8600 GTS vs. 2600 XT?

[FlipCody]

My video card has died and the wife will not let me drop more than $150 on video card. While I would love to wait and see where the 8800 GT prices end up waiting this long is probably not in the cards.

I know that the 2600 XT did not perform as well as the 8600 GTS in early reviews but I wonder how it compares now that drivers are more mature. Have there been any recent reviews/comparisons?

I can get a 8600 GTS for $140 (with another $10 off with mail in rebate) and the 2600 XT for $95.

Thanks for any advise!

 

[brfitzp1337]

Here's a low end GPU comparison for UT3 http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3128

 

[FlipCody]

Thanks for the link. I also looked at the HL2:E2 comparison. It looks like the 2600 XT performs better in these games. Very tempting...could save $40+ which would make the wife very happy...

 

[eric66]

ati gpus are always good in games that use new unreal engine

 

[luke51087]

find it strange that the ati cards are better then the nvidia ones when the game has the nvidia logo at the start lol sounds pretty funny to me

 

[eric66]

find it strange that the ati cards are better then the nvidia ones when the game has the nvidia logo at the start lol sounds pretty funny to me

and how many games there are that don't have that logo

 

[luke51087]

just funny to see it was suppose to be made with nvidia hardware in mind