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Best PCIe Card: High-end and Beyond

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2012
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Best PCIe Card For ~£380:

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 becomes the second-fastest single-GPU card. It remains an excellent and formidable piece of gaming hardware, though.

With not much between the two with regard to U.S. pricing, it'd be more difficult to give the Radeon HD 7970 our full recommendation if Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 were easier to find (in the U.S. market). Really, it probably should be a little cheaper than the GK104-based board.

Unfortunately, Nvidia cannot make enough 680s to satisfy demand, turning Radeon HD 7970 into the more competitive solution. Many enthusiasts held off for months just to see how Tahiti and GK104 would stack up. Now that the verdict is in, we understand if you want to save the money, buy the slightly slower card, and try your luck at overclocking it.

If you're willing to wait on the email notifications, though, we also don't see anything wrong with holding off until GeForce GTX 680s start showing up in greater numbers.

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

Best PCIe Card For ~£430:
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 bests the Radeon HD 7970 and keeps up with dual-GPU cards like the GeForce GTX 590 and Radeon HD 6990. As a result of its compelling performance, AMD was forced to drop the price of its own flagship from £430 to £380.

The GeForce GTX 680 has one problem: availability. After a promising launch, supply quickly dried up. Sure, you can sign up for notifications from Newegg and hope to be on a PC when a notice comes through. But if you're more than a few minutes away from a credit card, kiss those cards goodbye. In the UK, retailers have the card is a bit easier to find, though some retailers are only selling pre-orders at this time.

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

Best PCIe Card For ~£850:
GeForce GTX 690

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 690
Codename: 2 x GK104
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 3072 (2 x 1536)
Texture Units: 256 (2 x 128)
ROPs: 64 (2 x 32)
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 915
Memory Speed MHz: 1502 (6008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
300 W

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 is the fastest graphics card in the world. It's essentially two GeForce GTX 680 cards on a single PCB, with a slightly lowered core clock and a 300 W TDP. The company sets this card's price around £850, which is roughly two times higher than a single GeForce GTX 680. That's not a bad deal if you were planning to go with a pair of GTX 680s in SLI anyway.

Like the GeForce GTX 680 though, this card suffers from very poor availability. Hopefully this will improve as Nvidia works out whatever kinks are currently preventing it from satisfying demand with products based on TSMC's 28 nm process.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

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  • 1 Hide
    Anonymous , 10 May 2012 22:43
    In the high end section, when you have two GTX 560 in SLI, shouldn't the max TPD be 320W?
  • 2 Hide
    Anonymous , 11 May 2012 22:00
    No GTX 670 in the hierarchy?
  • 0 Hide
    asal1980 , 16 May 2012 15:29
    Finally, the GeForce GT 640 GDDR5 runs at a 950 MHz core frequency and 1250 MHz GDDR5 memory clock.
  • 0 Hide
    dave85uk , 25 May 2012 19:54
    "With the Radeon HD 6950 missing in action"

    Eh? You can still buy these... Shouldn't the Best PCIe Card For ~£170 still be the 6950?