The Best Gaming Graphics Cards for Your Money: February 2008

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do all the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is a guide to the best graphics cards within their budget.

So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough that you’ll make the right decision, Fear not! We at Tom’s Hardware Guide have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for your money this month.

January Review and February Updates:

The big January story in the graphics card world was, of course, the introduction of the Radeon 3870 X2. With two Radeon 3870 GPUs working at once on a single PCB, the X2 is on average the fastest single video card that money can buy. Note the qualifier ‘on average’. The reason for that is that this card relies on crossfire drivers to get the job done. What this means is that performance can be a little inconsistent. There are a number of cases where the 3870 X2 will be outperformed by a single 8800 ULTRA or even an 8800 GTX. The 3870 X2 also inherits the 3x00 series weakness in DirectX 10 applications. At a street price of £285 however, the card is certainly a better deal than the £420 Geforce 8800 Ultra. The real question is whether or not it’s a better deal than the £180 Geforce 8800 GTS 512MB. In the final analysis, we think that the 3870 X2 is a viable choice if you’re display is 1920x1200 or higher; below that, the 8800 GTS 512 is probably better value.

Regardless, Nvidia won’t be satisfied with surrendering the ‘fastest video card on the planet’ title, and we can expect an 8800 GX2 card out in the near future to compete with Ati’s dual-card. Also interesting is the rumour that the Geforce 9600 GT is to be released soon. This should boost performance in the Radeon 3850 range. Nvidia really needs a midrange card to compete with the 3850 and to continue the great tradition of the 6600 and 7600. The 9600 GT should prove to be a fine addition to their collection when it arrives (Watch this space Ed.). Of course, for the next few weeks at least, Ati will be selling their excellent Radeon 3850’s with very little to challenge them in the marketplace in the £100 price range.