Conclusion
What about this other card that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not ?
This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen, because both stock levels and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that card you’ve got your eye on is a good buy in its price range?
Here are two resources to help you judge if a card is a good buy or not. The first is the graphics card hierarchy chart, which groups graphics cards with similar overall performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing cards available and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.
You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.
At the request of readers, I have added mobile graphics and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphics solutions. While the discrete video cards in the chart are placed in tiers based on a lot of information, many of the mobile and integrated devices in the chart are guesstimates based on their specifications. At worst, I don’t think they’re more than one tier away from their actual performance, but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphics chipsets.
| GeForce | Radeon |
|---|---|
| GTX 295 | |
| HD 4870 X2 | |
| GTX 280, GTX 285 | HD 4850 X2 |
| 9800 GX2, GTX 260, GTX 275 | HD 4870, HD 4890 |
| 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250 | HD 3870 X2, HD 4850 |
| 8800 GT 512 MB, 8800 GTS 512 MB, 9800 GT | HD 4830 |
| 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT | HD 2900 XT, HD 3870 |
| 8800 GS, 9600 GSO | HD 3850 512 MB, Mobility 3870, HD 4670 |
| 8800 GT 256 MB, 8800 GTS 320 MB, GO 8800M | HD 2900 PRO, HD 3850 256 MB, Mobility 3850 |
| 7950 GX2 | X1950 XTX, HD 4650 (DDR3) |
| 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX | X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX |
| 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT | X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT |
| 7800 GT, 7900 GS, Go 7950 GTX, 8600 GTS, 9500 GT (GDDR3) | X1800 XL, X1950 GT, Mobility X1800 XT, HD 4650 (DDR2) |
| 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, Go 7800 GTX, Go 7900 GTX, 8600 GT (GDDR3), 9500 GT (DDR2) | X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, Mobility X1900, HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR3), HD 3670, Mobility 3670 |
| 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCIe), Go 7800, Go 7900 GS, 8600 GT (DDR2) | X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, Mobility X800 XT, HD 2600 PRO, Mobility HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR2), Mobility 3650 |
| 6800 GS (AGP), Go 6800 Ultra, Go 7600 GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT | X800 GTO 256 MB, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT, Mobility HD 2600 |
| 6800, Go 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, Go 7700, 8600M GS | X800, X800 GTO 128 MB, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO, Mobility X1800 |
| 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT (DDR2), Go 7600 (128-bit), 8500 GT, 9400 GT | 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, Mobility X800, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT, HD 3300, Mobility 3470, HD 4350, HD 4550 |
| FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128-bit), Go 6800 (128-bit) | 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, Mobility X1450, X1550, Mobility X1600, Mobility X1700, HD 2400 PRO, Mobility HD 2400 XT, Mobility X2500, HD 3200, Mobility 3450 |
| FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT, Go 6600, Go 7600 (64-bit) | 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, Mobility 9800, 9800 PRO (128-bit), X600 XT, Mobility X700, X1050 (128-bit), Mobility X1350, Mobility X1400, Mobility X2300, Mobility HD 2400 |
| 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8400 GS | 9600 PRO, Mobility 9700 (128-bit), 9800 LE, X600 PRO, Mobility X600, Mobility X1300, Xpress 1250, Mobility HD 2300 |
| 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64-bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS, 9300M G, 9300M GS | 9500, 9550, 9600, Mobility 9600, X300, X1050 (64-bit) |
| 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, Go 5700, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE, 8200M, 9200M GS, 9100M | 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, Mobility 9700 (64-bit), X300 SE, X1150 |
| 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128-bit), FX 5500, Go 5600, Go 6200, Go 6400, Go 7200, Go 7300, Go 7400 (64-bit) | 9000, 9200, 9250, Mobility 9600 (64-bit), Mobility X300 |
| FX 5200 (64 bit), 6100, 6150, Go 7200, Go 7400 (32-bit) | 9200 SE, Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150 |
| 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200 | 7500 |
| 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400 | SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200 |
| Nvidia TNT | Rage 128 |
Summary
There you have it folks: the best cards for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.
Don’t worry too much about which brand you choose, because all of the cards out there pretty close to Nvidia’s and ATI’s reference designs. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer’s reputation for honoring the warranty if something goes wrong.
Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!
Related Stories :
- Radeon HD 7990 And GeForce GTX 690: Bring Out The Big Guns
- AMD Updates Radeon HD 7950 to Counter GeForce GTX 660 Ti
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review: Up Against GeForce GTX 580
- Radeon HD 6990M And GeForce GTX 580M: A Beautiful Lie
- GeForce GTX 580M SLI Vs. Radeon HD 6990M CrossFire
- AVADirect's W860CU: Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Vs. GeForce GTX 285M
- GeForce GTX 480 Poses Next to Radeon HD 5970
- Radeon HD 5770, Radeon HD 4890, And GeForce GTX 275 Overclocked
- GeForce GTX 275, Radeon HD 4890 Now Available
- A Roundup of the GeForce GTX 780 Releases & Variants
Looks Good!
I really wish the gtx 285 would go down in price and make this list. i would rather have this single gpu than another gpu in sli or crossfire. Then i would sli in the future if necessary. maybe there is hope for the gtx 285 to make the value list sometime this summer especially if ati comes out with their new gpu and the 285 has a nice drop in price.
another great article. i always enjoy this.
This article is always a good read.
I must admit I'm a little disappointed to see another month with no changes in recommendations, even with two new releases thrown into the mix. There's really only one change I expect for next month, and that totally depends on whether or not the 47XX card(s) from ATI goes gold and displaces the 4830. I suppose if it's enough of a performance increase over the 4830, it could potentially take over part of or the entire ~$80 to ~$130 range of recommendations.
I suppose we wait and see.
I bought 2 x GTX285, I want the fastest single GPU, and that is still the GTX285, then I can always fall back to single GPU when there are problems with SLI.
SLI and Crossfire came a long way, but there are still many situations where the performance does not add up.
That is why I consider 2 x GTX285 a much safer and better investment then a single GTX295 or Radeon 4870x2.
I bought 2 x GTX285, I want the fastest single GPU, and that is still the GTX285, then I can always fall back to single GPU when there are problems with SLI.
SLI and Crossfire came a long way, but there are still many situations where the performance does not add up.
That is why I consider 2 x GTX285 a much safer and better investment then a single GTX295 or Radeon 4870x2.
I bought 2 x GTX285, I want the fastest single GPU, and that is still the GTX285, then I can always fall back to single GPU when there are problems with SLI.
SLI and Crossfire came a long way, but there are still many situations where the performance does not add up.
That is why I consider 2 x GTX285 a much safer and better investment then a single GTX295 or Radeon 4870x2.
Good article as always - not anything to criticize except that I was surprised that 2 4830's in CF didn't even get a mention - after all you have a GPU solution there for $180 that beats all the competition (4870 1GB and 260 GTX) by a noteworthy margin:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/v [...] sfire.html
After mail-in-rebates its only ~$150 - thats seem pretty good bang for the buck and even if isn't a solution for everybody as you need a crossfire capable board and some good air flow, its still a great choice to consider.
As our triple-posting friend brings up, there are indeed times when a single GTX 285 might be a good purchase, or even two. I felt that might need more attention as I read this. At least some people do indeed want or prefer single GPU solutions.
Other than that, good as always.
I am sorry about the triple posting, I got some errors and thought the post didnt got thru.
Good to see HD 4830 there. I waz wondering the last time y it was not in the list. Good work. Keep it coming.Very useful.
All these cards are good and all but non can give me the experience of playing KOTOR I for the first time on a 21" Mitsubishi and crappy Radeon 8500.
We need better games and not lame games with good graphic a la Crysis. I would gladly pay for a 275 or 4890 if KOTOR III or Modern Warfare II needs it.
I personally think these monthly evaluations should be split into two categories, Multi GPU and Single GPU. HD4850X2 might be a great bargain, but some people want to know the best value (in different price ranges) for single GPU configs. Multi GPU cards suffer from microstuttering, and driver support isn't perfect in every game.
For my personal needs, my value sweet spot is the HD4890 or GTX275.
The HD4850 might get higher average frame rates, but what about minimum frame rates? I'll NEVER buy multi GPU until they their issues are completely solved.
HD4850X2 rather. man, why no edit function?
We're still quite pleased that the Radeon HD 4850 X2 can now be found on Newegg for $260.
Geforce GTX 260's have dropped in price for some time now. In fact, there are several starting at $180, $80 below your suggested price point. Saying the 4850X2 will beat the similarly priced 260 is just plain off. A more adequate comparison in price would have been the GTX 275 or Radeon 4890. Was this just a cut and paste from last month's article, and oversight?
These poor guys can't win!
They get criticized for recommending cards paired in Crossfire or SLI. Then get comments on how readers were disappointed that a Crossfire configuration didn't make the list.
I have no problem if they restrict the reviews to single-card performance because multi-card setups are a graphics CONFIGURATION, not a graphics CARD. The graphics companies cheat a little by providing the dual GPU cards (the x2 cards for Radeon and the GTX295 for Nvidia, for example) and those could be evaluated as a CARD.
What about two's 4890's in crossfire for the crown. From what I've seen at techpowerup and other sites it beats the 295
We need better games and not lame games with good graphic a la Crysis. I would gladly pay for a 275 or 4890 if KOTOR III
KOTOR III is on the way... Bioware is developing the next Star Wars MMO in the KOTOR universe! Should be pretty sweet.
Good article as always - not anything to criticize except that I was surprised that 2 4830's in CF didn't even get a mention - after all you have a GPU solution there for $180 that beats all the competition (4870 1GB and 260 GTX) by a noteworthy margin: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/v [...] sfire.htmlAfter mail-in-rebates its only ~$150 - thats seem pretty good bang for the buck and even if isn't a solution for everybody as you need a crossfire capable board and some good air flow, its still a great choice to consider.
Two 4830's are pretty good, but a single 4870 512MB for the same price performs similarly and cheaper when you consider you don't need an Xfire motherboard and a beefier PSU. That's why two 4830's didn't make the cut... not to mention two 9800 GTs.
[EDIT] Yeah, that Xbit article makes a pretty good case for a couple 4830s. And therefore, probably a couple 9800 GTs. It's still not a slam dunk, but I'll reconsider for next month.
As our triple-posting friend brings up, there are indeed times when a single GTX 285 might be a good purchase, or even two.
I'd disagree, the criteria to make this list is price and performance, I don't think the price of a single GTX 285 is justified at all when the 4850 X2 beats it quite soundly.
If there's a game that a single 285 beats a 4850 X2 at because of multi-GPU issues, it probably doesn't beat it by much. Conversely, the 4850 X2 can really take it to a 285 from what I've seen.
Of course I haven't benched every game under the sun, so if you have evidence of a few notable exceptions to this I'd be happy to review it and coinsider it. But without seeing that eveidence I have a hard time recommending the 285.