GTO is a great competitor. Depending on the game you're running, the two cards trade place for being the fastest mid-range 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] is the one to go with, coming in at about $210 shipped.
The X800GT/GTO cards are also decently priced. The PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB VIVO [RTPE: X800GTO256MBDDR3] is near its lowest price to date, priced at about $106 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 practical substitute to the 6600 GT/7600 GT, generally beating the former while slightly trailing the latter.
Rather than going with an X1600 or the X700, we feel you'll get more for your money if you spend the few extra dollars and select the 7600 GT as your choice. Gigabyte has an interesting fanless X1600 option that some of you might want to consider. However, with performance generally lower than the 6600 GT, the X1600 offerings really aren't very attractive. We won't even bother to mention any X700 cards - they would make better budget offerings, but they continue to carry their mid-range prices.
Let's move on to the last and final low-end solutions segment.
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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....