| Graphics Cards

Graphics Cards

Summary Table - All current NVIDIA and ATI cards

Click on the headers to sort by that category.

For explanation of terms please refer to the Information section below.

This is followed by the Performance Comparision, Recommendations, and Up and Coming sections.

| Model | TMUs | Core | Memory | Bus | Pixel | Vertex | API
| Geforce 7900 GTX | 24 | 650 | 1600 | 256 | 24 | 8 | 3
| Geforce 7900 GT | 24 | 450 | 1300 | 256 | 24 | 8 | 3
| Radeon X1900 XTX | 16 | 650 | 1550 | 256 | 48 | 8 | 3
| Geforce 7800 GTX | 24 | 430 | 1200 | 256 | 24 | 8 | 3
| Radeon X1900 XT | 16 | 625 | 1450 | 256 | 48 | 8 | 3
| Radeon X1800 XT | 16 | 625 | 1500 | 256 | 16 | 8 | 3
| Radeon X850 XT | 16 | 540 | 1180 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 2
| Geforce 7800 GT | 20 | 400 | 1000 | 256 | 20 | 7 | 3
| Radeon X1800 XL | 16 | 500 | 1000 | 256 | 16 | 8 | 3
| Geforce 7600 GT | 12 | 560 | 1000 | 128 | 12 | 5 | 3
| Radeon X800 XL | 16 | 400 | 990 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 2
| Geforce 6800 Ultra | 16 | 400 | 1100 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 3
| Radeon X850 Pro | 12 | 505 | 1060 | 256 | 12 | 6 | 2
| Radeon X1800 GTO | 12 | 500 | 1000 | 256 | 12 | 8 | 3
| Geforce 7800 GS | 16 | 375 | 1200 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 3
| Radeon X800 Pro | 12 | 475 | 900 | 256 | 12 | 6 | 2
| Geforce 6800 GT | 16 | 350 | 1000 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 3
| Geforce 6800 XT | 16 | 325 | 600 | 256 | 16 | 6 | 3
| Geforce 6800 GS | 12 | 425 | 1000 | 256 | 12 | 5 | 3
| Radeon X800 | 12 | 400 | 700 | 256 | 12 | 6 | 2
| Geforce 7600 GS | 8 | 550 | 1000 | 128 | 8 | 3 | 3
| Geforce 6800 GTO | 12 | 350 | 900 | 256 | 12 | 6 | 3
| Geforce 6600 GT | 8 | 500 | 1000 | 128 | 8 | 3 | 3
| Geforce 6800 | 12 | 325 | 700 | 256 | 12 | 5 | 3
| Radeon X700 XT | 8 | 475 | 1050 | 128 | 8 | 6 | 2
| Radeon X700 Pro | 8 | 420 | 864 | 128 | 8 | 6 | 2
| Radeon 9800 XT | 8 | 415 | 730 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Radeon X700 | 8 | 400 | 600 | 128 | 8 | 6 | 2
| Radeon 9800 Pro | 8 | 380 | 680 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Geforce 6600 DDR2 | 8 | 350 | 800 | 128 | 8 | 3 | 3
| Radeon 9700 Pro | 8 | 325 | 620 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Radeon 9800 | 8 | 325 | 580 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Radeon X1600 XT | 4 | 600 | 700 | 128 | 12 | 5 | 3
| Radeon X1300 Pro | 4 | 600 | 800 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 3
| Geforce 6600 | 8 | 300 | 500 | 128 | 8 | 3 | 3
| Geforce 6800 LE | 8 | 300 | 700 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 3
| Radeon 9500 Pro | 8 | 275 | 540 | 128 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Radeon 9700 | 8 | 275 | 540 | 256 | 8 | 4 | 2
| Geforce 7300 GS | 4 | 550 | 350 | 64 | 4 | 3 | 3
| Radeon X1600 Pro | 4 | 500 | 800 | 128 | 12 | 5 | 3
| Radeon 9600 XT | 4 | 500 | 600 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon X600 XT | 4 | 500 | 740 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon X1300 | 4 | 450 | 500 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 3
| Geforce 6500 | 4 | 450 | 700 | 64 | 4 | 3 | 3
| Radeon 9600 Pro | 4 | 400 | 600 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon X600 Pro | 4 | 400 | 600 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon X550 | 4 | 400 | 500 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Geforce 6200 | 4 | 350 | 400 | 128 | 4 | 3 | 3
| Geforce 6200 Turbocache | 4 | 350 | 700 | 64 | 4 | 3 | 3
| Radeon X300 SE | 4 | 325 | 600 | 64 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon X300 | 4 | 325 | 400 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon 9600 | 4 | 325 | 400 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon 9600 SE | 4 | 325 | 400 | 64 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon 9500 | 4 | 275 | 540 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 2
| Radeon 9000 Pro | 4 | 275 | 550 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 1
| Radeon 9000 | 4 | 250 | 400 | 64 | 4 | 2 | 1
| Radeon 9200 SE | 4 | 250 | 400 | 64 | 4 | 2 | 1
| Radeon 9200 | 4 | 250 | 400 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 1
| Radeon 9250 | 4 | 240 | 400 | 128 | 4 | 2 | 1

Information

Make & Model

This indicates the maker of the graphics chipset. This is area is firmly split into 2 camps, NVIDIA's Geforce series and ATI's Radeon series. Both series offer graphics cards ranging from around $30 to $600, all with varying performance and features. NVIDIA and ATI do not usually sell the chipsets themselves, instead a number of board manufacturers such as Asus and Sapphire make cards using the chipsets, package them with memory and other components (such as TV input/output) and sell them.

New cards are often the first to introduce a series (such as Geforce 7800 GTX) with cheaper and more mainstream cards released in the following months (like the 7600 GT and 7300 GS). Models are available covering almost any budget, and the main incentive to pay for more expensive cards is the increased performance they bring. Functionally, a Geforce 7300 GS has all the capability of a Geforce 7800 GTX - it is simply around 4-6 times slower and therefore modern games need to be run at lower resolutions to be playable. This also means that despite being much cheaper and slower, a Geforce 7300 GS has more new features than an otherwise much faster Geforce 6800 GT, because it belongs to a newer generation of cards. In performance terms, a Geforce 7300 is actually only slightly faster than a Geforce 6200, and much slower than a Geforce 6600 card.

Core

This is the speed of the main processing elements. Generally higher clock speed gives higher performance if all other factors (TMUs, Vertex Shaders, etc) remain the same. It is possible for a card with 16 processing elements and low clock speed to be faster than a card with high clock speed but only 4 processing elements. Recent trends indicate clock speeds increasing slowly, which more performance coming from an increased number of processing elements instead. For example a Geforce 7800 GT and Geforce 6800 GT run at similar clock speeds but the Geforce 7800 GT has more processing elements (TMUs, Pixel Shaders, Vertex Shaders) and gives greater performance.

Memory & Bus

The memory value indicates the speed of the memory on the graphics card. Faster memory allows image data to be passed to the frame buffer for displaying at greater speeds, and allows quicker fetching of items in memory such as texture data. More memory bandwidth is important for running at higher resolutions and when enabling features such as anti-aliasing and larger textures, which are highly dependent on passing large amounts of raw data around. The bus width determines how "wide" the memory path is, a 256bit memory path allows twice as much data to be read and written per clock cycle. Therefore a card with 700MHz memory and 128bit bus width will be much faster than a card with 800MHz memory with a 64 bit bus width, almost twice as fast. It is a common tactic to put lots of memory on cheaper cards that is either very slow or has a 64 bit bus width.

TMUs

This is the number of Texture Mapping Units on the card, and having more TMUs on a graphics card is like having more people in an assembly line. It is probably the most important indicator of performance, and is normally what differentiates product lines. For example a Geforce 6600 GT has 8 TMUs running much faster rates than any Geforce 6800 card, but the Geforce 6800 cards have more TMUs, letting them do much more per clock cycle on average. Although important for almost every current application with immediate benefits, TMUs are becoming less important now, as  graphics cards in segments are becoming fast enough to cope with target resolutions, and instead more pixel and vertex shading power is being demanded by newer games.

Pixel

This is the number of Pixel Shading elements on the card. A Pixel Shader is a graphics function that calculates effects on a per-pixel basis over objects in the scene, and these are used, for example, to create surfaces with different looking materials with differing reflectivity and reactivity to light. These are becoming more used and more important in modern games, to simulate items like fur and water. Newer graphics cards such as the Radeon X1600 have much more pixel shaders than TMUs to cope with increased demand in this area in new and upcoming games. Windows Vista too will have a "glass" 3D graphics interface that relies very heavily on pixel shading throughput.

Vertex

This is the number of Vertex Shading elements on the card. A Vertex Shader is a graphics function used to add special effects to objects in a 3D environment by performing mathematical operations on the objects' vertex data. Examples would be stretching shapes and visible deformations on damaged objects in a scene. Whereas Pixel Shaders work on "painting" the scene, the Vertex Shaders are used to calcualte the scene objects mathematically in the first place. Like pixel shaders, their importance is becoming more important in modern applications with increasingly detailed characters and effects involving complex transformations of polygonal objects.

API

This is the Shader Model supported by the graphics card.

Shader Model 1 denotes Direct X 8 hardware acceleration, which is unsufficient for most new games. Games will either not run at all or run in a degraded graphics mode with DirectX 8 hardware. Generally this kind of hardware tends to slow compared to even the cheapest $50 modern cards, and we recommend users with such cards (Geforce 1, 2, 3, 4 series, Radeon 9250 series and below) to upgrade to one of the listed cards.

Shader Model 2 denotes the graphics card is capable of base DirectX 9 acceleration (DirectX 9b), and since these have been out for 2-3 years now, almost every modern graphics card is capable of it. Shader Model 2 enables high level pixel and vertex shading to create realistic visuals and effects, and is used extensively in modern games such as Half Life 2 and Far Cry.

Upcoming applications such as Unreal 2007 (above) will showcase the kinds of graphics capability afforded by Shader Model 3 support in the latest hardware.

Graphics cards based on Shader Model 3 are the latest and most advanced type of graphics cards, capable of more advanced effects, and enabling developers to incorporate these advanced effects into their applications more easily. Even where Shader Model 2 is capable of the same result, it is achieved more elegantly using Shader Model 3, so many games only enable their most advanced features (such as high dynamic range lighting) on cards that support Shader Model 3. DirectX 9c Hardware Acceleration is another name for Shader Model 3.

It is expected Windows Vista will be released towards the end of 2006 with an entirely new Shader Model 4 architecture for graphics, alongside support for existing Shader Models. There is currently no hardware on the market at this time that supports Shader Model 4 in hardware, and it too is expected to arrive alongside Vista towards the end of the year.

Visual Performance Comparison

NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GTX
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   15.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1300 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            15.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          51.2GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   10.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 900 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            10.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          41.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1900 XTX
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   31.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1300 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            10.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          49.6GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7800 GTX
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   10.32 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 860 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            10.32 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          38.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1900 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   30 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1250 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            10 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          46.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1800 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   10 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1250 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            10 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          48GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X850 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   8.64 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 810 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            8.64 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          37.76GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7800 GT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 700 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          32GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1800 XL
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1000 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          32GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7600 GT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6.72 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 700 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6.72 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          16GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X800 XL
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 600 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          31.68GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 Ultra
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 600 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          35.2GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X850 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6.06 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 757.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6.06 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          33.92GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1800 GTO
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 1000 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          32GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7800 GS
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 562.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          38.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X800 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   5.7 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 712.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            5.7 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          28.8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   5.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 525 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            5.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          32GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   5.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 487.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            5.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          19.2GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GS
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   5.1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 531.25 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            5.1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          32GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X800
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   4.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 600 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            4.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          22.4GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7600 GS
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   4.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 412.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            4.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          16GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GTO
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   4.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 525 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            4.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          28.8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 375 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          16GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.9 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 406.25 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.9 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          22.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X700 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 712.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          16.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X700 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.36 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 630 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.36 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          13.824GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9800 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.32 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 415 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.32 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          23.36GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X700
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 600 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          9.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   3.04 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 380 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            3.04 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          21.76GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6600 DDR2
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 262.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          12.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 325 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          19.84GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9800
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 325 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          18.56GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1600 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   7.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 750 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          11.2GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1300 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 300 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          12.8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6600
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 225 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6800 LE
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 300 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          22.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 275 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8.64GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9700
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 275 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          17.28GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 7300 GS
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2.2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 412.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2.2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          2.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1600 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 625 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          12.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9600 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 250 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          9.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X600 XT
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   2 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 250 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            2 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          11.84GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X1300
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 225 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6500
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.8 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 337.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.8 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          5.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 200 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          9.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X600 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 200 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          9.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X550
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.6 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 200 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.6 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6200
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 262.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          6.4GBytes/sec

NVIDIA Geforce 6200 Turbocache
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.4 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 262.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.4 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          5.6GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X300 SE
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.3 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 162.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.3 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          4.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon X300
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.3 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 162.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.3 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          6.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9600
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.3 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 162.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.3 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          6.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9600 SE
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.3 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 162.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.3 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          3.2GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9500
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 137.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8.64GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1.1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 137.5 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1.1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          8.8GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9000
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 125 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          3.2GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9200 SE
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 125 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          3.2GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9200
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   1 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 125 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            1 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          6.4GBytes/sec

ATI Radeon 9250
Pixel Shading Fill Rate   0.96 GPixels/sec
Vertex Shading Fill Rate 120 Vertices/sec
Raw Fill Rate            0.96 GTexels/sec
Memory Bandwidth          6.4GBytes/sec

Recommendations

Currently the Radeon X1900 cards are the most powerful, due to their unmatched pixel shading capabilities (48 pixel shading engines vs 24 on the nearest competitor). It is expected that with upcoming shader intensive games, the lead in this area will become more pronounced. The price however is still very high compared to the Geforce 7800 cards, and our current mid-high end recommendation is the 7800 GT.

The Geforce 6800 GS makes good sense in the $150-200 range. Faster cards such as the X850XT from ATI are available, but they lack the Shader Model 3 capability that will be required for upcoming games and applications. ATI currently have nothing in their Shader Model 3 range (X1 series) to fill the huge performance gap between the X1600 and X1900 series of cards.

The X1600 XT and X1600 Pro cards are excellent buys in the mid-range, with more than enough pixel shading power for future games running at moderate resolutions. It is also expected that the high number of pixel shader processors on the ATI cards paired with high clock speeds will make them excellent matches for the hardware rendering mode in the upcoming Windows Vista, which relies heavily on pixel shading windows and effects. For more about graphics in Windows Vista, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/evaluate/hardware/vistahardware.mspx#EFAA
Up and Coming

Between April and June, ATI are expected to release their successor to the Radeon X1600 series, most likely the X1700 XT (24 pixel shader design, high clock speed).

On the 20th of March, lower end Geforce 7200 and 7600 GS cards are expected to launch.

Towards the end of the year (October-November) it is expected that next generation DirectX 10 Graphics Cards families will be launched (Geforce 8 and ATI X2 series)

References

NVIDIA & ATI http://www.nvidia.com/ & http://www.ati.com/
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_cards
Microsoft http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/
Product Roadmaps http://endian.net/ & http://www.mikeshardware.co.uk/
Anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/video/
Beyond3d http://www.beyond3d.com/