GeForce 7600 GT

Codename: G73, 90-nanometer technology 12 Pixel shaders, five Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, eight Raster operations processors 128-bit memory bus 560-MHz core, 700-MHz DDR (1400 MHz Effective) Memory

The 7600 GT is an amazing card in this price range, sporting new SM 3.0 technology and very high clock speeds to deliver excellent performance. Its weakest feature is its 128-bit memory bus, but its high memory speeds offset that disadvantage and make it competitive with 256-bit cards like the X800 XT/X850 XT and even the 7800 GS. The worst thing we can say about the 7600 GT AGP is that the upcoming X1950 PRO shouldn't cost much more money, but will outperform it easily.

Best AGP Card For £150 / €200+: None!

The reason this AGP price segment is listed as "NONE" is because right AGP cards are much more expensive then their PCI express brethren. If you upgrade your system to PCIe and sell your old components, you may actually spend a similar amount of money compared to buying an expensive AGP card alone. For example, it's safe to say that the fastest AGP card available for over £200 / €280 is the 7800 GS, but it is very difficult to recommend because at stock clock speeds it performs similarly - and many times worse than - the cheaper GeForce 7600 GT. In December, a new and powerful AGP card is scheduled to arrive: the X1950 PRO. It may be worth that price for some users as it should make AGP gaming viable for at least a year or two more... But really ladies and gentlemen, isn't it time to stop flogging a long-dead horse?

Tom's Hardware VGA Performance Charts

For some more help to those out there unfamiliar with relative video card performance, here are some charts from Tom's Hardware that summarize the performance of many different video cards in many different gaming applications:

PCI Express:

AGP:

If the market changes or you have a differing opinion of my assessment, feel free to offer your opinions and links to online deals in the thread below. Just remember, the market will most likely change before our next monthly update, so keep your eye on prices!

Summary

So there you have it folks, these are the best cards for the money this month. Now all that's left is finding them in retail, and that part is up to you. They will almost certainly be cheapest online, but sometimes large retail outlets might surprise you with a good sale. Don't worry too much about brands because all of the cards out there stick pretty close to Nvidia and Ati's reference. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer's reputation for honouring that warranty if something goes wrong. Remember also that the stores don't follow this list, we follow them! Things will change over the month and you'll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to changing prices. Good luck!