The Best Video Cards for Your Money: November 2006

Best PCI-E Card For Under $100
Radeon X800 GTO 256mb

Codename: R420, 13-micron technology
12 Pixel Shaders, Six Vertex Shaders, 12 Texture Units, 12 Raster Operator Units
256 bit memory bus
400 MHz core, 490-MHz DDR (980 MHz Effective) Memory

Best PCI-E Card For ~$130
Geforce 7600 GT

Codename: G73, 90-nanometer technology
12 Pixel shaders, Five Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, Eight Raster Operator Units
128 bit memory bus
560 MHz core, 700-MHz DDR (1400 MHz Effective) Memory

Best PCI-E Card For ~$180
Radeon X1950 PRO

Codename: RV570, 90-nanometer technology
36 Pixel shaders, Eight Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, 12 Raster Operator Units
256 bit external memory bus (512-bit internal ring bus)
575 MHz core, 690-MHz DDR (1280 MHz effective) Memory

Best PCI-E Card For ~$250: None
In this price range, the best buys used to be the Geforce 7900 GTO and Radeon X1900 XT 256mb.

Unfortunately, I can't find them for that price anymore. What we can find in this price range is the 7950 GT, which is a good card, but it is more expensive than the X1950 PRO and only offers similar performance. It is thus hard to recommend.

Supposedly, ATI will release the X1950 XT this month, which should be a recommended buy once it becomes available--assuming it can be bought in this price segment. Until then, keep your eyes out for X1900 XTs and 7900 GTOs, in case they resurface in the $250 range.

Best PCI-E Card For ~$340: Dual-Gpu Solutions
Radeon X1950 PRO Crossfire / Geforce 7900 GS SLI

Best PCI-E Card For ~$400
Radeon X1950 XTX

Codename: R580+, 90-nanometer technology
48 Pixel shaders, Eight Vertex shaders, 16 Texture units, 16 Raster Operator Units
256 bit external memory bus (512-bit internal ring bus)
650 MHz core, 1000-MHz DDR (2000 MHz effective) Memory

Best PCI-E Card For ~$500
Geforce 7950 GX2

Codename: G71, 90-nanometer technology
2x24 Pixel shaders, 2x8 Vertex shaders, 2x24 Texture units, 2x16 Raster Operator Units
256 bit memory bus
500 MHz core, 600-MHz DDR (1200-MHz Effective) Memory