Price Guides October 2004: Video and Memory
by Adam Rader on October 10, 2004 8:39 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Introduction
PCI express and DDR2 have shown us over the last few months to be slow-adoption technologies as everyone comes to learn that they offer no real benefits as of yet and tend to cost more than their legacy counterparts. PCIe video cards in general don't cost more on their own, versus an AGP equivalent, but there is still the cost of a new motherboard to support the new slot. DDR2, on the other hand, blatantly costs more and in many cases, tends to run somewhat slower than DDR1. Even with Intel's strong push for the new technologies, which can be found on many of the newer Intel motherboards that sport the new 775 socket, these new kids on the block don't yet have enough curb appeal to warrant the deeper dive into your bank account or wallet.For the time being, it is still a safe bet to stick to DDR1 and AGP for your system upgrade and building needs. Given some more time, DDR2 and PCIe will most definitely become the new standards, but until then, there's no reason not to save some cash and stick to the tried, true, and competitively priced options that are still available.
Be sure to check out our RealTime Pricing Engine for up to the minute prices from some of the best online retailers that we could find.
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nurazlanshah - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
does it make any difference if i have 128mb to 256mb 9800 or 128mb 6800 to 256mb 6800?Rainman - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
I ordered the 5700 for under 100 from Ewiz and unfortunately it is a 5700LE, which is significantly slower. I notified Ewiz of this and they still haven't updated their site.T8000 - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
Since these are meant to be OEM cards, you are most likely to find them at a local systems integrator. Just ask, since they are not allowed to market them, but they sure sell them if they can.I also did, and pay'd 199 euro's for my 6800LE. With Rivatuner, I could softmod it to 12 working pipelines and 6 vertex shaders, as the last four pipelines gave artefacts. So it performs like a full 6800 now.
The x800SE is sold by Dell in some areas and I think it will be priced close to the 6800LE, as the performance without softmod is also close and these cards compete in the same OEM segment.
thebluesgnr - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
#2,where did you see the X800SE and 6800LE for sale? If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for your 6800LE?
T8000 - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
I think there is no reason to recommend a FX5900 over a 6600GT for PCI-E, since there is not even a $10 price difference.Also, there is no mention of the 6800LE AGP, that also falls in the sub $200 price range, if you manage to find one, like me. With a softmod, this card has a good chance to become a full 6800, like mine did.
On the ATI side, I think the x800SE deserves to be mentioned.
So, I think this price guide is not complete on the video part. Also, I think it is not right to not recommend a PCI-E card that is a lot faster because it is a few dollars out of the $200 price range.
iversonyin - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
i think FX5800 deserve a mention as budget value card at $109 with a gaming control pad