Mainstream Class

We did not turn on full-screen antialiasing when benchmarking Mainstream graphics cards, but their results suggest that devices from this category cannot ensure a comfortable level of performance in modern games, at least in common display resolutions and at the highest in-game graphics quality settings.

Purchasing a AMD Radeon X1650 XT, an Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS or an Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT only makes sense if your system has been equipped with an integrated graphics core or with an obsolete graphics card like a GeForce 6600 GT or Radeon X800 and you just don’t have the money or desire to buy a higher-performance product.

If you are indeed choosing among these models, you should consider the AMD Radeon X1650 XT in the first place. Based on the RV560 graphics core, this card is generally faster than the GeForce 7600 GT. Be careful when shopping and do not buy a Radeon X1650 Pro which is based on the much weaker RV530/535 core and is in fact a renamed Radeon X1600 XT. With only 4 texture-mapping units and 4 raster operators this core just cannot run modern games at high speeds.

The Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS is a good choice, too, in case if you find it selling at a price comparable to the Radeon X1650 XT. For this small money you can get a 256-bit memory bus, 20 pixel processors, 20 TMUs, 16 ROPs and a G71 chip with a high overclocking potential.