Holiday 2006 Shopping Guide: GPUs
by Jarred Walton on December 13, 2006 5:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Performance Overview
Now that we've covered all of the various graphics cards that are currently available, you might be wondering which solution is really best for your needs. Users looking to upgrade to a faster graphics card might also be wondering how their current hardware compares to newer hardware, and how much money they might need to spend on an upgrade. One of the critical factors in determining how much graphics power you need is going to be your display. If you don't run at high resolutions with antialiasing, you really don't need a ton of horsepower for most games. Running tons of benchmarks with most of the graphics cards we've mentioned on a variety of games is beyond the scope of this article; however, we've created a rough summary of what sort of resolutions and detail settings you should be able to get from the various GPUs on the latest games. (Older titles are less demanding, so you should be able to crank up the details/resolution.)
This is of course somewhat ad hoc, and individual opinions about what is acceptable will vary, but you should be able to get some general guidelines of what to purchase - either for a new system or as an upgrade to your current hardware.
You can see in most instances that two slower GPUs will end up offering a worse price/performance ratio than a single faster GPU. That's why we've downplayed multi-GPU configurations throughout this article. Why buy two 7300 GT cards when you can get a single 7600 GT for less money? Until you max out the single GPU options, there's not much point in buying two GPUs.
In terms of the recommended settings, we generally feel that you should disable antialiasing and increase your resolution first, and only when you are running at your monitor's maximum/native resolution would we begin to worry about turning on antialiasing. That is especially true with LCDs, as running at anything less than the native resolution will tend to create a blurry effect. If you disagree and prefer lower resolutions with antialiasing, on average turning on 4xAA will have the same impact on performance as increasing the resolution one or two notches, i.e. 1024x768 4xAA will often run about as fast as 1280x1024-1600x1200 0xAA. There are of course exceptions to this rule, but it should serve as a good baseline estimate.
The recommended settings listed on the table above are basically an estimate of what settings more recent/demanding games will allow you to use - games like Prey, Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, Company of Heroes, etc. There are a lot of overlapping resolutions listed, which is to be expected. For example, the difference between an X1800 XT and an X1800 XTX isn't going to be so great that the latter allows you to run higher detail settings. If you are looking at upgrading your graphics card, you'll want to get something that opens the possibility of running clearly improved resolutions/settings. As another example, we wouldn't recommend upgrading from a GeForce 6800 GT to a GeForce 7600 GT, because even though the latter is faster they are fundamentally similar in terms of performance. You would be better off spending a bit more money to get something like a Radeon X1950 Pro instead, so that you would truly notice a difference in performance.
Now that we've covered all of the various graphics cards that are currently available, you might be wondering which solution is really best for your needs. Users looking to upgrade to a faster graphics card might also be wondering how their current hardware compares to newer hardware, and how much money they might need to spend on an upgrade. One of the critical factors in determining how much graphics power you need is going to be your display. If you don't run at high resolutions with antialiasing, you really don't need a ton of horsepower for most games. Running tons of benchmarks with most of the graphics cards we've mentioned on a variety of games is beyond the scope of this article; however, we've created a rough summary of what sort of resolutions and detail settings you should be able to get from the various GPUs on the latest games. (Older titles are less demanding, so you should be able to crank up the details/resolution.)
This is of course somewhat ad hoc, and individual opinions about what is acceptable will vary, but you should be able to get some general guidelines of what to purchase - either for a new system or as an upgrade to your current hardware.
| Approximate Performance Ranking | |||
| GPU | Resolution | Detail | Price |
| Radeon X300 SE | 640x480-800x600 | Minimum-Med; 0xAA | $38 |
| GeForce 6200 TC | 640x480-800x600 | Minimum-Med; 0xAA | $38 |
| Radeon X300 LE | 640x480-800x600 | Minimum-Med; 0xAA | $70 |
| GeForce 7100 GS | 640x480-800x600 | Minimum-Med; 0xAA | $49 |
| Radeon X550 HM | 640x480-1024x768 | Low-Med; 0xAA | $47 |
| Radeon X550 | 640x480-1024x768 | Low-Med; 0xAA | $60 |
| Radeon X700 | 640x480-1024x768 | Low-Med; 0xAA | $75 |
| GeForce 7300 LE | 640x480-1024x768 | Low-Med; 0xAA | $52 |
| GeForce 7300 GS | 640x480-1024x768 | Low-Med; 0xAA | $59 |
| Radeon X1300 | 800x600-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $52 |
| GeForce 6600 LE | 800x600-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $66 |
| Radeon X1300 Pro | 800x600-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $75 |
| GeForce 7300 GT | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $75 |
| Radeon X1300 XT | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $108 |
| Radeon X1600 Pro | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Low-High; 0xAA | $91 |
| GeForce 6600 GT | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $85* |
| Radeon X1600 XT | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $119 |
| Radeon X1650 Pro | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $105 |
| Radeon X800 | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $85* |
| GeForce 6800 | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $90* |
| GeForce 7600 GS | 1024x768-1280x1024 | Med-High; 0xAA | $109 |
| Radeon X1600 Pro CF | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $182 |
| Radeon X800 Pro | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $125* |
| GeForce 6800 GT | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $175* |
| GeForce 6800 GS | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $135* |
| GeForce 6800 SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $170* |
| GeForce 6600 GT SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $170* |
| GeForce 7300 GT SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $150 |
| GeForce 6800 Ultra | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $175* |
| Radeon X850 XT | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $135* |
| GeForce 7600 GT | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $135 |
| Radeon X1650 XT | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $156 |
| GeForce 7800 GS | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $230 |
| GeForce 7600 GS SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $218 |
| Radeon X1600 XT CF | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $238 |
| Radeon X1650 Pro CF | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-2xAA | $210 |
| Radeon X1800 GTO | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $145 |
| GeForce 7900 GS | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $186 |
| Radeon X1800 XL | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $240* |
| Radeon X1900 AIW | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $220 |
| GeForce 7800 GT | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $185* |
| GeForce 6800 GS SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $270* |
| GeForce 6800 GT SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $350* |
| GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI | 1024x768-1600x1200 | Med-High; 0x-4xAA | $350* |
| GeForce 7800 GTX | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $250* |
| Radeon X1800 XT | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $300* |
| Radeon X1900 GT v2.0 | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $176 |
| GeForce 7900 GT | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $246 |
| Radeon X1900 GT | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $176 |
| Radeon X1650 XT CF | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $312 |
| GeForce 7600 GT SLI | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 0x-4xAA | $270 |
| GeForce 7950 GT | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $249 |
| GeForce 7800 GTX 512 | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $460* |
| Radeon X1950 Pro | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $206 |
| GeForce 7900 GTO | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $310 |
| Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $275 |
| GeForce 7800 GS SLI | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $460 |
| GeForce 7800 GT SLI | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $370* |
| GeForce 7900 GS SLI | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $372 |
| GeForce 7900 GTX | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $430 |
| Radeon X1900 XT | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $335 |
| Radeon X1900 XTX | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $400 |
| Radeon X1950 XT 256 | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $259 |
| Radeon X1950 XTX | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $378 |
| Radeon X1900 GT CF | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $352 |
| Radeon X1800 XT CF | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $600* |
| Radeon X1950 Pro CF | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $412 |
| GeForce 7800 GTX SLI | 1280x1024-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $500* |
| GeForce 7900 GT SLI | 1600x1200-1920x1200 | High; 2x-4xAA | $492 |
| GeForce 7950 GX2 | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 0x-4xAA | $465 |
| GeForce 8800 GTS | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 0x-4xAA | $455 |
| GeForce 7950 GT SLI | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 0x-4xAA | $498 |
| GeForce 7800 GTX 512 SLI | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 0x-4xAA | $920* |
| GeForce 7900 GTO SLI | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 0x-4xAA | $620 |
| GeForce 7950 GX2 QSLI | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 2x-4xAA | $930 |
| GeForce 7900 GTX SLI | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 2x-4xAA | $860 |
| Radeon X1900 XT CF | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 2x-4xAA | $770 |
| Radeon X1950 XTX CF | 1600x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 2x-4xAA | $774 |
| GeForce 8800 GTX | 1920x1200-2560x1600 | High-Max; 2x-4xAA | $610 |
| GeForce 8800 GTS SLI | 1920x1200-2560x1600 | Maximum; 2x-4xAA | $910 |
| GeForce 8800 GTX SLI | 1920x1200-2560x1600 | Maximum; 4xAA | $1220 |
* - Prices for these parts are prone to fluctuation, as these are discontinued products.
You can see in most instances that two slower GPUs will end up offering a worse price/performance ratio than a single faster GPU. That's why we've downplayed multi-GPU configurations throughout this article. Why buy two 7300 GT cards when you can get a single 7600 GT for less money? Until you max out the single GPU options, there's not much point in buying two GPUs.
In terms of the recommended settings, we generally feel that you should disable antialiasing and increase your resolution first, and only when you are running at your monitor's maximum/native resolution would we begin to worry about turning on antialiasing. That is especially true with LCDs, as running at anything less than the native resolution will tend to create a blurry effect. If you disagree and prefer lower resolutions with antialiasing, on average turning on 4xAA will have the same impact on performance as increasing the resolution one or two notches, i.e. 1024x768 4xAA will often run about as fast as 1280x1024-1600x1200 0xAA. There are of course exceptions to this rule, but it should serve as a good baseline estimate.
The recommended settings listed on the table above are basically an estimate of what settings more recent/demanding games will allow you to use - games like Prey, Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, Company of Heroes, etc. There are a lot of overlapping resolutions listed, which is to be expected. For example, the difference between an X1800 XT and an X1800 XTX isn't going to be so great that the latter allows you to run higher detail settings. If you are looking at upgrading your graphics card, you'll want to get something that opens the possibility of running clearly improved resolutions/settings. As another example, we wouldn't recommend upgrading from a GeForce 6800 GT to a GeForce 7600 GT, because even though the latter is faster they are fundamentally similar in terms of performance. You would be better off spending a bit more money to get something like a Radeon X1950 Pro instead, so that you would truly notice a difference in performance.
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
Has been for about a year now, but a lot of people keep dragging their feet. The fastest AGP systems are still able to run most games okay, but if you really want high-end graphics performance you are going to have to upgrade to PCI-E.pottervillian - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
Merry Christmas, and thanks for a great guide!aakoch - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
I've never tried to run two/dual monitors. I have an old CRT (VGA) and a new LCD (DVI). Can any card with both slots run 2 monitors? Or only specific ones?Chapbass - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
I cant think of any gfx card that has dual outputs that CANT support dual monitors...so im gonna go with all of them can. definitely all the ones listed in this article (meaning everything that is current or close to current tech.) in fact, im doing dual monitors on my 6600gt (soon to be 8800gts!) right now : ).kleinwl - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
One point to add, would be PCI video cards. Since there are a number of Dell machines that have shipped without AGP/PCIE slots, it would be nice to know what PCI card you would recommend as bang for the buck. Right now I'm using Radeon 9250s... but I don't know if that is the best option. Yes, it's slow... but it's still cheaper than canning the entire system for people that want something just a little faster.JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
The fastest currently available PCI video card is going to be a Radeon X1300 I think, going for around $110 (and I see at least one that has a $20 mail-in rebate). That isn't a very fast graphics card to begin with, and I would expect the PCI interface to further bottleneck the card, but I'm not sure there's anything better if you're stuck looking for PCI parts.I'm just looking around on Newegg, so perhaps there's something better elsewhere (I seem to recall seeing GeForce 6600 cards on PCI at one point, which might be slightly faster in some cases), but if you need more performance from your graphics subsystem you really will need to look at upgrading to a new motherboard/computer that supports something other than PCI graphics.
mgambrell - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
Geforce 8800 may be fast, but it can't run directx10.http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=22248">http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=22248
Witness the driver debacle. Just beware.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
Given that DirectX 10 is not actually available -- no games support it, Windows Vista hasn't shipped, and even after Windows Vista becomes available it will probably be a couple months at least before you get DirectX 10 enabled games (i.e. games that actually add new DirectX 10 features). NVIDIA says it best:The inability to run beta/nearly finished Windows Vista with all of the features enabled on brand new hardware isn't something that I consider a major problem. The nature of beta/release candidate software is that there are still many known problems. For all we know, DirectX 10 performance on the G80 chips is going to be terrible... or it might be the greatest thing since sliced bread. The only way we will find out for sure is when Windows Vista is finally released and we actually get games that use DirectX 10's new capabilities.
Jodiuh - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
You guys list an EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR, but the one I got from Fry's electronics differs at the end w/ EVGA 768-P2-N831-FR. Does the FR=Retail, AR=Online? Or would AR be the newer "fixed transistor" SKU?Thanks for the guide!!
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - link
Honestly, I have no idea. EVGA (and many GPU manufacturers) tend to have so many different SKUs available with only negligible differences between them. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the models has a slight tweak to the transistors, but as for which one is "newer/better" I don't know. You could always email EVGA and ask.