Best PCI-E Card For ~£225 (inc VAT): Tie
GeForce 8800 GTS (640MB version)
| GeForce 8800 GTS (640MB version) | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | G80 |
| Process: | 90nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 96 |
| Texture Units: | 54 |
| ROPs: | 20 |
| Memory Bus: | 320-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 500 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 800 (1600 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |
The GeForce 8800 GTS is the little brother of the 8800 GTX, and both are based on the same Nvidia next-generation DirectX 10 GPU. The 8800 GTS is slightly crippled compared to the GTX, but it will still beat powerhouse cards like the dual-GPU 7950 GX2 in many cases. The biggest downside to the 8800 GTS 640MB is that it’s cheaper 320MB cousin offers very close performance for much less scratch. However, if you plan to play your games at high resolutions 1600x1200 or above, it’s worth the extra money for the 640MB version.
Radeon HD X2900 XT
| Radeon HD X2900 XT | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | R600 |
| Process: | 80nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 320 |
| Texture Units: | 16 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 512-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 740 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 825 (1650 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |
The Radeon HD 2900 XT debuted with mediocre performance compared to the Geforce 8800 GTS 640, especially when price was factored in. But Ati has stepped up to bat and introduced fresh drivers that really bring out the 2900’s potential, even allowing it to challenge the 8800 GTX in some arenas. Even so, the 8800 GTS 640MB is still a great card and can challenge the 2900 XT in some titles, and on average you will find the 8800 GTS for a little less money. With this in mind, both cards are recommended in this price segment.
Best PCI-E Card For £315 (inc VAT):
GeForce 8800 GTX
| GeForce 8800 GTX | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | G80 |
| Process: | 90nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 128 |
| Texture Units: | 64 |
| ROPs: | 24 |
| Memory Bus: | 384-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 575 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (1800 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |
The introduction of the 8800 Ultra – essentially an overclocked 8800 GTX – relegated the GTX to second-fastest-videocard-in-the-world status. But with the low-priced 8800 Ultras starting at the £400 mark, it’s hard to justify an extra £85 for an overclock.
In all honesty, even the £130 cheaper 8800 GTS 320MB would probably serve anyone well at resolutions below 1600x1200. But if you’ve got money to burn, play at high resolutions, and will only settle for the top of the line - this is the card for you.
X1950 pro can be had for less than £100 OCUK has a x1950 for only £70.49.
I took this from the article
Here are two resources to help you judge if a card is a good buy. The first is the video card hierarchy chart, which groups video cards with similar overall performance into "tiers.” The top tier contains the highest performing cards available, and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.
Now it clearly says similar overall performance but that is clearly not the case with this section taken from the chart in the article
X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, Mobility X1900, HD 2600 XT
Come on guys to say that the X800XT performs similar to the X1650XT is bordering on criminally misleading similar FPS ok but overall performance?no way!
I have owned both and can say from experience that the X1650XT is a lot better visually and technically can play games the X800s cant so how you can say they are anything like similar is beyond me.
When i first started upgrading cards i wouldnt have known the diff and if i had come and seen the chart and bought a card that cant play up to date games based on it i would have been well upset.
So how about a little disclaimer about different technology's just to give the noobs a heads up
"Best PCI-E Card for £100 (inc VAT):
Radeon X1950 XT"
I can't find a x1950 XT for around £100 anywhere, then the description for it in the article is for the x1950 pro, this is very confusing. Does this mean the recommended £100 card is the XT (which I can't for £100) or the Pro?
So you Tom boys and girls gonna cover the "minor" update to directX10 (10.1) that obsoletes all the DirectX10 cards instead of discussing minor performance differences that wont affect anyone. The question i have is did microsoft lie to the graphics cards builders or did the graphics card builders lie to us ? Surely and upgrade that requires new hardware is a major release not a minor one ? And since vista could never be regarded as "released" until service pack 1 surely any card claiming full Vista compatibility should support DX 10.1.
Instead of just supporting the vendor marketing efforts how about a real news story for once ?
This is what I found at www.ebuyer.com maybe it'll help you in your search.
Gecube X1950XT 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card
£124.99 Inc. VAT
Gecube X1950Pro 256MB VIVO DVI AGP Graphics Card
£94.99 Inc. VAT
That was with free deliver for anything over £70 or something like that. That is the cheapest I've seem to find at this stage. Anyone else find it for cheaper?