Price Guide, March 2006: Video Cards
by Haider Farhan on March 8, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
High-End Graphics
We are now at the high-end graphics cards and to start, we'll take a look at the X800 XL cards.
With the way that most of these graphics cards are priced, you're much better off going with a GeForce 7800 GT. We are seeing many of these cards between the $250 to $280 range, and at $275, you can pick up the eVGA 7800 GT that we mentioned on the previous page, giving you better performance at roughly the same price.
However, we do have a few X800 XL cards that have dropped to below $200, making them at least worth consideration. Sapphire, Gigabyte , and Abit all have competing products in that price range (which is actually down in the mid-range cost, but for now we'll leave them as high-end). With the pending launch of ATI's X1800 GTO, though, we'd suggest waiting a bit to see where that's priced, since it has a better feature set. Remember that the R4xx cards don't support SM3.0, which could become more important now that both ATI and NVIDIA are pushing the feature.
As we mentioned with the X800 XL and 6800 Ultra cards, we'll have to apply the same rule here. These X800 XT graphics cards are, once again, outrageously overpriced. Definitely look into an X1800, X1900 or 7800.
Ah-ha. Here we go again...there really isn't anything more that we can say. Overlook this batch of cards and either move on up to the ultra-high end cards to take a step back towards the mid-range cards, which we will look at on the following page.
We are now at the high-end graphics cards and to start, we'll take a look at the X800 XL cards.
With the way that most of these graphics cards are priced, you're much better off going with a GeForce 7800 GT. We are seeing many of these cards between the $250 to $280 range, and at $275, you can pick up the eVGA 7800 GT that we mentioned on the previous page, giving you better performance at roughly the same price.
However, we do have a few X800 XL cards that have dropped to below $200, making them at least worth consideration. Sapphire, Gigabyte , and Abit all have competing products in that price range (which is actually down in the mid-range cost, but for now we'll leave them as high-end). With the pending launch of ATI's X1800 GTO, though, we'd suggest waiting a bit to see where that's priced, since it has a better feature set. Remember that the R4xx cards don't support SM3.0, which could become more important now that both ATI and NVIDIA are pushing the feature.
As we mentioned with the X800 XL and 6800 Ultra cards, we'll have to apply the same rule here. These X800 XT graphics cards are, once again, outrageously overpriced. Definitely look into an X1800, X1900 or 7800.
Ah-ha. Here we go again...there really isn't anything more that we can say. Overlook this batch of cards and either move on up to the ultra-high end cards to take a step back towards the mid-range cards, which we will look at on the following page.
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dstigue - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
The 7800 GT that was listed with 512mb as quoted "It's a fairly large card and is not at a very friendly price tag either, going for about $820...yikes!" is actually 2x7800 gts on one board with 256 mbs for each. Why would it be so big? Why so expensive? Did none of this ring a bell? Even the name dual as in EN7800GT DUAL/2DHTV/512? I don't mean to rib ya but come on your supposed to be a techie.JarredWalton - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Fixed. :)rrcn - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Although Jarred already did, I'd also like to personally thank you all for your comments and suggestions, and am sorry for the late response.If time allows, I will add the X850 cards to the guide this time around, if not, then expect to see them in our April video card price guide. =)
Since I see that readers here actually do want to see more advice rather than just good bargains, I will be sure to have more of that in there next time.
The reason the X800 XL is still considered high-end is due to its price point. We mainly use the prices to determine what categories the cards would fall into.
I will also contact our RTPE administrator, if no one else has already done so, and have him add the BFG 6800 GS to the RTPE.
Again, thanks for all the comments and keep them coming! =) It really helps us know what you guys are thinking and what you want to see.
Haider Farhan
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Thanks for the comments, everyone. There's a fine line between respecting NDA and leading our readers astray. I've added a bit and commented a bit just to clarify things. Cheers!DigitalFreak - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
I can respect that, but the 7900 launch is one of the worst kept secrets in the history of launches... :-)JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Well, I would have mentioned it, but then Haider could have written this article last week and it just got posted. Since he updates these Price Guides once a month for each segment, two weeks before the launch and two weeks after isn't so bad.TheCanuck - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Just bought the 6800GS at Chiefvalue.com for $197.99 with free shipping. Best deal I've seen so far: http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?s...">LinkAll the retailers are trying to screw over AGP users with these higher prices. There's no reason AGP should be $30 to $40 more than PCI-e.
kmmatney - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Great pirce on the AGP 6800GS, as well. I guess AGP cards can be more expesnive do to the PCI0AGP bridge chip that it requires. More likely its supply and demand, though. I'm sure they sell a lot more PCIe cards than AGP.yacoub - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
It's definitely funny seeing the X800XL called "high end" considering it can barely run modern games at 1024x with everything turned up. I would recommend revising the section titles or pushing everything down a level (X1800 series could be 'high end', X800 series is 'mid-range' or whatever is the next level down.)I have an X800XL and I can't wait to get a better card so I can actually run games like NFS:MW and FEAR at 1280x1024 with everything high, which I can't currently do with the X800XL.
etriky - Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - link
Just an FYI. The Asus 7800GT 512MB card is their dual processer card. Still freakin expensive though.