Best Graphics Cards For The Money: Jan. '09 : Best Cards For The Money: December Review/January Updates
Source: Tom's Hardware US – Keywords: best, graphics, card
Best Cards For The Money: December Review/January Updates
Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.
So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right board, fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for the money.
December Review and January Updates:
In December, the biggest news in the graphics card world was the preview of Nvidia's upcoming GeForce GTX 295 card, which comprises two slightly underclocked GeForce GTX 280 GPUs on a single card with 55 nm dies. Nvidia promises that this card will launch with a $500 manufacturer-suggested retail price (MSRP), putting it in the same ballpark as the Radeon 4870 X2's price point. Preliminary indications suggest that if Nvidia can pull off a solid launch with retail availability during the next few weeks, then the GTX 295 will give the firm back the graphics crown currently held by the Radeon 4870 X2. Only time will tell if Nvidia can get this card to the public in a timely manner, but the launch is targeted for this month.
If the card does launch this month, we can expect a lot of price shifting in a short time—the Radeon 4870 X2 would thus have to become cheaper to remain competitive. Indeed, Nvidia's own GeForce GTX 280 will probably have to drop in price as well. And we might also expect Nvidia to launch some new cards based on the new die-shrunk GPU and perhaps new versions of the GTX 260 and GTX 280.
Another slight change we have made in this month's recommendations is that we now recognize the difference between the 512 MB Radeon 4850 cards and the 1 GB versions we've seen come to market in the past few months. But at the same time, there hasn't been a lot of graphics card news over the holiday season. Prices have shifted slightly for certain product offerings, but the landscape has remained fairly stable, which can be expected after the large price reductions we've seen in previous months. But when the GTX 295 is released, things will likely change fairly quickly.
Some Notes About Our Recommendations
A few simple guidelines to keep in mind when reading this list:
- This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, the cards on this list are more expensive than what you really need;
- Prices and availability change on a daily basis. We can’t offer up-to-the-minute accurate pricing info, but we can list some good cards that you probably won’t regret buying at the price ranges we suggest;
- The list is based on some of the best U.S. prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary;
- These are new card prices. No used or open-box cards are in the list—they might be a good deal, but it’s outside the scope of what we’re trying to do.
- Next page PCI Express (PCIe) Interface: $0 To $85
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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...