Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do all the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is a guide to the best graphics cards within their budget.

So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough that you’ll make the right decision, Fear not! We at Tom’s Hardware Guide have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for your money this month.

November Review and December Updates:

November brought us the new Radeon 3850 and 3870 cards aplenty, and showed us that ATI still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

First off, yes, the Geforce 8800 GT is faster than the Radeon 3870. However, it’s not that much faster, and the Radeon 3870 has a lower price of £155 (€220) (inc. VAT). At this price, the 3870 offers an almost identical performance-per-pound ratio to the Geforce 8800 GT.

Fortunately, the cheaper Radeon 3850 seems to be widely available at £110 (€155). This is fantastic, as the Radeon 3850 offers similar performance to the Geforce 8800 GTS 320mb for a really low price. Since the new DirectX 10 cards were introduced, we’ve been waiting for a £100 (€140) card that can run in the same league as the high end cards, and now we finally have it. The Radeon 3850 offers power that no other sub-£140 (€200) card can touch.

Nvidia isn’t taking the news sitting down however, and we should shortly be seeing a 256mb version of the 8800 GT to compete with the Radeon 3850. In addition to this, the near future should also bring the new G92-based 8800 GTS, which should by all indications give the 8800 Ultra a run for it’s money. Hopefully those will be released in the near future but we have no concrete dates.

In the AGP side of things, the hardcore gamers among us still wait with baited breath to see when – and if - the Radeon 3850 will make it to the aging bus. In the meantime, the former AGP champ X1950 XT is becoming very scarce.

A few simple guidelines to keep in mind when reading this list include:

- This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, the cards in this list are more expensive than you need;

- Prices and availability change on a daily basis. We can’t offer up-to-the-minute accurate pricing info, but we can list some good cards that you probably won’t regret buying between the price-ranges we suggest;

- The list is based on some of the best U.K. prices from online retailers. In other countries or retail chains, shipping will almost certainly apply and vary;

- These are new card prices. No used or open box cards are in the list; they might be a good deal, but it’s out of the scope of what we’re trying to do.