We would like to welcome you to another edition of our video card price guide. With the holiday season approaching quickly around the corner, there are a few new options for this week as well as some significant price reductions.

You'll find the newly released GeForce 6800 GS cards in stock at a few vendors. Also, the new high-end X1800XT series was recently released since our last price guide. The new GeForce 7800 series is something we suggest you take a look into if you have the money to splurge for ultra high-end graphics. And like always, SLI is something we do not recommend you invest your hard earned cash into.

Be sure to check out our RTPE system at http://labs.anandtech.com. Surely a valuable source for all your computer hardware buying needs!

Ultra High End Graphics

Now these cards are not something we would recommend you purchasing, but if you're the type who wants the "latest and greatest" hardware, then these ultra high-end graphics cards are for you. Bringing you the best performance possible yet, these cards would be sure to amaze you. But at these outrageous prices, we'll pass.

We're not noticing many significant price reductions this week with the GeForce 7800GTX cards. If anything, many of the cards are going up in price. Leading the pack this week is the XFX 7800GTX 256MB [RTPE: PV-T70F-UNF] at $457.00 shipped. Nothing spectacular, but this card went down $11 -- definitely better than nothing. Over the course of the past couple weeks, it has begun to stabilize at about $460.00.

XFX GeForce 7800GTX 256MB

The card with the "largest" reduction in price will have to go to the eVGA 7800GT 256MB [RTPE: 256-P2-N515] now at $315.00 after a $40 MIR. Astute readers will also notice the introduction of NVIDIA's new 7800 GTX 512MB cards at a couple places. Coming in at a whopping $699 for now, the cards definitely aren't cheap. You'll have to check back later this week to find out how they actually perform.

If you are going to go for one of these ultra high end cards, we would recommend you go with a 7800 series card rather than a 6800 series. A single GeForce 7800 performs better and is cheaper than going with a 6800 Ultra in SLI.

There have been some major fluctuations in 6800 Ultra prices lately, indicating that they're nearing EOL. Going forward, the 6800 GS is supposed to replace both the GT and Ultra in the mid-range market, so we may already be picking up shortages on the cards. Down about $177.00 this week - after jumping up $150 the week before! - the BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC 256MB (PCI-E) [RTPE: BFGW68256UOCX] leads the 6800U market at $385.00.

The R520 cards are on sale now and definitely something we would recommend over the X850XT. The best price we were able to find this week, was on the Sapphire X1800XL 256MB [RTPE: 100133] on sale for $374 shipped. It competes well with the 7800 GT cards, although it's more expensive. We've also picked up at least one X1800 XT 512MB, for just over $600.

For those looking for a decent high end card, your best option is still going to be a X800XL. Although unlike from our last price guide, the AGP version has gone up in price about $30. The cheapest one we're seeing this week is the ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB [RTPE: 100-435508] for $278.00.

Those of you who were fortunate enough to upgrade to a PCI-E board are in luck today. The Connect3D Radeon X800XL 256MB [RTPE: 3028C] is on sale for $130.00 (after MIR -- to qualify for the $100 MIR, you must purchase a second CrossFire edition graphics card). However - if you are set on going ATI, make sure to check out our info with regard to the Connect3D X800GTO and the Sapphire X800GTO^2 on the next page.

The AGP version of the ATI X800XT 256MB All-In-Wonder [RTPE: 100-714200] is at an awesome price of $280.00 (after MIR); about a reduction of $7.00 off of its original price of $300.00 (before MIR). ATI is known for it's fantastic A-I-W cards, so if you're looking for such a creature, this may be a deal for you. However, we suggest that if you're looking for a more permanent solution, you should look into a separate PCI TV tuner card. With the relatively low cost of upgrading a tuner, and their relative longevity in terms of product cycle, an A-I-W card only makes sense if you really enjoy some of the more unique features rather than just straight hardware tuner support. By the way, don't forget that ATI has a new A-I-W launch in the next week.

For about $240, the ASUS GeForce 6800GT 256MB (PCI-E) [RTPE: EN6800GT/2DT/256] is a super deal which has seen a price decrease of approximately $97; definitely something to consider. If you're looking to go with a SLI setup, we would recommend you look into the eVGA 7800GT we recommended on the previous page. For $140 less than two 6800GTs, you'd be able to get roughly equal performance to slightly better performance. At about the same price, a single 7800GTX will usually outperform SLI'ed 6800GTs and you have the future option of SLI.

With all the competitive deals right now on the ultra high end and the mid range, it makes almost no sense to buy a card in this range right now!

Our recommendation last month, the Sapphire Radeon X800GTO^2, has gone up in price about $30, now going for $255.00. This card can still be unlocked to an X850 with the BIOS hack, but with availability so slim, there are better options. This time around, we recommend going with the Sapphire Radeon X800GTO 256MB [RTPE: 100129SR] on sale for approximately $173, but for those who live on the wild side, Connect 3D has an X800GTO that unlocks to an X850 most of the time [RTPE: Connect3D X800GTO]. Check out our forums for more info.

The new GeForce 6800 GS cards are something everyone is eager to get their hands on. And of all the GeForce 6800 line of cards, the 6800 GS is the card to go with - particularly since the 6800 GT and the 6800 Ultra are now completely gone. It is currently only marketed with three manufacturers, LeadTek, XFX and eVGA, but NVIDIA promises more availability within a few weeks. The 6800 GS is the same base design as the vanilla 6800, but it has a higher core clock at 425MHz and comes with GDDR3 at 1000MHz. Essentially, the 6800 GS card is in the same class as the 6800 GT, but at a much lower price. One drawback is that the supply on this card is very low; expect its cycle to end soon at around Q1 '06. You can read more on this card along with benchmarks in Derek's all-inclusive article.

We're seeing the eVGA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB [RTPE: 256-P2-N386] for $200.00. The 6800 GS is much cheaper than a vanilla 256MB 6800. The GS is definitely the choice to go with.

The GeForce 6600 GT is still a viable option going for approximately anywhere from $30 - $70 cheaper than the 6800 GS. The lowest priced this week is the Chaintech GeForce 6600 GT 128MB [RTPE: SE6600G-128] for $133.00.

The ATI X700 is a good mid-range card and depending on which version you go with, it'll run you anywhere from about $80 for the 256MB LE version to about $140 for the 256MB Pro flavor. We seriously recommend the 6600GT, 6800GS or even the X800GTO cards instead, but if you insist ATI sub $150, the Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro 256MB [RTPE: 100596] is a good buy.

There is still no Radeon X1600 availability. Maybe next month, we hope.

With the recent release of the X1300 series, there is only one AIB manufacturer producing this card at the moment, Sapphire. The Sapphire Radeon X1300 256MB [RTPE: 100141] is on sale for about $95. As a four pixel pipeline design, the X1300 really isn't that fast. A 6600 or X700 Pro is probably going to be slightly faster in many cases, though of course the X700 lacks the "all important" SM3.0 support. (No, we're not serious - the number of games with SM3.0 is still very small, and in most cases the X700 and even 6600 lines are too slow to enable the higher quality rendering modes.)

For those not interested in high-end gaming, but need something better than onboard video graphics, these low-end cards would be right for you. There's nothing special about them and all perform roughly the same. Any choice you make here will most likely be adequate.