Price Guides, June 2005: Video Cards
by Kristopher Kubicki on June 26, 2005 3:49 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Sometimes we can't help but feel bad for ATI in the $100-$200 price bracket. X700 Pro prices are terrible when compared to GeForce 6600GT cards (on PCIe), but there have been some mild price cuts in the last week or so. For $129, the Sapphire X700 Pro 128MB is still your best [RTPE: 100595], with an upgrade to the 256MB version [RTPE: 100596] costing an extra $20. The recent price cuts on the 256MB cards are welcomed, but considering the advantage of the GeForce 6600GT series over this card, there isn't much we can say in ATI's defense - even with the price cut. You can see last week's adjustment in the graph below:
Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro 256MB
Radeon 9800 Pro cards have essentially bottomed out, with Sapphire leading the price war again (as usual). The Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB [RTPE: 100556] is really almost identical to the X700 Pro 128MB we mentioned above but with an AGP bus. This really isn't a bad buy at all, particularly if you have something along the lines of a weak GeForce4 or lower. With anything higher than that, however, you're probably better off saving for a PCIe motherboard and then a current generation PCIe video card.
The gem of our video card price guides continues to be the PCIe version of the GeForce 6600GT. This week marks the first week that both the AGP and PCIe versions retail for about the same price, mostly due to some impressive price cuts by Chaintech. The Chaintech 6600GT 128MB PCIe [RTPE: SE6600G-128] and AGP [RTPE: SA6600G-128] both perform spectacularly for sub $150 video cards and take this week's overall recommendation. Our price engine is tracking some pretty interesting rebates on the GeForce 6600GT cards, but when Chaintech is throwing them out the door cheaper than XFX's best discount, we can't really recommend the mail in rebate option.
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Antiflash - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
If Nvidia keeps the trend of upper prices to their new generations of cards. You´ll have to add new price segments like "Ultra High Rip off" segment in the next video guides.KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
vitamalt: Good points - but you are correct it's an awkward price point. The AGP version sells for about the same as the 6600GT AGP, which is fine cause SLI isn't an issue anyway. I think if prices were a little better they would get more attention.Kristopher
vitamalt - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
Why no mention of the 6800NU in these price guides?I know its performance is comparable to the 6600GT but still some people seem to prefer it as if I recall correctly, some 6600 cards (independent of brand) seem to have a problem of being DOA or having display problems.
I could be wrong, but it seems to be the case on most message boards that I've visited.
yacoub - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
On the last page:". In all likelihood, if you are considering a low end video card, it's TIME for a new rig,"
Left out the word TIME.
yacoub - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
You don't seem to have this one in your list for X800XLs:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
That's the one I'd get, especially if it drops to $300 in the coming weeks. Extra cooling and quieter operation are huge benefits in my book.
yacoub - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
--"Would it be too much to speculate the GeForce 7800GTX line could drop $50 by December?"--See, that's exactly the point I was making elsewhere - They keep releasing them at higher prices but they don't drop quickly enough to make up for the overpriced rape they debut at. If it only drops to $550 by December, F that. It shouldn't have come out at more than $450 to begin with, but since the last two generations of GPUs have been jacked up in price to debut at $500 and $550, they had an excuse to try another $50 higher with this gen card. Pathetic.
KristopherKubicki - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
PrinceGaz: LOL.Kristopher
PrinceGaz - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
I suppose that 512MB 6200 could be useful if you aren't fussy about framerates but do want a cheap card that can run at 2048x1536x32 with 8xAA at high quality settings.The back-buffer and Z-buffer together would require 192MB at those settings, and another 12MB would be needed for the front-buffer, and possibly a further 12MB if using triple-buffering. With a 256MB card that would leave just 40MB for textures and anything else which wouldn't be sufficient for recent games at high-quality. The 512MB 6200 card solves all the memory problems though. Just imagine how nice EQ2 would look in Extreme quality mode at 2048x1536x32 with 8xAA and 16xAF. The framerate might be a touch on the low side though, I suspect ;)
PrinceGaz - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
page 2 "A particular favorite of ours, the Connect3D X800XL PCIe [RTPE: Connect3D Radeon X800XL 256MB], can be had for just under $250. However, if no-name brands are not your thing, ASUS has the X800XL for $30 more right now too."I wouldn't consider Connect3D a no-name brand these days, they're one of the main ATI partners.
at80eighty - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
btw...can we expect a shootout of the 7800 from the flavours from various vendors?the bit about the 7800 > 6800GTxSLI is pretty interesting... could save a few pennies for better performance ...hmmmm....