Weekly CPU & Video Card Price Guide: May 2001 2nd Edition

Video Cards

AnandTech Weekly Video Card Prices
Video Card Model	Price	Change	Vendor	Shipping	Promotion
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP	$119	$10	MWave	Check Vendor	OEM
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI	$119	$0	MWave	Check Vendor	OEM
3dfx Voodoo4 4500 AGP	$59	$10	Adamant Computers	$9
3dfx Voodoo4 4500 PCI	$74	$0	Adamant Computers	$9
3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV AGP	$64	$4	Directron	$4	OEM
ATI RADEON 64MB DDR	$172	$0	iBuyPower	$12	OEM
ATI RADEON 32MB DDR (Retail)	$139	$2	MWave	Check Vendor
ATI RADEON 32MB DDR LE (OEM)	$71	$0	Newegg.com	$8	OEM
ATI RADEON 32MB VE	$78	$0	Jazz Technology	$11	OEM
ATI RADEON 32MB SDR	$73	$6	Comp-U-Plus	$15	OEM
ATI RADEON ALL-IN-WONDER	$205	$3	Newegg.com	$10	OEM
NVIDIA GeForce3 64MB	$342	$15	iBuyPower	$12	Visiontek
NVIDIA GeForce2 ULTRA 64MB	$248	$3	Neutron	$7	Leadtek
NVIDIA GeForce2 PRO 64MB	$179	$4	MWave	Check Vendor	Leadtek
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32MB	$128	$4	Newegg.com	Check Vendor	MSI
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32MB VIVO (ASUS V7700 Deluxe)	$169	$6	CDR Express	$12
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 64MB	$95	$5	CDR Express	$12	Retail
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 32MB	$75	$0	Newegg.com	$5	MSI
PowerVR KYRO II 64MB	$115	NA	Newegg.com	Check Vendor	Hercules
Matrox G450 32MB (DualHead)	$89	$0	Jazz Technology	$11

The reader should note that 3dfx's acquisition by NVIDIA will result in them not being able to provide support for their cards, so purchase a Voodoo3/4/5 card at your own risk. The Voodoo5 5500 AGP rose $10 this week, putting it at $119. The PCI equivalent remains the same price this week. The price of the Voodoo3 3500TV also rose in price this week to $64. This card is an excellent deal for those wanting TV tuner input and video out on their PCs.

This week we see little change in price of ATI's lineup of cards. The Radeon 32MB SDR saw a $6 price reduction. We recommend the Radeon VE over the SDR the useful dual display feature which has become popular on many low end cards. The SDR card does, however, provide better gaming performance than the VE. Please read the ATI Radeon VE review for more information.

We should note that several readers have pointed out that there are a few major differences between the Radeon 32MB DDR (Retail) and the Radeon 32MB DDR LE (OEM) which many online retailers fail to point out. The Radeon LE is actually a crippled version of the Retail card and does not feature ATI's Hyper-Z technology. It is important that readers understand this because Hyper-Z can have a significant effect on performance. The Radeon LE was originally meant to be an OEM product for some of the Asian markets. However the success of the product in those markets was overestimated and ATI was forced to bring the product to the North American market. The Radeon LE chips are generally composed of those chips that fail to work properly as fully functional Radeon solutions, meaning that they are often clocked at lower core frequencies and may not have fully functional HyperZ units. Many readers have been reporting success with overclocking their Radeon LEs as well as by forcing HyperZ to be enabled on the boards however proceed with your own risk as there are no guarantees. For more information consult the AnandTech Forums.

For NVIDIA this week, we see the new GeForce3 come down slightly in price to $342. The rest of the GeForce line of cards remains relatively unchanged in price this week. The GeForce2 ULTRA, now slightly under $100 cheaper than the GeForce3, fell $3 in price. Our pick, the GeForce2 PRO, fell $4 and can now be found for $179. We'd recommend the PRO over the standard 64MB GTS because it uses faster 5.5ns DDR memory which alleviates some of the memory bandwidth limitations found in the 6ns cards.

The KYRO II finally rears it's head this week in our video portion of the price guide. It debuts at $115, only $13 cheaper than a GeForce2 GTS. This card is unique because it uses a tile based rendering engine and performs like a GeForce2 GTS. Check out our KYRO II review for more info.

The Matrox line of cards saw minimal changes in price this week. Those looking for excellent dual display capability may wish to purchase the Matrox G450 card as it has proven itself well in this category. For more information check out our Dual Display Comparison.

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