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Best High-End Graphics Cards

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: June 2013
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Best PCIe Card For ~£350:

GeForce GTX 770

Great 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 770
Codename: GK104
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 1536
Texture Units: 128
ROPs: 32
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed (Turbo) MHz: 1046 (1085)
Memory Speed MHz: 1752 (7008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
230 W

The GeForce GTX 770 might be a new model, but it's basically a GeForce GTX 680 with higher clock rates, improved cooling, and a lower price tag. Because the GK104 GPU runs faster and sports 7000 MT/s memory, this board is rated for 230 W. That's quite a bit higher than the GeForce GTX 680's 195 W thermal ceiling.

We're not big fans of re-spinning existing hardware with a new model name, but the GeForce GTX 770 earns our respect for delivering higher performance at a more affordable price point (in this case, £350). That's a little less than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, which tends to be roughly as fast, and at a TDP 20 W-lower. That's enough to earn our exclusive recommendation.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 770 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

Honourable Mentions:
Assorted Multi-Card Configurations

The GeForce GTX 770 delivers such strong performance at under £350 that we find it hard to recommend higher-performing (but sometimes-inconsistent) multi-card configurations for more money. 

We'll call out some other options, though, mostly for folks with one of these cards already installed: two GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2 GB cards in SLI, two GeForce GTX 660s in SLI, two Radeon HD 7870s in CrossFire, two GeForce GTX 670s in SLI, and finally, two GeForce GTX 770s in SLI.

Honourable Mention:
GeForce GTX 780

Excellent 2560x1600 performance

GeForce GTX 780
Codename: GK110
Process: 28 nm
Unified Shaders: 2304
Texture Units: 192
ROPs: 48
Memory Bus: 384-bit
Core Speed (Turbo) MHz: 837 (836)
Memory Speed MHz: 1502 (6008 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5
Max TDP:
250 W

The GeForce GTX 780 is a cut-down version of the fastest single-GPU graphics card available, the GeForce GTX Titan. With an additional two SMXes disabled, the GK110 GPU still sports about 25% more CUDA cores than the GeForce GTX 680/770, and only about 16% fewer than the Titan.

Wealthy gamers are excited that the 780 sells for £250 less than the GK110-equipped flagship. So, technically, the GeForce GTX 780 is a better value. However, this is still a very expensive video card. And the 780's value story is overshadowed by the GeForce GTX 770. As a result, we're giving the GeForce GTX 780 an honourable mention for its uncontested speed at an unmatched price.

Read our full review of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780 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.