Best PCIe Card: ~$140 To $200
Best PCIe Card For ~$155: Three-Way Tie
Radeon HD 4870 1GB (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4870 1GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55nm |
| 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 $30 more than the 512MB version, you can have the 1GB Radeon HD 4870. For about $15 dollars less than the GeForce GTX 260, the Radeon card offers a little more RAM and comparable performance. While it has a great price/performance ratio, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB is lacking the advanced DirectX 11 capabilities of the new Radeon HD 5770.
GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GT200b |
| Process: | 55nm |
| 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 1GB of RAM, they do offer advantages in titles that run better on the GeForce GT200 architecture, and they offer some GeForce-only added value features like PhysX compatibility and support for GeForce 3D Vision. 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, CrossFire, or both multi-card technologies.
Radeon HD 5770 (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 5770 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Juniper |
| Process: | 40nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 128-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 850 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1,200 (4,800 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
While the new Radeon HD 5770 isn't any faster than its older Radeon HD 4870 cousin ( we've found that it's even slightly slower in many instances), it does have something the Radeon HD 4870 doesn't have: full DirectX 11 support. Indeed, while the Radeon HD 5770 doesn't run away with any performance crowns in this category, it does look good from a longevity/value standpoint.
Read our full review of ATI's Radeon HD 5770 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~$190:
Radeon HD 4890 (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games
| Radeon HD 4890 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV790 |
| Process: | 55nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 850 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 993 (3,900 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
The Radeon HD 4890 is essentially an overclocked Radeon HD 4870. However the tweaks that AMD made to the newer RV790 die result in much higher overclocking headroom. At stock speeds, this card is worth the $190. But to get the most out of it, some overclocking is in order.
Read our full review of ATI's Radeon HD 4890 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
That was a while ago though and hopefully they've overcome those problems by now. Plus half the idea of the first 40nm chips being released in the mid-range was because there would be less of a rush on them if I remember correctly.
FYI - in the chart the single Radeon 4850 is down as 485, not terrible but could be irritating if people search the page for it
Can you say how many tiers sli/crossfire of a particular card might bump it up the chart? Would 2 8800 ultra's be the same as a single GTX280 or 285? For example.
$75 = £45
$80-$130 = £48-£78
$140-$200 = £84-£120
$200-$300 = £120-£180
$300-$350 = £180-£210
$360$+ = £216+
Usefull info for people using the british version of THG who dont understand american currency
You seem to have forgotten VAT at 15% on that list. UK prices tend to be pretty much $1 to £1 by the time things get here
Fantastic reviews as usual.
However....
The new 5850 was a little underrated in my opinion for the following reasons:
It easily overclocks to the within a whisker of a 5870
It is almost silent
It looks so cool
It's performance is almost double the 4870
It's idle power consumption is so negligable
It supports DX11
Where the hell has Nvidia gone??????
Tips:
Dirt (original) runs BAD on Vista with 5850 (not sure on Widows 7) but on XP its gotta be seen to be belived!!!!! Just lovely!
Turn off Autogen on Flight simulator X.....it looks beautiful!
I bought a 5850 and agree with the previous post. Low idle noise, power consumption, better power management all round than 48xx and hardware protected against overheating. Overclocked the core from 725 to 850 and memory from 1000 to 1250 without raising the voltage. ATI Tool and Crysis Warhead stable. Raising the voltage will give you even higher core clocks - is this even possible with any other card? Asus card with 3 year warranty and voltage tweak advertised on the retail box - you really should factor this into any performance comparisons.
Please can anyone tell me whats the best video card between these 2?
Video Card ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
NVIDIA GTX 260M 1GB VRAM DDR3 Graphics Card
Another good review Don but I think your being very sympathetic to NVidia considering their availability of some of these cards is far worse than ATI.
The DX 11 factor will also become increasingly important ... pushing the current NVidia cards to the back of the heap.
How well do their cards stack up on frame rates against the new ATI cards on Win7 then?
TNX Tom's Hardware... Big Help!..
^_^
Looks like a 5850 for me then...