Entry-Level Graphics Cards

Entry-level graphics cards are generally slow in modern games, but that’s not so with the flyby test in the Unreal Tournament 3 demo which doesn’t put a very heavy load on the graphics subsystem. The Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT can provide an average frame rate of 50fps at the maximum graphics quality settings and a display resolution of 1280x1024. The ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT delivers a speed of almost 60fps.

The ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT is in the lead at the higher resolutions as well whereas the HD 2600 Pro model, the market opponent to the Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT, is about as fast as the Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT.

It should be noted that the GeForce 8500 GT and the Radeon HD 2400 XT have similar results and cannot render Unreal Tournament 3 at an acceptable speed even in the flyby test. Well, these cards are not actually meant for playing games. They are intended for decoding HD video and supporting such features that integrated graphics solutions lack.

Despite the rather good results of the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro and Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, we recommend you to get something faster for the full version of Unreal Tournament 3.