Video
Affordable DirectX10 Graphics Cards
Not everyone’s a gamer. When you see ATI or Nvidia release chips for cards that will cost upwards of $600, quite a few people simply shake their heads and wonder what the hell those companies are thinking. Aren’t there any next-gen cards for non-gaming PCs? You know, computers that are mainly used for Web surfing, email, and shopping online; or for business, finances, spreadsheets, and monitoring stock tickers?
Meanwhile, Windows Vista is making its best attempt to steamroll across the country, though the actual need for it is questionable at best. But some of us are early adopters, and we want the latest. Not all of us who fall into that category, however, want to pay an ungodly sum of money for a graphics card that will handle Window Vista’s frosty-cool Aero interface.
Extremetech.com tested 8 DX-10 cards and here is the quick specification:
| ATI HD 2400 Pro |
ATI HD 2600 Pro | ATI HD 2600 XT |
ATI HD 2900 XT |
Nvidia 8500 GT |
Nvidia 8600 GT |
Nvidia 8600 GTS |
Nvidia 8800 GTX |
|
| Memory | 256 DDR2 | 256 DDR2 | 512 GDDR3 | 512 GDDR3 | 256MB DDR2 (512 avail) | 256MB DDR2 (512 avail) | 256MB GDDR3 | 768 GDDR3 |
| Memory Interface | 64-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 512-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 384-bit |
| Stream Units | 40 | 120 | 120 | 320 | 16 | 32 | 32 | 128 |
| Die process | 80nm | 65nm | 65nm | 65nm | 80nm | 80nm | 80nm | 90nm |
| Core clock (MHz) | 525 | 650 | 800 | 740 | 450 | 540 | 675 | 575 |
| Shader clock (MHz) | N/A | 600 | 600 | 740 | 900 | 1180 | 1450 | 1350 |
| Memory clock (MHz) | 400 | 500 | 1000 | 1650 | 800 | 700 | 2000 | 1800 |
| Price | $70 | $100 | $130 | $400 | $80 | $150 | $200 | $580 |
3DMark06 Test
Vista Experience Index
And the conclusion:
Source: ExtremeTech.com
