Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Best PCIe Card: High-end

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: February 2012
By

Best PCIe Card For ~£230: None

Honourable Mention:
2 x Radeon HD 6850 in CrossFire

Exceptional 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance

2 x Radeon HD 6850 in CrossFire
Codename: RV970 "Barts"
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 1920 (2 x 960)
Texture Units: 96 (2 x 48)
ROPs: 64 (2 x 32)
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 775
Memory Speed MHz: 1000 (4000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP:254 W (2 x 127 W)

We already know that two Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire are fast. However, based on our recent exploration of micro-stuttering, there's a fair chance that enthusiasts sensitive to this phenomenon might not be satisfied with the way a pair of these cards behave. If you already know this doesn't affect you, then you're in the clear.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6850 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£260: Tie

GeForce GTX 570

Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games

GeForce GTX 570
Codename: GF110
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 480
Texture Units: 60
ROPs: 40
Memory Bus: 320-bit
Core/Shader Speed MHz: 732 / 1464
Memory Speed MHz: 950 (3800 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP:219 W

The GeForce GTX 570 and Radeon HD 6970 offer exceptional performance for as little as £260. Both single-GPU cards perform slightly slower than two GeForce GTX 460 cards in SLI or Radeon HD 6850 cards in CrossFire, but they do so without the hassles associated with a multi-card rig (including power, cooling, motherboard slot spacing, and in some cases, micro-stuttering).

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570 for more information on this card and its underlying architecture.

Radeon HD 6970

Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games

Radeon HD 6970
Codename: "Cayman"
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 1536
Texture Units: 96
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 880
Memory Speed MHz: 1375 (5500 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP:250 W

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6970 for more information on this card and its underlying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£280: None

Honourable Mention:
2 x Radeon HD 6870 in CrossFire

Great 2560x1600 performance

2 x Radeon HD 6870 in CrossFire
Codename: RV970 "Barts"
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 2240 (2 x 1120)
Texture Units: 112 (2 x 56)
ROPs: 64 (2 x 32)
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 900
Memory Speed MHz: 1100 (4200 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP:302 W (2 x 151 W)

Two Radeon HD 6870 cards in CrossFire and two GeForce GTX 560 cards in SLI are very powerful, capable combinations. Just keep in mind that, if you plan to employ resolutions above 1080p with anti-aliasing enabled, you may want to consider boards with more than 1 GB of RAM.

Because Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560s are now more expensive than the Radeon HD 6870s, this is no longer a shared spotlight. Instead, AMD's mid-range card takes the sole entry. Bear in mind, though, that this isn't a full recommendation, either. The Radeon HD 6870s remain honorable mentions in light of the findings in Micro-Stuttering And GPU Scaling In CrossFire And SLI.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6870 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the UK Article comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display 1 comment.
This thread is closed for comments
  • 0 Hide
    tracker45 , 10 February 2012 00:02
    CCL Choice AMD Radeon HD 6770 1GB Graphics Video Card

    70 pounds

    Gigabyte DDr3 version