Source: Tom's Hardware US – Keywords: radeon, geforce, gtx
Categories: Hardware
Conclusion
What about this other card that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not ?
This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen, because both stock levels and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that card you’ve got your eye on is a good buy in its price range?
Here are two resources to help you judge if a card is a good buy or not. The first is the graphics card hierarchy chart, which groups graphics cards with similar overall performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing cards available and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.
You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.
At the request of readers, I have added mobile graphics and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphics solutions. While the discrete video cards in the chart are placed in tiers based on a lot of information, many of the mobile and integrated devices in the chart are guesstimates based on their specifications. At worst, I don’t think they’re more than one tier away from their actual performance, but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphics chipsets.
| GeForce | Radeon |
|---|---|
| GTX 295 | |
| HD 4870 X2 | |
| GTX 280, GTX 285 | HD 4850 X2 |
| 9800 GX2, GTX 260, GTX 275 | HD 4870, HD 4890 |
| 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250 | HD 3870 X2, HD 4850 |
| 8800 GT 512 MB, 8800 GTS 512 MB, 9800 GT | HD 4830 |
| 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT | HD 2900 XT, HD 3870 |
| 8800 GS, 9600 GSO | HD 3850 512 MB, Mobility 3870, HD 4670 |
| 8800 GT 256 MB, 8800 GTS 320 MB, GO 8800M | HD 2900 PRO, HD 3850 256 MB, Mobility 3850 |
| 7950 GX2 | X1950 XTX, HD 4650 (DDR3) |
| 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX | X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX |
| 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT | X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT |
| 7800 GT, 7900 GS, Go 7950 GTX, 8600 GTS, 9500 GT (GDDR3) | X1800 XL, X1950 GT, Mobility X1800 XT, HD 4650 (DDR2) |
| 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, Go 7800 GTX, Go 7900 GTX, 8600 GT (GDDR3), 9500 GT (DDR2) | X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, Mobility X1900, HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR3), HD 3670, Mobility 3670 |
| 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCIe), Go 7800, Go 7900 GS, 8600 GT (DDR2) | X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, Mobility X800 XT, HD 2600 PRO, Mobility HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR2), Mobility 3650 |
| 6800 GS (AGP), Go 6800 Ultra, Go 7600 GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT | X800 GTO 256 MB, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT, Mobility HD 2600 |
| 6800, Go 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, Go 7700, 8600M GS | X800, X800 GTO 128 MB, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO, Mobility X1800 |
| 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT (DDR2), Go 7600 (128-bit), 8500 GT, 9400 GT | 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, Mobility X800, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT, HD 3300, Mobility 3470, HD 4350, HD 4550 |
| FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128-bit), Go 6800 (128-bit) | 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, Mobility X1450, X1550, Mobility X1600, Mobility X1700, HD 2400 PRO, Mobility HD 2400 XT, Mobility X2500, HD 3200, Mobility 3450 |
| FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT, Go 6600, Go 7600 (64-bit) | 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, Mobility 9800, 9800 PRO (128-bit), X600 XT, Mobility X700, X1050 (128-bit), Mobility X1350, Mobility X1400, Mobility X2300, Mobility HD 2400 |
| 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8400 GS | 9600 PRO, Mobility 9700 (128-bit), 9800 LE, X600 PRO, Mobility X600, Mobility X1300, Xpress 1250, Mobility HD 2300 |
| 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64-bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS, 9300M G, 9300M GS | 9500, 9550, 9600, Mobility 9600, X300, X1050 (64-bit) |
| 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, Go 5700, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE, 8200M, 9200M GS, 9100M | 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, Mobility 9700 (64-bit), X300 SE, X1150 |
| 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128-bit), FX 5500, Go 5600, Go 6200, Go 6400, Go 7200, Go 7300, Go 7400 (64-bit) | 9000, 9200, 9250, Mobility 9600 (64-bit), Mobility X300 |
| FX 5200 (64 bit), 6100, 6150, Go 7200, Go 7400 (32-bit) | 9200 SE, Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150 |
| 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200 | 7500 |
| 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400 | SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200 |
| Nvidia TNT | Rage 128 |
Summary
There you have it folks: the best cards for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.
Don’t worry too much about which brand you choose, because all of the cards out there pretty close to Nvidia’s and ATI’s reference designs. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer’s reputation for honoring the warranty if something goes wrong.
Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!
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I'm getting a little tired with the ongoing shift in focus of these articles - it's the best card for your money. That to me says "here are some price brackets, here are the best cards for each" not "you'd be stupid to spend this much money when you can go SLI for cheaper".
As a result, it's of no interest to me within the scope of this article that 2x 260GTXs in SLI are better value than a single 4870 X2 (especially as earlier on Mr. Woligroski couldn't justify a single 260GTX). Maybe I don't have SLI or Crossfire, maybe I'm interesting in buying half or third of a monster GPU rig now and doubling-up when the cards are cheaper. Maybe I'm even a moron with too much cash.
Similarly, perhaps all I have is $160 and simply cannot stretch any more, so it's no good not putting a card in the $160 bracket just because a product at $25 more is "better value".
Any way you cut it, I want to know what single card is the best in a certain price bracket. These articles doesn't really do this any more.
Perhaps if the focus of the article was "best value for your money" it would be a different matter - what graphics performance can you get for x amount of money? Yes, then I'd be very interested that a pair of 260GTXs at $360 or 2 4870s at $400 is better value than a single 4870X2.
I'm sure there's room for both here: for each price bracket list best single card and best value option - at the lower price points they'll be one and the same.
it would be good if we saw some reviews of like 2x 150$ cards in xfire/sli vs a 200-300$ card lets actually see something about value for money
and why say get a $520 card when a considerably cheaper card can almost do the same for less.
also surprised you didn't say three 4830's in cf for $285, it would be more powerful than a GTX 285 for less.
What a lot of codswallop "Best for the Price crap" with competition in price variations this is no gauge to suggest that the Card(s) is any good and that it is in fact the best of its class, I’m sure you can do better in varying the Marketing and Sales propaganda and give us some facts and not “Bull Dust”