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The DirectX10 Card Wars enter a new phase today, with a new milestone: the release of ATI's midrange R600 based cards in the form of the Radeon HD 2600 and HD 2400 series.

It appears that ATI has a lot riding on these cards.  Not only were they quite late in getting their flagship HD 2900 XT DX10 product to market, but in a fair number of benchmarks, the cheaper GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB out-paces the power-hungry, top-end ATI card. However, it is the mid-range cards that move the most units in the marketplace. If today's card turns out to be a solid performer, loyal ATI enthusiasts would have an easy time forgetting that the HD 2900 XT was not as decisive a winner as they were hoping it would be.

To see what ATI's first DirectX10 mid-range card can do, we have, hot-from-the-factory, a Powercolor HD 2600 XT. If you've read our recent 8600 card roundup and our initial review of the 8600 products, you probably have a good handle on this primary competition: the GeForce 8600 GT's and GTS'. The HD 2600 line comes in both 'XT' and 'PRO' models – the XT being faster of the two. Initial price points indicate that HD 2600 XT will be much closer to the GT price range, than the GTS' price range. The HD 2600 XT is also offered in both GDDR3 and GDDR4 versions. According to information supplied to us from ATI, the HD 2600 XT GDDR4 will be closer in price and performance to a 8600 GT. The GDDR 3 version will probably retail for a bit less than most editions of the 8600 GT, with our particular card being around $115 USD.

If you recall from the 8600 roundup, we were not altogether blown away by the performance of the 8600 GTS', but they did put in some respectable numbers – on the other hand, the cheaper 8600 GT's offered pretty good performance numbers for their price, which was in the $100 to $150 range. It'll be interesting to see how the HD 2600 XT stacks up.

For this review, we will look at how the HD 2600 XT benches against it's current midrange competitors, a 8600 GT and GTS, and we'll also compare the HD 2600 XT against the upper-mid-range cards of the previous generation. Here are all the cards we'll benchmark today: the BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC, a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600 Pro, a Powercolor HD 2600 XT, a XFX GeForce 8600 GT, and a XFX GeForce 8600 GTS. Here is a chart comparing some pertinent numbers:

As you can see, the HD 2600 XT has a healthy lead over the 8600 GTS when it comes to core clock speed, and has many more stream processors. Before we see what difference this makes, let's take a closer look at the card, shall we?