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Best PCIe Card: Mid-range

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: January 2013
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Best PCIe Card For ~£160:

Radeon HD 7850 2 GB

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

You might not need the extra gigabyte of memory that spending a little more buys you. But, in the event that you want to run a higher resolution than 1920x1080, increase detail quality, or apply some anti-aliasing, it could be what keeps your performance scaling as expected, rather than falling off a cliff.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 7800 series for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£180:

Radeon HD 7870

Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail

Radeon HD 7870
Codename: Pitcairn
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 1280
Texture Units: 80
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 1000
Memory Speed MHz: 1200 (4800 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5
Max TDP:175 W

The Radeon HD 7870 sets a new standard for what we expect from a sub-£200 GPU. With performance kissing the heels of AMD's own Radeon HD 7950 and the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, this card represents one of the best enthusiast-oriented values we've seen. A recent price drop makes it hard to recommend those more expensive cards because the extra speed they offer is relatively minor compared to what you'd need to pay for them.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 7800 series for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£200:

Radeon HD 7870 LE

Excellent 1920x1200 performance, Good 2560x1600 performance in most games with lowered detail

Radeon HD 7870 LE
Codename: Tahiti LE
Process: 28 nm
Universal Shaders: 1536
Texture Units: 96
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed/Boost MHz: 925/975
Memory Speed MHz: 1500 (6000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5
Max TDP:200 W

The Radeon HD 7870 LE is actually a crippled Radeon HD 7950. With impressive hardware specifications derived from its Tahiti LE GPU and a reasonable price point.

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  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 18 January 2013 23:20
    £56 inc Delivery: 6670 GDDR5 from dabs.com

    http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-ati-radeon-6670-hd-810mhz-1gb-pci-e-hdmi-7MMC.html?q=6670&src=16

    For an extra £, you get 10-20% better performance.

    Easy decision.
  • 0 Hide
    bemused_fred , 19 January 2013 02:29
    So buzzed for the next generation of cards. Any idea when they'll be?
  • 0 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 21 January 2013 01:12
    Quote:
    In essence, you're looking at a Radeon HD 7950 with one less compute unit and a 256-bit memory bus (cut down from 386 bits).


    You mean 384 bits.
  • 0 Hide
    kristi_metal , 28 January 2013 01:20
    If it wouldn't be for that inconsistent frame latencies, AMD would be the way to go.
  • 0 Hide
    rhx123 , 30 January 2013 17:12
    You can get a 7850 1GB for Under £130 from scan.co.uk, it beats the 650Ti for only £6 more.
  • 0 Hide
    rhx123 , 30 January 2013 17:15
    rhx123You can get a 7850 1GB for Under £130 from scan.co.uk, it beats the 650Ti for only £6 more.


    Saying that, You can get a 650ti 1GB from scan.co.uk for £105 now.