|
The Great and Last AGP Graphics Card Roundup - ATI vs. NVIDIA |
|
Written by Mavke
|
|
Saturday, 28 May 2005 |
TweakTown compared several AGP graphics cards from ATI and NVIDIA. As much as ATI and NVIDIA wish they didn't have to worry about the aging AGP connector
anymore, there is no denying that there is still a big market out there for this platform. While the PCI Express equivalent to its AGP counterparts might be slightly cheaper (since the AGP versions require bridge chips), the cost of moving to a PCI Express based system is much greater with items like motherboard, memory, CPU all possibly needing an upgrades as well. And this is why we are still seeing current AGP graphics cards on store shelves.
 The Great and Last AGP Graphics Card Roundup - ATI vs. NVIDIA
Looking at the conclusion in two sections, it's easy to hand out some awards; there is no denying that NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT is the current "in" product whether it be for PCI Express or AGP in the mid range market. Given the performance results and minus only a couple tests, the GeForce 6600GT is able to compete very strongly against ATI's Radeon X700PRO, beating it the majority of times.
Pricing does vary between different makes and model and we recommend that you have a look at the different brands available, take for example the BFG 6600GT we tested here today which comes pre-overclocked and has lifetime warranty. With the pre-overclocked core and memory, the card is going to perform even better then it did here today as we mentioned in the beginning it was clocked back to default speeds, probably enough to become faster than the more expensive GeForce 6800 standard. While the 6800 standard is a little quicker it is also more expensive and that really makes us lean toward the 6600GT. NVIDIA takes out the mid range battle with relative ease.
When it comes to the high end section the Radeon X800XL can't be looked past. It performs extremely well with its price probably putting it closer to the mid range section of the cards but its performance well and truly placing it in the high end section. The ATI line up is quicker overall. For this reason we are in favour of the X800XL we looked at here today as the price gap between it and the X850 line of cards really help make this card an excellent buy and is still able to offer good gaming performance. ATI wins the high end battle but only just.
There you have it, the eight major AGP graphics cards currently on the market compared ranging from the extremely value packed 6600GT to the expensive yet high performing X850XT Platinum Edition. If you are into high resolution gaming at around 1600x1200, we would recommend that you don't look past any of the high end performance cards here today but if you're running an LCD with a resolution of no higher then 1280x1024 and like to place on a little bit of eye candy, the mid range cards are what you should be looking at.
Each of the graphics cards have their benefits but it's easy to see why NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT is selling like hot cakes in the mid range market and why ATI's Radeon X800XL is going great guns in the higher end market. Bang for buck!
|
NiBiTor v6.03