Entry-Level Graphics Cards Performance

This group includes graphics cards priced at below $150.

• ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro - $89-$99
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT - $79-$89
• Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT - $149
• Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT - $89-$99

We tested such solutions at 1280x1024 without 4x FSAA.

BioShock

Being the most expensive product in the entry-level sector, the GeForce 8600 GT reached an average frame rate of 20fps. The others cannot do the same. Anyway, none of the cards, not even the GeForce 8600 GT, can provide a minimum of comfort in BioShock.

Call of Juarez DX10 demo

The average frame rate being below 10fps, the entry-level cards cannot be used for playing Call of Juarez in DirectX 10 mode. We can only note that the GeForce 8600 GT looks better than the others thanks to its 16 TMUs.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Just like in Call of Juarez the GeForce 8600 GT takes first place and is followed by the Radeon HD 2600 Pro. And the results are similar, too, indicating that you cannot really use $89-149 graphics cards to play Opposing Forces with DirectX 10 effects enabled.