Best PCIe Card For ~£130: Tie
Radeon HD 6870
Great 1920x1200 performance in most games
| 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 |
At a price comparable to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560, the Radeon HD 6870 also manages to offer compelling performance. Although this card is based on AMD's older VLIW5 architecture and uses more power at idle than the GeForce GTX 560, it's the more energy-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.
GeForce GTX 560
Great 1920x1200 performance in most games
| GeForce GTX 560 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GF114 |
| Process: | 40 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 336 |
| Texture Units: | 56 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core/Shader Speed MHz: | 810 / 1620 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1002 (4008 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11/SM 5 |
| Max TDP: | 160 W |
The GeForce GTX 560 is essentially a highly overclocked GeForce GTX 460, and it competes with the Radeon HD 6870. Both options introduce impressive game performance that we simply haven't seen before under this price point.
Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Best PCIe Card For ~£130:
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 |
| Max TDP: | 170 W |
With the Radeon HD 6950 now selling for £165 or so, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti takes our sole recommendation at £130. This card offers respectable value in light of the hole in AMD's portfolio.
You might want to consider paying an extra few pounds for AMD's Radeon HD 7850, though. The slightly higher price tag yields significantly better performance.
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 ~£180:
Radeon HD 7850
Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail
| Radeon HD 7850 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Pitcairn |
| Process: | 28 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1024 |
| Texture Units: | 64 |
| ROPs: | 32 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 860 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1200 (4800 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 11.1/SM 5 |
| Max TDP: | 130 W |
AMD's Radeon HD 7850 offers performance similar to the defunct Radeon HD 6970, GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-core, and GeForce GTX 570, but at a lower £180 price point.
Moreover, the Radeon HD 7850 does its job using about half of the power as both older boards based on 40 nm GPUs.
Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 7800 series for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.
Scan have a huge number of 670s, a large number of 680s and a few 690's still in stock.
"Soooo hard to find!"
UK e-tailers will have 20% VAT on, which makes them more expensive but yeah... rip-off Britain and all that.
Also, I've always been dubious as to the accuracy of 'great at 1920x1080' etc, due to huge variance in how demanding specific games are (say Modern Warfare vs Metro 2033) but if you're going to insist on doing it, maybe it's time to step up to resolutions beyond 2560x1600 (i.e. multi-display setups). We're now reaching 'great at 2560x1600' at at the start of the 3rd of 4 of pages. So the entire second half of the roundup!