Best PCIe Card For ~£140:
Radeon HD 6870
Great 1920x1200 performance, 2560x1600 in most games with lowered detail
| Radeon HD 6870 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV970 "Barts" |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1120 |
| Texture Units: | 56 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 900 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1050 (4200 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
| Max TDP: | 151 W |
Offering performance comparable to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560, the Radeon HD 6870 also manages to come in at a more aggressive price point. Although this card, based on AMD's older VLIW5 architecture, uses more power at idle than the GeForce GTX 560, it's the more power-friendly option in a taxing first-person shooter.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6870 for more information on this card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~£180: Tie
Radeon HD 6950 1 GB
Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail
| Radeon HD 6950 1 GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | "Cayman" |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1408 |
| Texture Units: | 88 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 800 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1250 (5000 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
| Max TDP: | 200 W |
AMD dropped half of the on-board memory from its reference Radeon HD 6950 to give us this 1 GB model, designed to compete with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti. While the Radeon shows a slight performance edge, the GeForce can be purchased for a few pounds less, evening out the recommendation.
In addition, some models may be modified to enable all of the GPU's 1536 shader cores through a firmware update, transforming this board into an underclocked 1 GB version of AMD's Radeon HD 6970. Fair warning: this procedure works more consistently with the pricier Radeon HD 6950 2 GB reference boards.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GF114 |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 384 |
| Texture Units: | 64 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core/Shader Speed MHz: | 822 / 1644 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1002 (4008 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5 |
| 170 W | |
Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~£210: None
Honourable Mention:
Radeon HD 6950 2 GB
Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail
| Radeon HD 6950 2 GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | "Cayman" |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1408 |
| Texture Units: | 88 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 800 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1250 (5000 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5.0 |
| Max TDP: | 200 W |
The Radeon HD 6950 offers similar performance as AMD's previous-generation single-GPU flagship, the Radeon HD 5870. A pair of these cards in CrossFire are a force to be reckoned with, as the company improved multi-card scaling compared to some of its previous efforts.
In our testing, this product shows no advantage over the cheaper 1 GB flavor of Radeon HD 6950 unless you're playing at high resolutions (where it'd likely run out of steam anyway). However, it does deserve an honourable mention because many folks have had luck modding reference-based boards into fully-functional Radeon HD 6970s through a firmware update. If you can pull that off, the value of the 2 GB Radeon HD 6950 seems pretty clear.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~£220: None
Honourable Mention:
GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 core
Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GF110 |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 448 |
| Texture Units: | 56 |
| ROPs: | 40 |
| Memory Bus: | 320-bit |
| Core/Shader Speed MHz: | 732 / 1464 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 950 (3800 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5 |
| 210 W | |
Despite its somewhat-confusing name that might suggest otherwise, this card is based on the same GF110 GPU found in the GeForce GTX 580 and 570, further scaled back to achieve the specifications you see in the above chart.
Although the 448-core GeForce GTX 560 Ti can't overtake AMD's Radeon HD 6970 at its stock frequencies, Nvidia's limited edition stunner is highly overclockable. Enthusiasts should be able to push it significantly further than Nvidia's shipping settings. When you consider that AMD's card costs ~£30 more, there's room for significant value here if you're willing to pursue it.
Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-Core for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
70 pounds
Gigabyte DDr3 version