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

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

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So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to 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.

September Review and October Updates:

While there wasn’t any fanfare-filled product launches this September, ATI and their partners have managed to get a lot of interesting derivatives of existing products onto the market this month.

First of all, the Radeon 2900 PRO has been quietly released onto the marketplace. Nvidia finally has some tough competition in the $280 price segment, and the real surprise is that this card is much more powerful than we expected. While the 2900 PRO was rumored to be a cut-down version of the 2900 XT with a 256-bit memory interface, the actual product has a full 512-bit memory interface and 512 MB of RAM. The only difference between the 2900 XT and PRO are clock speeds: 740 MHz core / 825 MHz memory for the XT and 600 MHz core / 800 MHz memory for the PRO. The only down side with this product is that it’s rumored to be available in very limited quantities, but while it lasts it’s a shoe-in for top competitor in the $280 price segment.

Secondly, a new derivative of the Radeon X1650 XT has been spotted in the wild called the Radeon X1650 GT. There are couple of things that make this card really interesting: it’s based on the 24-shader X1650 XT core, not the 12-shader X1650 PRO core, so this might be the first time a Radeon GT is faster than a Radeon PRO with the same numerical designation. Priced similarly to the 7600 GS in the US, it will be interesting to see if the X1650 GT shows up in the UK.

Thirdly, for the first time, owners of AGP systems can buy a DirectX 10 graphics card! The Radeon 2400 PRO and 2600 PRO have been released for the AGP bus. Now, as far as gaming performances go these cards don’t have a lot to offer as the existing Radeons X1950 PRO and X1950 XT will beat them with ease. However if the high definition video drivers work for these cards then it will enable old AGP systems to be used for HD-DVD and Blu-ray video playback by taking the load off of the CPU. For some of you with old AGP boxes lying around this might be welcome news.

Other than these cards, the news is in the pricing. Prices have shifted a bit last month, so have a careful look at the list if you’re planning to buy within your budget!

Best Gaming Graphics cards for your Money:

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 changes 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 at the price ranges we suggest;
- The list is based on some of the best U.K. prices from online retailers. In other countries or retailers, your mileage will most certainly vary;
- These are new card prices. No used or open box cards are on the list; they might be a good deal, but it’s out of the scope of what we’re trying to do.