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Best PCIe Card: High-end and Beyond

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2013
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Honourable Mention:
GeForce GTX Titan

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX Titan
Codename: GK110
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 2,688
Texture Units: 224
ROPs: 48
Memory Bus: 384-bit
Core Speed (Turbo) MHz: 837 (836)
Memory Speed MHz: 1,502 (6,008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
250 W

The GeForce GTX Titan sports the fastest GPU ever seen: GK110. Unfortunately, that one chip isn't quite as fast as two GK104s, which you find on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690, even though it also costs over £800. 

Although we're impressed by what GK110 can do, the Titan is overpriced by most accounts. Two GeForce GTX 680s are faster, and for less money. Nevertheless, GeForce GTX Titan gets an honourable mention for the two applications where it really shines: small form factor and multi-card machines.

Also plaguing the Titan right now is availability. They're pretty rare, and as of this writing, there's only one in stock on Newegg.

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

Honorable Mention:
GeForce GTX 690

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 690
Codename: 2 x GK104
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 3,072 (2 x 1,536)
Texture Units: 256 (2 x 128)
ROPs: 64 (2 x 32)
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 915
Memory Speed MHz: 1,502 (6,008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
300 W

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 is one of the fastest graphics cards in the world. It's essentially two GeForce GTX 680s on a single PCB, with a slightly lower core clock and a 300 W TDP. The company sets this card's MSRP over £800, pricier than two GeForce GTX 680s in SLI. Although it used to suffer from availability issues, the card can be found right around its launch price without too much trouble.

While a few companies launched custom-built dual-Tahiti cards, they're very power-hungry and tend to be loud under load. HIS' solution never even made it to market. Asus' is no longer available. PowerColor's triple-slot monster is the only one left, and even then it's a de-tuned version. As such, we removed them all from our column. AMD's recently-introduced Radeon HD 7990 improves on those third-party designs, but comes up short in too many other ways to earn a recommendation here.

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

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  • 0 Hide
    bemused_fred , 22 May 2013 06:47
    OK, this is about the 6th month in a row that us commenters have been pointing out that a HD 6670 GDDR5 version exists, and for only slightly more than the DDR3 version:
    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=HD+6670+GDDR5&aq=f&oq=HD+6670+GDDR5&aqs=chrome.0.57j0l3j62l2.3282j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=HD+6670+GDDR5&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=m1ucUdnPF8_H7Ab40oHIDQ&ved=0CDMQsxg&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU&fp=8571d4800423c838&biw=1280&bih=923
    Any chance of getting at least an honourable mention for it?
  • 0 Hide
    sam_p_lay , 22 May 2013 11:09
    I don't think Don reads comments. And since when was 5 minutes before a new series launch 'the best time to buy'? I'd say that's the worst time to buy. At least he did mention GTX700.
  • 0 Hide
    jungle71 , 22 May 2013 12:33
    i got the 650 ti, real good and cheap too
  • 0 Hide
    aje21 , 22 May 2013 13:49
    Why is the Intel column missing the newer graphics models, and even HD2500 isn't there (though HD4000 is).
  • 0 Hide
    damian86 , 21 June 2013 00:59
    Am I the only one around here who thinks Geforce 7 are more expensive than when series 6 came out, if you compare the very high end ones such as 780 or 770 you will still spend either 340 or 500 quid. But if you decide to go for a lower range you don't get a reasonably fast card?

    So is it me doing a bad research or this year graphics cards are much more expensive than last time?
  • 0 Hide
    damian86 , 21 June 2013 01:01
    Am I the only one around here who thinks Geforce 7 are more expensive than when series 6 came out, if you compare the very high end ones such as 780 or 770 you will still spend either 340 or 500 quid. But if you decide to go for a lower range you don't get a reasonably fast card?

    So is it me doing a bad research or this year graphics cards are much more expensive than last time?
  • 0 Hide
    damian86 , 21 June 2013 01:03
    Am I the only one around here who thinks Geforce 7 are more expensive than when series 6 came out, if you compare the very high end ones such as 780 or 770 you will still spend either 340 or 500 quid. But if you decide to go for a lower range you don't get a reasonably fast card? So is it me doing a bad research or this year graphics cards are much more expensive than last time?