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Top 10 Graphics Boards

This month we focus on graphics boards built for the PCI Express interface, in power and value categories.

Narasu Rebbapragada

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Radeon X850 XT Video Card (256MB, PCI Express x16, DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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1. MSI Radeon X850 XT Video Card (256MB, PCI Express x16, DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out)

ATI Radeon X850 XT graphics chip, 256MB DDR3 SDRAM, Two DVI-out, S-Video- and composite-in/out, component-out, Utility and DVD apps, three games, Price when ranked: $510

Bottom Line: Model matches the second-ranked Asus in speed and features, but has a lower price and a better game software bundle.

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Radeon X850 XT Video Card (256MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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2. Asus Radeon X850 XT Video Card (256MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out)

ATI Radeon X850 XT graphics chip, 256MB DDR3 SDRAM, Two DVI-out, S-Video- and composite-in/out, component-out, Video-editing and DVD apps; two games, Price when ranked: $637

Bottom Line: Like the MSI, the Asus Extreme is quick and has good features; comes with Power Director 3 video editing suite.

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Radeon X800 XT Video Card PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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3. PowerColor Radeon X800 XT Video Card

ATI Radeon X800 XT graphics chip, 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM, DVI-out, 15-pin VGA-out, S-Video- and composite-in/out, component-out, DVD suite; two games, Price when ranked: $500

Bottom Line: Does not quite match the speed of the Radeon X850-equipped boards, though multimedia fans might prefer its comprehensive DVD software bundle.

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GeForce 6800GT Video Card (256MB, AGP 8X, DVI, 2D/3D w/ TV-Out) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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4. PNY GeForce 6800GT Video Card (256MB, AGP 8X, DVI, 2D/3D w/ TV-Out)

NVidia GeForce 6800 GT graphics chip, 256MB DDR3 SDRAM, Two DVI-out, S-Video-out, Calibration utility, Price when ranked: $399

Bottom Line: Fastest board on the chart is attractively priced, but has fewer ports than the competition and less bundled software.

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Aeolus nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card  256MB GDDR3  Dual DVI/TVOut  PCIE  Model 6800GTDV256 PCIE PCW Rating: 71.3PCW Rating: 71.3PCW Rating: 71.3

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5. Aopen Aeolus nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI/TVOut PCIE Model 6800GTDV256 PCIE

NVidia GeForce 6800 GT graphics chip, 256MB DDR3 SDRAM, Two DVI-out, S-Video- and composite-out, Two games and five demo games, Price when ranked: $399

Bottom Line: An attractive balance of price, ports, and performance makes this board a good value.

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GeForce 6600 GT OC Video Card (128MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out) PCW Rating: 71.0PCW Rating: 71.0PCW Rating: 71.0

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6. BFG Technologies GeForce 6600 GT OC Video Card (128MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI, 2D/3D w/ HDTV-Out)

NVidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics chip, 128MB GDDR3 SDRAM, Two DVI-out, S-video-out, composite-out, component-out, NVidia multimedia apps; demo games, Price when ranked: $250

Bottom Line: Overclocking gives the BFG a performance edge over other GeForce 6600 boards on the chart; has more output ports than other value boards, too.

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e-GeForce 6600GT PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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7. eVGA e-GeForce 6600GT

NVidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics chip, 128MB DDR3 SDRAM, DVI-out, 15-pin VGA-out, S-Video-out, 30-day trials of multimedia apps, Price when ranked: $215

Bottom Line: If you have no interest in a software bundle, this board is a better value than the top-ranked BFG and is nearly as fast.

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GeForce 6600 GT NX6600GT-TD128E Video Card (128MB, PCI-Express x16, 2D/3D w/ TV-Out) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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8. MSI GeForce 6600 GT NX6600GT-TD128E Video Card (128MB, PCI-Express x16, 2D/3D w/ TV-Out)

NVidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics chip, 128MB DDR3 SDRAM, DVI-out, 15-pin VGA-out, S-Video- and component-out, Photo and multimedia apps; three games, Price when ranked: $189

Bottom Line: This board offers a stellar software bundle and respectable performance, but drivers proved difficult to find on our test unit's installation CD.

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ATI RADEON X600XT 128MB PCIE VIVO DVI TVOUT PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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9. MSI ATI RADEON X600XT 128MB PCIE VIVO DVI TVOUT

ATI Radeon X600 XT graphics chip, 128MB DDR SDRAM, DVI-out, 15-pin VGA-out, S-Video- and composite-in/out, component-out, Utility and DVD apps; three games, Price when ranked: $140

Bottom Line: Though it's not our choice for 3D gaming, its relatively low price makes it suitable for basic video and it includes an ample software bundle.

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EVGA E-GeForce 6200 PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card w TV-Out & DVI Retail PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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10. eVGA EVGA E-GeForce 6200 PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card w TV-Out & DVI Retail

NVidia GeForce 6200 graphics chip, 256MB DDR SDRAM, DVI-out, 15-pin VGA-out, S-Video out, 30-day trials of multimedia apps, Price when ranked: $140

Bottom Line: Board offers dual-display support on the cheap; but it's performance was disappointing.

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We use two PCs provided by Alienware, each with a 2.2-GHz Athlon 64 FX-51 CPU, an Asus SK8V motherboard, 1GB of DDR SDRAM, two 36.7GB Western Digital Raptor hard drives in a SATA striped RAID configuration, a Viewsonic PF790 monitor, and Windows XP Home. For performance testing we use the Halo, Splinter Cell, and Wolfenstein Enemy Territory games, the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo, and the Comanche 4 Benchmark demo. We measure frame rates at 1024 by 768 and 1600 by 1200 resolutions, both using 32-bit color. We also measure frame rates and perform a set of image quality tests with 4X antialiasing and 8X anisotropic filtering enabled at 1024 by 768 resolution at 32-bit color using Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and the Unreal Tournament 2004 and Comanche 4 Benchmark demos.

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