Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshai
He said this in response to a person asking if their specs were good enough for Vanguard. His card was an Nvidia GeForce 5200 128MB.

So, what is this Shader Model 2.0? I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256. Would that even be good enough for Vanguard?

I'm beginning to feel that Vanguard is going to be expecting too much of their player base. They don't seem sympathetic to the fact that not everyone is able to afford a brand-new $500-$1000 video card.

Yes, Vanguard requires a card with Shader Model 2.0 or higher (DX9). But compatible cards are pretty cheap, including some very fast ones.

Here's a list of various cards and the shader model they support

Shader Version 1.1 (DirectX 8.0)
nVidia GeForce3 series

Shader Version 1.3 (DirectX 8.0a)
nVidia GeForce4 Ti / Go 4200 series (not MX)

Shader Version 1.4 (DirectX 8.1)
ATI Radeon 8500 - 9250 series

Shader Version 2.0 (DirectX 9.0)
ATI Radeon 9500/9550/9600/9700/9800 series
ATI Radeon X300/X600 series
ATI Express-200 integrated graphics
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 and 950 series
nVidia GeForce 6 (FX) series
ATI Radeon X700/X800/X850 series

Shader Version 3.0 (DirectX 9.0c)
nVidia GeForce 6 Series
nVidia GeForce 7 Series
ATI Radeon X1K series

Shader Version 4.0 (DirectX 10.0)
nVidia GeForce 8 Series
ATI Radeon R600 series

It's important to note that the GeForce 5 series, while sometimes a bit mesleading, does not truly support Shader model 2.0 and are not compatible with Vanguard.

Now let's look at pricing. These are only ATI cards, but NVidia has cards very close in both performance and pricing. These lists also show only cards that will play Vanguard (e.g. shader 2.0 (DX9) or higher)

Speed

Card / Core Clock (Mhz) / Memory Clock (Mhz) / Memory Interface

(bits) / Memory Transfer Rate (Gb/s) / Pixels per clock

Radeon 9550 250 400 128-bit 6.4 4
Radeon 9600 Pro 400 600 128-bit 9.6 4
Radeon X700 400 600 128-bit 9.6 8
Radeon X600 Pro 400 600 128-bit 9.6 4
Radeon 9600 XT 500 600 128-bit 9.6 4
Radeon X1600 Pro 500 780 128-bit 12.48 12
Radeon X1300 450 500 128-bit 16 4
Radeon X1300 Pro 600 800 128-bit 16 4
Radeon X1300 XT 500 800 128-bit 16 12
Radeon X1600 XT 590 1380 128-bit 22.08 12
Radeon X800 400 700 256-bit 22.4 12
Radeon X800 400 700 256-bit 22.4 12
Radeon X1650 Pro 600 1400 128-bit 22.40 12
Radeon X800 Pro 475 950 256-bit 30.4 12
Radeon X800 XL 400 1000 256-bit 32 16
Radeon X800 XL 400 1000 256-bit 32 16
Radeon X800 XT 500 1000 256-bit 32 16
Radeon X850 Pro 520 1080 256-bit 34.5 12
Radeon X850 XT 520 1080 256-bit 34.5 16
Radeon X800 XT 500 1000 256-bit 32 16
Radeon X800 XT PE 520 1120 256-bit 35.8 16
Radeon X800 XT PE 520 1120 256-bit 35.8 16
Radeon X850 PE 540 1180 256-bit 37.7 16
Radeon X1900 GT 575 1200 256-bit 38.4 36
Radeon X1900 XT 550 1450 256-bit 46.4 48
Radeon X1900 XT 550 1450 256-bit 46.4 48
Radeon X1800 XT 625 1500 256-bit 48 16
Radeon X1800 XT 625 1500 256-bit 48 16
Radeon X1900 XTX 650 1550 256-bit 49.6 48
Radeon X1950 XTX 650 2000 256-bit 64 48

Current Pricing

Card / DirectX / Shader Model / Current Price / Date / Price Found From
Radeon 9550 9 2 $83 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon 9600 Pro 9 2 $56 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X700 9 2 $109 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X600 Pro 9 2 $93 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon 9600 XT 9 2 $63 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X1600 Pro 9.0c 3 $100 8/23/06www.pricegrabber.com
Radeon X1300 9.0c 3 $119 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X1300 Pro 9.0c 3 $77 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X1300 XT 9.0c 3 $89 8/23/06 Message Boards
Radeon X1600 XT 9.0c 3 $145 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X800 9 2 $168 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X800 9 2 $168 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X1650 Pro 9.0c 3 $99 8/23/0www.priccegrabber.com
Radeon X800 Pro 9 2 $154 9/21/06 Message Boards
Radeon X800 XL 9 2 $291 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X800 XL 9 2 $350 11/30/06 www.hexus.net/
Radeon X800 XT 9.00 2 $379 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X850 Pro 9 2 $152 9/21/06 Message Boards
Radeon X850 XT 9.00 2 $119 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X800 XT 9 2 $499 11/30/04 www.hexus.net/
Radeon X800 XTPE 9 2 $124 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X800 XTPE 9 2 $499 11/30/06 www.hexus.net/
Radeon X850 PE 9 2 n/a 9/21/06
Radeon X1900 GT 9.0c 3 $230 8/23/06 Message Boards
Radeon X1900 XT 9.0c 3 $280 8/23/06www.pricegrabber.com
Radeon X1900 XT 9.0c 3 $350 8/23/06 Message Boards
Radeon X1800 XT 9.0c 3 $349 8/23/06www.pricegrabber.com
Radeon X1800 XT 9.0c 3 469 9/21/06 www.newegg.com
Radeon X1900 XTX 9.0c 3 360 8/23/06www.pricegrabber.com
Radeon X1950 XTX 9.0c 3 458 8/23/06www.pricegrabber.com
Older Pricing and Comparison when Applicable

Card / DirectX / Shader Model / Old Price / Earlier Date / Difference / (Months)

Radeon 9550 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon 9600 Pro 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X700 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X600 Pro 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon 9600 XT 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X1600 Pro 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X1300 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X1300 Pro 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X1300 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X1600 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X800 9 2 $199 2/15/05 -$31 n/a
Radeon X800 9 2 $249 11/30/04 -$81 -19
Radeon X1650 Pro 9.0c 3 n/a 8/23/06 n/a -22
Radeon X800 Pro 9 2 $399 2/15/05 -$245 n/a
Radeon X800 XL 9 2 $350 2/15/05 -$59 -19
Radeon X800 XL 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X800 XT 9.00 2 $499 2/15/05 -$120 n/a
Radeon X850 Pro 9 2 $399 2/15/05 -$247 -19
Radeon X850 XT 9.00 2 $499 2/15/05 -$380 -19
Radeon X800 XT 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X800 XTPE 9 2 $499 2/15/05 -$375 n/a
Radeon X800 XTPE 9 2 n/a **/**/** n/a n/a
Radeon X850 PE 9 2 $549 2/15/05 n/a n/a
Radeon X1900 GT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a -19
Radeon X1900 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0
Radeon X1900 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0
Radeon X1800 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0
Radeon X1800 XT 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0
Radeon X1900 XTX 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0
Radeon X1950 XTX 9.0c 3 n/a **/**/** n/a 0


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