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Best Enthusiast Graphics Cards

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: June 2013
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Best PCIe Card For ~£200:

Radeon HD 7870 (Tahiti-Based)

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

Radeon HD 7870 (Tahiti-Based)
Codename: Tahiti LE
Process: 28 nm
Unified 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

Although these cards bear the Radeon HD 7870 model designation, a number of 7870s are floating around with handicapped Tahiti GPUs, rather than the Pitcairn graphics processor you'd expect. We recently took a look at this derivative's potential in Tahiti LE, Tested: PowerColor's HD7870 PCS+ Myst Edition, and are therefore confident replacing the Pitcairn-based 7870 with this card as our sole recommendation at ~£200.

Best PCIe Card For ~£260:

Radeon HD 7950 Boost Edition

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

Radeon HD 7950 Boost Edition
Codename: Tahiti
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 1792
Texture Units: 112
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 384-bit
Core Speed MHz: 850
Memory Speed MHz: 1250 (5000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11.1/SM 5
Max TDP:200 W

As the price of Radeon HD 7950 cards with AMD's Boost technology drop closer to their reference-class predecessors, they start offering better value for somewhere between the Radeon HD 7870 (Tahiti LE) and GeForce GTX 670. The allure is that you get slightly more performance without the need to overclock manually and void your warranty coverage.

Best PCIe Card For ~£310:

GeForce GTX 670

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

GeForce GTX 670
Codename: GK104
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 1344
Texture Units: 112
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core (Boost) Speed MHz: 915 (1033)
Memory Speed MHz: 1502 (6008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
170 W

The GeForce GTX 670 is a battle-hardened contender. Offering performance slightly below the Radeon HD 7970 and a lower price to match, this was one of our favorite cards right when it launched. It remains a cool, quiet, and attractive option today.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670 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.