The Best Gaming Video Cards for the Money: October 2006

The link is not working, at least for my machine in the UK.

Rob. Murphy

A very useful article, although basically just a rehash of this forum discussion:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 69937.html

Was it Cleeve who actually wrote this article? I would guess so, based on the caveats mentioned of changing prices etc, after people really tore into him for his article on sub-$200 video cards.

Well written and brief, I appreciate how straightforward this article is. Although I am not currently planning to buy a new video card, I would certainly point anyone to this article for reference who was. I can easily check the VGA charts myself, but some people seem unwilling to do the work for themselves (which baffles me). These pieces of reference information are infinitely useful for handing off to people asking questions.

edit: LOL Bourgeois, I was typing my reply as you were, sorry for duplicating your comment.

they like to do .com.com for some reason. Just delete one of the coms and your good to go.

I second this.

Almost word-for-word! 8O

It's got to be Cleeve that wrote the article. As others have pointed out, not only is the list of cards very similar, but looking at cleeve's post and the article side-by-side, much of the article is simply rewritten directly from cleeve post!
If it wasn't and he didn't at least get ALL the credit, it would be one of the worst examples of plagiarism I've ever seen.

lol great idea Cleeve. I thought that might be the case, but what threw me off was the name of the user to put the article discussion starter up there. We appreciate your efforts, and obviously more than one person feels you deserve the recognition for them.

I wrote the article, and I can give you three reasons the X1900 was picked over the 7900 GS:


1. Not all benchmarks tell the same story. At Firingsquad, the X1900 GT consistantly beat even the overclocked 7900 GS, sometimes by a notable margin:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page5.asp

Even in some of the benches you linked to, if you read the whole article - the X1900 GT is neck and neck in moist stuff, but for a few games where there is a significant difference, the X1900 GT is way ahead - check out the Quake 4 benches.


2. Overclocked cards are vendor-specific and do not even have standard clocks between them. I'd have to recommend specific vendors which is beyond the scope of the article


3. The overclocked 79900 GS' tend to be inn the $220 range.
Sure it's only $20 more than the bargain X1900 GTs, but it's also only $20 less than the X1900 XT... who in good conscience would recommend spending $220 for a 7900 GS when they could get an X1900 XT for $20 more?
I even find it hard to recommend the X1900 GT at $200 because of the $240 X1900 XT, and I wrote that in the article.



So there are my motivations. Maybe you don't agree, but at least I hope you can underatand where I'm coming from. But right now, from where I'm standing, it doesn't fit. If the 7900 GS goes down to $180, or the X1900 GT goes up a bit, things will change.

They change all the time now. Come back next month and things might be totally different.

Yep.
Changed on the forum version soon, the article might take a while.

I hate to have to correct you cleeve, the 7800 GS+ stock memory speed is 1250mhz. Therefore 625mhz DDR not 660.....

Hope you dont mind me pointing that out.



I've been looking into getting this card, as Im still AGP and the benchies show it to be a top performer, along with being very overclockable given its really a 7900.

Was slightly tempted to go X1900XT and new mobo, but right now cant be bothered to rebuild for the sake of PCI-E, potential stability issues (given my machine is 100% solid) on a rebuild so sticking with AGP until Vista, DX10, and games worth buying a new DX10 card for are out. AGP still makes sense to the masses.....

I understand Cleeve, I see your side of it...it's the old $20 problem that can have a customer who started at $180 end up with a $240 card jumping $20 more each time until you end up not where you wanted to be originally.

I'll have to agree with you on that, the X1900 GT for $205 still is closer to $200 and takes the lead in several areas (while not all of them).

Maybe I'm just mad at you or THG because you wrote this about 2 weeks too late for me, and I got the BFG 7900 GS OC...lol.

The thing is, it makes less noise that for my HTPC/gamming rig it would have been better. So...dang it man...lol

But, I got it for $215 and I'm still waiting for more or better reviews of the BFG 7900 GS OC. From what I hear...the OC in the eVGA can hit huge numbers and increase it's performance by 15%...so they say.

Anyway, thanks for the clear up (for me).

Nice article Cleeve.

Yeah, the 7800 GS is a monster overclocker... GW has corrected my thinking on that more than a few times. I don't think it's a bad card, just too much money when you're basically chaining yourself to an AGPm platform you're going to have to upgrade sooner or later anyway.

I just think your average AGPer is better off saving the cash and getting a 7600 GT. Everybody's mileage is going to vary though, especially a modder's...

And hey, a voltmodded 7600 GT can do marvelous things.

Those disclaimers weren't because of the whiners but they're pretty important for newbs to know:

- Basically, if you're not gaming you don't need a powerful GPU
- Prices will change faster than the article updates monthy, so keep this in mind when buying
- the list is US-only, so if you're reading somewhere else it doesn't really directly apply to you

I dunno, I don't feel the article is compromised too much because of it. It's directed to people who don't know much about GPUs, so it might have been stretching it to assume they knew this stuff.

Does anybody know where I can find a list of the best graphic cards for gaming, broken down by price and whether or not they're PCI-E or AGP?

Don't worry, I hate pandering to whiners as much as you do.

This was a perfectly timed article for me... Just when my already strained budget was beckoning me to upgrade.

Now here's my problem, what about dual card solutions?

I'm fully aware that involving ATI's dual GPU solution and trying to compare it, using price versus performance as the variables... well, it'll make quite a tough article to write. At least, compared to SLI, in which both cards must be identical.

But combining two 7300s (because you're a cheap bastard and you really, really need to upgrade), just how much more horsepower does it give you than the nearest single card solution at comparable price?

That's pretty much where I'm in the dark. I don't mind buying at a later date yet two more cards (as I can shove the old stuff on a second machine). I just need to compare the price/performance ratio not just on single card solutions, also on the duals. I don't blame the writer for the article (as I said, oh how convenient); I'm aware it's a tall order. But a rewarding one, when executed.

Buying two cheap cards at the same time for SLI over a slightly more expensive single card that might be a fraction slower doesn’t make any fiscal sense.
Once you’ve purchased the two cards SLI solution you’ve shot your load.
If on the other hand you buy the slightly more expensive single card now you can upgrade later to SLI after prices come down when new cards come out and add an inexpensive 1-2 yrs service life to your rig. The big down fall to the "Buy one now and SLI later" idea is DX10 may add additional features your current card(s) can’t handle.

QFT. By "heat" we mean "more money," spent on a moboard with the right circulation, expensive case with big fans, liquid cooling for the CPU and GPUs, a PSU that spits out only clean power, UPS to prevent the grid from ruining your rig, and if you get any of that wrong, you have to pay more money to replace the parts that melted/shorted/exploded. Which is why game consoles exist.

mentioning game consoles on this forum and in this thread deserves a slap tbh.

screw cost, power and heat. lets see a console keep up with my comp.

Hey, Good job Cleeve. I imagine alot of people will be relieved to find such help right on Tom's homepage. Maybe we will have a lull in the "what card should I buy" threads.

I'm Kinda surprised though to see almost no mention of the X8xx series apart form 128MB X800's. I realize this was probably written before the latest possibly short-lived X850XT and XTpe AGP deals, but cards like a $125 AGP X800GTO 256MB and $140 AGP X850 pro have been around and consistently in stock for a while and IMO are better cards than the 6600GT for $125 or $130 X1650 pro & 7600GS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102606

And the X800GTO 256MB PCI-e has been under $100 for a while, which I think deserves to make the list instead of the now somewhat rare 128MB versions. I think the faster 256MB versions are typically within $5-10 of the 128MB ones now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131007



BTW, you may just have to add these in next time as it's good to see the BBA X850XTpe AGP as well as the plain XT are back in stock for $175.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102502

Shoot they have been more available than the Leadtek AGP 7600GT lately. Although it's now back in stock today given 3 great AGP cards to choose from for $175. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814122009

Anyway, apart from feeling these good ole X8xx's offer some of the best performance for the money now, I agree with you on all the other choices and think this guide could be very usefull for alot of THG readers.

True, and it's good to see more apples to apples compared for a change. But you know, Anand's uses default settings and the X1900GT still managed to beat even the OC'ed 7900GS in most games.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =2827&p=13

I think everyone but maybe ole Game should be able to see X1900GT>7900GS and X1900XT 256MB > 7950GT.

These articles will be released on a monthly basis?
That'll be a lot of work, for sure. 8O

8O
The new version has 6.6Ghz memory! that must be like some new GDDR6 or somethign? hahaha. Just a small typo there. would be great if true.

Not enough money left at THG after all the 10th birthday bashes to photochop it out and overlay the universal AGP connector.

Stock images are a pain, I doubt Cleeve picked it, probably someone at the head office with beer goggles on. 8)

Agree, this was a perfectly timed article for me too ;-)

However, still hasnt tipped the balance for me to do a total rebuild to PCI-E and an X1900XT. The extra effort and cost gets out weighed by the fact the 7800 GS+ will see me through until the 2nd batch/run at least of DX10 cards become available.

And it seems I have a buyer for my more than capable X800 XT PE, which makes the outlay on the 7800 GS+ a little easier to swallow.

Newegg is still the cheapest I have seen for the card. It went up $10 to $249, but has a $15 rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102051

Ewiz is about the same for most people, cheaper for me because of newegg sales tax. Slower service though from my expereinces.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=AT-19XT256&c=pw