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Best PCIe Card: High-end and Beyond

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: April 2012
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Best PCIe Card For ~£400: None

Honourable Mention:
GeForce GTX 680

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 680
Codename: GK104
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 1536
Texture Units: 128
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 1006
Memory Speed MHz: 1502 (6006 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
195 W

The new GeForce GTX 680 has won the title of fastest graphics card on earth with a single GPU, besting the Radeon HD 7970 and keeping up with the GeForce GTX 590 and Radeon HD 6990. It outpaces the Radeon HD 7970 by a notable margin, and we expect that card's price to drop appropriately before we can once again bestow a wholehearted recommendation on it. So if the GTX 680 is so great, why is it relegated to honourable mention status?

In one word: availability. After a promising launch, the GeForce GTX 680 supply has quickly dried up. Hopefully this situation will correct itself before next month's update, but those of you with over £400 to spend on a graphics card must either wait for the GeForce GTX 680 to arrive en masse, or overpay for the Radeon HD 7970.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£430: None

Honourable Mention:
Radeon HD 7970

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

Radeon HD 7970
Codename: "Tahiti"
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 2048
Texture Units: 128
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 384-bit
Core Speed MHz: 925
Memory Speed MHz: 1375 (5500 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5.0
Max TDP:250 W

With the arrival of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680, AMD's Radeon HD 7970 falls to second-place status. It remains an excellent gaming card; it's simply priced higher than it should be relative to the new Nvidia offering.

If the GeForce GTX 680 was widely available at £400, we'd tell you to skip over the 7970 until AMD dropped its price. But with Nvidia's card sold out everywhere we look, there is no competitive pressure at the moment. As such, the £430 Radeon HD 7970 isn't an unthinkable option if you have that much money to spend and don't want to wait any longer for a more strategic purchase. We certainly understand the sentiment. Many enthusiasts held off for months just waiting to see how Tahiti and GK104 would stack up. Now that the information is available, £30 or £40 pounds might not be a deal-breaker. But honestly, if you're alright waiting on notification lists, hold off until you get a heads-up that GTX 680s are in stock.

Read our full preview of AMD's Radeon HD 7970 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

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