Just got a 2600xt, where does this stand? Power consumption? Performance? etc?

You do NOT want to have an ATi card if you're going to do emulation of n64. ATi's OGL driver is screwed up curently when it comes to that. You'll either experience low performance or crashing.

Hell, it's bad enough that even the authors of emulators bitch about it.

I'd give some links to prove my case(So to speak), but I doubt links to an emulation board(No roms there.) would be tolerated.

 

definitely not a NVshill .. more like a mini-Hellbinder 1.5 ;-p lol

As far as the OP goes, if the card does what he/she needs it to do and at a cost that they can live with then pay no attention to the biased opinions that litter the boards here (and elsewhere).

In the 2600XT range, given that Newegg does NOT represent worldwide prices, its a decent card for what you seem to need. The recent 3650 series is an updated version that has a phenomenal price/performance ratio, typically around $80 USD, if you look around you can find some deals. (a quick google result: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=752980 - ATI 3650 for £50.38 delivered @ Scan! GDDR3)

2600 series: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...ilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=336&OrderBy=3
Prices range from £40.29 to £75.82

3650 Series: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...ilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=523&OrderBy=3
Prices range from £38.52 to £57.46

Again the two are very close to one another and given that the 3650 is newer, many places attach a higher price tag to "newer is better" products.

In the end the 2600XT is a fine card for what you describe and unless someone here wants to send the extra $70-100 to your paypal account to allow you the 9600GT, then such commentary really has little place in regards to your purchase.

 

The OP asked how it compared to "mid-range", which was answered by people recommending he return it for a the 9600 GT mid-range which is a better value.

{Sniping}Waste, I suggest you tone down your own smugness and stop smelling your own farts by removing your head from your orifice.

 

That Brit he's such a charmer

 

He asked for all low, mid and high range compare, not midrange purchase decision, that is why answer like "change it for nothing else then 9600GT" are wrong. Where did you put your head?

2600 XT performs in current gen like 8600 GT, little better then midrange X1650 XT and 7600 GT of provious gen, and also little better then highend X800 XL and 6800GT of generation before that.

 

Just be careful most cheaper ones only have 400/500 (800/1000 effective) Mhz gddr2. I haven't seen any benchmarks yet, but I'm pretty sure they'll definitely be slower than all old 2600xt and more perform like 2600pro (the gpu frequency is higher, same as "regular" 3650, but the memory bandwidth is the same, half as that of gddr3 3650).
A shame AMD allowed board partners to sell cards with either gddr2 or gddr3 with the same name, those with gddr2 should have been named 3630 or something like that. But that's nothing new there...

 

So, to sum up, for the GPU research uninitiated:

1) BeHardware.com or computerbase.de for their performance summary graphs at the end of their reviews.

2) Xbit-Labs.com for their individual card power draws or TechReport (and quite a few others, including the aforementioned--the more the better to account for different stress tests and conditions [e.g., AA/AF]) for their relative (system-wide) power draw.

3) Be aware that a high-memory version of many cards, especially budget ones, probably means lower clocks than the typically-benchmarked version, so check that your ostensible bargain doesn't have super-slow RAM. If that's not enough for you to weigh, know that cheaper usually means a noisier fan (fanless, cheap, performant: pick any two).

 

Did you see the new shaders? Someone got bloom lighting working on the N64 now. They also have this funky cel-shading one as well (not the texture pack). The guy actually made it for RE4 PC, but ends up porting to N64.

 

not nvidia shrills.. the board if full of consumerist shrills.
don't forget to send money via paypal for the increased power usage of the 9600GT as well.

 

LOL! Not exactly a hog of a card though. 95W max. power consumption IIRC. Pales in comparison to an 8800 GTX/Ultra or a 2900 XT/3870 X2.

 

How does it compare to a HD3850? I'm considering upgrading to either of these. Obviously, I know the 3850 isn't as powerful, but seems a bit cheaper.

 

The 3850 is around 63w according to xbit.

 

To what end are you look at the power? From the PSU requirements or just in general?

 

I guess the PSU requirements, but also the general information would be nice.

 

Well, for general information then I'd be looking at the desktop / idle power utilization as well, because unless you are playing games for the majority of the time you're at your PC this is probably a figure that is going to affect you more (outside of the PSU requirements side of things).

 

Alright, then just for PSU requirements then. I know buying a new PSU isn't that big of a deal, but just the act of having to unhook everything and then hooking it back up is not something I look forward to. I'm more than happy with 720p with my games with a modest card.

Yes, I'm THAT lazy.

 

This review will give you an idea how it will perform in some slightely older games:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT/1.html

At 1280x1024 the 8800GTX is generally about 2-3x faster.

The gap would likely be larger in more modern games though and especially DX10.

That said the 2600 is sufficient for more casual gaming and it will certainly play everything out there. You will just have to live with lower resolution/details in some of the more demanding games.

 

I thought I was being helpful when I linked those two sites, but if you need more than breadcrumbs, check any TechReport.com article or click here or here. And xbitlabs usually has power draws for the card itself, rather than the whole system, if you want to get that detailed.

 

I also have a HD 2600XT,i run Crysis on medium settings with a Core 2 Duo E4500 @ 2.2GHz and 2x1GB DDR2 667 at 1280x720 with 20-35 FPS,and i ran the UT3 Demo on high @ 1680x1050 (Don't remeber the exact FPS,but it was playable,VERY few stutters and they were few and far between.

Though mine is the 256MB GDDR4 Version from ATI (It came with my Dell )

Cards like the 9600GT and HD 3850/70 and 8800GS/GT will easily beat a HD 2600XT into a bloody pulp no doubt,but they're also consdierably more cash and they all require a better PSU than what a HD 2600Xt could run on.