Cumulative Frame Rate, Pricing and Performance for Money
While the Geforce 8800 Ultra offers twice the performance of the Radeon HD 2900 XT, it also costs twice as much. Looking at the results, we agree with ATI’s appraisal of the performance difference between the Radeon HD 2900 XT and the Geforce 8800 GTS. At any rate, ATI’s chip is not the faster of the two in our benchmarks – indeed, it is slightly slower and costs more.
The Radeon 2400 XT through 2600 XT loose important points in the overall frame rate score due to their crashes in Bioshock. If these cards ran Bioshock correctly, we estimate that they would reach the following cumulative frame rates: 2400 Pro 128 fps, 2400 XT 192 fps, 2600 Pro 338 fps, 2600 XT (256 MB) 437 fps, and 2600 XT (512) 446 fps.
| Model | Price* |
|---|---|
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) OC | 615 € |
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) | 545 € |
| 8800 GTX (768 MB) | 446 € |
| HD2900 XT (512 MB) | 317 € |
| 8800 GTS (640 MB) | 313 € |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) OC | 275 € |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) | 240 € |
| 8600 GTS (512 MB) | 152 € |
| 8600 GTS (256 MB) | 133 € |
| HD2600 XT (512 MB) | 108 € |
| 8600 GT (256 MB) OC | 93 € |
| HD2600 XT (256 MB) | 87 € |
| HD2600 Pro (256 MB) | 72 € |
| 8500 GT TC (256/1022 MB) | 64 € |
| HD2400 XT HM (128/1022 MB) | 55 € |
| 8400 GS TC (256/1022 MB) | 42 € |
| HD2400 Pro HM (256/1022 MB) | 40 € |
*(Prices current at time of publication)
The Geforce 8600 GTS and the Geforce 8800 GTS with 320 MB offer the most performance for your money. Per frame, the Radeon HD 2900 XT costs almost as much as the Geforce 8800 Ultra. The smaller Radeon chips become very expensive because their cumulative result is dragged down by their issues in Bioshock.
| Price / Performance Comparison | Euro per fps |
|---|---|
| HD2400 XT HM (128/1022 MB) | 0.386 |
| HD2600 XT (512 MB) | 0.312 |
| HD2400 Pro HM (256/1022 MB) | 0.311 |
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) OC | 0.293 |
| HD2900 XT (512 MB) | 0.292 |
| HD2600 Pro (256 MB) | 0.279 |
| 8500 GT TC (256/1022 MB) | 0.276 |
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) | 0.265 |
| HD2600 XT (256 MB) | 0.258 |
| 8800 GTX (768 MB) | 0.244 |
| 8800 GTS (640 MB) | 0.243 |
| 8400 GS TC (256/1022 MB) | 0.234 |
| 8600 GTS (512 MB) | 0.227 |
| 8600 GTS (256 MB) | 0.225 |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) OC | 0.208 |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) | 0.198 |
| 8600 GT (256 MB) OC | 0.184 |
In the second price / performance table, we used our estimates for the smaller Radeons’ cumulative frame rate without Bioshock crashes. This should reduce the impact of the problematic driver somewhat. In this ranking, the Radeon HD 2600 XT jumps ahead, coming in third behind the 8600 GT and the 8800 GTS 320.
| Price / Performance Comparison ATI | Euro per Frame |
|---|---|
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) OC | 0.293 |
| HD2900 XT (512 MB) | 0.292 |
| HD2400 XT HM (128/1022 MB) | 0.286 |
| 8500 GT TC (256/1022 MB) | 0.276 |
| HD2400 Pro HM (256/1022 MB) | 0.269 |
| 8800 Ultra (768 MB) | 0.265 |
| 8800 GTX (768 MB) | 0.244 |
| 8800 GTS (640 MB) | 0.243 |
| HD2600 XT (512 MB) | 0.242 |
| 8400 GS TC (256/1022 MB) | 0.234 |
| 8600 GTS (512 MB) | 0.227 |
| 8600 GTS (256 MB) | 0.225 |
| HD2600 Pro (256 MB) | 0.213 |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) OC | 0.208 |
| HD2600 XT (256 MB) | 0.199 |
| 8800 GTS (320 MB) | 0.198 |
| 8600 GT (256 MB) OC | 0.184 |
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totally surpised witht the 2400 & 2600 results, seems as if the only real gaming GPU from ATI is the 2900 which is not wroth getting
Gutted about these results really. My HD2900 Pro's arriving tomorrow and I really wish I'd of seen this before making that order. As I'd of gone with the 320MB 8800GTS.
But.... in ATi's favour, Ive just gone from a HD2600XT DDR4 rig in Crossfire... and that BLEW GAMES AWAY at max settings at 1680x1050 resolution... OK a few games didnt perform over 25fps... but if that crossfire setup was anything to go by, 2 X HD2900 Pros in Crossfire might be a very good and cheap alternative to the 8800GTX. Just a thought anyway
3DMARK06 Scores with 2 X HD2600XT 256MB DDR4 on 5000+ X2 CPU = 9742... My friends 8800GTX on 2.13ghz C2D Scored 10700.
if your going to get sli crossfire better going for fast single card (8800gts 640mb or even GTX before considering SLI)
Well luckily I managed to make back £220 on the sale of both of my HD2600XT's (some people pay anything!), which has paid for my HD2900 PRO and left me with £45 left over. I need to hurry up and buy my next HD2900 PRO before stocks run out. I think for £350 in total they'll do a good job. Two GPU's surely has the edge over one!
Soooo glad I got an 8800GTS 320MB. It overclocks superbly: 500MHz core to 719MHz and 1600MHz DDR memory up to 1850MHz. Gives a standard 8800GTX a good run for it's money.
Just had a closer look at some of the screenshots. No FSAA sucks. Damn that PS3!
Just had a closer look at some of the screenshots. No FSAA sucks. Damn that PS3!
I think it would be worth while re-doing the test wit the new Catalyst Driver 7.10. They made a big difference with Battlefield 2142 and now I can play Bioshock as it just crashed my system before. I am using an HD2600 Pro AGP and finally feel I got what I paid for (cheap)!!