Best PCIe Card: $310 And Up
Past the point of reason:
With rapidly-increasing prices over $260 offering smaller and smaller performance boosts, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Radeon HD 4850 X2. While more expensive solutions perform impressively in multiple-card configurations at ultra-high resolutions, there’s just not enough of a gain compared to the Radeon HD 4850 X2, unless you play at resolutions beyond 1920x1200.
Then again, while we often recommend against purchasing any graphics card that retails for more than $300 from a value point of view, there are those of you for whom money might not be much of an object, who can afford a 30” 2560x1600 LCD monitor, and who require the best possible performance money can buy. For those of you, we recommend the following cards:
Best PCIe Card For ~$350: Tie
Two GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) cards in SLI Configuration (Check Prices)
Exceptional 1920x1200 performance in most games, 2560x1600 in most titles (some with lowered detail)
| Two GeForce GTX 260 (Core 216) cards in SLI Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | 2 x GT200 |
| Process: | 55/65 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 432 (2 x 216) |
| Texture Units: | 144 (2 x 72) |
| ROPs: | 56 (2 x 28) |
| Memory Bus: | 448-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 576 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 999 (1,998 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10/SM 4.0 |
As we noted with the single-card recommendations, two GeForce GTX 260 cards in SLI offer advantages in titles that run better with the GeForce GT200 architecture. If you have an SLI motherboard, the decision becomes a no-brainer as two GeForce GTX 260 cards are a serious force to reckon with. As with the single cards, we recommend the newer Core 216 versions, thanks to the similar price and enhanced performance.
Two Radeon HD 4870 1 GB cards in CrossFire Configuration (Check Prices)
| Two Radeon HD 4870 in CrossFire Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | 2 x RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1,600 (2 x 800) |
| Texture Units: | 80 (2 x 40) |
| ROPs: | 32 (2 x 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 |
Two Radeon HD 4870 cards are a powerful combination, especially when equipped with gobs of memory. With the price of a Radeon HD 4870 X2 running over $400, we recommend two Radeon HD 4870 cards in CrossFire to save the cash. Of course, if you don't have a CrossFire or SLI motherboard, the single-card solution Radeon HD 4870 X2 looks a lot more attractive.
Best PCIe Card For ~$410: None
Honorable Mention: Radeon HD 4870 X2 (Check Prices)
Good 1920x1200 performance, 2560x1600 in most titles with some lowered detail
| Radeon HD 4850 X2 2 GB | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | 2 x RV770 |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 1,600 (2 x 800) |
| Texture Units: | 80 (2 x 40) |
| ROPs: | 32 (2 x 16) |
| Memory Bus: | 256-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 750 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 900 (3,200 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10.1/SM 4.1 |
Two separate GeForce GTX 260 cards in SLI or two Radeon HD 4870 cards in CrossFire are slightly cheaper than a single Radeon HD 4870 X2, which gives those dual-card configurations the recommendation. Having said that, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is a single card and is therefore viable for those of you with a single PCIe slot on your motherboard. For this reason, the 4870 X2 gets an honorable mention.
Best PCIe Card For ~$520: GeForce GTX 295 (Check Prices)
Exceptional 1920x1200 performance in most games, 2560x1600 in most titles (some with lowered detail)
| GeForce GTX 295 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | 2 x GT200b |
| Process: | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders: | 480 (2 x 240) |
| Texture Units: | 160 (2 x 80) |
| ROPs: | 56 (2 x 28) |
| Memory Bus: | 448-bit |
| Core Speed MHz: | 576 |
| Memory Speed MHz: | 999 (1,998 effective) |
| DirectX/Shader Model: | DX 10/SM 4.0 |
Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295 with SLI-on-a-card is the most powerful single graphics card on the planet. With two attached GeForce GTX 275 cards that have been merged, the GeForce GTX 295 offers very notable gains over the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in the great majority of game titles. Even more impressive is that it does so while consuming less power than ATI's flagship card does, which is no small feat.
This is the fastest single graphics card you can get. To get more performance, you'd have to look to extreme solutions such as multiple GeForce GTX 280s in SLI or Radeon HD 4870X2s in CrossFire, but unless you have a 30" monitor, that would likely be a gratuitous waste of money.
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