THG Graphics Card Buyer's Guide

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Price Categories

Let's now take a look at the three main price categories. We begin with the cheapest cards, which are the entry-level or low-budget products. These fall either into the sub $100 category, or the price bracket between $100 and $150. The second category, usually called the "mainstream", begins at $150 and reaches up to the $300 mark. In this category, the largest selection of cards can be found between $150 and $250. Last, we have the enthusiast category which starts at around $300 and extends to $500 (and well beyond, in some cases.) This is where the latest top models from ATI and NVIDIA are to be found.

In the following overview, we have also listed cards from older generations that are still available in the market. The prices quoted here are current as of mid October 2004; we take no guarantee for the correctness of this information.

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Entry-Level
Price Range Bus Lowest Price Model Memory Memory Bus Shader Model Pixel Pipes
<$99 AGP $35 XGI Volari V3 64 MB 64 bit 1.3 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Row 2 - Cell 1 $45 XGI Volari V3 128 MB 64 bit 1.3 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Row 3 - Cell 1 $46 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128 MB 64 bit 2 4
Row 4 - Cell 0 Row 4 - Cell 1 $55 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 5 - Cell 0 Row 5 - Cell 1 $56 ATI Radeon 9550 SE 128 MB 64 bit 2 4
Row 6 - Cell 0 Row 6 - Cell 1 $60 ATI Radeon 9600 SE/LE 128 MB 64 bit 2 4
Row 7 - Cell 0 Row 7 - Cell 1 $63 Matrox Millennium G550 32 MB 64 bit DX6 2
Row 8 - Cell 0 Row 8 - Cell 1 $64 ATI Radeon 9550 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 9 - Cell 0 Row 9 - Cell 1 $65 ATI Radeon 9600 SE/LE 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 10 - Cell 0 Row 10 - Cell 1 $70 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 11 - Cell 0 Row 11 - Cell 1 $79 ATI Radeon 9550 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 12 - Cell 0 Row 12 - Cell 1 $80 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 128 MB 64 bit 2 4
Row 13 - Cell 0 Row 13 - Cell 1 $80 ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 14 - Cell 0 Row 14 - Cell 1 $82 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 15 - Cell 0 Row 15 - Cell 1 $92 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 16 - Cell 0 Row 16 - Cell 1 $95 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 LE 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 17 - Cell 0 PCIe $75 ATI Radeon X300 SE 128 MB 64 bit 2 4
Row 18 - Cell 0 Row 18 - Cell 1 $77 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 128 MB 64 bit DX7 2
$100 - $149 AGP $100 ATI Radeon 9600 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 20 - Cell 0 Row 20 - Cell 1 $106 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 21 - Cell 0 Row 21 - Cell 1 $110 ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 22 - Cell 0 Row 22 - Cell 1 $130 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200U 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 23 - Cell 0 Row 23 - Cell 1 $125 ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 24 - Cell 0 Row 24 - Cell 1 $126 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 25 - Cell 0 Row 25 - Cell 1 $131 ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 26 - Cell 0 Row 26 - Cell 1 $140 ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 27 - Cell 0 PCIe $105 ATI Radeon X300 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 28 - Cell 0 Row 28 - Cell 1 $115 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 29 - Cell 0 Row 29 - Cell 1 $135 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 128 MB 128 bit 3 8
Mainstream
Price Range Bus Lowest Price Model Memory Memory Shader Model Pixel Pipes
$150-$199 AGP $160 Matrox Millennium P650 64 MB 128 bit 1.3 2
Row 33 - Cell 0 Row 33 - Cell 1 $161 ATI Radeon 9600 XT 256 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 34 - Cell 0 Row 34 - Cell 1 $164 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 35 - Cell 0 Row 35 - Cell 1 $175 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 SE/XT 128 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 36 - Cell 0 Row 36 - Cell 1 $195 Matrox Millennium P750 64 MB 128 bit 1.3 2
Row 37 - Cell 0 PCIe $150 ATI Radeon X600 Pro 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 38 - Cell 0 Row 38 - Cell 1 $170 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 39 - Cell 0 Row 39 - Cell 1 $175 ATI Radeon X600 XT 128 MB 128 bit 2 4
Row 40 - Cell 0 Row 40 - Cell 1 $180 ATI Radeon X700 Pro 128 MB 128 bit 2 8
$200-$299 AGP $200 ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 42 - Cell 0 Row 42 - Cell 1 $215 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 128 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 43 - Cell 0 Row 43 - Cell 1 $250 ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 44 - Cell 0 Row 44 - Cell 1 $270 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128 MB 256 bit 3 12
Row 45 - Cell 0 Row 45 - Cell 1 $288 Matrox Parhelia 128 128 MB 256 bit 1.3 4
Row 46 - Cell 0 PCIe $200 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900 128 MB 256 bit 2 8
Enthusiast
Price Range Bus Lowest Price Model Memory Memory Shader Model Pixel Pipes
$300-$399 AGP $303 ATI Radeon 9800XT 256 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 50 - Cell 0 Row 50 - Cell 1 $350 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB 256 bit 3 16
Row 51 - Cell 0 Row 51 - Cell 1 $369 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 52 - Cell 0 Row 52 - Cell 1 $370 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256 MB 256 bit 2 8
Row 53 - Cell 0 Row 53 - Cell 1 $380 ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256 MB 256 bit 2 12
Row 54 - Cell 0 PCIe - - Row 54 - Cell 4 Row 54 - Cell 5 Row 54 - Cell 6 Row 54 - Cell 7
$400-$499 AGP $465 ATI Radeon X800 XT 256 MB 256 bit 2 16
Row 56 - Cell 0 PCIe - - Row 56 - Cell 4 Row 56 - Cell 5 Row 56 - Cell 6 Row 56 - Cell 7
>$500 AGP $525 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256 MB 256 bit 3 16
Row 58 - Cell 0 Row 58 - Cell 1 $550 Matrox Parhelia 256 256 MB 256 bit 1.3 4
Row 59 - Cell 0 Row 59 - Cell 1 $680 ATI Radeon X800 XT PE 256 MB 256 bit 2 16
Row 60 - Cell 0 PCIe $560 ATI Radeon X800 XT 256 MB 256 bit 2 16
Not Available Yet (in USA)
Price Range Bus Lowest Price Model Memory Memory Shader Model Pixel Pipes
Row 63 - Cell 0 AGP Row 63 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 128 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 64 - Cell 0 Row 64 - Cell 1 Row 64 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 65 - Cell 0 Row 65 - Cell 1 Row 65 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 66 - Cell 0 Row 66 - Cell 1 Row 66 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 LE 128 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 67 - Cell 0 Row 67 - Cell 1 Row 67 - Cell 2 S3 S8 Deltachrome Row 67 - Cell 4 Row 67 - Cell 5 Row 67 - Cell 6 Row 67 - Cell 7
Row 68 - Cell 0 Row 68 - Cell 1 Row 68 - Cell 2 XGI Volari V5 Series Row 68 - Cell 4 Row 68 - Cell 5 Row 68 - Cell 6 Row 68 - Cell 7
Row 69 - Cell 0 Row 69 - Cell 1 Row 69 - Cell 2 XGI Volari V8 Series Row 69 - Cell 4 Row 69 - Cell 5 Row 69 - Cell 6 Row 69 - Cell 7
Row 70 - Cell 0 PCIe Row 70 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6800U 256 MB 256 bit 3 16
Row 71 - Cell 0 Row 71 - Cell 1 Row 71 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT 256 MB 256 bit 3 16
Row 72 - Cell 0 Row 72 - Cell 1 Row 72 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128 MB 256 bit 3 12
Row 73 - Cell 0 Row 73 - Cell 1 Row 73 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB 128 bit 3 8
Row 74 - Cell 0 Row 74 - Cell 1 Row 74 - Cell 2 NVIDIA GeForce 6200 128 MB 128 bit 3 4
Row 75 - Cell 0 Row 75 - Cell 1 Row 75 - Cell 2 ATI Radeon X700 Pro 256 MB 128 bit 2 8
Row 76 - Cell 0 Row 76 - Cell 1 Row 76 - Cell 2 ATI Radeon X700 XT 128 MB 128 bit 2 8
Row 77 - Cell 0 Row 77 - Cell 1 Row 77 - Cell 2 ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256 MB 256 bit 2 12
Row 78 - Cell 0 Row 78 - Cell 1 Row 78 - Cell 2 ATI Radeon X800 XT PE 256 MB 256 bit 2 16

Note that in some cases it is rather difficult to determine which models actually exist in the market and what specifications they use. The low-cost sector, especially, is flooded with a multitude of different configurations for the same basic chip. A good starting place to get an overview is Gigabyte's product page .

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