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.
Come on! Gi'es us something new already.
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.
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.