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Best Entry-Level Graphics Cards

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: June 2013
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Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For £45:

Radeon HD 6670 DDR3

Good 1680x1050 performance in most games

Radeon HD 6670 DDR3
Codename: Turks
Process: 40 nm
Unified Shaders: 480
Texture Units: 24
ROPs: 8
Memory Bus: 128-bit
Core Speed MHz: 800
Memory Speed MHz: 800 (1600 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP:66 W

We're still bummed that the Radeon HD 5670 was discontinued. Although it's true that the Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 has a more capable GPU featuring a 25 MHz-faster core clock, four more texture units, and 80 additional shader cores, the 5670 wields more than two times the memory bandwidth thanks to its 1 GHz GDDR5 subsystem.

Nevertheless, without any significant competition, the Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 assumes the £45 recommendation as our entry-level gaming card.

Best PCIe Card For ~£75:

Radeon HD 7750

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

Radeon HD 7750
Codename: Cape Verde
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 512
Texture Units: 32
ROPs: 16
Memory Bus: 128-bit
Core Speed MHz: 800
Memory Speed MHz: 1125 (4500 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5.0
Max TDP:55 W

The Radeon HD 7750 is the fastest graphics card you can get right now that doesn't require an auxiliary power input; it draws all that it needs from a 16-lane PCIe slot. If you're upgrading an older machine with limited power supply capacity, that's an attractive point to consider.

And it's a decent performer, too, particularly in light of AMD's most recent Catalyst driver packages.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 7750 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Best PCIe Card For ~£100

Radeon HD 7770

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

Radeon HD 7770
Codename: Cape Verde
Process: 28 nm
Unified 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 under ~£100, which is significantly less than what AMD wanted for the card when it launched.

Almost as powerful as the end-of-lifed Radeon HD 6850, this newer board 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.

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  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 24 June 2013 18:11
    I'm getting tired of the low/mid-end stagnating. I mean, the Ati 4670 is, afaik, 50% faster than the 3670. The 5670 is also around 50% faster than the 4670. The 6670, however, is virtually the same as the 5670. There's also no 7670.

    Come on! Gi'es us something new already.
  • 0 Hide
    tstebbens , 28 June 2013 11:43
    At the beginning of this month I bought a VTX3D 7870 Black Edition. This is a 7870 based on the Tahiti GPU. Tom's are saying this is best value at the £200 price point so I'm feeling rather smug that I got mine for £165. I was replacing my venerable GTX 260 and I have to say it is an amazingly good card for the money.

    I was worried about buying VTX3D as they aren't a well known brand to me, but so far it has been rock solid. The card feels well constructed and the single fan (something else I was worried about; I wanted a dual-fan card originally) is much quieter than I would have guessed - even under load.

    If you're looking to get a new graphics card in the £160 - £180 region then you'd be stupid not to consider this card.
  • 0 Hide
    Cyberoam , 28 June 2013 12:36
    As Don says, the card to get is on your needs and budget. Obviously budget needs to be in line with your requirement.

    For years I've been good with integrated and <£30/$50 GPU's. But now after getting more into PC gaming and video editing, decided to get the best I could afford... A Gigabyte 770 OC 4GB. Should be good enough for a few years.