Conclusion
We've seen each card in detail. We've put them an exhaustive benchmark run on two leading platforms. What do we think at the end of it all ?. I was extremely pleased to see each and every card perform flawlessly in our benchmarks. Not a hint of instability on both the VIA P4X400 and nForce2 test platforms. I found that 8x AGP cards do seem to be a little faster on a clock-for-clock basis than the 4x variety. Perhaps the most compelling evidence for this assertion is the comparatively small lead that the Albatron Turbo (4x) pulls out over the remainder of the other cards even though it has faster memory. The Creative seemed to be a little off the pace too.
The first aspect that becomes apparent when considering the majority of cards is that performance at default speeds is the same. All the cards that are clocked at 250MHz core and 513MHz memory seem to benchmark within a percent or two of each other. That's of no real surprise, though. With that being the case, I would have liked to have seen (or heard) quieter fans being used on most cards. The Leadtek fan was pretty damn quiet and managed to keep our card perfectly stable at its rated frequency. There's little excuse in equipping cards with loud coolers unless you market your card specifically as an overclocking-friendly one.
I do appreciate both Albatron (Turbo) and ABIT pushing their cards to higher default speeds that most. It's of little surprise, then, that these cards topped the benchmark tables due to a pure clock-speed advantage over the others here. My only concern with the ABIT is the cacophony of noise that accompanies the card. It really did make my ears bleed.
Each card, naturally, uses its own colour scheme and cooling. Putting all 12 cards on the table and asking people to pick the one that most appealed to them resulted in almost unanimous praise for the Albatron Turbo card due to the stylish cooling, larger PCB, and quality of finish. Others that were highlighted for pure aesthetic appeal were the MSI, Chaintech, Leadtek, and Gainward versions.
Overclocking potential, it seems, is down to luck than overt attempts at cooling. The Creative card was a revelation - hitting 335MHz core with ease. Others that I had expected to do quite well, due to the massive heatsinks employed, seemed to disappoint. This was clearly the case for the ABIT OTES and MSI cards. You must remember that this is a sample of one. Yours may go much higher or lower.
I like a card that can do it all. I, therefore, am partial to cards with decent VIVO functions. On this regard the MSI, both Gainwards, and Asus cards are to be congratulated in offering the latest Philips 7108AE encoder/decoder chip. The Leadtek, X-Micro, and Chaintech cards are recommended as they feature the 7108E version.
The bundles and accessories ranged from poor to excellent. MSI try to woo you with more CDs than you could ever wish to use, Chaintech have the best presentation of all, Leadtek probably do the best overall job of software/accessories with their MyVIVO version. The Gainward 750XP is excellent with the bundled Firewire card and 3D Glasses. Even the 650XP is good on both counts.
With so many cards that are good in particular fields, it is difficult to narrow it down to those that impress most. After long deliberation on the relative merits of each card, coupled with their street price, I have decided to single out a few cards deserving of special praise. You can see the results overleaf.