Nvidia Launches New Affordable GPU

mikemuch writes "Today Nvidia unveiled a new low-cost, high-power graphics processor SKU. ExtremeTech's Jason Cross has done all the benchmarking, and concludes ' This makes for an impressive bargain and a huge step up from the generic GeForce 6800. The big question: How will this fare against ATI's similarly priced X1000 series card, the Radeon X1600 XT?'"

Comments

Video card naming schemes: CONFUSING

[Work Account]

I wish video card makers would be more CLEAR when they decide on names for their cards.

We are one step away from having "Nvidia Model 8912347892389110".

For lay men like myself who buy a new video card every few years, it is hard knowing what is what in the video card market since the names are very confusing i.e. 6800 GS vs. X800XL vs. 6800 GT.

Discuss.

Re:Video card naming schemes: CONFUSING

[StaticEngine]

If you're confused about what to buy, you should check out this site:

http://www.gpureview.com/database.php

Specifically, the "Compare Cards" feature on the left. I just upgraded my ATI 9600XT to a nVidia 6600GT AGP (because I'm not yet ready to drop a grand on an all new PCIe 64-Bit system), and that site helped me decide what was "enough" of an upgrade for how much money I was willing to spend.

$250

[RCVinson]

$250 makes for "a new low-cost, high-power graphics processor"?

Re:Uninformative: Here's a summary

[ruiner5000]

Yeah, Extremetech is after all a big tech publishers attempt at a tech enthusiast site. If you are in the $250-$300 range then you should spend $33 extra bucks and go with this evga 7800GT. It is worth the extra chunk of change. Not only will it be much faster than the cards that Extremetech recommends, but it also uses less power than the 6800GT, and therefor puts off less heat. That is a no brainer in my book.

Re:Uninformative: Here's a summary

[aywwts4]

I think this shows everything thats wrong with the tech review industry. They Adver-review cards pretty much only for kids to drool over and feel bad about their existing card that works just fine on pretty much every game they play; and 'Enthusiasts" IE, one born every minute.

Instead of working as a consumer reports type site, where If i want to buy a good graphics card for my ~700-1100 dollar computer (Not my 4 grand alienware) I would be digging through archaic reviews from a few years ago with test results on old drivers.

Wow, this just in, a 700 dollar card dual SLI card can play games at resolutions larger than my monitor can handle, at colour depths the human eye can't discern, at a framerate so fast the human eye doesnt pick it up, on a game that probably wasn't made to take advantage of the card, and with an actual visual performance increase I can barely notice. But the good news is I smoke em when I run a benchmark utility.

Re:No AGP!

[DigiShaman]

The AC is correct. The fastest, last AGP card from ATI was the X850 XT PE. If you want anything faster or new, it's only offered in PCI-E. To be frank, this pisses me off. There is a whole market with people running fast CPUs and DDR 3200 memory that do NOT want to swap out their motherboard. I cannot imagine why in the hell the current crop of video chipset cannot handle the bandwidth provided by AGP 8x. I mean, clearly there is a market for AGP cards.

I'm sorry, but I will not swap out my CPU and motherboard just so I can install faster cards only available in PCI-E.