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Best PCIe Card: Budget

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2012
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Best PCIe Card For ~£110: Tie

Radeon HD 7770

Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail

Radeon HD 7770
Codename: Cape Verde
Process:   28 nm
Universal Shaders: 640
Texture Units: 40
ROPs: 16
Memory Bus: 128-bit
Core Speed MHz: 1000
Memory Speed MHz: 1125 (4500 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5.0
Max TDP:80 W

The Radeon HD 7770 can now be found for £110, which is significantly less than AMD wanted for the card when it launched.

Almost as powerful as the end-of-lifed Radeon HD 6850, this newer card uses only half the power to get its job done. Now that we see a price we like, the Radeon HD 7770 receives a full recommendation.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 7770 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

GeForce GTX 560 SE

Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail

GeForce GTX 560 SE
Codename: GF114
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 288
Texture Units: 48
ROPs: 24
Memory Bus: 192-bit
Core/Shader Speed MHz: 776 / 1552
Memory Speed MHz: 957 (3828 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:150 W

Armed with a crippled version of the GF114 GPU used in Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 and GTX 560 Ti, the 560 SE delivers performance similar to the company's now-defunct GeForce GTX 460 192-bit card at a lower price point. It also stands up against AMD's similarly-priced Radeon HD 7770, though the AMD board's power consumption is much more conservative. This card is getting harder to find, and we hope the GeForce GTX 650 Ti will drop in price and displace it in the near future.

Best PCIe Card For £125: None

Honourable Mention:
GeForce GTX 650 Ti

Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail

GeForce GTX 650 Ti
Codename: GK106
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 768
Texture Units: 64
ROPs: 16
Memory Bus: 128-bit
Core Speed MHz: 925
Memory Speed MHz: 1350 (5400 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:110 W

The new GeForce GTX 650 Ti is the best £120 card out there, so why does it only get an honourable mention? Unfortunately, right now, only a small number of these cards of going for £120. A lot of models are going for £125 and more, taking them too close to the superior Radeon HD 7850 1 GB cards.

If you're limited to £120, or if you can find a GeForce GTX 650 Ti with a bit-enough rebate, this is a viable option. But gamers with a few more pounds to spend are better off shopping for Radeon HD 7850 1 GB cards.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 650 Ti for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

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  • 1 Hide
    TuffLittleUnit , 23 October 2012 02:54
    Bizarre ... so according to Tom's there's no role for the GTX670? I'm no fanboy - I've happily swapped between red and green depending who has the strongest offering but this feels like a strange position to take when a GTX670 is available from Scan etc starting at £280 and the HD7970 is over £30 more (i.e. more than 10% cost and it doesn't consistently offer a proportional performance gain)
  • 1 Hide
    bemused_fred , 23 October 2012 12:53
    Seconded. The gtx 670 is still cheaper than the HD 7970 and still packs a hefty bang for its buck. Heck, if you're gaming in 1080p rather than high resolutions, it meets or beats the 7970 in all games. It's a bit confusing.
  • 1 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 23 October 2012 18:39
    Same here. I still don't think the price increase of the GTX670 over the GTX660 is worth it for the performance gain, but it's certainly the bang-for-buck model of its price range.
  • 1 Hide
    someoneelse , 24 October 2012 16:52
    Yay - my chance to be pedantic

    Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart -

    You've got GTX 295, 480, 570, listed twice - one line after another.
  • 0 Hide
    jakjawagon , 26 October 2012 05:23
    So three days later, just not going to fix the duplicate entries on the chart? We going to have to wait another month to know what's going on?
  • 0 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 26 October 2012 05:31
    jakjawagonSo three days later, just not going to fix the duplicate entries on the chart? We going to have to wait another month to know what's going on?


    I think only some of the THG authors actually read the comments on their articles. I think these 'best for the money' roundups attract a lot of criticism so maybe Don doesn't bother with the comments. If there's specific performance differences you want to know about though, just say and I'll try to help.
  • 0 Hide
    brianthesnail , 30 October 2012 23:57
    its good to see the HD7750 in the entry level charts.. with its miniscule 55w tdp and 4500mhz effective memory clock ( due to the gddr5 memory ) this is the touch of genius from AMD ... and with prices starting at £65 this should be the card of choice for end users with intergrated graphic solutions who want to experience superior performance without any psu upgrade
    allthough AMD recommends a 450w psu i would feel safe running the HD7750 with a branded 300w psu or a budget 400w ... and with no 6pin connector required older psu,s may suffice
    in terms of performance i expect this to be able to run games such as crysis 2 and far cry 2 at medium detail settings at 1680x1050 ....
    its a shame no nvidia cards are showing in the entry level range ... !
  • -1 Hide
    Deathstalker1 , 31 October 2012 03:29
    670 get's no love here ( must be an amd fan)