GPUs / Graphic Chipsets: Which to avoid and why

[LigH]

This is just a brief overview over some available graphic chipsets, which are more or less recommendable for gaming purposes. I only listed a few "milestones" with at least support of DirectX 9 and Pixel Shader 2.0 features; models between them may have better attributes with raising numbers but don't need to. Details are to be found in TechARP: Desktop GPU Comparison Guide and TechARP: Mobile GPU Comparison Guide and other sources (e.g. Wikipedia).

To be avoided "under all circumstances": GPUs with "no HW T&L" (no hardware supported Transform & Lighting), because the driver has to emulate this using the CPU, which will cause an extreme lack of performance. Hardware T&L is the key feature of all modern dynamic-light render effects and geometry processing of meshes in a 3D world.

* = Unified shaders: May be used as Vertex or Pixel shaders on demand.

• Pixel fillrate: Important for rendering visible pixels (including anti-aliasing = edge smoothing)
• Texel fillrate: Important for preparing texture effects in the background (e.g. lighting/structuring, multitexturing)
^ Note: Fillrates are not the most important feature while there are mostly single-pass textures, but will become more important for multi-pass texturing, e.g. with bumpmaps and overlays...

   

GPU chipset	Architecture	Interface	Vertex shaders	Pixel shaders	Core clock	Pixel fillrate	Texel fillrate
SiS
- Xabre II-LE	341	AGP	no HW T&L	4	375 MHz	1500 MPx/s	1500 MTx/s
- Xabre II-HE	340	AGP	no HW T&L	8	375 MHz	3000 MPx/s	3000 MTx/s
XGI (SiS desc.)
- Volari V3XT	XG43	AGP	1	2	250 MHz	500 MPx/s	1000 MTx/s
- Volari V5	XG41	AGP	2	4	300 MHz	1200 MPx/s	2400 MTx/s
- Volari V8	XG40	AGP	2	8	300 MHz	2400 MPx/s	4800 MTx/s
- Volari 8300	XG47	PCIe	2	8	300 MHz	2400 MPx/s	4800 MTx/s
S3
- DeltaChrome S4	S4	AGP	2	4	275 MHz	1100 MPx/s	1100 MTx/s
- GammaChrome S18	S18	PCIe	4	4	300 MHz	1200 MPx/s	1200 MTx/s
- Chrome S25	S20	PCIe	4	8	600 MHz	9600 MPx/s	4800 MTx/s
- Chrome 430	Chrome 400	PCIe 2.0	32 *	32 *	625/900 MHz	20000 MPx/s	10000 MTx/s
intel
- GMA 950	GMA950	integrated	no HW T&L	4	133-400 MHz	533-1600 MPx/s	533-1600 MTx/s
- GMA 3000	GMA3000	integrated	no HW T&L	4	400-667 MHz	1600-2666 MPx/s	1600-2666 MTx/s
- GMA X3000	GMAX3000	integrated	8 *	8 *	400-667 MHz	640-1066 MPx/s	1280-2133 MTx/s
- GMA 4500	GMA4500	integrated	10 *	10 *	266-640 MHz	533-1280 MPx/s	1066-2560 MTx/s
- GMA X4500	GMAX4500	integrated	10 *	10 *	800 MHz	1600 MPx/s	3200 MTx/s
ATI
- Radeon 9500 (I/L)	RV300	AGP	2	4	275 MHz	1100 MPx/s	1100 MTx/s
- Radeon 9800	RV350	AGP	4	8	325 MHz	2600 MPx/s	2600 MTx/s
- Radeon X300 SE	RV370	PCIe	2	4	325 MHz	1300 MPx/s	1300 MTx/s
- Mobility Radeon X300	RV370M	intergrated	2	4	350 MHz	?	1400 MTx/s
- Radeon X700	RV410	AGP/PCIe	6	8	400 MHz	3200 MPx/s	3200 MTx/s
- Radeon X800 (XL/XT)	RV430	AGP/PCIe	6	12 (16)	400 (-500) MHz	4800 (-8000) MPx/s	4800 (-8000) MTx/s
- Radeon X1300	RV515/516	AGP/PCIe	2	4	450 MHz	1800 MPx/s	1800 MTx/s
- Radeon X1900	RV580	PCIe	8	48	500 MHz	8000 MPx/s	8000 MTx/s
- Mobility Radeon X1900	RV570	integrated	8	36	400 MHz	?	4800 MTx/s
- Radeon HD2600 Pro/XT	RV630	PCIe	120 *	120 *	600/800 MHz	4800/3200 MPx/s	4800/6400 MTx/s
- Radeon HD3200 (IGP)	RS780 (RV610)	PCIe	40 *	40 *	500 MHz	2000 MPx/s	2000 MTx/s
- Radeon HD3850	RV670 Pro	AGP/PCIe 2.0	320 *	320 *	668 MHz	10688 MPx/s	10688 MTx/s
nVidia
- GeForce FX 5200	NV34	AGP	2	4	250 MHz	1000 MPx/s	1000 MTx/s
- GeForce Go 6200	NV44M	integrated	3	4	300 MHz	?	1200 MTx/s
- GeForce 6800 (LE-UX)	NV40/41/42	AGP/PCIe	4-6	8-16	300-450 MHz	2400-7200 MPx/s	2400-7200 MTx/s
- GeForce 8600 GT	G84	PCIe 2.0	32 *	32 *	540 (1180) MHz	4320 MPx/s	8640 MTx/s
- GeForce 8600M GT	G84M	integrated	32 *	32 *	475 (950) MHz	?	7600 MTx/s
- GeForce 8800 GT	G92	PCIe 2.0	112 *	112 *	600 (1500) MHz	9600 MPx/s	33600 MTx/s
- GeForce 9800 GT	G92	PCIe 2.0	112 *	112 *	600 (1500) MHz	9600 MPx/s	33600 MTx/s
- GeForce 9800M GT	G92M	integrated	96 *	96 *	500 (1250) MHz	?	24000 MTx/s

   
Note: This overview only covers the abilities of the hardware, regardless of a correct and complete support by the drivers of this GPU for each operating system...