The graphics card on a media PC needs to present a workable compromise between noise output and bulk versus picture quality. For our builds we chose an Asus EN6700GT/HTDI with built-in HDMI (these retail for around $200). As we were finishing this story, we learned about Nvidia's newest line of 8600 processors, which feature a redesigned graphics processor and include HDMI/HDCP and other important media functions (especially TV/HDTV output) as well as Vista Ready status. Though only a few models are available right now, and no passively cooled versions are available, it looks like these should be ready by summer's end for somewhere between $200 and $220 (by that time, passive 7600 cards will probably cost $150 or less).
Whenever we can find a suitable passively-cooled graphics card for a media PC, we immediately take that option because such cards contribute nothing to the system's overall noise output. For the previous generation of graphics processors, this meant that the Nvidia card of choice was a passively cooled 6600, and the highest-level ATI graphics processor was a 1600XT model. Today, lots of HDMI/HDCP options are available for Nvidia 7xxx and 88xx processors, as well as the upcoming R600 family from ATI (where ATI has a substantial leg up over Nvidia at present because it includes onboard sound as well as video circuitry). (For more information on these increasingly important acronyms and their underlying technologies, see the sidebar entitled "HDMI, HDCP Gotchas and Workarounds").
The EN7600GT is a great mid-range card. If you're looking to get into gaming but don't want to break the bank, you could do far worse
Physically, the card looks unremarkable. Asus sticker notwithstanding it uses the standard Nvidia heatsink and fan, and only stands out because of some curious additions to its rear connection plate. There's an optical SPDIF port at the top of the plate and an HDMI port sitting between the more traditional DVI and S-Video ports.
The card's graphics processing unit (GPU) runs at a clock speed of 400MHz and has 256MB of DDR3 memory running at an effective speed of 1,400MHz. Asus has chosen to play it safe by not overclocking the GPU or memory as standard, but like all Nvidia cards it can be overclocked by the end user with the aid of the accompanying driver and software. Not that there's a particular need to go overboard with overclocking, the EN7600GT should serve the needs of the vast majority of users. It has 12 pixel shader pipelines, five vertex shaders and a memory bandwidth of 22.4GBps, all of which allows ample, if hardly mind-blowing, performance.
The EN7600GT ran Doom 3 at 95fps at a resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels and dropped to 73fps when running at 1,600x1,200 pixels. With 4x anti-aliasing (AA) and 8x anisotropic filtering (AF) enabled, the card scored 46.8fps and 35fps respectively at the above resolutions. These results indicate the card is perfectly adequate if you aren't too bothered by image quality enhancements, but struggles slightly if AA and AF are switched on.
The EN7600GT ran Half-Life 2 at 63fps at a resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels, and at 60.9fps at 1,600x1,200 pixels. With 4x AA and 8x AF enabled it scored 58fps and 49fps respectively at the same resolutions.
In 3DMark 2006, our synthetic benchmark test, the EN7600GT scored 3,360, which is better than the 2,532 our reference ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved.
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