Best PCIe Card: $120 To $190
Best PCIe Card For ~$140: Tie
GeForce 9800 GTX+/GeForce GTS 250 (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail
| GeForce 9800 GTX+/GeForce GTS 250 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | G92 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 128 |
| Texture Units: | 64 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 738 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 1,100 (2,200 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10/SM 4.0 |
Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Sure, as long as the frame rates stay the same. Although the GeForce GTS 250 is a re-badged GeForce 9800 GTX+, the falling prices have kept this older, but still powerful graphics technology, very much in the game. The $140 price point allows us to purchase the 1 GB version of this attractive card.
Radeon HD 4850 (Check Prices)
| Radeon HD 4850 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 625 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 993 (1,986 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
The Radeon HD 4850 hangs in there, competing with the GeForce 9800 GTX+/GeForce GTS 250 twins at the same price point. Each card will claim some victories depending on how well it works with a particular graphics engine, but neither will disappoint. As with the GeForce GTS 250, the $140 price point allows us to purchase the 1 GB version of this card instead of the 512 MB version. If you want to save a few dollars, the 512 MB version of the Radeon HD 4850 can be found for as low as $120.
Best PCIe Card For ~$170: Tie
Radeon HD 4870 (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance
| Radeon HD 4870 1 GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 800 |
| Texture Units: | 40 |
| ROPs: | 16 |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,600 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
The Radeon HD 4870 keeps pace with its close rival the GeForce GTX 260. For a few dollars less you can purchase the 512 MB version, and for a few dollars more than the GeForce GTX 260, you can find the 1 GB version. Both are good buys.
GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) (Check Prices)
| GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | GT200 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 216 |
| Texture Units: | 72 |
| ROPs: | 28 |
| Memory Bus: | 448-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 576 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 999 (1,998 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10/SM 4.0 |
While these cards might not sport a full 1 GB of RAM like the Radeon HD 4870 does in the same price range, they do offer advantages in titles that run better on the GeForce GT200 architecture. Once again, a little diligence is required on the part of the buyer to find out which card is the best adapted for his or her favorite titles, and once again, whether or not the motherboard supports SLI or CrossFire. (Ed.: Check out our recent Radeon HD 4890 review, which has numbers for the 512 MB and 1 GB Radeon HD 4870s, along with the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216).
Note that we are recommending the newer Core 216 version of the GeForce GTX 260 instead of the older version with 192 shader processors, which is now becoming hard to find. Regardless, check the specifications of any card before you purchase.
I currently have a Radeon 3850 512mb, anyone have any opinion on whether its worth crossfiring it up with another or going for a new card completely?
What would SLI or Crossfire do with the cards in the tier system? Push them up 1 or 2 tiers? I have 2 8800 GTX OC2's from BFG which are MUCH closer to the Ultra than they are to the vanilla GTX although they were over £100 cheaper than the Ultra (which is why I bought the first one at the time, the second cost me £100 with an accelero xtreme already bolted on 8 weeks ago). Would me setup be in tier 1, 2 or 3?
maisere from looking at the charts it would be worth spending the extra bit of cash and get either a gtx 260 or the 4870. then you could always claw back some of your cash by selling the 3850
In case anyone was unaware, overclockers.co.uk and novatech are both selling ASUS Radeon 4890's for 165 and 172 Pounds respectively after an ATI distributor offloaded a crapload at below market value! If I didn't have a gaming laptop, I would be straight in there to pick up two!
This Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart is great i use it a lot.What would be even better if a chart or table could be made comparing GPU CPU and RAM
so could find where to spend my money to get maximum performance.
As i recently replaced a 7600gt with a 4670 and used this chart as a simple guide but think my Athlon X2 BE-2350 2.1 GHz may now be a drag
so the chart i mention would be a real asset.
What do you think Don Woligroski
I wanna put my 8800gt in SLI (which would still be a formidable system), but nvidia phooked me over by changing them to 9800gt which are exactly the same card but just got a name change for marketing reasons but now won't work in SLI without flashing the 9800gt's bios and hence voiding your warranty. Im gonna buy ATI from now on I think. Atleast you don't see them changing the names of their products and making them incompatible for the craic.
good review.
Just for anyone in Australia reading this and thinking of getting 2x 4770's just bear in mind that they are sold out with the next shipment (anywhere) not expected until the 24th of June.
I've found that the price of the 4850 has come down to reflect this (between $10 and $30), and I picked up 2 of them yesterday for $189 each.
looking around the best i've found is overclockers.co.uk they are selling 4850's for around £78 which works out to be about $124 I bought one a while back but at the price they are now i'm thinking of getting another to crossfire them. should be a pretty good setup