Nov 19, 2007

Last week, we introduced and discussed the pro and con of DirectX 10. If you miss the issue, you still can read at the BGCG ezine archive. This week, we are going to discuss your choices of DirectX 10 graphics cards that are currently available in the market.

As you know, there are only two players in the graphics card market, NVIDIA and ATI. Both companies produce great graphics cards that are of cutting edges. It’s all thanks to them that we are able to see realistic 3D images on our screen.

NVIDIA

All of NVIDIA GeForce 8 series graphics card are DirectX 10 compliant.

From the top of the range you have the GeForce 8800 Ultra. At a price of $729, this is easily the most expensive cards around. For the price you pay, you get top notch performance in return. However, the insanely high price could be a bit too much for the budget gamer to afford. (My advice is, even if you have the money to spend, don’t buy this card. You can get a better performance/price ratio with the 880 GTX.)

The next step down is the GeForce 8800 GTX. This is really the graphics card you should look at. Performance wise, it is not far off from the Ultra, but you get to save up on the price. At about $520, it is still consider high end. If you have about $500 budget for the graphics department, this is the card that you should go for.

On the middle range, you can find the GeForce 8800 GTS. There are two versions to this card: one with 640 MB DDR3 RAM while the other with 320 MB. The 8800 GTS 320MB is highly recommended. It is a good option for people who want spend less than $400 without sacrificing performance and quality at resolutions at 1920×1200 or below.

The newly launched GeForce 8800 GT is also a very promising card. With a memory of 512 MB, it is faster than the 8800 GTS 320MB and cheaper than the 8800 GTS 640MB. In fact, various reviews have already show that this is the best performing midrange graphics card around.

In the bottom region, there are GeForce 8600 GTS, 8600 GT, 8500 GT and 8400 GS. These cards are in the $80 - $160 range. Seriously speaking, I do not advise you to get any of these cards. They perform well in DirectX 9, but when tested in DirecX 10 platform, the performance suddenly become very sluggish. It seems that they are not able to handle DX 10 well.

ATI

As for ATI, you can find the Radeon HD 2900 Series in the high end. It has performance comparable to the 8800 GTX, but at a lower price.

The newly launched Radeon HD3800 series is a good midrange graphics card that you might want to consider. When compared to the GeForce 8800 GT, it is not far off (though still lagging behind), but compared its cheap price ($199), it might be a good alternative if you are an ATI fan.

The next range down are the HD2600XT and HD2400Pro. At a price range of $80-$150, they are easily the cheapest DX10 compliant cards around. However, being DX10 compliant doesn’t mean they are good for gaming. In fact, these two cards fare really badly in gaming. Unless you are using it to watch High Definition video, you shouldn’t put your hand on these two cards.

In the next and final issue of this DirectX 10 course, we will discuss how to make your gaming machine DirectX 10 compatible and also some useful tips to increase the performance.

Meanwhile, happy gaming.

PS: Thanks to all those who have leave a feedback for me. I really appreciate it. Look out for my next newsletter in the next few days where I will answer all your questions.

Damien