Last night surfing through Newegg after reading about price drop on GTX series and made this list.
This is without mail-in-rebates as MIRs do no good to people here who get the cards through dealers here. BTW with MIR, 3870 sells for $100. That too one with zalman cooler!!!
The list is made with keeping single GPU set-up in mind. Each card in this list has amazing value and power that does not really get reflected through their prices. Never before so much of GFX power was available for so cheap. All of these cards can deal decently with almost all games presently available at a 22" monitor. This is just awesome.
Entry level gaming :O
3850 at $100. Newegg.com - DIAMOND Viper 3850PE3512O Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
9600GT at $120
Newegg.com - Foxconn 9600GT-512 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Also: 3870 is at $125 and 8800GT (OC) is at $150
Mainstream: Hd 4850 all the way. Lowest at $188.
Newegg.com - PALiT AE/48500+T352 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
For reference, cheapest 9800GTX is at $196
Performance
4870 all the way. Cheapest is Newegg.com - VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards at $295
For reference: Cheapest GTX260 is Newegg.com - XFX GX260NADF9 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards at $299.
If 3D Mark 06 is the only game you play
P ) here is very nice deal: Newegg.com - ASUS EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards at $270
High-end: Premium for extreme performance kicks-in here and price/performance ratio takes a beating. These cards are not right choices but if you insist...
9800GX2 is a good buy at $420 (green thieves
)
For reference, cheapest GTX280 is at $450
3850 for less than $100 (I am sure it won't be more than Rs 6K)... amazing value :hap2:
PS:
This is without mail-in-rebates as MIRs do no good to people here who get the cards through dealers here. BTW with MIR, 3870 sells for $100. That too one with zalman cooler!!!
The list is made with keeping single GPU set-up in mind. Each card in this list has amazing value and power that does not really get reflected through their prices. Never before so much of GFX power was available for so cheap. All of these cards can deal decently with almost all games presently available at a 22" monitor. This is just awesome.
Entry level gaming :O
3850 at $100. Newegg.com - DIAMOND Viper 3850PE3512O Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
9600GT at $120
Newegg.com - Foxconn 9600GT-512 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Also: 3870 is at $125 and 8800GT (OC) is at $150
Mainstream: Hd 4850 all the way. Lowest at $188.
Newegg.com - PALiT AE/48500+T352 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
For reference, cheapest 9800GTX is at $196
Performance
4870 all the way. Cheapest is Newegg.com - VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards at $295
For reference: Cheapest GTX260 is Newegg.com - XFX GX260NADF9 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards at $299.
If 3D Mark 06 is the only game you play

High-end: Premium for extreme performance kicks-in here and price/performance ratio takes a beating. These cards are not right choices but if you insist...
9800GX2 is a good buy at $420 (green thieves

For reference, cheapest GTX280 is at $450
3850 for less than $100 (I am sure it won't be more than Rs 6K)... amazing value :hap2:
PS:
Thanx Gurpartap. Link correctedYou linked to Zotac 9800GTX for 4870.