Budget Video Cards

Less expensive video cards

Gabriel Torres of Hardware Secrets.com says the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (*Est. $110) is a good choice for the "average" user who wants to play some performance games, but doesn't need the very fastest video card. Kyle Kerley of NV News claims, "The 8600 GT is an unexpected powerhouse more than capable of handling some of today's most demanding games at even the highest resolutions." Reviewers also say the GeForce 8600 GT is a better value than the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS (*Est. $150) .

We did find some dissenting opinions of the GeForce 8600 GT and a few reviewers who say that the ATI Radeon X1950 PRO (*Est. $150) is at least competitive with the GeForce 8600 GT (as well as the GeForce GTS). Marco Chiappetta of HotHardware.com is torn between the platforms. He praises the benefits of the 8600 series video cards, including full support for DirectX 10, cool and quiet operation, and modest power consumption. On the other hand, he achieved better performance from the ATI X1950 PRO graphics card. Chiappetta concludes that the GeForce 8600 GT is the better choice, especially for those who want to watch DVDs and home videos.

Movies and related entertainment don't require the speed that action games do, and both ATI and Nvidia have special hardware to enable or enhance video playback. Home theater, video and movie enthusiast magazines and websites have surprisingly little to say about video cards for those purposes, and they add no advice that isn't in other reviews. However, they do note that you'll want a video card that's high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) compliant to play back high definition DVDs and other HD content, digital video outputs (HDMI or, more usually, HDCP compliant DVI) and analog video outputs, such as S-video. Nvidia has some excellent explanations of the requirements for playing Blu-ray and HD DVD movies on a PC; see the Best Research section below.

AnandTech's Derek Wilson says high-resolution MPEG-2 video is not demanding of a computer, but MPEG-4 is. Wilson thinks a standalone Blu-ray or HD player makes more sense than using a computer as the anchor for a home-theater system

If you're building a computer to use in your home-theater system, reviewers think a GeForce 8600 GT or equivalent is all the video card you need. A higher-end graphics card is only necessary for "serious" gaming. The more important consideration is cooling. All but the cheapest video card cards either use active cooling (normally a fan) or passive cooling (a heat sink, heat dissipation pipes or a combination of the two). Active cooling is generally more effective, but it adds noise. Reviewers measure high levels of noise at peak loads with high-end video cards. For a home-theater computer, you want a passively cooled card.

Several individual brand GeForce 8600 GT video cards are recommended in reviews. [H] Enthusiast gives an Editor's Choice gold award to the MSI NX8600 GT (*Est. $110) . Mark Warner says it's a fantastic value: "It is inexpensive, consumes relatively little power, produces relatively low temperature, and has performance to rival the more expensive GeForce 8600 GTS." He also reports that it runs quietly (it is passively cooled). Warner concludes, "It is simply the fastest video card in its price category that we have ever tested. A gamer or enthusiast would be hard pressed to find a better value than this video card."

At ViperLair.com, Scott Harness is enthusiastic. He itemizes relative weaknesses, but can't deny the value. Harness concedes, "It's not a killer card, and at this price point there was no way it was ever going to be, but overclocked as it is out-of-the-box, it does offer pretty impressive numbers for $108." In addition, we found favorable reviews of Gigabyte GeForce 8600GT (*Est. $110) and EVGA GeForce 8600 GT (*Est. $110) .

[H] Enthusiast is impressed with the XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX (*Est. $130) . That overclocked GeForce 8600 GT-based video card out-performed the 800 MHz ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (*Est. $140) . The XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX also earns a gold award from Driver Heaven.net.

The Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT (*Est. $155) is widely reviewed and widely commended, yet reviewers are leery of saying that it's a good card to buy now. The video card was mostly reviewed early this year, before the release of ATI's 2000 series, and reviewers were sure the new cards would have more to offer. TechPowerUp.com and Register Hardware.com both recommend the graphics card with the caveat that the newer cards are likely to be a better deal. [H] Enthusiast compares the Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT favorably with the subsequently discontinued Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS. The latter two reviewers are particularly impressed with the video card's overclockability and overclocking performance. FiringSquad.com finds that performance is equal to the GeForce 7900 GS video card.

Other reviews are cooler, and several reviewers criticize noise and heat generation. HotHardware.com isn't thrilled with the Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT, but summarizes, "This card is not designed for those who want the latest and greatest, but is designed for those who want a refined, stable card at a low price point. For this potential market, the X1950 GT hits the mark quite well."