Introduction

Looks like it's a great time to buy a new video card as the prices seem to be tumbling across the board. Prices are even falling at the Ultra High End, which, as of late, commanded high prices for months after release. This is especially true when there's no real competition as in case of the GeForce 7800GTX. Prices have dropped by 20% since last month on the screaming GeForce 7800GTX series from NVIDIA. Thursday's launch of GeForce 7800GT also looks promising, since it's already been spotted for $399 at a couple vendors. Check out AnandTech's review for a complete performance breakdown, but it's anticipated to trump any card in its price range, since it's just a slightly lower clocked 7800GTX with 4 less pixel pipelines, 20 instead of 24.

This month also yields significant reductions in the high and mid-range graphics cards, all adjusting themselves from the top down to NVIDIA's product introduction. There's also another exciting newcomer to our guide in the sensible mid-range.

As we go through our price guide, you may want to check out AnandTech's Real Time Price Engine where you can see all of the prices in this guide for up-to-the-minute updates!

Ultra High End Graphics

This market segment is for the serious enthusiast who has to game at extreme resolutions and is willing to pay the heavy price to the pocket book. Happily, that price just became a lot lower this month on the reigning king of graphics, the GeForce 7800GTX, falling $100 from $600 to just under $500. Let's take a look at how GeForce 7800GTX card prices have dropped since their June 22 launch:

eVGA GeForce 7800GTX 256MB

Here, we have a LeadTek GeForce 7800GTX 256MB at ZipZoomFly [RTPE: PX7800GTX] for $495. Just last month, we were wondering about the possibility for a $50 reduction by year's end. Surely, a $100 drop just one month later is pleasant news that NVIDIA brings us.

Unfortunately for AGP holders, this card is only available in PCIe form for at least several more weeks. People should really think about making the transition to a PCIe graphics slot if they're in the market for a new high-end/extreme card right now, since AGP (for all practical purposes) is dying quickly.



The new show stopper is NVIDIA's GeForce 7800GT just launched this past Thursday. Higher performance than a decent Radeon X850XT, the new card is an upgrade from the GeForce 6800 Ultra series, but at the same cost (or lower) in many instances! With an MSRP of $399, we can easily expect these prices to drop at least $50 in the next few months - which in turn may also drop the prices of comparable cards, like the X850XT series.

The GeForce 6800 Ultra has really lost favor in PCIe form, since it's now competing with the 7800 GT and GTX while being approximately 40-60% slower than the 7800GTX depending on the benchmark. There are some decent deals on the 6800 Ultra in AGP form like the MSI GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB for $350 after Mail in Rebate (MIR) at ZipZoomFly [RTPE: MS-V801-001]. However, we can't really recommend a 6800 Ultra right now, since an equivalently priced GeForce 7800GT outperforms the 6800 Ultra at launch. The fact that GeForce 6800GTs are much more competitively priced doesn't help. Remember that the 6800GT is just a slightly under-clocked 6800 Ultra, same pixel pipelines and same features, making the GT the most popular choice for enthusiasts for almost a year now due to price.

The only people that might want to pick up a 6800 Ultra are users who want to upgrade to 6800U SLI. We'd be hesitant to recommend even that, given the current price/performance offered. If you have $400 for a second 6800U, we'd suggest the 7800GTX instead, and you can then SLI that in the future. Selling the 6800U for $300-$350 would only sweeten the deal. 6800U SLI does come out ahead a single 7800GTX overall, though, so go for it if you want.



ATI, whom of recent seems a bit slow out of the gate with their Crossfire and R520 compared to NVIDIA, have no choice but to slash prices to garner attention, which is good news for us consumers. ATI is offering their AGP Sapphire Radeon X850XT PE 256MB for $339 at EWiz [RTPE: 100111] dropping roughly $100 this month. The X850XT PE PCIe version for $350 from Connect3D [RTPE: Connect3D Radeon X850XT PE 256MB] is also falling by $100. ATI's only chance right now is to outperform the 7800GT on the price rather than performance. Check out how the price of the X850XT series has plummeted since the middle of July:

Connect3D Radeon X850XT PE 256MB

So, there you have it: unmatched GeForce 7800GTX 256MB for $500, GeForce 7800GT for $400 or X850XTs in the mid-to-upper $300 range.

High End Graphics

While ATI pretty much concedes the Ultra High End to NVIDIA, ATI does come back a bit in this segment. ATI's X800XL has been the High End darling since it was released. Trading performance punches with NVIDIA's more expensive 6800GT at $100 cheaper, everyone would agree that the X800XL is a deal. Unfortunately, that deal didn't get any better this month with prices remaining relatively static around $268 shipped [RTPE: 100105]. We've always liked the X800XL PCIe and continue to make it our High End recommendation for those willing to shell out $270 for a video card, but price cuts on PCIe 6800GT are closing the gap rapidly.

Update: Prices on the X800XT AGP models have taken a massive drop in response to other changes. There are some great deals available if you really want to spend $225+ on an AGP card. This may simply be intended to clear out old X800XT inventory, so we don't know how long the prices will last. With the higher clock speeds on RAM and core relative to X800XL, for AGP owners at least it's a great card.




We mentioned last month that the 6800GT cards really only make sense if you're stuck in the AGP market. That still holds true for the most part, since their price has fallen about $40 to $269 with the Albatron GeForce 6800GT 256MB [RTPE: Albatron 6800GT]. NVIDIA's 6800GT supports SM3 unlike ATI's offering and is roughly the same price as the X800XL AGP.

With the launch of the 7800GT, the 6800GT prices are scheduled to drop to $299 MSRP. The eVGA PCIe card has already dropped significantly to $278 at one store after rebates [RTPE: 256-P2-N376-AX], although for the most part the 6800GT PCIe cards are still hovering slightly above the new MSRP. Trying to SLI two 6800GT's is a waste, since a single and more technologically advanced 7800GTX can usually do the job better with much less power, noise and cost.

Mid-Range Graphics

Usually at this point, we speak of a NVIDIA 6600GT recommendation with remorse that ATI has nothing competitive to offer price/performance-wise in this $100-$200 segment. However, this time there's an interesting card showing up in channel from ATI marked "X800". The X800 uses the same ATI R430 graphics core as the High End X800XL, but only has 12 pixel pipelines instead of 16, which doesn't seem to hurt it very much while demolishing NVIDIA's 6600 GT and ATI's very own X700 Pro along the way - the two main cards that used to occupy this price segment.

Today, we found an MSI X800 PCIe for $145 [RTPE: MS-8997-01S] after rebate, though the usual price hovers around $175. X800 is without a doubt the best price/performance deal in graphics cards and will play all your games just fine. Unfortunately, this card is only recommended in PCIe, since the AGP version is $80 more expensive.

Our chart below includes all the X800 cards, but you can see just the X800 cards on the Pricing Engine.



Again in response to the launch of the 7800GT, NVIDIA has dropped the price on the regular 6800 to an MSRP of $199. Most cards are still above MSRP for now (with many including mail-in rebates), but they should fall below $199 shortly. The choice between 6800 and 6600GT becomes rather interesting now, with prices and performance being very similar. The 256-bit memory interface of the 6800 usually wins out in our book, although the PCIe cards actually have slower RAM than the AGP models. AGP users will find the XFX 6800 especially interesting, as it is now $155 [RTPE: XFX 6800 AGP].

With tumbling 6800 prices, what happens to the 6600GT? If it remains close to $200, there's no point in getting one over the 6800. Not surprisingly, it has fallen to around $150, continuing to fill the middle ground between the 6600 and the 6800. eVGA has deals for about $130 and $139 after rebate on their PCIe and AGP models, respectively [RTPE: eVGA 6600GT PCIe and eVGA 6600GT AGP].



Filling in the bottom of the Mid-Range sector, we can't really recommend GeForce 6600, Radeon 9800 Pro, or X600 Pro/XT anymore because the price/performance offered isn't very attractive. However, if you're looking to spend $120 or less on a video card, the X700 Pro (PCIe only) has become an an excellent choice. The Connect3D model is the clear winner, having fallen to just $99 [RTPE: Connect3D X700 Pro]!

Low Range Graphics

This section is strictly for the non-3D-gamer. The cards are great for those who want crystal clear DVI graphics, fast scrolling while inside Acrobat Reader and some 2D. Choose the cheapest with the connectivity that you want and you won't be disappointed. Both ATI's HyperMemory and NVIDIA's TurboCache only come in PCIe; so, if you followed our budget system advice and bought a Sempron 754 system with a cheap nForce4 socket 754 motherboard, you're ready to go for around $50.




NVIDIA is also releasing a new GeForce 6500 card that should fall in line somewhere between a GeForce 6600LE and a GeForce 6200 non-Turbocache, which should place it in the $80 to $100 range. With the current prices of X700 Pro cards, though, it has a tough row to hoe. Whether or not this card will show up in AGP format is yet undecided, but it would make the most sense in that market. For budget AGP users, ATI's Radeon 9550 for around $50 is a reasonable choice.

We hope that you've enjoyed this week's Price Guide. Stay tuned next week for more guides!