Sub $200 PCI Express Graphics Card Showdown

Quake 4

Wow. No supremacy to be had here, by anyone - in fact, this is about as close as it gets. All cards ran a carbon copy race, handling 1280x1024 with 4xAA well, and getting on the verge of playable with 1600x1200 and 4xAA.

No benchmark suite is complete without a racing game, so let's have a look at the results with the newest Need for Speed title.

Need For Speed Underground 2

The Need for Speed engine really seems to favor the X1800 GTO here. All cards are playable at 1280x1024 with 4xAA enabled, but the X1800 GTO is notably smoother, with a 25% lead over its nearest competitor.

At 1600x1200 the playing field levels out quite a bit, but the X1800 GTO keeps a seven frame per second lead over the 7600 GT. While playable at this resolution, you might want to lower some details to make it a bit smoother (on any of the cards).