ATI Video Card performance?

[DarkRose]

Ok, gonna start a new thread and narrow down my question/redirect it a bit... Looking at a video card upgrade, system specs in sig... But I haven't kept up on cards as much as I should and I'm a little confused now... for example... I thought the newer X1600 cards were better than the X800's, but the x1600's seem to be cheaper than the older x800 series... so since i'm confused, could someone give me a simple list of ati cards in order of performance starting at the 9800 Pro? (doesn't have to include all variations, just the basic models), i.e. in order of performance, 9800 pro, x800, x1300, whatever..... I have AGP 8x, so PCI-E is not applicable.
I've googled and just can't seem to find a simple straight listing of cards in their order of performance (this model, then this is better, then this is better than that, better, better, etc.), this way i can check out the list/prices and see about what falls in the price range i finally determine and get the best bang for what I want to spend.... (since I haven't decided excactly how much I want to spend at the moment again...)

Thanx!

[Yawgm0th]

Re: ATI Video Card performance?

In general, you can follow this rule:

Cards are the equivelent of a 200-higher model than a card from the previous generation. For example,

Radeon X800 series = Radeon X1600 series
GeForce 6800 series = GeForce 7600 series
Radeon 9800 series = X600 series

Now understand that this is a gross generalization, and it doesn't account for the vast amount of variations of each series nor the major improvements in each generation. For example, in reality an X1650 Pro > than an X850, because not only does it perform better, but it also supports shader model 3.0, which will improve image quality. On the same note, X600 series cards weren't very common, but X700 was. Even so, a 9800Pro could perform better than some of the more expensive X700s. That said, the rule does give you a general idea of what to expect each card to apply to.

You can determine generation based on the first digit or two digits in the model. Radeon 9 series cards, e.g. Radeon 9550, are older than Radeon X (X meaning 10) series cards, e.g. Radeon X800. GeForce 7 series cards, e.g. GeForce 7600GT, are older than the current line of GeForce cards, e.g. GeForce 8800GTS. Suffixes (GT, XT, Pro, GTS, GS, GTX, XTX, etc.) are inconsistent between generations and card series and mean absolutely nothing. To find out the relative performance of a card, you need to look at online benchmark of that card.

In this specific case, you will probably be better off with an X1600 or X1650 series card as they support SM 3.0 and will probably perform better than any previous-generation counterparts and Nvidia counterparts.