Price Guides, June 2005: Video Cards
by Kristopher Kubicki on June 26, 2005 3:49 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Sometimes we can't help but feel bad for ATI in the $100-$200 price bracket. X700 Pro prices are terrible when compared to GeForce 6600GT cards (on PCIe), but there have been some mild price cuts in the last week or so. For $129, the Sapphire X700 Pro 128MB is still your best [RTPE: 100595], with an upgrade to the 256MB version [RTPE: 100596] costing an extra $20. The recent price cuts on the 256MB cards are welcomed, but considering the advantage of the GeForce 6600GT series over this card, there isn't much we can say in ATI's defense - even with the price cut. You can see last week's adjustment in the graph below:
Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro 256MB
Radeon 9800 Pro cards have essentially bottomed out, with Sapphire leading the price war again (as usual). The Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB [RTPE: 100556] is really almost identical to the X700 Pro 128MB we mentioned above but with an AGP bus. This really isn't a bad buy at all, particularly if you have something along the lines of a weak GeForce4 or lower. With anything higher than that, however, you're probably better off saving for a PCIe motherboard and then a current generation PCIe video card.
The gem of our video card price guides continues to be the PCIe version of the GeForce 6600GT. This week marks the first week that both the AGP and PCIe versions retail for about the same price, mostly due to some impressive price cuts by Chaintech. The Chaintech 6600GT 128MB PCIe [RTPE: SE6600G-128] and AGP [RTPE: SA6600G-128] both perform spectacularly for sub $150 video cards and take this week's overall recommendation. Our price engine is tracking some pretty interesting rebates on the GeForce 6600GT cards, but when Chaintech is throwing them out the door cheaper than XFX's best discount, we can't really recommend the mail in rebate option.
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at80eighty - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
the "By the power of Castle Greyskull" bit above the graph on the 1st page was corny..but i still laughed ..thanx!hoppa - Monday, June 27, 2005 - link
I agree with #2. It would be great to see charts that show some performance per dollar figure for each card. And if you are doing that you'll almost certainly do something else along the way which I'd love to see: a general performance rating of procs/VCs/anything, based on some compilation of all the benchmark data you have. Once that number is in, just divide it by the cost and you have cost per $ as well, and that would be very helpful for a great many people.dumbnewbie - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
Aww yeah! Sitting here with an Asus v7700 GeForce2 Ti! Still haven't seen anything new come out yet to make me switch, even FAR items. Give me dual HDTV like supposed PS3 with only a heatsink for cooling and maybe I'll be interested. Oh and my other computer is using a TNT2.cryptonomicon - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
hmm, is it safe to still buy 128mb cards?shouldnt i buy a 256 for the future?
Dukemaster - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
but=bought :PDukemaster - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
I just but a second handed XFX Geforce 6800 256MB for just 190, with over a year of warranty left on it. Now that's what i call a sweet deal.bloc - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
Some of the suggestions are obviously made without plotting $$ vs FPS.Every $30 is a new market segment.
So with the 9800 pro at $125 and the 6600 GT at $151
That's a 20% increase in price. Well the FPS for major games is about a 15% spread too. This makes the 9800 pro a solid deal as it provides as good $$ vs fps ratio as the 6600 GT. I can easily recommend a 9800 pro or a 6600 GT. This wasn't the case 3 months ago as the 9800 pro and 6600 GT were the same price.
A FPS vs $$ graph is a way better way to compare video cards than raw prices.
ryanv12 - Sunday, June 26, 2005 - link
ha, that 512mb 6200 kills me. I kind of want to get one just to tell everyone I have a 512mb card ;)