Best PCIe Card: $100 To $160
Best PCIe Card For ~$130:
Radeon HD 4870 512 MB (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4870 512 MB | |
|---|---|
| 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 4.1 |
This is the sweet spot, folks. If someone told us the Radeon HD 4870 would be marked down to $130 four months ago, we'd have laughed in their face. Well, who is laughing now? The consumers are, with this very powerful card and its fast GDDR5 memory available at bargain-basement prices.
Best PCIe Card For ~$155: Tie
Radeon HD 4870 1GB (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4870 1GB | |
|---|---|
| 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 4.1 |
For $20 more than the 512 MB version, you can have the 1 GB flavor of Radeon HD 4870. For a few less than the GeForce GTX 260, the Radeon card offers a little more RAM and comparable performance.
GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) (Check Prices)
| GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GT200 |
| Process: | 55 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 |
While these cards might not sport a full 1 GB of RAM, they do offer advantages in titles that run better on the GeForce GT200 architecture. Once again, a little diligence is required on the part of the buyer to find out which card is the best adapted for his or her favorite titles and whether or not the motherboard supports SLI or CrossFire. (Ed.: Check out our recent Radeon HD 4890 review, which has numbers for the 512 MB and 1 GB Radeon HD 4870s, along with the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216).
Note that we are recommending the newer Core 216 version of the GeForce GTX 260 instead of the older version with 192 shader processors, which is now becoming hard to find. Regardless, check the specifications of any card before you purchase.
hooray!
the return of the 4850X2!
methinks it put the hurt on nvidia, that's why it's been kept quiet?!
great card, that one
cheers,
bill
p.s. stuff and nonsense: http://www.eupeople.net/forum
It might be second nature to anyone with modern hardware, but for anyone upgrading older systems make sure your PSU has 24 pins rather than 20. The extra four pins are needed to maintain stability when you plug in a PCI-E card, whilst 20 should be OK for onboard video. So you have 24 pins + the 4 pins for the CPU.
If you plug a 20-pin PSU into a 24-pin socket on the motherboard, then add even a cheap PCI-E card (eg a Geforce 7300), you'll be overloading the system and it could result in damage. PCI-E boards that sport an external power source may rectify this, I'm not sure (e.g. using a PCI-E to molex converter). I learned the hard ware, to use the proper
..24-pin connectors, rather than outdated 20-pin one's. The 20-pin one's are OK for AGP boards and 24-pin boards that can accept both 20 and 24-pin PSU's.
I upgraded a 20/24-pin board (onboard Geforce 6100 with A64 3200+), by adding a Geforce 7300. The 20-pin PSU was 400W. I realised that 20 pins weren't enough even though this card is really slow.
Hmmm, you must be shopping some secret place you obviously don't want to share with others. You claim a HD 4870 512MB is $130.00 while the cheapest showing up when following your (Check Prices) link is $151.10. Am I missing something?
i think the radeon 4850 is the best buy currently for around €90 you will have one. afther that the radeon 4870 is great too. it will cost you €115-125 if you have the right shops. then 4890 comes around the corner for €165. I'havent decided yet what to get. evergreen is very close now and im hard underway to reach my goal buget for a new system. it sure takes a while but then again i now live on my own and im 20 years old so i dont have much money at hand you know. everything costs alot and saving is hard because your rent aswell as insurrence and food and maintanance cost almost as much as you have each month, But i work hard for my goals and i will achieve them. one of my goals is to have a decent computer by the end of this year, the computer i have right now is neary dead. i might even consider phenom triple core and radeon 4870 because those are well affordable right now.
But lynnfield and the evergreen series should bring the long expacted DX11
Guess I'll be grabbin' a 4890 os a crossfire solution...