Source: Tom's Hardware UK – Keywords: best, graphics, card
Categories: Graphics
Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart
What about this other card that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not?
This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen, because both stock levels and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that card you’ve got your eye on is a good buy in its price range?
Here are two resources to help you judge if a card is a good buy or not. The first is the graphics card hierarchy chart, which groups graphics cards with similar overall performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing cards available and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.
You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.
At the request of readers, I have added mobile graphics and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphics solutions. While the discrete video cards in the chart are placed in tiers based on a lot of information, many of the mobile and integrated devices in the chart are guesstimates based on their specifications. At worst, I don’t think they’re more than one tier away from their actual performance, but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphics chipsets.
| Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart | ||
|---|---|---|
| GeForce | Radeon | Intel |
| GTX 295 | ||
| HD 4870 X2 | ||
| GTX 280, GTX 285 | HD 4850 X2 | |
| 9800 GX2, GTX 260, GTX 275 | HD 4870, HD 4890 | |
| 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250 | HD 3870 X2, HD 4850 | |
| 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512 MB, 280M | HD 4770 | |
| 8800 GT 512 MB, 9800 G, 260M (112) | HD 4830 | |
| 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT | HD 2900 XT, HD 3870 | |
| 8800 GS, 9600 GS, 260M (96) | HD 3850 512 MB, Mobility 3870, HD 4670 | |
| 8800 GT 256 MB, 8800 GTS 320 MB, GO 8800M | HD 2900 PRO, HD 3850 256 MB, Mobility 3850 | |
| 7950 GX2 | X1950 XTX, HD 4650 (DDR3) | |
| 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX | X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX | |
| 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT | X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT | |
| 7800 GT, 7900 GS, Go 7950 GTX, 8600 GTS, 9500 GT (GDDR3) | X1800 XL, X1950 GT, Mobility X1800 XT, HD 4650 (DDR2) | |
| 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, Go 7800 GTX, Go 7900 GTX, 8600 GT (GDDR3), 9500 GT (DDR2) | X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, Mobility X1900, HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR3), HD 3670, Mobility 3670 | |
| 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCIe), Go 7800, Go 7900 GS, 8600 GT (DDR2) | X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, Mobility X800 XT, HD 2600 PRO, Mobility HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR2), Mobility 3650 | |
| 6800 GS (AGP), Go 6800 Ultra, Go 7600 GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT | X800 GTO 256 MB, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT, Mobility HD 2600 | |
| 6800, Go 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, Go 7700, 8600M GS | X800, X800 GTO 128 MB, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO, Mobility X1800 | |
| 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT (DDR2), Go 7600 (128-bit), 8500 GT, 9400 GT | 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, Mobility X800, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT, HD 3300, Mobility 3470, HD 4350, HD 4550 | |
| FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128-bit), Go 6800 (128-bit) | 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, Mobility X1450, X1550, Mobility X1600, Mobility X1700, HD 2400 PRO, Mobility HD 2400 XT, Mobility X2500, HD 3200, Mobility 3450 | |
| FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT, Go 6600, Go 7600 (64-bit) | 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, Mobility 9800, 9800 PRO (128-bit), X600 XT, Mobility X700, X1050 (128-bit), Mobility X1350, Mobility X1400, Mobility X2300, Mobility HD 2400 | |
| 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8300, 8400 GS | 9600 PRO, Mobility 9700 (128-bit), 9800 LE, X600 PRO, Mobility X600, Mobility X1300, Xpress 1250, Mobility HD 2300 | |
| 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64-bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS, 9300M G, 9300M GS | 9500, 9550, 9600, Mobility 9600, X300, X1050 (64-bit) | |
| 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, Go 5700, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE, 8200M, 9200M GS, 9100M | 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, Mobility 9700 (64-bit), X300 SE, X1150 | GMA X4500 |
| 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128-bit), FX 5500, Go 5600, Go 6200, Go 6400, Go 7200, Go 7300, Go 7400 (64-bit) | 9000, 9200, 9250, Mobility 9600 (64-bit), Mobility X300 | |
| FX 5200 (64 bit), 6100, 6150, Go 7200, Go 7400 (32-bit) | 9200 SE, Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150 | GMA X3000, X3100, X3500 |
| 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200 | 7500 | GMA 3000, 3100 |
| 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400 | SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200 | GMA 500, 900, 950 |
| Nvidia TNT | Rage 128 | Intel 740 |
Summary
There you have it folks: the best cards for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.
Don’t worry too much about which brand you choose, because all of the cards out there are close to Nvidia’s and ATI’s reference designs. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer’s reputation for honoring the warranty if something goes wrong.
Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!
- Previous page Best PCIe Card: $350 And Up
- Next page More on this topic
Best offers
- Imput needed on a dell purchase
- DELL SUCKS
- Inspiron 530 Questions
- Want to buy a new computer. Can someone recommend what I should get?
- Dimension 2350...what's the best brand of memory to get?
- 22" 24" Picture?
- Samsung 2232BW vs. LG's L227WTG-PF and W2252TQ-TF?
- ASUS VK246H --> 24" LCD - Review Updated
- LG L227WTG: Overall, Phenomenal--But Possible Backlight Issue?
- Samsung 2493HM 24"
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...