Graphics Card Review Roundup - ASUS, Diamond, Gigabyte & More

• Bjorn3D: XFX GeForce 8800 GS & 8800 GS XXX:
  
  

  “If you just can't afford to drop the serious cash required to get your hands on the hottest GPU on the market, the 8800 GS or 8800 GS XXX from XFX may be just what you are looking for. Both cards offer DirectX 10 support for compatibility with future games. XFX aslo offers a lifetime warranty on these cards, even if you overclock them to gain a little extra performance. When comparing the 8800s to an earlier 8000-series videocard, the 8600 GT, there is a definite increase in performance across the line. While the 8800s will run most current games with no problems, you may have to sacrifice a slight bit of eye-candy during games like Crysis, which has been known to bog down even the fastest rigs. Overall, both the 8800 GS and 8800 GS XXX from XFX provide a great value for their prices, which hover around the $130 mark right now.”

  
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• CPU3D: ATI Radeon HD4850 Crossfire Performance:
  
  

  “During our tests, the 2 Radeon HD4850 in Crossfire mode produced excellent results in all our benchmarks. It easily beats a single Radeon HD4870, and in some cases it outperformed a pair of Radeon HD3870s. So it's a big thumbs up when it comes down to performance. However, there is one downside to all of this. These Radeon HD4850 cards can run extremely HOT, and the excess heat can be a problem ... and I'm not kidding. Extra chassis fans are definitely needed to keep the interior of your PC cool.”

  
  
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• CPU3D: Gigabyte Radeon HD4870 (512Mb GDDR5):
  
  

  “I have to congratulate both AMD/ATI and Gigabyte for bringing such a fine product. The performance of the Gigabyte GV-R487-512H-B Radeon HD4870 is extremely good, producing excellent results in all our tests. Although it's based on their reference design, Gigabyte have made it possible to give users the latest Radeon HD4870 graphics card at a price that won't hurt your pocket.”

  
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• PCSTATS: Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M Videocard Review:
  
  

  “For it's class, Asus' Geforce 9600GT offers good results and an affordable sticker price. Aside from the pre-overclocked nature of the Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M, you're getting the same basic Geforce 9600GT feature set available in every other card. If you wish to overclock the EN9600GT further, PCSTATS was able to push the Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M to respectable 763MHz GPU, 2254MHz memory.
  
  Noise levels were generally low to moderate while testing the Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M videocard. Given the choice between a sometimes loud single slot heatsink and a slightly quieter dual slot videocard cooler, we'd rather have the single slot heatsink to be honest.”

  
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• TheTechLounge: Diamond HD 4870 512MB Reviewed:
  
  

  “The only adversary any 4870 has is other 4870s. People have fewer brand favorites in the ATI camp simply because manufacturers have been slow to vary the high-end models, let alone policies. People end up buying from one company because they save $10 over some other brand's identical card. Diamond's in a good position to develop a community fashioned after eVGA and other massive NVIDIA partners. The only thing holding them back is their short, limited warranty. Their service is about right.”

  
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