Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Conclusion: Performance Per Dollar

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2014
By

In an effort to further express the performance you get for every dollar spent on our recommendations, we're charting out the hierarchy of cards from today's story. The red, black, and blue bars represent how each card fares at 1080p, 2160p, and the average of the two, while the orange line indicates cost. If you mouse over the bar chart, you get a pop-up that shows performance relative to AMD's Radeon R9 295X2 (our current 100% ceiling). Mousing over the dots on the orange line yields a low price easily attainable on Newegg. Clicking a bar or dot gives you the option to shop for that card, taking you to a link of our pick in each category. Often, our choices give you a lower price than the average displayed.

At the beginning of the chart, you see significant performance gains for every dollar spent. Clearly, the Radeon R7 250X is the price/performance card to beat under $150, while the Radeon R9 270X takes top honors under $200. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 750 Ti offers performance similar to the Radeon R7 260X for a similar price. It might not be the best value play, but this Nvidia card remains attractive to gamers stuck with low-end power supplies they don't want to upgrade.

Price hike up quickly from the Radeon R9 270X to the R9 290, but performance jumps just as much. After that, what you'll pay steadily increases, while performance doesn't scale as aggressively.

As you approach the upper echelon of frame rates, your dollar doesn't stretch as far. But if you're a hardcore gamer who wants to experience the highest resolutions and most taxing detail settings, the most expensive cards in this list might be attractive. Just keep in mind that two GeForce GTX 970s are going to cost you $660, and they're going to perform about as fast as a Radeon R9 295X2 at $1000.

Summary

There you have it folks, the best cards for the money this month!

And remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!

Follow us on Twitter for more tech news, reviews, and exclusive updates!

Add a comment
Ask a Category Expert
React To This Article

Create a new thread in the UK Article comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 9 comments.
  • 1 Hide
    IRONBATMAN , 17 October 2014 08:41
    I don't see any texts other than the headers like " Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$185: " . Everything else below it is empty
  • 0 Hide
    cats_Paw , 17 October 2014 08:45
    Probably some mistaken post, nothing special about it.
  • 0 Hide
    ivanthechemist , 17 October 2014 11:04
    Well, it happens a lot more often these days...
  • 0 Hide
    aje21 , 17 October 2014 14:50
    So we get the US article and not the UK one?
  • 0 Hide
    op8 , 17 October 2014 15:33
    $440 for a 780 ti?! 780ti's seems to holding their prices in the UK, still going for between £400-£500. If the prices in the U.S are that low ($440 = £273), then that's a bargain.
  • 0 Hide
    Colin Lee , 17 October 2014 17:56
    Hmm, for some reason you can only view it on the .com site, not .co.uk.
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
  • 1 Hide
    13thmonkey , 17 October 2014 19:19
    Quote:
    $440 for a 780 ti?! 780ti's seems to holding their prices in the UK, still going for between £400-£500. If the prices in the U.S are that low ($440 = £273), then that's a bargain.


    I'm seeing mid 300's http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/gpu-nvidia/geforce-gtx-780-ti-(2880-cores)

  • 0 Hide
    op8 , 17 October 2014 20:34
    Quote:
    Quote:
    $440 for a 780 ti?! 780ti's seems to holding their prices in the UK, still going for between £400-£500. If the prices in the U.S are that low ($440 = £273), then that's a bargain.


    I'm seeing mid 300's http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/gpu-nvidia/geforce-gtx-780-ti-(2880-cores)



    I only checked Amazon and Dabs. Scan has some better deals its seems, but correct me if I'm wrong, aren't Gainward, Zotac and PNY the same company or related in some way? Either way its a pretty restricted choice of 780Ti''s.
  • 0 Hide
    13thmonkey , 17 October 2014 21:11
    gainward and palit were/are related? not sure about the others. Look at amazons prices for 970's they are about £40 out at the moment. I think they are running down stock.
React To This Article