Tech:SAVVY - Video cards
to suit your budget
published:
Saturday | April 19, 2008
Payton H. Wilmott, Tech Writer
There is a remarkable variety of graphics cards on the market aimed at gamers and regular PC users. While the very latest technology is always costly, there are also solutions for those who don't have a fistful of cash. The video cards listed below were selected after a heated review by our team, and were found to offer the best value for money.
Products courtesy of Royale Computers and Accessories; telephone 906-1067, 906-1068, or 754-5048.
NVIDIA NX8600GT
Suggested user: Moderate user (persons working with a budget that needs a video card which is little above normal specification).
The NVIDIA NX8600GT is exactly what the doctor ordered for anyone on a financial leash. Generally, mainstream video-card prices stay fairly high, yet the NVIDIA NX8600GT is a little lower than typical. Reading through the spec sheet for the NVIDIA NX8600GT video card, you will think you're buying a high-end video card for a really low price.
Conclusion
The NVIDIA NX8600GT is a decent and affordable mid-range graphics card that's suitable for playing today's games, but struggles a bit to run DirectX 10-based games.
NVIDIA NX8800 Ultra
Suggested User: Power user (persons who need the best no matter the cost).
NVIDIA Ultra's name has always been synonymous with flat-out fast performance and the highest clock speeds. As such, that is exactly what the NVIDIA NX8800 Ultra is, a faster NVIDIA NX8800 GTX.
The core architecture is exactly the same - 128 streaming processors and 768MB of GDDR3 memory on a 384-bit bus - but NVIDIA made a few changes to the silicon. The GPU (graphic processing unit) itself is actually a newer, more refined revision compared to the NVIDIA NX8800 GTX GPU.
Conclusion
This card is the fastest we've seen for an out-of the-box product. Playing with it feels like having two nukes at your disposal. Trust me, after seeing this baby run, I can safely say the NVIDIA NX8800 Ultra is well worth the high price tag.
NVIDIA NX8400GS
Suggested user: Casual user (persons who are not interested in pushing their PC to the limit but need a video card that works).
The NVIDIA NX8400GS is suited for all the everyday productivity tasks you'll do on PC, as well as for moderate 3D games. The card supports DirectX 10 technology used in Microsoft's Windows Vista OS. There aren't any bells and whistles here, just all the basic stuff you would want from a video card.
Conclusion
This graphics card has great features for the inexpensive cost.
