Best bang for buck graphics card

[The Internal]

Greetings,

I'm thinking about getting a new PCI Express graphics card for an AMD 64 based system. My target price is $200 US. I don't want to go much over $300 at the highest. I'd rather play Half Life 2 than Doom 3 (I know the ATI seems better for DirectX, the NVIDIA for OpenGL). I also run 3ds Max and Adobe apps.
I'm Trying to figure out the best bang for the buck card on the market, and since anandtech hasn't done a holiday video card round-up, I figured I'd ask on the forums.
Currently, I'm wondering if it's the ATI x700 based cards, but I am having difficulty telling which is the high-end of the x700 line (the XT? the Pro?).

Please tell me the specific card you'd recommend and how you figure it's the best bang for the buck. Links to reviews are greatly appreciated as well.

If you get the most performance for the dollar above the $300 mark, what should I expect to spend?

Many thanks.

 

[stelleg151]

I am assuming you wont overclock, and therefore will tell you to get a 6600gt, although that is a good option even if you do overclock. The performance is really close to x700xt, and a big bonus is that it is actually available. x700xt is the highest x700 card, the pro is second, and the x700pro is available, so if you really like ATI or want 256mb ram and are willing to overclock, then I would recommend the x700pro. Overall the 6600gt is a steal at around 180(check pricewatch). Look around and most sites (HardOCP, Anandtech and others will confirm that generally 6600gt is on par or better than the unavailable x700xt.

 

[The Internal]

so, the 6600? benches I've seen of the x700 and 6600 show their performance being half of their bigger brothers. Am I delusional to hope that I'll be able to get 80% of the performance of a x800 XT for 50% of the cost (like back in the days of the ATI 9700 pro and the 9500 pro?)

 

[Pete]

6600GT.

If you want performance numbers, just read Anandtech's last few reviews. The $300+ cards will be twice as fast, but usually only at high res with AA+AF. Stick to 10x7 AA+AF and a 6600GT is a pretty good deal.

 

[The Internal]

so, if I were to take away the price limitation, would everyone still say the 6600 GT is the best bang for the buck? I guess more than anything, I'm really trying to get opinions on where fellow ananders feel the optimal price/performance ratio is (and Im guessing it's under $400).

 

[stelleg151]

Yes, there will be a point at which the 6600gt will get half the fps of the higher end cards, but only in that small quality setting area that the 400 cards thrive in compared to the mid-range cards, so I say the midrange cards are definately the best bang for the buck. I dont think youre delusional to think that you can get 80 percent of the performance, although due to greater differences in architecture, there is more of a difference between a 6600gt and a 6800gt than a 9700pro and a 9800pro. I say 6600gt, I think you will be very happy and very not broke at the same time.

 

[MojoX]

6600GT is probably the best bang for your buck, but ATI's X800XL is not far behind. At $349 it gives a lot more playable settings than the 6600GT and is especially good in Half-Life 2. It even beats ATI's $400 range and gives performance comparable to the 6800GT.

 

[The Internal]

Well, I'll take a look another look at the 6600 GT then. With the new ATi X850 lineup coming out, does that change things much you think? I know it will probably lead to price drops and/or lack of availability of older X800 parts, but I'm curious how it will effect the price performance curve. I haven't read much about the X800 XL. I'll have to look into that too. I'm still open to comments and suggestions at this point and appreciate those that have been given so far.

 

[LocutusX]

the X800XL isn't out; why are people recommending that? in addition, we don't know what the "final specs" are (i.e. of the actual mass-produced boards) -- Anand seemed to allude in his review that they may "dumb down" the X800XL because it's too powerful for it's price!

I'd say the 6600GT is the best bang for the buck, for PCI-e systems.

 

[The Internal]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does the 6600 GT only have 128 MB RAM? I'm pretty sure I want one with 256 MB... unless the cost gets ridiculous as a result.

 

[Momental]

I'd be leaning towards the 6600GT as well, however as you stated, it is only a 128Mb card.

If that's a "must have" for you, then you're gonna be faced with a +$300 price tag pretty quickly.

Someone else mentioned the as yet to be released X800 XL. In Anand's review, it seems like the way to go in the under $400 market. However, it isn't out yet, no one knows its exact specs nor do we know just how much they're really gonna go for.

You mentioned that you'll be switching over to the PCI-e format shortly and running to 6600GT's in SLI mode might be a reasonable solution for you. I'm not sure as to how the graphics programs will behave under the thumb of SLI, but do know that games benefit from the coupling of cards on a MoBo.

Personally, I'd bite the bullet and hold out a little longer to save a few extra bucks and get the 6800GT. Yup. They're expensive and start somewhere around $385. It's worth it if you can do some more waiting and saving, though!

 

[The Internal]

Yeah... I'm waiting for SLI availability... evven if I don't run NVIDIA, I'd still like a board with the nforce4 SLI or the ATI with the directx9 IGP. So, it sounds like most people are leaning towards NVIDIA cards right now, despite ATI's advantage in HL2. Are they that better priced?

 

[Momental]

Unfortunately, it's not so much a cost issue at the moment as it is about availability. ATi hasn't been doing the most stellar job at keeping their cards on shelves for just about anyone who wants them as of late and it just so happens that the nVidia lineup is excellent.

This is another reason why I suggest your holding off for about another month. By then, ATi will begin shipping out their "refreshes" (X850 XT, X800 XL, yada yada) and then you can really do a price to performance comparison. Additionally, ATi cards won't be able to work in SLI on nVidia-based boards any time soon which has you also somewhat limited in your selection. As you said, until ATi releases their version of SLI, nVidia will be the only GPU/Board combo that will work in a dual card set-up, as far as I know.

 

[The Internal]

Yeah, I'd heard that about the NVIDIA SLI. I just want that as an option in case I eventually do go NVIDIA SLI. If money was no object, I'd probably get a single X800 XT and slap it in with the nforce4... perhaps just to have people say "why the hell did you use ATI in a nforce 4 SLI mobo?!?!" If I was building the system with the GOAL of going SLI, I know I would get a 6800 part. Right now, I'd be happy to go with either the nforce4 SLI or the new ATI socket 939 chipset with the IGP. Sadly, both are backordered. I'm hoping that by january, that socket 939 Pci-express will be available through newegg or zipzoomfly.

 

[MojoX]

Originally posted by: LocutusX
the X800XL isn't out; why are people recommending that? in addition, we don't know what the "final specs" are (i.e. of the actual mass-produced boards) -- Anand seemed to allude in his review that they may "dumb down" the X800XL because it's too powerful for it's price!

I just said that as an option, it's out in less than one month and that's the time he'd need to wait for a Nforce4 or Radeon Xpress 200 anyway. The final specs are 16 pipelines, 400/980 (instead of 400/1000). A 20Mhz drop should pretty much keep the level of performance it already has.

 

[Pete]

Hardware.fr's X700XT review showed that a 6800GT was about 50% faster than a 6600GT at 10x7 4xAA 16xAF. That ratio increases to almost 100% faster at 16x12 4x16. As I said, the higher the res and AA+AF, the better a 6800GT+ looks. But at 10x7 AA+AF, a $185 6600GT is the sweet spot for a new, PCIe card.

BTW, IMO SLI is pointless for a 6600GT. You're better off just buying a 6800GT now and enjoying its performance right away.

 

[imported_JeReMY]

Geforce 6800 nu and then unlock the extra pipes.

 

[uOpt]

How fast is the 6600 (no letters) anyway? It is PCIe only so it is not included in many reviews. Anybody knows a review with the 6600, 6600gt and 5900xt?