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Best PCIe Card: High-end and Beyond

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: August 2012
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Best PCIe Card For ~£330:
GeForce GTX 670

Great 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 670
Codename: GK104
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 1344
Texture Units: 112
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 915
Memory Speed MHz: 1502 (6006 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
170 W

The GeForce GTX 670 brings Radeon HD 7970-class performance down to a ~£330 price point. That's an impressive feat considering that AMD's card was selling for a lot more a couple of months ago. Moreover, we've seen Nvidia's second-fastest single-GPU board in stock and available for purchase ever since it was introduced. With the Radeon HD 7970 pushing £370, the GeForce GTX 670 earns our sole recommendation and takes its place as the high-end value leader.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Honourable Mentions at this price point and beyond:
Assorted Multi-Card Configurations

First, we need to mention AMD's Radeon HD 7970. As mentioned multiple times already, the card recently dropped in price and enjoys better performance thanks to the company's beta Catalyst 12.7 driver. Nevertheless, we aren't sure the 7970 is worth more than GeForce GTX 670.

Beyond that, the GTX 670 delivers such impressive performance for its price that we find it hard to recommend higher-performing (but sometimes-inconsistent) multi-card configurations for more money. We'll mention some of the more promising options, though, especially for folks with one of these cards already installed:two GeForce GTX 560 Tis in SLI, two Radeon HD 7850s in CrossFire for £380, two Radeon HD 7870s in CrossFire for £500, and finally, two GeForce GTX 670s in SLI for £600.

Best PCIe Card For ~£380: None

Honourable Mention:
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition

Great 2560x1600 performance

Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
Codename: Tahiti
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 2048
Texture Units: 128
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 384-bit
Core Speed MHz: 1000
Memory Speed MHz: 1500 (6000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5
Max TDP:
250 W

Unhappy about being called out for paper-launching the original Radeon HD 7970, AMD took a different approach with its Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, claiming almost-immediate availability and then shirking questions about supply until the card emerged more than a month later.

Finally, the card is available, though. And in the U.S., it's a better buy than Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680. We still think that the GeForce GTX 670 is a great value for a little bit less. However, there's certainly a case to be made for AMD's new single-GPU flagship, particularly in compute-heavy applications.

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

Best PCIe Card For ~£900:
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 lower core clock and a 300 W TDP. The card's price is around £900, which is 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.

The 690's availability has improved since last month, and the card can now be found for between £800 and £900 without too much trouble.

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

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    Anonymous , 5 September 2012 03:18
    Thank you so much, this is a priceless information. Hope for a frequent update. Þ