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Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November 2012
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What about this other card that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not?

This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen, because inventory levels and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that card you’ve got your eye on is a good buy in its price range?

Here is a resource to help you judge if a card is a good buy or not. The graphics card hierarchy chart groups graphics cards with similar overall performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing cards available and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.

You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.

At the request of readers, I have added mobile graphics and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphics solutions. While the discrete video cards in the chart are placed in tiers based on a lot of information, many of the mobile and integrated devices in the chart are guesstimates based on their specifications. At worst, I don’t think they’re more than one tier away from their actual performance, but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphics chipsets.

Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart
GeForceRadeonIntel
Discrete: GTX 690


Discrete: GTX 590
Discrete: HD 6990, 7970 GHz Ed.

Discrete: GTX 680
Discrete: HD 7970
Discrete: GTX 670
Discrete: HD 5970, 7950

Discrete: GTX 580, 660 Ti
Discrete: HD 7870
Discrete: GTX 295, 480, 570, 660
Go (mobile): 680M
Discrete: HD 4870 X2, 6970, 7850
Mobility: 7970M

Discrete: GTX 470, 560 Ti, 560 Ti 448 Core Discrete: HD 4850 X2, HD 5870, HD 6950
Mobility: 7950M

Discrete: GTX 560, 650 Ti
Go (mobile): 580M
Discrete: HD 5850, HD 6870
Mobility: 6990M

Discrete: 9800 GX2, 285, 460 256-bit, 465
Go (mobile): 675M
Discrete: HD 6850, HD 7770
Mobility: 6900M

Discrete: GTX 260, 275, 280, 460 192-bit, 460 SE, 550 Ti, 560 SE, 650
Go (mobile): 570M, 670M
Discrete: HD 4870, 5770, 4890, 5830, 6770,  6790, 7750
Mobility: HD 5870, 6800M

Discrete: 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, GTS 450
Go (mobile): 560M, 660M
Discrete: HD 3870 X2, 4850, 5750, 6750
Mobility: HD 4850, 5850, 7870M

Discrete: 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512 MB, GT 545 (GDDR5)
Go (mobile): GTX 280M, 285M, 555M (GDDR5)
Discrete: HD 4770
Mobility: HD 4860, 7770M, 7850M

Discrete: 8800 GT 512 MB, 9800 GT, GT 545 (DDR3), GT 640 (DDR3)
Go (mobile): 9800M GTX, GTX 260M (112), GTS 360M (GDDR5), 555M (DDR3)
Discrete: HD 4830, HD 5670, HD 6670 (GDDR5)
Mobility: HD 5770, HD 5750, 6600M/6700M (GDDR5), 7750M

Discrete: 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT, GT 240 (GDDR5)
Go (mobile): 9800M GTS, GTX 160M
Discrete: HD 2900 XT, HD 3870, HD 5570 (GDDR5), HD 6570 (GDDR5)
Mobility: 6500M (GDDR5), 6600M/6700M (DDR3), 7730M

Discrete: 8800 GS, 9600 GSO, GT 240 (DDR3)
Go (mobile): GTX 260M (96), GTS 150M, GTS 360M (DDR3)
Discrete: HD 3850 512 MB, HD 4670, HD 5570 (DDR3), HD 6570 (DDR3), HD 6670 (DDR3)
Mobility: HD 3870, HD 5730, HD 5650, 6500M (DDR3)

Discrete: 8800 GT 256 MB, 8800 GTS 320 MB, GT 440 GDDR5, GT 630 GDDR5
Go (mobile): 8800M
Discrete: HD 2900 PRO, HD 3850 256 MB, 5550 (GDDR5)
Mobility: HD 3850

Discrete: 7950 GX2, GT 440 DDR3, GT 630 DDR3
Discrete: X1950 XTX, HD 4650 (DDR3), 5550 (DDR3)
Discrete: 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX, GT 430, GT 530
Go (mobile): 550M
Discrete: X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX
Discrete: 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 G, GT 220 (DDR3)
Go (mobile): 525M, 540M
Discrete: X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT, HD 5550 (DDR2)

Discrete: 7800 GT, 7900 GS, 8600 GTS, 9500 GT (GDDR3), GT 220 (DDR2)
Go (mobile): 7950 GTX
Discrete: X1800 XL, X1950 GT, HD 4650 (DDR2), HD 6450
Mobility: X1800 XT, HD 4650, HD 5165, 6400M
Integrated: 6620G, 6550D

Discrete: 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, 8600 GS, 8600 GT (GDDR3), 9500 GT (DDR2)
Go (mobile): 7800 GTX, 7900 GTX
Discrete: X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR3), HD 3670
Mobility: X1900, 3670
Integrated: 6520G, 6530D
Integrated: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Discrete: 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCIe), 8600 GT (DDR2), GT 520
Go (mobile): 7800, Go 7900 GS, 520M, 520MX
Discrete: X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, HD 2600 PRO, HD 3650 (DDR2),
Mobility: X800 XT, HD 2600 XT, 3650
Integrated: 6410D, 6480G

Discrete: 6800 GS (AGP)
Go (mobile): 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT, 410M
Discrete: X800 GTO 256 MB, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT
Mobility: HD 2600
Integrated: 6370D, 6380G

Discrete: 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, 8600M GS
Go (mobile): 6800, 7700
Discrete: X800, X800 GTO 128 MB, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO
Mobility: X1800, HD 5145, HD 5470 (GDDR5)

Discrete: 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT (DDR2), 8500 GT, 9400 GT
Go (mobile): 7600 (128-bit)
Discrete: 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT, HD 4350, HD 4550, HD 5450
Mobility: X800, 3470, HD 5470 (DDR3), HD 5450, HD 5430, 6300M
Integrated: HD 6310, HD 6320
Integrated: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Discrete: FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128-bit)
Go (mobile): 6800 (128-bit)
Integrated: 9300, 9400
Discrete: 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, X1550, HD 2400 PRO
Mobility: X1450, X1600, X1700, 2400 XT, X2500, 3450
Integrated: HD 3200, HD 3300, HD 4200, HD 4250, HD 4290, HD 6250, HD 6290 

Discrete: FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT
Go (mobile): 6600, Go 7600 (64-bit)
Discrete: 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, 9800 PRO (128-bit), X600 XT, X1050 (128-bit)
Mobility: 9800, X700, X1350, X1400, X2300, HD 2400
Integrated: Intel HD Graphics (Core i5-6x1), 2000
Discrete: 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8300, 8400 G, G 210, G 310
Go (mobile): 315M
Discrete: 9600 PRO, 9800 LE, X600 PRO, HD 2300
Mobility: 9700 (128-bit), X600, X1300
Integrated: Xpress 1250
Integrated: Intel HD Graphics (Core i3 5x0, Core i5-6x0)
Discrete: 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64-bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS, 9300M G, 9300M GS Discrete: 9500, 9550, 9600, X300, X1050 (64-bit)
Mobility: 9600
Integrated: Intel HD Graphics (Pentium G)
Discrete: 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE
Go (mobile): 5700, 8200M, 9200M GS, 9100
Integrated: 8200, 8300
Discrete: 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, X300 SE, X1150
Mobility 9700 (64-bit)
Integrated: GMA X4500
Discrete: 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128-bit), FX 5500,
Go (mobile): 5600, 6200, 6400, 7200, 7300, 7400 (64-bit)
Discrete: 9000, 9200, 9250
Mobility: 9600 (64-bit), X300

Discrete: FX 5200 (64 bit)
Go (mobile): 7200, 7400 (32-bit)
Integrated: 6100, 6150, 7025, 7050
Discrete: 9200 SE
Integrated: Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150
Integrated: GMA X3000, X3100, X3500
Discrete: 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200 Discrete: 7500 Integrated: GMA 3000, 3100
Discrete: 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400 Discrete: SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200 Integrated: GMA 500, 900, 950
Discrete: Nvidia TNT Discrete: Rage 128 Discrete: Intel 740

Summary

There you have it folks; the best cards for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.

Don’t worry too much about which brand you choose, because all of the cards out there are close to Nvidia’s and ATI’s reference designs. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer’s reputation for honouring the warranty if something goes wrong.

Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!

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  • 4 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 21 November 2012 15:37
    Some pretty inconsistent/inaccurate price details here... firstly, GTX670 is not £310 as stated on the first page. You could easily find one at that price, but they've been available below £270 for a while now (check Scan).

    The 7750 (at £80) is recommended, yet at £80, the comparable GTX650 is priced too close to the 7770?

    And then you have the 1GB 7850 at £140 and the 2GB model at £150, and state there's a £20 price gap between them?
  • 2 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 21 November 2012 15:38
    Also GTX660 is not £190 - check Scan, Novatech etc. £160.
  • 3 Hide
    MajinCry , 21 November 2012 20:26
    Also, the 6670 GDDR5 can be found for £3 more than the 6670 DDR3...Might want to include that.
  • 2 Hide
    TuffLittleUnit , 22 November 2012 04:03
    sam_p_laySome pretty inconsistent/inaccurate price details here... firstly, GTX670 is not £310 as stated on the first page. You could easily find one at that price, but they've been available below £270 for a while now (check Scan).


    The QA on the article is poor as the intro states "Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 670 is slightly cheaper at £310, putting some much-needed space between itself and the Radeon HD 7970. Now this GeForce card reclaims a full recommendation in our list" but I can't find any such recommendation.
  • 1 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 22 November 2012 04:07
    Yeah I think Don is not putting in much effort any more... clearly no proof-reading and I wonder if he's even aware of where to get the best UK prices?
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , 22 November 2012 04:25
    Why oh why is the 7950 not reccomended at all, they are priced around £240 if you look hard, even £220 for the xfx models, and can overclock to 7970 performance, and outclass the 7870,
  • 0 Hide
    brianthesnail , 22 November 2012 16:32
    its like groundhog day seeing the HD6670 topping the entry level chart every month,however at the end of the day theres nothing that can touch it at this price point ..... the GT430 cant compete and nvidia have yet to release a card that can take the crown at the £50 range
    you can still find a few GDDR5 versions of the HD6670 however you generally pay a premium for these ( around £65 to £70 ) .. however for that you could buy the HD7750 which is much superior and has around the same power requirements ....
    until nvidia can release a card that can take on the HD6670 it will remain the entry level choice for budget gamers .....
  • 0 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 22 November 2012 16:42
    How would a GT630 compare? I believe it's a rebadged GT440. Seen them for under £45.
  • 0 Hide
    brianthesnail , 22 November 2012 23:27
    well the GT630 has the same 28gb/sec memory bandwidth and 128bit memory interface and the 800mhz core clock on the HD6670 is slightly slower than the 810mhz core clock on the GT630,and both cards have a 1800mhz memory clock ( some versions of the HD6670 have slower memory clocks )
    however since nvidia and AMD have different methods of calculating their shader/stream processors this is were its harder to compare.. as a rule theres 3 shader processors to every one nvidia shader processor ( cuda core ) so with 96 cuda cores ( x 3 = 288 ) this in theory makes the HD6670 ( with its 480 stream processors ) the winner,but not by much
    in terms of power both cards have low power usage with the HD6670 drawing a maximum of 61w at load compared to the GT630 with 65w.. and this allows both cards to run without any 6pin pci-e power connectors ( they can draw enough power from the 75w pci-express x16 bus )
    so it looks like the GT630 is a worthy opponent and with physx and cuda support this may give it the edge ....
    that said the HD6670 is still prefered by many budget gamers and with the guys at toms hardware recommending it every month its going to be hard to replace at the entry level
    personally for the small outlay the HD7750 is the better choice with low power requirements and excellent performance .... and within 6 months it should replace the HD6670 as the entry level card of choice ( when prices drop )
  • 0 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 22 November 2012 23:32
    That's nuts that the two are so close in so many ways! I'm thinking of picking one up as a testing/diagnostics/emergency backup card since my main card just died and I'm now on my backup. If this one dies too, I don't want to be forced to buy a current gen card when the new lines are only a few months away. Course if this card died within a few weeks of the GTX700 launch, I'd probably just grab a GT210 to be going on with for such a brief time :-)
  • 0 Hide
    eodeo , 1 December 2012 10:20
    Thank you for this amazingly helpful and easy to read hierarchy chart you made! Its super helpful.
  • 0 Hide
    Brett928S2 , 13 December 2012 07:11
    Hi :) 

    And NO 7990 (6gb)... he says, disappointed as hes just bought one....

    I await Decembers chart for it...hopefully...

    All the best Brett :) 
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , 17 December 2012 11:59
    I always seem to learn something new when I check out your blog. Thanks so much for all the info.
    Rinoplasti