PCIe Interface: $250 And Up
Best PCIe Card For $250: Tie
Good 1920x1200 performance
| Codename: | GT200 |
| Process: | 65 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 |
We designate the new version of the GeForce GTX 260 with a "+" symbol to differentiate it from its identically named older sibling. While there is no official difference between the two cards, the new GTX 260+ has some very tangible performance increases over the original version. For example, the number of shaders have been increased from 192 to 216, which are within spitting distance of the GeForce GTX 280’s 240 shaders. ROPs have been increased from 64 to 72, once again approaching the GTX 280’s 80 ROPs.
The result is a card that performs almost as well as the expensive GeForce GTX 280 does, but for much less money. It even beats the GTX 280 when overclocked. You must carefully search for the GeForce GTX 260+ by looking hard at the specifications, but it is certainly worth the price premium over the original GTX 260.
| 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 4.0 |
It turns out that the Radeon 4870, when equipped with a whole gigabyte of GDDR5 RAM, can up the ante to compete against the GeForce GTX 260+ in some titles. As usual when it comes to these two tough competitors, it pays to look at the benchmarks and see which title you play more, as they tend to trade blows depending on the game.
Best PCIe Card For $300:
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, 2560x1600 in most titles with some lowered detail
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 625 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 993 (1986 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.0 |
In the 4850 CrossFire benchmarks we’ve seen so far, we’ve found that AMD has really learned to squeeze the performance out of its new cards. Two 4850s in CrossFire mode will beat the dual-GPU GeForce 9800 GX2—and even put the hurt on the more expensive GeForce GTX 280.
Best PCIe Card For $330:
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, 2560x1600 in most titles with some lowered detail
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1,600 |
| Texture Units: | 80 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.0 |
A full 2 GB of RAM will allow these options to outperform Nvidia’s flagship GeForce GTX 280 for less money. Two 4850s in CrossFire mode will do the trick and those of you without a CrossFire-compatible motherboard will find the 4850 X2 2 GB more convenient (just make sure your case and power supply can accommodate either option).
Best PCIe Card For $500:
Good 2560x1600 performance in most games, some with lowered detail
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1,600 |
| Texture Units: | 80 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1 / SM 4.0 |
In this author’s opinion, with exponentially increasing prices over $370 offering smaller and smaller performance boosts, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than two Radeon HD 4850s. While the 4870, GTX 260, and GTX 280 perform impressively in multiple-card configurations, there’s just not enough of a gain compared to a Radeon 4850 X2, unless you play at resolutions beyond 1920x1200.
Then again, while we often recommend against purchasing any graphics card that retails for more than $330 from a value point of view, there are those of you for whom money might not be much of an object, who can afford a 30” LCD monitor, and who require the best possible performance money can buy. For those of you, we recommend the $500 Radeon HD 4870 X2, the fastest video card on the planet.
i have just bought a powercolor hd3850 agp for£82,last 1 broke down
What's the point of having prices in dollars on a UK site?
[citation]What's the point of having prices in dollars on a UK site?[/citation]
1 USD = 1 GBP in buying power so it's no big deal...
Bob
Well, Page 3 is certainly a bit different in Europe regardless of currency. Sapphire/Powercolour/HIS keep undercutting like crazy with the HD4830 heading toward €90 in some places, whereas all the other cards there are significantly more expensive on this side of the pond, so Page 3 in Europe is just the HD4830, nothing else worth mentioning until HD4850 on the next page. Sorry nVidia!
I used to read these articles with great interest but I think recently the GFX card market has gotten a bit too complicated for such a simplistic format now. I recently was in the market for a high end card, and this article would have pointed me towards ATI for my budget/needs. But I actually went for a GTX280, largely because of cuda, physx and the Linux drivers, all of which, for me, means that Nvidia have the edge over ATI in a big way.
Now, I know those things aren't of interest to some people, but there are those of us out there for whom gaming FPS stats are no longer the biggest consideration when going for a higher end card.
You could argue that this article isn't for them, people who are looking into cuda or who are Linux-literate are probably going to know their stuff when doing something like buying a GFX card, but I don't see the harm in at least mentioning these factors in passing, maybe on the first page or something.
There's a clear ATI bias towards the high end in this article, and that seems to be based on bang-for-the-buck, but quite frankly I wouldn't touch their cards at the moment. They may offer great value for money, but Nvidia has recently gone way beyond just gaming and is making great strides towards making the GFX card a more integral part of a desktop rig. It's no longer just about gaming.
^ Agreed. Just bear in mind that said facilities are probably contributing to the lack of gradual price drops (lots of enthusiasts have gone to snag cheap 9600GTO/9800GT for PhysX duty and bumped up demand and prices at the wrong time) and that they do not represent a major divergence in the brands - ATI has laid off the whole physics gig temporarily due to licensing issues rather than technology limitations.
nVidia's current domination in the physics acceleration stakes is a bit of a storm in a teacup; there's eff all decent PhysX games out that need the GPGPU acceleration, and there isn't quite as big a push toward using GPGPU capabilities for game physics as they make out. Reason? Its actually nVidia's own fault by trying to lock developers into a proprietary engine that only supports half of their target audience (nVidia owners) and thus puts ATI owners - possibly 50% of potential buyers - off the game, rather than opening the standard up for ATI to use then simply designing superior hardware that utilizes their better knowledge of PhysX to maintain a credible lead. Only then will developers embrace using GPGPU physics, as it won't instantly halve their return!
[citation]What's the point of having prices in dollars on a UK site?
1 USD = 1 GBP in buying power so it's no big deal...Bob[/citation]
Currently, 1 USD = 0.7 GBP. So if a card is $300 it translates to £210.00. Unfortunately, an awful lot of stores over here (including the online one's), charge much higher prices and when you convert that to dollars you'll probably gasp.
You guys in America get some real good deals over there, especially with rebates.
[citation]Currently, 1 USD = 0.7 GBP.[/citation]
Yeh but I SAID "buying power" not the exchange rate. The numerical value difference in prices between the US and the UK is fast approaching zero.
Bob
LOL @ THG broken website...