Tom's Graphics Card Guide: 32 Mid-Range Cards Benchmarked

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Power Consumption Measurements

Performance at Idle and Load:

Everything gets flipped upside down when we compare idle and peak loads. While the mid-range GeForce cards are unbeatable at idle, they require considerably more power than the other cards under full load. Later in our efficiency analysis we'll see whether they make good use of that extra power draw. The undisputed power hog in our test is a GeForce GTX 560 Ti that comes with both an eight-pin and a six-pin auxiliary power plug. We question whether this is really necessary, because even our GeForce GTX 580 doesn’t pull that wattage from the wall.

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Summary
  1. Picking The Right Graphics Card
  2. Test System And Test Conditions
  3. Benchmark Results: Synthetics
  4. Benchmark Results: DirectX 11 Games
  5. Benchmark Results: DirectX 10 Games
  6. Benchmark Results: DirectX 9 Games
  7. Power Consumption Measurements
  8. Temperature Measurements
  9. Noise Level Measurements
  10. Tom's Hardware Performance Index
  11. Performance Per Watt
  12. Results: Performance Per dB
  13. Conclusion And Recommendations
About the author
Igor Wallossek

Igor Wallossek is a Senior Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware DE. He tests and reviews CPUs, GPUs, games and headsets.

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117 comments
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  • dco
    In every benchmark its the souped up overclocked versions of the GTX 560 Ti that are on top.

    The standard Geforce GTX 560 Ti is still getting beaten by the standard Radeon 6950
  • fictionforthetame
    No aftermarket 6950? Those 560ti cards that are topping the benchmarks are a good $40-$60 more expensive than a stock 6950 here in Oz. I think you should have included an OC'd 6950 (like the Gigabyte) which is still $20 cheaper than those ti's to make this a bit more interesting.
  • haplo602
    can't help it, another pro nvidia review. where are the overclocked 6950 cards ?
    • Other Comments
  • yukijin
    This confirms that the 560 ti belongs in TH best graphics cards for the money ( they werent recommomended the past 2 months)
  • Inf3rn0_44
    560ti is an amazing card for the money
  • KrazerSK
    arent the 6950s in this price range also? there are 2gb ones going for $250
  • whysobluepandabear
    You have a 560 Ti eVGA Superclock for $215~ after rebate on Newegg. Then you have the 6870 from a few various brands for about $169~ after rebate.


    Is the TI worth another 40+ dollars?
  • dco
    In every benchmark its the souped up overclocked versions of the GTX 560 Ti that are on top.

    The standard Geforce GTX 560 Ti is still getting beaten by the standard Radeon 6950
  • SteelCity1981
    The GeForce GTX 550Ti wiould be a bargin if nvidia put the price below 100 dollars in which it should be considering it's performance doesn't justify the extra 30 or 40 dollars.
  • Zero_
    Yup, considering its performance, the GTX550Ti should have replaced the GTS450 price point, which was $110. Since the GTX550Ti was included here, I would have liked to see where the cheaper HD5770/6770 would have placed, probably higher than the GTX550Ti.

    Also, can you guys do a story on how some classic cards match up to modern games? Stuff like 8800GTX's and 2900XT's which used to cost an arm and leg back in the day. Would be cool to see how the fare today.
  • fictionforthetame
    No aftermarket 6950? Those 560ti cards that are topping the benchmarks are a good $40-$60 more expensive than a stock 6950 here in Oz. I think you should have included an OC'd 6950 (like the Gigabyte) which is still $20 cheaper than those ti's to make this a bit more interesting.
  • Lobodomy
    Gah, just as I was about to go to bed an interesting review come out... I'll keep it open to read first thing in the morning!
  • scrumworks
    Geforces dominate benchmarks because we have used 10 variants of overclocked 560Ti cards against stock clocked few Radeons (6950) here and there. And also, we don't show which drivers and control panel settings we have used because that would reveal our trickery. Why is Tom always hating AMD/ATI?
  • scrumworks
    There even seems not to be performance per $ which is ridiculous. Of course super clocked variants cost more than reference models. I'm sure Radeons have better performance per dollar. That's something "Igor" didn't want us to see.
  • Anonymous
    wher is the most important price/perfomance index.........
  • Anonymous
    and the choice of games is less than miserable......
  • TommyV
    This whole review is bs. Where are the OC 6950's? Did you really think that you could pass this review off as an unbiased review? If we can't trust this review, it makes the whole website suspect (except for the awesome forum people)

    Seriously, update this review if you value the members.
  • atawhai007
    Who still plays Mafia2?
  • haplo602
    can't help it, another pro nvidia review. where are the overclocked 6950 cards ?
  • johnnyb_27
    I'm confused you have the base 560 ti ahead of the His iceQX 6870 in the enthusiast settings but it looks like all but one or two games the His card is better.
  • The_King
    Not that I am a Gigabyte fan-boy but other sites show the Gigabyte Windforce idles at 29-35 and load 60-66.
    http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/11/gigabyte_gtx_560_ti_oc_video_card_review/8

    http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/8
  • joshyboy82
    How can this author say, "from their top-end (AMD Radeon HD 6970, Nvidia GeForce GTX 570)?" I'm pretty sure that the GTX 580 is the top of the line. If it isn't, then what is it considered? Just because it doesn't have an AMD equivalent doesn't make it something exclusive.
  • mayzie
    Seems to be a lot of unhappy ATI users reading this but I don't know why. Look at best graphics cards for the money and ATI really dominates in a lot of categories.
    Bottom line I got from this article is how oversaturated the market is with choice.
    Use the car analogy, there are a lot of different mid priced cars and they all do a job but some are more comfortable, some more reliable, some quicker and some have more bells and whistles. Which is best comes down to what you want and maybe you just want that Ferrari that will kill them all but costs a packet.
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