The Best Gaming Video Cards for the Money: September 2007

I'd have to disagree with the comment that X1950XT prices have increased. There was only one card that was offered at $160 after rebate (the Sapphire one), and it has simply gone out of stock (probably forever).

On the other hand, there is sub-$200 deal on another X1950XT, but this has 512MB of RAM - king of the budget hill indeed.

Interesting to note that the 8600gt and 2600xt are now viable options because of better drivers and a price drop. But where is that $250 card from ati that will compete with Nvidia? They haven't competed in that space for almost a year!

From what I understand, Ati is prepping both a dual-GPU 2600 XT and a cut down 2900 for that price segment.

But yep, the 8800 GTS has owned that important price point for a long time now.

Yea I have heard those rumors too. I think the dual 2600xt is coming soon so I'll be interested to see how it performs, but the last time I heard the 2900 upgrade might not be out until early 08.

So if i am reading this right then the poeple with agp and a limiting psu as far as the 1950 pro went will have the chance of getting a similar performance and hd capability so a htpc in time from the 8600gt/gts and HD2600xt when they come out in agp?
Any idea on price?
Mactronix

This is a great list for those looking for $100+ video cards (I fit into this category normally). However, ever consider a great bang under $50 card? I wouldn't say gaming would be a priority, but it'd be nice. The biggest concern to me would be those making a media center PC, and the ability to play high definition video. I know a few guys who will take an old system and basically make a toy computer out of it. HD video, TV out capability, and at least one DVI port. Needed cables for tv hookup are a huge plus.

I don't think you can even play HD video with that "crappy" of a card.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/200709042115...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/200708310741...

I don't know about these. The 2nd one is only GDDR2!

A ~$50 Radeon 2400 or Geforce 8500 can offload more HD video processing than a 2900 XT or 8800 Ultra.

The new Dx10 midrange has alot of great video playback features.

I considered it, but I don't want people to think htye can get acceptable gaming performance for $50.

The sub-$100 category frequently has cards in the $80 range, but there's nothting all that compelling that can game passably for $50.

Has the inprovement in performance due to the drivers for the 8600s and 2600s been carried through to the 2900s and 8800s ?
Mactronix

Regarding the 8800GTX:



I play on a 22" LCD, so 1680x1050 resolution. Does this mean that the performance difference on a 8800GTS 320MB vs. 8800GTX is not significantly noticeable for my set-up? (system is an E6400 w/ 4GB DDR 667MHz RAM)

Games playing currently:
Guild Wars
World of Warcraft
Half-Life 2
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Waiting on Crysis...

Not noticeable in Guild Wars, WoW or HL2 (both will run maxed flawlessly), Tomb Raider maybe, Crysis yes. But what Cleeve means is that no 8800GTS owner would crave for a 8800GTX because of low frame rates/crappy video settings. The GTS is already an extremely good video card and most people would be entirely satisfied with it. In other words, no need to feel bad about not shelling out that extra 220$ for the top video card.

Thanks. I went for a "performance" card before... currently using the X1950PRO, but really want a high-end card. First I was waiting on AMD's response to the G80, and now I'm waiting for the next round of DX 10.1 cards. I think someone on this board said, buy the best card you can afford now, or you'll be waiting forever. Hmm, he was probably right...

Where do you guys get your prices? I just got another EVGA 7600GT for my spare machine from Newegg for $89.99 and after a $15 MIR, it will be $74.99. This will put it even further in the sub $100 category where you list the 7600GS.

Since some of the 2600XTs have lower speed memory than the reference speed, that means that you should have a guaranteed overclock of 100MHz on the memory as long as it isnt lower grade yes?

There's no mention of the 7950GT 512MB AGP for $215 on Newegg (out of stock right now).
EDITED: Nevermind, I saw the one blurb comparing it to the 1950 XT AGP which is more expensive on Newegg not the opposite.

Usually newegg, or wherever I can find them.

I say these things over and over again in the artticle though: prices change on a near daily basis, and rebates aren't considered in the best cards list.

@Cleeve:
Ah, that's understandable. However, thanks for the guides regardless.

I understand, but the 7600GT has been sub $100 for a while now. I bought one 3 months ago at Fry's for $66 after a $30 rebate. I generally use Pricegrabber before any other such tool.

Hey THG guys, when the hell is someone gonna give us the review we have all been waiting for??!!!! Namely: Which of the 37" to 48" inch displays that claim they can be used for a computer monitor is the best?

I have been looking for something like this for a long time and there is nothing (outside of a few reviews, and lots of raves on NEgg abouit the big westinghouse monitors.

Come to think of it when is Samsung or Sony or somedamnbody anydamnbody gonna make a truely universal video display that will equal a good trinitron crt? Here we are years into so called high end and sophisticated lcd and plasmas and other hype and my old 21" sony will out resolution them by 2x and out refresh them by 100hz and is good to go for the resolution you will ever need. All this 1080 progressive is just a bunch of hype-- this ten year old crt will double that.

I have been waiting to buy -- waiting to buy

Won't someone make THE BIG SCREEN we want??????

I am on the AGP Boat, looking for the best upgrade right now and have it narrowed to the X1950Pro, or the 7900GS. I cannot for the life of googles engine find a review on the 7900GS! Any thoughts for the last great upgrade before an overhaul in a year?  

Here you go, I had 3minutes to kill:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N...

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listReviews.jspa;jsessionid=awc5sCeFOVefqSY0Yt?series=GeForce%26trade%3B+7900&seriesId=185563

Hi, I was wondering if you had any info on the hd 2900 cards with 1gb of ram on them, I didn't notice these listest on your list and reviewers that brought it on newegg and other sites are saying that these may be the fastest cards out now.

I was considering getting one and wanted to know what you think.

Silverbrain:
If you don't plan to overclock, the X1950 PRO is the easy choice.

spectrenine:
The 1GB versions of the 2900XT aren't much faster than the 512mb versions from what I've seen, although I've heard that the new 7.9 driver has sped things up a bit.

I'd be surprised if the 1GB 2900 XT was on average faster than the 8800 GTX, though, even with new drivers.

Once again, we don't consider rebates in the 'best cards' list. Rebates come and go, we can't design an article around promotions. Plus, some mail-in rebates are notoriously hard to collect from.

At the 7600 GT's regular price of ~$99, the 2600 XT is a better bet.

7600 GS' can be had for $75 with no rebates.

If you got your card for $66, more power to you. That's a great deal. As we also state in the article, if you can find a better deal - go for it.

HOW FAST DID YOU SAY THE 2900 was with the new drivers?!>!>!?!?!?  
edit: the 2900 were...

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this...

I have a Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB card from back in the day and want to upgrade if possible/sensible. But I am limited by a 300W power supply (I know I could upgrade but I don't think I really want to do all that for the card - it's an aged system anyway). The 9600 XT card apparently was designed to run at a low voltage for a 500 MHz GPU so it worked and works pretty well. Am I stuck with this card with a 300W power supply or is there a good low voltage card I can buy that would be a noticeable upgrade?

I found this guide helpful but I wish there had been power supply requirements listed for the cards so I could tell which cards I could use.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

300 watts... honestly, you should really upgrade your PSU if you want to migrate to a more powerful videocard.

Any PSU recommendations? I've got an ATX case.

does any one know where I could even find a x1950xt?!? New egg has crapy over priced models, google product search has 1 thing, pricewatch throws back the 2 on new egg and Amazon has only 1 over priced model in stock. I have one in my old system and I really like it alot. Any suggestions?

You're right. I checked other sites and they are either sold out or not available. I think it's probably discontinued or something.

Gecube's $200 X1950 XT looks to be in stock on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Thanks for the advice cleeve....I bought a Radeon X1950 Pro and 500W power supply on newegg...I think that should work well

As great as the GeForce 8800 series are, I just wouldn't purchase one due to the immensely impeding issues they have (such as the texture evict issue that affects the vBIOS) that would deter me from that course. As for the 8600's... there's little going for them for me, rationally (or the lack of: PureVideo 2 is not enough for me due to the lack of performance): had the memory interface bus been 256-bits and had there been more ROP's and stream processors, they would have obviously been largely better deals (though I freely concede that they're pretty good overclockers, and that the 8600GTS is noticeably faster, even if not by a super-tremendous gap). That aside, if the Radeon 2900 Pro/GT is going to be priced as low as I think they are, then I think they could be some of the best deals in the budget arena seen in a long time (considering they're going to naturally support SM4.0), and I speak of that in a natural tone - though if they're priced at around $300 I'm not so sure. I personally would favor a GeForce 7900 GS right now in the budget category, but that's a matter of personal preference.

And ChuckK? The Radeon X1950 Pro is going to be quite the upgrade for you, considering you're upgrading from a Radeon 9600XT. The gulf between the two will be so wide as to be astounding. But I can't mince words nor do justice, as the full impact is only had when seeing the card in action for yourself.

Well, anyway... I think the better budget deals fall into the DX9 generation right now, though that may change in a month or two...

Im just curious I'm going to probably run games like call of duty 4 and crysis when they come out I know crysis is a monster but im wondering what processor works the absolute best with the 8800 gtx. Ive been thrown around so much with amd this core 2 that. im very good at understanding what would be the best if somebody would explain it to me in a plain and simple manner. I know the c2d's are very good and i also know the amd's are very good but not QUITE as good. I used to be an all amd fan now im shifting to intel since the c2d's are amazing.

so thats when i run into a wall, I heard from hardocp i think that you need the highest end c2d extreme edition processor which if you didnt notice runs about 950 bucks to have no bottleneck anything less will slow down the 8800 but then i was talking to people on the crysis beta who run a e67xx c2d with the 8800 gtx and have it work fine which runs about a third of the price of a c2d ex.

I plan on purchasing the corsair dominator ram hopefully with whatever processor I decide to buy and the best mobo you can get for whatever brand i go with im a little weary of the intel boards because ive heard so much crap about the newer asus striker extreme and msi boards but i havent given the amd a look yet because soo many games are all like oooohhh c2d bla bla

if anybody could help me out id appreciate it. I do have liquid cooling for the processor and don't current atm oc but once and a while i like to boost up the numbers to see how high i can get. thanks and hope i can get some decent answers

ChuckK, that is such a big upgrade, I feel very happy for you
Goncalo I'm not sure better ram is really worth more than about 3 fps more (dominator is the ultra high end right?) and I suspect a q6600 will serve very well for crysis

so you would recommend the quad core cpu do the dual cores run any better ive heard that quad isnt as good in games and if the dominator ram is only like 3fps better then ill probably go with something a little different/cheaper maybe those corsair ones that have the led things on the top that you can make it say stuff those look cool   i forgot what theyre called.

so as far as my question is basically i just want a good processor that isnt going to bottleneck the 8800 gtx. im hoping somebody will tell me i DONT need the extreme edition or fx edition processors to open up the FULL potential of the gpu but if thats the truth then i guess ill have to deal with it.

so you would recommend the quad core cpu do the dual cores run any better ive heard that quad isnt as good in games and if the dominator ram is only like 3fps better then ill probably go with something a little different/cheaper maybe those corsair ones that have the led things on the top that you can make it say stuff those look cool   i forgot what theyre called.

so as far as my question is basically i just want a good processor that isnt going to bottleneck the 8800 gtx. im hoping somebody will tell me i DONT need the extreme edition or fx edition processors to open up the FULL potential of the gpu but if thats the truth then i guess ill have to deal with it.

so you would recommend the quad core cpu do the dual cores run any better ive heard that quad isnt as good in games and if the dominator ram is only like 3fps better then ill probably go with something a little different/cheaper maybe those corsair ones that have the led things on the top that you can make it say stuff those look cool   i forgot what theyre called.

so as far as my question is basically i just want a good processor that isnt going to bottleneck the 8800 gtx. im hoping somebody will tell me i DONT need the extreme edition or fx edition processors to open up the FULL potential of the gpu but if thats the truth then i guess ill have to deal with it.

For the october best cards for the money I think you should take out the 8600GT/HD2600XT and put instead the X1950GT which is priced at $115, blows both cards out of the water and is a steal for the price.

Here's the link in case you want to check for yourselves

SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

What about a X1950Pro 512mb for $137.00 (after rebate)?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Hello,

Like many others I'm looking to upgrade my AGP system in an attempt to extend it's life a bit. I'm looking for some suggestions. I don't really want to spend more then $150 on a new video card... but may do so if it's sensible. Right now I have a FireGL Z1 128 Pro (i think it's pro) running as a Radeon 9700 Pro (modified catalysts/rivatuner). Based on this guide - which by the way was VERY helpful - I'm thinking about getting the GeForce 7600GT AGP. Now I have a couple of questions. Is a card with 512 DDR2 better or worse then a card with 256 GDDR3? I play games like Doom3, Gothic 3, HL2, etc. and I know those use a lot of RAM for textures. Also, will I notice a substantial improvement with the 7600GT AGP over what I've got now (hacked FireGL Z1)?

I've decided I probably want to go with Nvidia as from what I've read they have much better driver support. ATI discontinues support for older cards rather quickly. I don't want to buy an ATI AGP card then not have it supported in a month.

Of course I'm very much open to suggestion.

Thanks.

More ram is for larger resolutions. 256mb will do 19-20" monitors fine. 22" or larger would benefit from 512mb.

I run a 7600gt on a 5x4 19" and it still works fine for me. I have to turn down the eye candy on some of the newer games, but I do not mind.

Hmmm. I have a big'ol viewsonic 21". So do you think I'd be better off with a 7600GT 512meg ddr2, or a 216meg gddr3?

I'm not real picky about resolution. I keep my desktop at 1280x960 and play my games at that res or 1024x768 depending on how chunky the game runs.

RAM things are chaning, now id say 20inch+ 512mb is a MUST. And it wouldnt kill for 19inch or lower, 24inch+ mroe then 512mb is decent, atm available is 640mb 768mb and 1gb cards.

Hmmm well I guess what concerns me is that all the 7600GT 512meg cards I see are ddr2 not gddr3. Do you think I'm still better off with the 512meg card even though it's ddr2?

Id say for that card gddr3 is best over 512mb.

Faster GPU and RAM are always preferable, but more expensive. I have not look lately, but I bet the two cards are similar in price. You should be fine with the 256 unless you try to go to a higher res. Here is the spec. from Nvidia's site. The resolution stuff is down toward the bottom. http://www.nvidia.com/object/7_series_techspecs.html