Best PCIe Card: $110 To $175
Best PCIe Card For ~$115:
Radeon HD 5770 (Radeon HD 6770) (Check Prices)
Great 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 5770/6770 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV840 "Juniper" |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 128-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 850 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1200 (4800 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
| Max TDP: | 108 W |
The Radeon HD 5770 (also available re-badged as the Radeon HD 6770, with the added bonus of Blu-ray 3D decode support) is an extremely attractive $115 option, offering a worthwhile upgrade beyond the cheaper Radeon HD 5750 and GeForce GTS 450. This card is one of our price/performance favorites, and with Radeon HD 4870-class performance, it's an excellent starting point for the serious gamer.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 5770 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~$155: Tie
Radeon HD 6790 (Check Prices)
Great 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 6790 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Barts LE |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 840 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1050 (4200 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
| Max TDP: | 150 W |
AMD's Radeon HD 6790 is a good counterpoint to the GeForce GTX 460 768 MB, and both products introduce solid performance to this price point.
The pair enables DirectX 11 support and HD audio bitstreaming capabilities. The main differentiators are Eyefinity multi-monitor support favoring AMD's Radeon, while the GeForce has access to a mature 3D Vision infrastructure that includes 3D gaming and Blu-ray 3D support.
Of course, the Radeons can be CrossFire'd and the GeForces can be SLI'd, so motherboard support should be taken into account.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6790 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
GeForce GTX 460 768 MB (Check Prices)
Great 1920x1200 performance in most games
| GeForce GTX 460 768 MB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GF104 |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 336 |
| Texture Units: | 56 |
| ROPs: | 24 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core/Shader Speed MHz: | 675 / 1350 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5 |
| 150 W | |
Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 460 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~$170: None
The GeForce GTX 460 1 GB and Radeon HD 6850 deliver impressive performance for a reasonable price tag, but they're currently squeezed between the Radeon HD 6790/GeForce GTX 460 768 MB and Radeon HD 6870/GeForce GTX 560 by a mere $20 on either side. Because of this, we either recommend the cheaper cards to save money or the more expensive ones for better performance.
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- Best Of The Best: High-End Graphics Card Roundup
- Matching Doom3 With The Best Graphics Card
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December 2011
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November 2011
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2011
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: September 2011
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: August 2011
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: July 2011
why no Llano?
Ok, you've got to tell me who has been having success unlocking the 1gb Radeon 5950s and what models!
No Ti -_-""
good test, but
Title is wrong. It's June 2011 not July 2011
why no Llano?
Best Graphics *CARDS* for the money. Llano is a APU, not GPU.
cant wait for new gfx cards to come out, im hoping some of them will come out by 2011 Q4
Best Graphics *CARDS* for the money. Llano is a APU, not GPU.
Ok, read to last page. Perhaps the list is older than Llano. Llano just came out.
Hello Tom, please update the Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart with new GPUs for laptops too. HD 6000 series for laptops are already out.
the chart is a bit confusing unless you read the details. was confused if you were recommending the 560 or 560 Ti. anyway, thanks for this
i might suggest adding, at least in an honorable mention, the radeon HD 5830. when there is a proper stock of them, you can get it on newegg for 110$ or the supercharged sapphire edition for 130$. these card perform superbly, only slightly lower than the 5850.
Radeon 6970 and GTX 570 are at the same price. At least on Newegg, you can get a Radeon 6970 for $319 (after rebate). So, I think that it shouldn't be considered a $350 card. Several of GTX 570 are also selling in the $350 range, but Toms mentions it as a $325 card.
@Tom's, it will help readers who aspire for eyefinity or surround vision if the performance for resolution ~5760x1080 is included. Anyway, the trend is now towards multidisplay gaming...
"why no Llano?"
Llano is an APU and not a discrete graphics.
My HD5770 is still in the list!
AMD Fusion APUs still not updated into the Tom's Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart
Llano still new perhaps, but Brazos has been around almost 6 months :|
Naturally we will want to see how the new Llano and Brazos solutions compare, even if they are not "Graphics Cards". Finally, something a little exciting for people that don't have a lot of dough.
"Best Graphics *CARDS* for the money. Llano is a APU, not GPU"
But intel hd graphic are there in the final page. Please update the last page with LLano
Many comments regarding Llano are not clearly defining what you are asking for. I believe you want Llano to be showing up in the graphics hierarchy chart (last page of the article only). In the entire rest of the article these have no place, because as mentioned on the first page none of these can perform as well as a low cost discrete card, and this article is for gaming cards. ONLY on the graphics hierarchy chart could these be included, and I guess for those considering an HTPC or a laptop which will hopefully soon have these APU's it could be useful.
Where would the Geforce 7025 (or 7050) be positioned in the hierarchy chart ?
I mean, you already have Intel graphics (which are basically integrated) in there.
Radeon 6970 and GTX 570 are at the same price. At least on Newegg, you can get a Radeon 6970 for $319 (after rebate). So, I think that it shouldn't be considered a $350 card. Several of GTX 570 are also selling in the $350 range, but Toms mentions it as a $325 card.
...At least on Newegg, you can get a GTX570 for $290 after rebate. But Tom's doesn't count mail in rebates. I've never really understood your logic, it's never really seemed... impartial. There are several HD6970's selling in the $380+ range yet Tom's mentions it as a $350 card.
Does this mean Tom's should've increased the list price of the HD6970 based on these few higher priced models?
Of course there's overlap in the pricing of overclocked GTX570's and stock HD6970's, that usually happens when you have two cards positioned so close to each other in performance. But overall there is a $20 - $30 price discrepancy between the GTX570 and HD6970.