ATI 2400 & HD 2600 Reviews

Two months ago, AMD announced their 2×00 series of cards, although only the 2900 could be found at retail shortly after. NDA is now released on the rest of the cards, so 2400 and HD 2600 reviews are making their rounds today. What these mid-range cards offer is DX10 and SM 4.0 support and all the key features that the 2×00 series brought to the table. The big question is though, are they worth it?

Overall, the new Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2600 Pro, and 2400 XT cards should make for quiet, low-power upgrades from any integrated graphics solution and offer a relatively low-cost of entry into the world of DirectX 10. These cards are obviously not geared to hardcore gamers, but at lower resolutions without high levels of AA and anisotropic filtering enabled they’ll be adequate for casual gaming. – HotHardware

While gaming performance of the HD 2600 XT is generally a bit slower than the GeForce 8600 GTS, the price is lower as well. In this market segment price is often more important than a few percent more or less performance. The cooling solution of the 2600 XT works well, temperature controlled fan speeds keep the fan noise at a minimum. – techPowerUp!

Gamers on a budget should be pleased by the performance found with these cards, as they seem to scale well with NVIDIA’s offerings when pricing comes into play. These were the first two reviews we were sent, but no doubt more will be posted throughout the day. We will link to the rest in tomorrows daily roundup.