[NEWS] Dan does video

[Handruin]

Dan Rutter gives video cards the once over, without the marketing crap. It's a "how to choose the wheat from the chaff" type review. Snippet:

..."Those of us who prefer a card closer to the middle of that that steep and ugly price/performance curve, though, have now largely overcome our skepticism about ATI making drivers that work (they were never as bad as Matrox back in the G200 days, but then again, neither's gangrene), and are getting mid-range Radeons instead."...

besides, anyone who rags on Matrox G200's is my kind of reviewer

Submitted by LiamC

 

[CougTek]

From the article :

The 9000 and wee-bit-faster 9000 Pro (whose only real extra feature is that it can come with a DVI connector) have pretty much been eclipsed by the newer GeForce FX 5200. It's cheaper and faster.

The above surprised me, as I thought I saw the GeForce FX 5200 behind the Radeon 9000 Pro in benchmarks. My memory had a failure and upon verification (X-bit Labs' review of the 5200/5600), the GeFarce FX 5200 is indeed a little bit in front of the 9000 Pro in most benchmarks (not in all though). Pricewatch told me the prices of both cards are similar too, with a ~5$ advantage for the GeFarce.

I write this to point out that it's often useful to refresh our memory every once in a while if we want to be accurate both in forums and with our customers. Not that I would sell a GeForce FX 5200 to mine though.

However, I disagree with the autor when he writes that the Radeon 9100 and 9200 are uninteresting. Both are better buys than the Radeon 9000 Pro (cost the same, performs better). Unfortunately, I cannot find benchmarks pitting the 9100/9200 against the GeForce FX 5200. I'm starting to wonder if this isn't voluntary on the part of the online reviewers, to make the nVidia look better than what's currently on the shelves so to boost its sales and force ATI to reply with something new. Too bad, I'm pretty sure the FX 5200 wouldn't shine so much against a 9100 than it does against a 9000 Pro. I haven't seen any benchmarks yet on the 9200, but it should too be faster than the 9000 Pro, while costing no more.