Graphic Cards Under Rs. 10,000

Gamers have never had it so good! Thanks to the on-going competitive wars between ATI and Nvidia, graphic technology scales dip drastically every few months. Today’s high-end chipset is tomorrow’s value product. One such chipset is the Nvidia 7600 GT. It started life as a mid-level chipset promising to bridge the gap between the lightweight 7300 series and the flagship model of the time the 7800 GTX series.

With the advent of the 8800 GTX series, the 7600 GT series has seen a fair bit of reduction in costs increasing its price vs. performance ratio. Therefore products built on this chipset today offer the best VFM experience in graphic cards without skimping on essential features. Being DX9 compliant with full support for shader 3.0 and HDR (High Dynamic Range) the chipset can easily run next-gen titles such as Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and F.E.A.R without too much effort. The DX9 compliance also means the chipset has full support for Windows Vista. Another important thing to note about this chipset is that it is built on a 90nm process as compared to the earlier generation which was on 130nm. This translates to smaller cards, less power requirement and cooler running products.
Here are 3 products based on this excellent chipset.

Palit 7600GT 256 MB PCi-E: Rs. 9,300
Palit Microsystems is a Chinese firm, which has been manufacturing Nvidia based Graphic card for quite a few years. The whole focus of manufacturing had been earlier intended towards the OEM market. However with their acquisition of the respected Gainward name, which was famous for its cutting edge products Palit has shifted focus and now ships directly to the industry channels. This has seen their presence and consumer awareness about their products increase leading to a greater uptake on their products.

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The Palit 7600GT is based on Nvidia’s reference design for the 7600 GT series and comes equipped with the standard VGA Port, DVI Port and an S-Video out. In keeping with its reference design, the card is clocked at a 560/700 core/memory speed, which makes it an absolute stock model with no difference from other products. Where this card gains over offerings from other manufacturers, is that Palit has taken care of providing an excellent cooling solution on the card the card , i.e. the fan on the graphic card is large and keeps the card running cool allowing for some decent amount of overclocking .Another factor that helps this card is the excellent 2d quality that this card offers which is a great point, considering how often one hears gripes about the less than stellar 2d quality available from other far more reputed manufacturers. The software package that is available with this card is in keeping with its status as a low budget offering. It does not offer anything more than HDTV cable, the driver CD and a single software release in the form of Cyberlink’s PowerDVD software.Priced at Rs 9,300 its excellent cooling solution and great 2D display makes this card an excellent buy.
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Leadtek Winfast 7600GT TDH PCi-e 256 MB: Rs. 9,850**
Leadtek does not really need an introduction. They have been manufacturing Nvidia based products for the better part of a decade now. Their products have become well known for their excellent overclocking potential and great build quality.

The Winfast 7600GT TDH, is like other 7600GT offerings based on the standard Nvidia Reference design. The card is Clocked at 560/700 core/memory speeds and comes with Dual-DVI output alongside an S-Video port. The cooling unit on this card is fairly large with a good heatsink/fan combo that does a great job in dissipating the heat and thereby increases the potential for overclock. 2d quality is excellent though not in the same range as the Palit offering. The software package is fairly deluxe in the sense that it offers two excellent full version games (Serious Sam 2, Trackmania nations) alongside the DVI-VGA connector and a composite cable. The driver CD and a CD with some bonus software offerings completes the software package. Priced at Rs 9,850 this card is a highly recommended buy.

XFX 7600GT PCi-E: Rs. 9,950
Having built its reputation on well-designed products with great build quality and excellent overclocking capabilities graphic cards from XFX are arguably among the best performing products in any range.
The XFX 7600GT is no different to previous offerings. It is built on the 7600GT reference design with no changes as compared to the other products in this roundup. The card comes clocked at the same clock speed of 560/700 core/memory speed with Dual-DVI output. An S-Video port is present too. What has always set XFX apart from other manufacturers is the meticulous care that is given to their cooling solution. This unit comes with a huge Heatsink/fan combo which does such a good job of cooling the card that 20-25 percent overclocks to core/memory speeds are common place on these cards. The software package is quite skimpy with only the very popular Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legends game DVD shipping with this card for free. This game is a next-gen title and serves well to illustrate the power of the XFX 7600GT card. Apart from the software bundle, the card offers 2 DVI-VGA connectors and an S-Video cable for TV connectivity. Priced at Rs. 9,950 this card is easily the best in this roundup but its fairly skimpy software package does drive down the products overall value.