Graphics Will 2600XT be a worthwhile upgrade over X800XL?

Hi,

My HIS X800XL graphics card may be getting a bit long in the tooth. What I want to know is, have the midrange cards now got to the point of performing better than the mid/high end from two generations ago, i.e. is it possible to do an economical upgrade yet?

Alternatively, if there's been a really comprehensive historical graphics cards benchmarking article recently, just bung me a link and I'll figure it out for myself

Thanks,

 

I'd go for an 8800 GT (256 or 512Mb, but the 256Mb is £120..) or an ATi 3850, as thats £140

 

What crack have you been smoking? the Ati's are cheaper. The 88's are more expensive and their stock availability is awful.

 

Thanks for the suggestion - yeah, I know there are better ones around. It's just there's this 2600XT from ASUS out for about £65, and that's about the amount I was planning on spending. £120 isn't a million miles away, though, maybe I'll just have to wait another graphics generation for that ...

This is why I was interested in comparative benches because if the new card has even a small-ish performance improvement it might be worth it for the extra tick-box features you get on the new generation ones.

 

I like the 26xx series not for their "meh" performance but for their HD video processing.

 

I've got nothing against the equivalent NVidia card either. Not sure what that would be - 8600? Mostly I'm after an inter-generational comparison if the benches are up on the web anywhere. Tried Google for a bit but I must be missing a "magic word" because it keeps giving me sites with no figures on them

 

Both 26's and 86's are useless compared to their previous gen stuffs.

Both series of cards where shunned like the plague.