So here’s what we have done. We’ve taken almost all of the graphics cards that we used in the Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 and AMD Radeon HD 4850/4870 reviews with the exception of cards like the PowerColor HD 2900 XT 1GB which we can't find it on sale today. Using price-comparison and retail sites lile PriceGrabber and Scan, we’ve found typical over-the-counter prices for the graphics cards. We’re not too hung up on the exact make and model, instead looking for a price that's representative of the graphics chip, clock speed and type of memory.
The first chart (below) shows the graphics cards in order of performance with dual Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire at the top closely followed by GeForce 9800GX2, HD 3850 X2, GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 4870 a distance behind. If we'd used high quality image settings for 3DMark06 that used anti-aliasing, you can bet the order would have shuffled around but we are sure that the same cards would have been at the top of the pile.
Longer bars are better
COMMENTS
3Dmark, isolated graphics - not quite
"Games such as Crysis or Elder Scrolls: Oblivion load the whole system quite heavily and make it tricky to judge the effect of the graphics card in isolation."
I find it annoying that you missed out the fact that 3DMark 06 is a lot more CPU bound than many games.
I like 3d mark
The dragon and the air ship particularly. :)
The review however is okay, it doesn't compare for example twin of every card and singles of them all... Or those that a re from different manufacturers but claim to be the same card. So you have to take what is in it as read and work with it.
Not bad, but
What I'd like to see are:
* Bang/Watt figures
* Bang/dB figures
The best graphics card in the world is next to useless if it sounds like you're stuck inside a Vulcan's engine whenever you use it, similarly if you need a small nuclear reactor just to feed it there might be better options for the average user ;)
Overall a nice review though; not sure about the 45° part, but the rest of it is useful for a quick summary.
Dual GTX280's for me thanks
Dual GTX280s for me. Best $600 I spent. Blows everything and anything in your little graphs away. Contemplating a 3x280 config once the prices start to drop.
What I really want to know is
Will it blend?
Mine's the one with an AGP card... PCIe? What's that!?
