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Best PCIe Card For ~$130:
Radeon HD 4870 512 MB (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4870 512 MB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
This is the sweet spot, folks. If someone told us the Radeon HD 4870 would be marked down to $130 four months ago, we'd have laughed in their face. Well, who is laughing now? The consumers are, with this very powerful card and its fast GDDR5 memory available at bargain-basement prices.
Best PCIe Card For ~$155: Tie
Radeon HD 4870 1GB (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4870 1GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
For $20 more than the 512 MB version, you can have the 1 GB flavor of Radeon HD 4870. For a few less than the GeForce GTX 260, the Radeon card offers a little more RAM and comparable performance.
- Radeon 4870 Video Card...
GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) (Check Prices)
| GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GT200 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 216 |
| Texture Units: | 72 |
| ROPs: | 28 |
| Memory Bus: | 448-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 576 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 999 (1,998 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10/SM 4.0 |
While these cards might not sport a full 1 GB of RAM, they do offer advantages in titles that run better on the GeForce GT200 architecture. Once again, a little diligence is required on the part of the buyer to find out which card is the best adapted for his or her favorite titles and whether or not the motherboard supports SLI or CrossFire. (Ed.: Check out our recent Radeon HD 4890 review, which has numbers for the 512 MB and 1 GB Radeon HD 4870s, along with the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216).
Note that we are recommending the newer Core 216 version of the GeForce GTX 260 instead of the older version with 192 shader processors, which is now becoming hard to find. Regardless, check the specifications of any card before you purchase.
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I'm a little surprised that you consider the HD4850 as giving "Good 1920x1200 performance in most games"
This card is good but definitely meant for 1680x1050. I don't see this card playing Far Cry 2 or any moderately new game on anything past medium on 1920x1200.
Radeon HD 4730? I found out about that card by accident. It seems to be a harvested 4870 (at least some sites report that).
Will there be a review of this card (the Powercolor version seems better). Or is this too much low end for Tom's ???
Nice article you have there. Kudos!
Intel IGPs are total wreck. They aren't even worth mentioning.
Radeon HD 4730? I found out about that card by accident. It seems to be a harvested 4870 (at least some sites report that).Will there be a review of this card (the Powercolor version seems better). Or is this too much low end for Tom's ???
I think this card is a mess. I've read a review somewhere that it performs like a 4670 but consumes power like 4870.
It's tempting to get another GPU, but most games run so well on just one GTX 260 C216 I may just get a new Intel SSD instead.
Wow, it's a good time to buy a new graphic processor...I don't even see my GTS 250 recommended anymore, and that was only a month or two ago! Pace of innovation is fast, I say....
I'm a little surprised that you consider the HD4850 as giving "Good 1920x1200 performance in most games"This card is good but definitely meant for 1680x1050. I don't see this card playing Far Cry 2 or any moderately new game on anything past medium on 1920x1200.
Eh, if you're on that tight of a budget you can stand 20 fps or medium settings.
@anyone tempted to buy now:
Don't spend too much, you'll just be upgrading in six months anyway for a shiny new tessellation unit.
I cant help but feel like this article is showing me information that I have already seen several times before.
Funny, I was thinking to myself yesterday "It's almost August and no best graphics cards articles" and look what we have today. Maybe I should play the lottery today...
Anyway, good article. Even included intel IGPs this time.
I cant help but feel like this article is showing me information that I have already seen several times before.
It's a glitch in the matrix...
I think this card is a mess. I've read a review somewhere that it performs like a 4670 but consumes power like 4870.
Nope. It performs AND consumes in betwenn a 4870 and a 4670. Pretty good card, if you ask me.
Not that I would ever buy one, but since you do address the enthusiast market, does the GTX 295 Hydro justify the cost over the vanilla 295?
And since you also carve out some of the same GPUs with varying ram size, does the same type of performance increase with IGP? MSI has 1gb DDR3 sideport on their 790gx board available.
And agreeing with doomtomb, can we get definitions of what good/exceptional performance is for the varying resolutions? I wouldn't but a 4850 up to 1920x1080. Maybe the 1 gb card, but the 512 is going to choke along the way, and I wouldn't consider that good performance.
wow. FAIL at Intel Graphics department
Now we just needs to see something new come out in the next month before my 90 day step-ups run out.....been a slow summer on the graphics front
Nice to see my GTX 275 SLI are still being recommended
Can't believe how good performance you can get for the money right now. It's unbelievable.
I was pretty happy when I got my 4870 512mb for $250, and now it's almost half the price. Hopefully these prices will help grow the PC gaming market. Another $150 to most computers sold now give you a good gaming computer pretty much.
Nice article you have there. Kudos!Intel IGPs are total wreck. They aren't even worth mentioning.
There so bad a lot of Intel's IGP can't even run Vista Areo Interface (Microsoft have already had a pop at Intel for the lack of Areo support)! It's almost as if Intel went all out the produce the crappiest video chipset they could possibly make.
The Radeon HD 4870 1Gb is such as good deal at the moment it's hard to believe this was the 2nd best performing card on the market just sitting behind the GTX280 last summer. I'm tempted to get one to replace my 8800GT but the Radeon DX11 cards are just around the corner it seems almost pointless getting one now.
How can Intel even SAY "Graphics Media Accelerator" and keep a straight face? Epic FAIL is right.
newegg has 4850s in the $80-$90 range, I dont think you can beat that bang for your buck.. I am hoping this is a sign of the soon to come 5xxx series >=D
Side note: Where is the 2009 CPU Chart BTW?????
Yes ...Just where is that chart?
Funny looking at the chart. I went from Rage 128, GE Force 256, X850 Pro, to my current card the x1950 pro AGP. Next card will probably be HD 4870 X2.
I really don't upgrade often!
Yes ...Just where is that chart?
This. From this point on, this comment thread will now be about petitioning that toms updates the CPU chart.
Yes ...Just where is that chart?
.. -1 for my observational skills