Price Guide, January 2006: Video Cards
by Haider Farhan on January 9, 2006 1:49 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
High-End Graphics
Before we begin looking at the high-end video card prices, we would like to quickly state that since the ultra high-end cards and mid-range cards are so competitively priced, we see that you would get more for your money if you looked into either of those categories rather than any of these high-end cards. Unfortunately, AGP folks do not have any reasonable ultra high-end options. The cheapest version we're seeing is the ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB [RTPE: 100-435508] going for about $247.
For PCIe users, your best bet here would be the Sapphire Radeon X800XL 256MB [RTPE: 100105] on sale for an even $222. We are also seeing three 512MB X800XL's. Prices? Let's just say they're significantly more than the cheapest 7800GT we noted going for $280 (after MIR).
It appears that the X800XT's are becoming rare in the market, as our RTPE is only picking up on two PCIe cards. Again, rather than going with the VisionTek X800XT, which costs $307, pick up one of the 7800GT's which are going for that price or less. AGP holdouts could go for the ATI Radeon X800XT 256MB A-I-W [RTPE: 100-714200] going for $290.
Once again, we also suggest going with a 7800GT rather than a 6800GT because of the high cost of the 6800GT. The cheapest we're seeing is the Aopen GeForce 6800GT 256MB [RTPE: 91.05210.45h] going for the same price as the best priced 7800GT for $280. It's quite an obvious decision.
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jcsamp - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - link
I don't know if it is a price/performance ratio or what, but these video card price guides continually leave out the low-mid range cards. For instance, I would love to know what the AT community thinks of the Geforce 6600 DDR2 and its price. The guides always skip from 6600GT/X700/X1600 straight down to the 6200/X300/X1300 lines. There are a lot of good cards in that missing region.Chriz - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Didn't even see it shown in the price guide. Maybe cause it's so new?rrcn - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Yes, I have already contacted the RTPE administrator and we are working on getting the AGP version of the 6800GS in there.Thanks.
Chriz - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Good news. I also still see the ATI radeon X850XT and PE versions in AGP are still being sold. I saw the PE on Newegg, and the XT is the hot deal everyone's been talking about, for 200 at Microcenter after 50 dollar MIRyacoub - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
So for $27 you gain an additional 256MB AND it performs better than the more expensive 512MB 7800GTX anyway? Hmmmm.
JarredWalton - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
I've tweaked this slightly to convey the intended meaning. X1800 XT cards for under $500 are faster than 7800 GTX 256MB cards overall, and while slower than the 7800 GTX 512MB cards, they're at least available. From what we heard at CES, it doesn't sound like 512MB GTX cards are going to be any easier to acquire in the near future, outside of some OEM systems.yacoub - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Okay, care to tell us WHY?
rrcn - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Sorry about that, it should read, "By the way, purchasing a single high-end card and hoping to purchase another one for an SLI setup down along the line is a bad idea. We suggest either going with a single higher performing card or two cards for SLI right off the bat."The problem here is you will be stuck with a single card and the option to upgrade to SLI at a premium won't be worth it.
Like the case where probably a decent number of people out there that bought the 6800 Ultra for a lot of money, with the intent of purchasing a second one when the price dropped below $300. Take a look at the 6800U prices now...no where near $300.
Of course there will be the occasional situation like the 6800GT where the prices did drop to a reasonable level, but it isn't something we would count on happening all the time.
Spacecomber - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
I'm curious about the 6800XT in terms of its relative price and performance. It is selling for a bit more than the 6600GT and a bit less than the 6800 (vanilla), but I'm not sure if it atually is any faster than the 6600GT. I think that this was meant to be an OEM only card, but it is showing up at place like NewEgg, now.Space
Ecmaster76 - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
I got my x1600xt for $160 a couple of weeks ago. Not bad considering the 6600gt at the same price is slower and less feature rich.