Source: Tom's Hardware UK – Keywords: Gaming, Graphic, Guide
Categories: Graphics
The graphics card hierarchy chart- It'll bring you to tiers...
You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.
At the request of readers I have added mobile and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphic solutions. While the discrete video chipsets on the chart are placed with a lot of information in mind, many of the laptop chipset positions on the chart are “guesstimates” based on their specifications. At worst I don’t think they’re more than a tier away from their actual performance but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphic chipsets.
| Geforce | Radeon |
|---|---|
| 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra | 3870 X2 |
| 8800 GT 512MB, 8800 GTS 512MB | |
| 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT | HD 2900 XT, 3870 |
| 8800 GS | 3850 512MB |
| 8800 GT 256MB, 8800 GTS 320MB | HD 2900 PRO, 3850 256MB |
| 7950 GX2 | X1950 XTX |
| 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX | X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX |
| 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT | X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT |
| 7800 GT, 7900 GS, Go 7950 GTX, 8600 GTS | X1800 XL, X1950 GT, Mobility X1800 XT |
| 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, Go 7800 GTX, Go 7900 GTX, 8600 GT | X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, Mobility X1900, HD 2600 XT, 3650 (DDR3), 3670 |
| 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCI-E), Go 7800, Go 7900 GS, 8700M GT | X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, Mobility X800 XT, HD 2600 PRO, Mobility HD 2600 XT, 3650 (DDR2) |
| 6800 GS (AGP), Go 6800 Ultra, Go 7600 GT, 8600M GT | X800 GTO 256mb, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT, Mobility HD 2600 |
| 6800, Go 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, Go 7700, 8600M GS | X800, X800 GTO 128mb, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO, Mobility X1800 |
| 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT DDR2, Go 7600 (128 bit), 8500 GT | 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, Mobility X800, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT |
| FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128 bit), Go 6800 (128 bit) | 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, Mobility X1450, X1550, Mobility X1600, Mobility X1700, HD 2400 PRO, Mobility HD 2400 XT, Mobility X2500 |
| FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT, Go 6600, Go 7600 (64 bit), Go 8600M GS | 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, Mobility 9800, 9800 PRO (128 bit), X600 XT, Mobility X700, X1050 (128 bit), Mobility X1350, Mobility X1400, Mobility X2300, Mobility HD 2400 |
| 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8400 GS | 9600 PRO, Mobility 9700 (128 bit), 9800 LE, X600 PRO, Mobility X600, Mobility X1300, Xpress 1250, Mobility HD 2300 |
| 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64 bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS | 9500, 9550, 9600, Mobility 9600, X300, X1050 (64 bit) |
| 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, Go 5700, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE | 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, Mobility 9700 (64 bit), X300 SE, X1150 |
| 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128 bit), FX 5500, Go 5600, Go 6200, Go 6400, Go 7200, Go 7300, Go 7400 (64 bit) | 9000, 9200, 9250, Mobility 9600 (64 bit), Mobility X300 |
| FX 5200 (64 bit), 6100, 6150, Go 7200, Go 7400 (32 bit) | 9200 SE, Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150 |
| 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200 | 7500 |
| 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400 | SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200 |
| Nvidia TNT | ATI Rage 128 |
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I was really hoping you guys would wait until the release of the 9800GTX and 9800GX2 before doing something like this again but such is the nature of schedules and deadlines. At least there'll be some good in-depth reviews on these cards individually (or together) when they come out
It's a regular monthly round-up, and never long till the next one!
I really find the graphics hierarchy a really helpful thing, although it was easier to read when it was done in table format as previous ;-)
I cant wait until the Q3/Q4 or even early 2009 I'm holding out to see what AMD have instore (not much I'd suspect (compared to Intel), Intel have the next quad core batch lined up and a new stepping, but I'm really waiting for the new Nehalem CPU as that appears to be the next gen CPU.
Once that comes out I will think about what I'm going to upgrade to GPU and Mobo.
I suppose Tom's not being the extreme site it used to be, the huge overclocking potential of the GTS 512 is of little interest.
I've taken mine from 650/1625/972 (core/shader/memory) to 762/1900/1130, and the temperature under load with a waterblock never goes over 40C. People who have voltage modded their cards have seen completion of 3dmark06 at 918/2268/2250 on air.
With no competition Nvidia just aren't pushing G92 as far as it can go, which is way further than the Ultra that pushed G80 to the limit.
wow, i didn't expect that the rage 128 would be listed
to anyone who has one (i'd be surprised)
I think there's one in my iBook
Where do the ATI HD 3870, HD 3870 XT and 3870 X2 fit into this list? With their massive clocks and number of stream processors, don't these cards blow all current Nvidia cards out of the water?
sckoobs: You did read the article didn't you? The current Nvidia cards out perform the current ATI cards by a good margin. I just got my 8800GT this week and I'm loving it. great performance. I'm now able to run Crysis with x2 AA at all high settings getting about 45-50fps average. It'll be interesting to see how the 9800 GTX and GX2 compares to the ultra. I'll be looking forward to you reivew on them
Hmm just been looking and its actually cheaper to get the two 8800GT's than it is to get the two 9600 GT's if you're going for EVGA cards at least..