Nvidia & AMD (ATI) Graphic Card Guide

Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
edited June 2012 in Hardware
I have taken the time to create a list of Graphic Cards that are all worth their weight in gold. Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but the list below will give you an idea what is on the market from low end to high end. Again the order of the cards is based upon playing current generation games.

I have updated the list of Nvidia based cards & I am working on adding the new ATI cards so hold tight.

Note:
*NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire setups would equal high end.

Nvidia High End:
GeForce GTX580 (5xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GTX570
GeForce GTX480 (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GTX470
GeForce GTX465
GeForce GTX295
GeForce GTX285
GeForce GTX280

AMD High End:



Nvidia High End Mobile:
GeForce GTX 480M (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GTX 470M
GeForce GTX 280M

AMD High End Mobile:



Nvidia Mid/High End:
GeForce GTX 460 1GB* (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GTX 460 768MB*
GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216)*
GeForce GTX 275*
GeForce 9800GX2*

AMD Mid/High End:



Nvidia Middle of The Road:
GeForce GTX 460SE* (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GTX 260*
GeForce 9800GTX*
GeForce 7800 GS "Currently Best NVIDIA AGP Card"

AMD Middle of The Road



Nvidia Middle of The Road Mobile:
GeForce GTS 260M
GeForce GTS 250M
GeForce GT 240M
GeForce GTS 160M
GeForce 9800M GTS
GeForce 9800M GS
GeForce 9700M GT
GeForce 9700M GTS

AMD Middle of The Road Mobile



Nvidia Mid/Low End:
GeForce GT 450 (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GT 440
GeForce GT 250
GeForce 9600 GT*
GeForce 9600 GSO 512
GeForce 9600 GSO
GeForce 9500 GT
Geforce 8500 GT
Geforce 8600 GTS
Geforce 8600 GT
GeForce 7900 GT*
GeForce 7900 GS
GeForce 7900 Go
GeForce 7800 GT*
GeForce 7600 GT
GeForce 7600 GS
GeForce 6800 Ultra
GeForce 6800 GT OC
GeForce 6800 GT
GeForce 6800 GS
GeForce 6800
GeForce 6600 GT OC

AMD Mid/Low End:



Nvidia Mid/Low End Mobile:
GeForce GT 230M
GeForce GTS 150M
GeForce GT 130M
GeForce 9650M GT
GeForce 9650M GS
GeForce 9600M GT
GeForce 9600M GS
GeForce 9500M GS
GeForce 9500M G
GeForce 8700M GT
GeForce 8600M GT
GeForce 8600M GS
GeForce 7700 Go
GeForce 7600 Go

AMD Mid/Low End Mobile:



Nvidia Low End:
GeForce GT 430 (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GT 240
GeForce 9400 GT
GeForce 8400 GS
GeForce 8300 GS
GeForce 7300 GT
GeForce 6800 LE
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 6600
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
GeForce FX 5950
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5900 XT
Nvidia Low End Mobile:
GeForce G210M
GeForce G110M
GeForce 9400M G
GeForce 7400 Go

AMD Low End:



Nvidia Will Not Game/ Good for DVD’s:
GeForce GT 420 (4xx is DX 11 ready)
GeForce GT220
GeForce 7100
GeForce 7300 GS
GeForce 7300 LE
GeForce 6200 TC
GeForce 6200PCI "Currently Best NVIDIA PCI Card"
GeForce 6200
GeForce 6200 LE
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
GeForce FX 5800
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700 LE
GeForce FX 5600
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5200
GeForce MX 4000

AMD Will Not Game/ Good for DVD’s:



Nvidia Will Not Game/ Good for DVD’s Mobile:
GeForce G105M
GeForce G102M
GeForce 9300M GS
GeForce 9300M G
GeForce 9200M GS
GeForce 9100M G
GeForce 8400M GS
GeForce 8400M G
GeForce 8200M G
GeForce 7300 Go

AMD Will Not Game/ Good for DVD’s Mobile:




If we are missing anything above the Low end cards please PM me so I can make sure we have it added to our list.
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Comments

  • WingaWinga Mr South Africa Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    I don't have anything to add to your list, though I do have a question regarding drivers.

    Is it entirely necessary to keep updating to the latest video card drivers if you have an old card? One of my rigs has a GeForce FX 5200 in it.
    I can understand updating for the newer cards, I just dunno if the latest drivers will have anything extra included to boost performance for the old ones.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    If your a gamer than yes you will need the new drivers. Not that the 5200 can support most new games, if you want them to run with minimal errors than get the latest and greatest. 90% of driver updates are to fix issues or add new functionality to older cards. The other 10% is game support. If you notice each time a major game or a new graphics card hits the market a new driver is released.

    But over all if your 5200 isn't going to be running new games I think the 61.76 were the last drivers that had 5200 bug fixes in them. But if I were you I would just keep updating...
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited March 2006
    Not all new drivers are good drivers. I'd say 60% of the Nvidia 70.XX drivers caused alot of problems with a few games that caused people to roll back to previous versions or use the optimized versions you can get from 3rd parties. If you are in doubt, check your games to see if they ask for certain versions or head over to their community forums and see what the developers say. Most game's forums if they have them will contain a post that tells you the optomized hardware/software that works best for the game.

    I can remember plenty of times I've had to roll back to earlier drivers because of some small but irritating problem the most current driver caused. Half way through last year, Nvidia released a driver that caused some streaming video to get a nice white translucent sheen on it...and that was very irritating till it was fixed.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Add new ATI Cards
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    I would keep updating drivers, but keep a copy of the previous, and proven to be stable versions in case things get wonky.

    I used to have a GeForce 256 SDR, and over the two years I used it, it doubled 3dmarks through driver updates alone. Those updated drivers were designed for GeForce 2s and 3s, but something in there helped my old card too.

    Edit: I thought I'd check my memory on the 3dmark thing. Turns out performance didn't "double," but it did increase 37%. Hey, that's not bad for just installing drivers. These two old 3dmark01 saved results are with no GPU overclocking. Check out the old Duron I was rocking ;D
    newer drivers http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=2459505
    older drivers http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=2459413
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    600 points is a big increase.... Its nice to see the guru's who work for Nvidia and ATI actually want to make drivers optimized to make there products run smoother and faster.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Added:

    7300 Go
    7400 Go
    7800 GTX Go
    7900 Go
    7950 GTX 2
    X1900 GT
  • edited April 2006
    Hi, I am obviously a "newb", but why is the ati x850xt pe in your high end category while some higher models like the x1300 and x1600 are in lower categories? doesn't higher mean newer and better or am i missing something?
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited April 2006
    OrangeNerd wrote:
    Hi, I am obviously a "newb", but why is the ati x850xt pe in your high end category while some higher models like the x1300 and x1600 are in lower categories? doesn't higher mean newer and better or am i missing something?

    Although an older card, the X850 is more powerful than the X1300 and X1600 cards, which were designed to be mid-range cards. The X850 was designed as a high end card. It's like comparing a 1960's Mustang to a modern Honda Civic (or whatever) and a modern ferrari (or whatever). The Mustang (x850xt pe) can't keep up with the modern ferrari (X1900) but still outclasses the modern honda (X1300)
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    In the ATI numbering system there were XXX, three digit cards. Bigger numbers are more powerful (more or less).
    Then the newer cards are 1xxx four digit numbers. This is also a full product line. So these cards also range from entry level to top end.

    There are dozens of exceptions to the order of the cards. I hate to give them the plug, but THG has a new video card list that is fairly complete. You select two cards and a benchmark (game, resolution and AA) and you can see how they compare.
    http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Yeah I know of this chart and it is pretty handy if they would have all the new cards listed...
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited September 2006
    Added:

    7950 GT
    7900GS
    7100
    7300 LE
    7600 GS

    X1950XTX
  • Datsun-1600Datsun-1600 Sydney.au
    edited September 2006
    A list of GFX cards and their 3D chipset specs is here.

    Datsun 1600
  • maxclarkmaxclark In a hole in the ground
    edited October 2006
    hey, sledge....how about the Radeon X1400 and X1450??? i don't think they are listed on your chart....:) thanks
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited October 2006
    Your also missing the X1650 XT and Pro. (Ati's 80nm X1600's that launched in august.)
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    Add the ATI cards along with Nvidia's 7700 Go and the orginal 7950GTX 2
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    Added the first DX10 cards to the list...

    GeForce 8800 GTS - DirectX 10
    GeForce 8800 GTX - DirectX 10
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    Added a few new cards...

    Radeon X1550
  • edited December 2006
    i saw on the first post the GeForce Go 7600, is there only the 256mb available for this model?

    mike
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    are these all pci-e cards or are there some agp's thrown in there? Sorry if it's been brought up already.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Its a Mix of all :) I guess it would be good to mark which ones offer PCI-E and which ones offer AGP :) I'm on... "might take a bit"

    Edit// I took the time to mark out the best of each Form factor "AGP, PCI-E, & PCI" Hope that helps a bit :) I will add more AGP ,Markings soon :)
  • edited May 2007
    Hey, sledgehammer, could you list out what bus and directx version for ATI Radeon 1550?
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited September 2007
    I have found this list helpful in the past. Any chance it could be updated?
  • edited December 2007
    7800 GTX Go
    7950 GTX 2
    7400 Go
    7900 Go
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    Update time!!! I am working on updating this list. Feel free to PM me any graphics cards I am missing... I know their is a ton
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited December 2007
    Update time!!! I am working on updating this list. Feel free to PM me any graphics cards I am missing... I know their is a ton

    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFINALLY!
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    How bout the Radeon HD 2600 XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Video Card.
    Where's that fit into the list?
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    what about hte 8600gt
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited January 2008
    The 3850 was released for AGP from Powercolour, HIS makes a PCI 1550, and you should add the HD 3000 series to your list.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited January 2008
    goes by chipsets not brands
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