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ASUS Extreme AX600 XT vs. MSI GeForce PCX5750 Comparison |
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Written by Mavke
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Wednesday, 29 September 2004 |
HotHardware compared an ASUS Extreme X600 XT 128MB PCIe versus a MSI GeForce PCX5750 128MB PCIe graphics card. Here we offer a side-by-side comparion of today's value-based cards. With newer offerings looming on the horizon, these value-based models may become tomorrow's ultra-affordable PCI-E solutions. So, depending on your needs, they may warrant a closer look. Let's take a look at their respective retail packaging, then we'll get more familiar with the cards themselves. The potential benefits of PCI-E over AGP are dramatic, offering peak bandwidth of 4GBps (8GB concurrent), which more than doubles that of AGP 8X.
 ASUS Extreme AX600 XT vs. MSI GeForce PCX5750 Comparison
We are faced with a bit of a quandry. On the one hand, we have the ASUS Extreme AX600 XT, which managed to win most of the tests by a large margin. On the other hand, we have the MSI GeForce PCX5750, which had a great retail package with an excellent software collection and turned out to be a decent overclocker. Then, we have to factor in the GeForce 6600 and Radeon X700 releases, each of which offers the best overall performance to date out of any PCI-E value-class cards on the market today. So where does that leave us?
If you're in the market for a new value-class PCI-E card, you should seriously consider the timing of your purchase. You may want to wait to see if the prices of these two cards drop considerably after the newer GeForce 6600's and Radeon X700's hit store shelves. Currently, the MSI GeForce PCX5750 retails for $122, which is a good value when you add up the gaming titles included. The ASUS Extreme AX600 XT retails for a pricier $166 and has HDTV output and better performance but offers a lot less software.
When we looked at the MSI GeForce PCX5750, we found a fair value-based video card with excellent overclocking potential. When we factor in the gaming bundle, we could easily spend the price of the card on just two or three of those titles on the retail market. So, while it wasn't the fastest card of the bunch, it is a good value overall. The price is low enough to justify buying it today if $200 for a GeForce 6600 GT is out of your reach. The ASUS Extreme AX600 XT is a little harder to justify at the moment because of the impending arrival of the GeForce 6600 and Radeon X700 at a similar price point.
Even though it did have the best overall performance compared to the GeForce PCX5750, it comes at a higher price and has a more conservative software bundle. When you factor in the fact that the GeForce 6600 GT and Radeon X700 series are going to be offered for a mere $40 more, we think it is well worth waiting for the next-generation cards. That is, unless the ASUS's Radeon X600 price takes a nose dive upon the retail release of either the Radeon X700 or GeForce 6600 series or cards.
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