Video Card Buying Guide

[xtknight]

This guide will help you choose the best card for your price range. Feedback is encouraged! Please let me know of any errors, recommendations, or softmods I have not listed.


All of the lower-end cards sport a 128-bit memory bus and have 128 MB of DDR. None of them are crippled by a 64-bit bus or less memory, and some are decent overclockers/and/or have mods available. All of the links point to newegg.com, a very reliable e-tailer with decent prices, and all of the cards were in stock when I posted this.

Note on the mods: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. Not all of these mods will work on every card. Please do some research before you attempt to buy a card and soft-mod it. This goes for BIOS flashing and overclocking as well. This stuff doesn't ALWAYS work.

Note: Generally, you can pick any card with IDENTICAL specifications and exhibit identical performance among different brands. The brands in here that I linked to are ones that I know are reliable. There is a Rosewill X800 XL retail for sale cheaper than the X800 XL OEM from ATI. You will find cheaper prices then newegg.com in most cases as well, especially on Anandtech's FS/FT thread.

Note: If you are on an budget you may find prices cheaper at other retailers. You may also find cheaper variants of the cards listed here, but I avoided unreliable brands like XFX. Make sure they have the same specifications as well.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AGP 8X/DirectX 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$0-50

Too restrictive of a budget to get a half-decent card.

$50-75

$74.00 - ASUS ATI RADEON 9550 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "A9550GE/TD/128" -RETAIL
BIOS available for great overclocking: Radeon 9550->Radeon 9600

$75-100

None at the moment.

$100-125

(No TurboCache, so it's faster)
$102.00 - CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce 6200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "SA6200-128MB" -RETAIL
Mod available: GeForce 6200->GeForce 6600

- OR -

(No TurboCache, so it's faster)
$121.00 - Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "A6200 128 TD" -RETAIL
Mod available: GeForce 6200->GeForce 6600

$125-150

Tip: Try finding a 9700 PRO on eBay as it's better than this card.

$129.00 - SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "100573L-BK" -RETAIL

- OR -

$149.99 - Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "A6600 128 TD" -RETAIL

$150-180

Either the 6600, 9600XT, or 9800Pro cards are excellent for this price point. Note the 6600 can be crippled in some instances, but if you can overclock it, it should be acceptable. If you can spend just a little more, you can get a better 9800 PRO.

$179.00 - SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "100556L" -RETAIL Lite Box

$180-200

$199.00 - GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "GV-N66T128D" -RETAIL

$200-230

$209.00 - Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "A6600 GT TDH" -RETAIL

$230-250

Note: EXCELLENT card for the money. By ALL MEANS, GET THIS CARD FOR THE PRICE POINT!

$244.00 - eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB GDDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "128-A8-N343-AX" -RETAIL
Mod available (for 6800NU AGP only): Unlocks to 16 pipelines. This only yields a small performance gain.

$250-325

A huge void in AGP video card selection. Consider getting a 256MB version of a previous price point. This is where low-end is separated by high-end.

$325-350

Note: This isn't actually a 6800 GT but should offer a small performance advantage over cheaper cards.

$339.00 - ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "V9999GT/TD/128" -RETAIL

$350-375

$374.00 - eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "256-A8-N344-AX" -RETAIL

$375-425

- Another big void. I found something interesting though.
- To be honest I'm not sure what this card is, but it's odd. All-In-Wonder X800 XL and it's cheaper/faster than X800 PRO WITH a TV tuner. I'm going to have to look into this a little bit, there could be a catch somewhere. There's not even any regular X800 XL in AGP yet. It's worth a try though. At $119 over the PCI Express version and only OEM it's certainly believable.

$419.00 - ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X800 XL Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/VIVO, 8X AGP, Model "100-714500" -OEM

$425-450

$395 after rebate - eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-bit, Dual DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "256-A8-N345-AX" -RETAIL

$449.00 - Connect3D ATI RADEON X800 XT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/VIVO, 8X AGP, Model "6064" -Retail

$450-475

$475.00 - Sapphire ATI RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/VIVO, AGP 8X, Model "581PE" -OEM Bulk

$475-525

Big void again. This is where you can start saving money by SLI'ing together two cheaper cards, and getting more performance.

$525-550

Unsure.

$550-

Best card available.
$649.00 - ATI RADEON X850 XT PE Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/VIVO/HDTV, AGP 8X, Model "100-435601" -Retail





---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PCI Express x16/DirectX 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------






$0-50

Nothing at all.

$50-100

$99.00 - SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON X600 PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI Express, Model "100587" -RETAIL Lite box

$100-150

$128.00 - CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce 6600 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "SE6600" -RETAIL

- OR, for HDTV out, and slightly higher clocked -

$145.00 - Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6600 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "PX6600TD-256" -RETAIL

$150-200

$195.00 - GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV, PCI-Express, Model "GV-NX66T128D" -RETAIL

$200-300

Unsure.

$300-325

Hands down the best card for $300. It even beats the 6800 GT at $400.
There is a Rosewill X800 XL retail for sale cheaper than the X800 XL OEM from ATI.

$304.00 - ATI Radeon X800 XL Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/TV Out, PCI-E, Model "100-435500" -OEM

$289.00 - Rosewill ATI Radeon X800XL Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI, PCI-Express, Model "RX8XL-256PX" -RETAIL

 

[xtknight]

bump...comments anyone? good? bad?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Lots of stuff above 200$ for PCI-E. You should make a workstation list too.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Nice job.

I think the 9700pro should be included in the $125-$150 market as it's better than a 9600XT. Unfortunately you'll need to go to eBay's "Buy it now" to find it for such a price.

 

[mdchesne]

alot more card in PCI-E. got my x800xl for $360 USD, know of alot more around that range too

 

[hans030390]

the x850 is not the best card around...have you noticed that the x800/x850 cannot pass the 10k mark in 3dmark 05 while as a 6800 (oced and in SLI i think...think...didnt mention it though) can easily get 11k.

plus the x850 only performs good in today's games. late 2005/2006 games will not run well with the x850 as it has shader model 2.0, where the 6xxx series uses 3.0

that is very important and i feel you need to really revise the article, because some people dont upgrade often (and want a long lasting card) but will be dissapointed to find that a 6800 could easily outperform (and look better) then an x850 in future games (unreal 3 engine, Elder scrolls 4: oblivion, etc)

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: hans030390
the x850 is not the best card around...have you noticed that the x800/x850 cannot pass the 10k mark in 3dmark 05 while as a 6800 (oced and in SLI i think...think...didnt mention it though) can easily get 11k.

plus the x850 only performs good in today's games. late 2005/2006 games will not run well with the x850 as it has shader model 2.0, where the 6xxx series uses 3.0

that is very important and i feel you need to really revise the article, because some people dont upgrade often (and want a long lasting card) but will be dissapointed to find that a 6800 could easily outperform (and look better) then an x850 in future games (unreal 3 engine, Elder scrolls 4: oblivion, etc)

The X850 is the best current card, performance and benchmark-wise. I was aware of a dual-6800U solution, but I didn't mention that because it would be a waste of $1000. A SLI config doesn't count, because it's two cards.

As for the pixel shader version, thanks for reminding me. Correct me if I'm wrong but ATI has the same thing but it's called PS2.0b. Maybe it's not quite as good as 3.0, I'll have to look into that.

However, I think Maximum PC reported that Tim Sweeney said that a dual 6800U rig couldn't go past 30 FPS on low quality or something like that. So, even though it is PS3.0, it won't make much of a difference apparently. Neither 5 FPS or 30 FPS is very playable.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Lots of stuff above 200$ for PCI-E. You should make a workstation list too.

Oops I don't know what I was thinking. I think I made an error there. When I sorted the video card list on newegg.com I didn't see anything above $200. Turns out they hadn't categorized the X800 XL or probably some other cards. I'm going to revise that right now, thanks for pointing that out.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Nice job.

I think the 9700pro should be included in the $125-$150 market as it's better than a 9600XT. Unfortunately you'll need to go to eBay's "Buy it now" to find it for such a price.

The Radeon 9700 PRO isn't discontinued but I didn't spot it on newegg.com. Usually they have everything, that's odd. I saw an AIW 9700 PRO for around $180 but that's a waste when you can get a 6600GT for little more.

 

[xtknight]

Anyone have a 9800SE modded to XT? I wonder how that would perform.

 

[PrayForDeath]

I have a 9800SE modded to Pro in my other machine. It is identical and performs just like a 9800Pro. What do you need to know about it?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
I have a 9800SE modded to Pro in my other machine. It is identical and performs just like a 9800Pro. What do you need to know about it?

Are the clocks the same as a 9800Pro, pipelines, everything identical? Can't you turn it to an XT as well? Does this mod work on every card with every memory chip? I know the X800 Pro->XT mod only works on 1.6ns Samsung chips. Stuff like that.

 

[rbV5]

I think its going to be tough for you to keep this kind of list up to date even using a single source like Newegg.

ex: They have a retail Rosewill X800 XL for $289 shipped, you have an OEM ATI model at $304 ($309 shipped).

Throw in your own bias at each price point and it will be pretty much a mess most of the time. Good effort though.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: rbV5
I think its going to be tough for you to keep this kind of list up to date even using a single source like Newegg.

ex: They have a retail Rosewill X800 XL for $289 shipped, you have an OEM ATI model at $304 ($309 shipped).

Throw in your own bias at each price point and it will be pretty much a mess most of the time. Good effort though.

Yeah I am aware of that. Never heard of Rosewill (are they reliable? are they like XFX?) so I kept it on the safe side and listed the ATI one. I'm going to have to make the list simpler if I want to update it. Too much information to consolidate into one post. It's up to date for a week at least.

 

[rbV5]

Yeah I am aware of that. Never heard of Rosewill so I kept it on the safe side and listed the ATI one

It probably just follows the reference, wouldn't suprise me if Sapphire made both the Rosewill and ATI cards on the same line. Its nearly $20 difference, and the cheaper model is retail. Perfect example why this kind of guide won't work.

Another example is the 6800le model you recommend for soft modding. Whats the expected ratio of successfully modding that 8 pipeline 4 VS card to an 16 pipe 6 VS ultra? or even the eVGA model you list 12 pipes 5 VS to 16 pipes 6VS . I had the latter card myself, and I think both cards have only 128MB DDR framebuffers and my eVGA card did not succeful enable the disabled quad...probably are both poor choices for soft-modding, neither will ever be anything close to an ultra. Pretty poor misinformation for a buyers guide.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Yeah I am aware of that. Never heard of Rosewill so I kept it on the safe side and listed the ATI one

It probably just follows the reference, wouldn't suprise me if Sapphire made both the Rosewill and ATI cards on the same line. Its nearly $20 difference, and the cheaper model is retail. Perfect example why this kind of guide won't work.

Another example is the 6800le model you recommend for soft modding. Whats the expected ratio of successfully modding that 8 pipeline 4 VS card to an 16 pipe 6 VS ultra? or even the eVGA model you list 12 pipes 5 VS to 16 pipes 6VS . I had the latter card myself, and I think both cards have only 128MB DDR framebuffers and my eVGA card did not succeful enable the disabled quad...probably are both poor choices for soft-modding, neither will ever be anything close to an ultra. Pretty poor misinformation for a buyers guide.

I didn't make myself clear. I made no claims of this card coming to Ultra speeds, or at least what I meant to say was it could be unlocked to 16 pipelines (equivalent number on an Ultra). Tell me a better card for soft-modding and I'll be glad to add it.

If people are 'soft-modders', they most likely know it doesn't always work, but I listed it as a note if they didn't already.

I simply overlooked the fact that the ATI card was OEM and the Rosewill was retail. I just scrolled through and assumed that the more expensive card would be retail. I still don't know if Rosewill is any good. XFX probably follows reference design too, but their support blows chunks. I've heard lots of people with XFX cards that were actually broken as well, so they may not have good quality control.

If I get feedback I can clear stuff like this up before the whole world looks at it. Why won't this guide work? Should I list specifications of a decent card for a price point (and let the user pick out the brand themselves), instead of linking to an actual video card? That would make it more difficult for novices though.

Even though everyone has different opinions, we can come to a consensus about which card has the overall advantage. That's what this guide is attempting to do.

 

[PrayForDeath]

There are actually two kinds of 9800SE, one that comes with 128bit memory (softmods to 9500Pro equivalent) and one that comes with 256bit memory (softmods to 9800np/Pro depending on the clocks). A good one was the PowerColor C3 model (the one I got) that comes with 256bit memory and the core/mem clocks of the Pro at stock (380/340). Most of the SEs come with R350 core, but the ones that come with R360 core are the ones that are flashable to XT (keep in mind that you can ONLY find out the core model by taking off the heatsink and looking at the core itself, software apps just copy what the BIOS says). Some famous R360 core SEs were the 256bit Sapphire and MSI SEs.
I think the PowerColor had the best chance to softmod (somewhere around 75%).
But I don't recommend getting these anymore since many new cards are out right now and getting a used 9700Pro is better for a low budget.

By the way, good job for the guide :thumbsup: I vote for a sticky if you're willing to constantly update it.

 

[rbV5]

I didn't make myself clear. I made no claims of this card coming to Ultra speeds, or at least what I meant to say was it could be unlocked to 16 pipelines (equivalent number on an Ultra). Tell me a better card for soft-modding and I'll be glad to add it.

I think I've heard that getting 16pipes in an 8 pipe Le is very rare, but what do I know? My point is that it looks to me that you're not sure, so you picked the cheapest le at Newegg and pointed soft-modders to it with no regard to how successful it may or not be.

I do know that some of the 6800le's on a Ultra PCB with GDDr3 memory were popular with soft-modders, but a $232 8 pipe 128MB card is not so hot a deal IMO.

A better approach for moddable cards would be to point to a thread like this or this

you might want to find a better one for the 6800le LOL, but you can see my point. Unless you know, you're better off not recommending it.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
There are actually two kinds of 9800SE, one that comes with 128bit memory (softmods to 9500Pro equivalent) and one that comes with 256bit memory (softmods to 9800np/Pro depending on the clocks). A good one was the PowerColor C3 model (the one I got) that comes with 256bit memory and the core/mem clocks of the Pro at stock (380/340). Most of the SEs come with R350 core, but the ones that come with R360 core are the ones that are flashable to XT (keep in mind that you can ONLY find out the core model by taking off the heatsink and looking at the core itself, software apps just copy what the BIOS says). Some famous R360 core SEs were the 256bit Sapphire and MSI SEs.
I think the PowerColor had the best chance to softmod (somewhere around 75%).
But I don't recommend getting these anymore since many new cards are out right now and getting a used 9700Pro is better for a low budget.

By the way, good job for the guide :thumbsup: I vote for a sticky if you're willing to constantly update it.

Thanks...I'll try to update it once a month, or when a huge product release happens. Then I'll just bump it. A sticky would be nice though .

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: rbV5

I didn't make myself clear. I made no claims of this card coming to Ultra speeds, or at least what I meant to say was it could be unlocked to 16 pipelines (equivalent number on an Ultra). Tell me a better card for soft-modding and I'll be glad to add it.

I think I've heard that getting 16pipes in an 8 pipe Le is very rare, but what do I know? My point is that it looks to me that you're not sure, so you picked the cheapest le at Newegg and pointed soft-modders to it with no regard to how successful it may or not be.

I do know that some of the 6800le's on a Ultra PCB with GDDr3 memory were popular with soft-modders, but a $232 8 pipe 128MB card is not so hot a deal IMO.

A better approach for moddable cards would be to point to a thread like this or this

you might want to find a better one for the 6800le LOL, but you can see my point. Unless you know, you're better off not recommending it.

It's not so much I'm recommending soft-mods, I just thought it was a convenient place to stick in a link so people would know that they might be able to squeeze some extra juice out of it. I've removed the 6800LE from the list because I agree that it's not a great bargain.

 

[fbrdphreak]

$525-550

Recommendation: Get the X800 XT PE at $475 instead of this card. They are both right on the same FPS.

$545.00 - MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB DDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "NX6800V-T2D256" -RETAIL

Link -- eVGA 6800 Ultra $425
Not to mention there are 6800 Ultra's going for that price or below on FS/FT regularly

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

$525-550

Recommendation: Get the X800 XT PE at $475 instead of this card. They are both right on the same FPS.

$545.00 - MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB DDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "NX6800V-T2D256" -RETAIL

Link -- eVGA 6800 Ultra $425
Not to mention there are 6800 Ultra's going for that price or below on FS/FT regularly

Link is broken. This guide can also serve as a general hierarchy for video cards. Obviously the higher you're willing to spend the more performance you can get. Once you find a card you like you can try and find it cheaper somewhere else. Some good advice. I just used newegg.com because it has excellent reseller ratings and a good selection.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Link to eVGA 6800 Ultra on NewEgg

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Link to eVGA 6800 Ultra on NewEgg

Oh. Nice deal. I'm not sure how I overlooked it. I'll replace that right now.

 

[rbV5]

$325-350

$339.00 - ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "V9999GT/TD/128" -RETAIL

You might point out that this particular card is not a 6800GT, 6800 GT cards have 256 MB GDDR3 memory, while this has 128 MB DDR memory. Its priced better than ASUS orginal gouge, but $344 shipped is still approaching regular 6800GT pricing (its $315 shipped at zzf for instance)