BEST PCI-E CARD FOR $200:

The Radeon HD 4850 is the new people’s champion, instantly bringing yesterday’s $300 performance level down to the mainstream $200 price point. This card has a lot of potential when used on its own, and becomes a devastating force when paired with a second 4850 in a Crossfire configuration.

Best PCI-E Card For $310:

The Radeon HD 4870 offers the same architecture in the 4850 series, paired with its secret weapon: brand new GDDR5 memory. Because GDDR5 provides doubled throughput compared to GDDR3, its 900 MHz clock speed is comparable to a 3600 MHz effective memory speed! This performance edge allows the 4870 to up the ante and offer very compelling performance for the price, competing with the more expensive Geforce GTX 260.

Best PCI-E Card For $400:

In the limited 4850 Crossfire benchmarks we’ve seen so far, it looks like ATI has really learned to squeeze the performance out of their new cards. While a single Radeon HD 4850 performs in the same realm as the Geforce 9800 GTX, two 4850’s in Crossfire will completely decimate the dual-GPU Geforce 9800 GX2, and even put the hurt on the powerful new Geforce GTX 280. Remember, the Geforce GTX 280 costs about $150 more than two Radeon HD 4850 cards!

At this performance level and at this price, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than two Radeon 4850s. As more data surfaces as to how the 4870, GTX 260 and GTX 280 perform in multiple card configurations compared to two 4850’s in Crossfire mode, we might add a higher price point to the list. But for now, the power of two 4850’s in Crossfire is our top recommendation for performance.