Best Graphics Cards For The Money: August '09

[Guest]

"Drivers are generally focused to fix and improve performance on new models with no effect on the old ones. "

That's not true at all. My 256MB X1950 Pro AGP is now faster than a X1950XTX according to ATI Tray tools' benchmark. How's that for driver improvement?

 

[Proximon]

I just put a 4670 in an old machine for a friend playing WoW @1440x900. I was quite surprised at just how much of an upgrade it was. Very strong at those resolutions.

Thanks for the update Cleeve.

 

[haplo602]

[citation][nom]bucifer[/nom]As if you use linux to play games, right.. go take a hike. Stop trolling around![/citation]

oh lol ... you are the only one who mentioned games ... we are talking about basic usability ... now imagine ati/nvidia would not create windows 7 drivers for cards older than a year ... do you think it's just gaming you would loose ? idiot ...

 

[crisisavatar]

there is really no need to buy anything higher than a 4870 512mb, waiting for the release of the d11 cards to hopefully see prices drop even further

no reason to buy nvidia then

 

[Evolution2001]

/hijack on/
For anyone complaining about the gate.com ads or any at all...Firefox + AdBlock Plus (free add-on) = no more annoying ad pop ups.
/hijack off/

TH.Com, thanks for keeping us abreast of the new pricing. After just reading about the new AGP card from Gigabyte on your front page, I still half-expected to see an AGP category still in the list.

 

[Guest]

Eh. Best for 130 should be 4870 1GB not the 512 one. You can get from newegg.ca or ncix.com in Canada a Powercolor 4870 1gb with custom cooler for 130 CAD after the MIR. The gigabyte and the powercolors with custom coolers are actually cheaper in 1gb than in 512 mb... Go figure...

 

[Onus]

Do the low-power versions of the 9600GT and 9800GT stay at the same place on the charts, or do they move down a rank or two?

 

[skora]

[citation][nom]Cleeve[/nom]Thanks, fixed!Remember, those resolution recommendations are general guidelines, not perfect rules that apply to every game out there. I put them in so that folks with a 1280x1024 monitor would know that it was a waste to go and buy an ubercard like a 4870 X2 or GTX 295.[/citation]

Can we get definitions of what those general guidelines are? Good=75% max, Exceptional = Max, Fuzzy = possible if you squint.

And I'm going to jump on the band wagon and say ax the gate.com ad.

Did the geForce 9300/9400 not make the bench in time for this? I missed that the 4200 falls short of the 3300 at stock speeds. Had to go back and see why it was a full tier lower.

 

[Onus]

I have no clue why my question about graphics card performance got a "-1" from someone. I've rechecked the article and chart, and I don't think I missed anything. Where the PSU is the limiting factor, I'd just like to know if either of these is a better performer than the HD4670; the normal ones are stronger, but how about the low-power ones?

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]Do the low-power versions of the 9600GT and 9800GT stay at the same place on the charts, or do they move down a rank or two?[/citation]

As long as they have the same clock speeds as the reference card, they will have the same graphics performance.

If they drop 50 MHz or so to save power, there still won't be a notable difference.

 

[Shadow703793]

For those complaining about the gate ads. FF +AdBlock or simply edit the Windows host file (esp. if using Chrome,etc).

 

[Onus]

Thanks Cleeve.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]skora[/nom]Can we get definitions of what those general guidelines are? Good=75% max, Exceptional = Max, Fuzzy = possible if you squint.[/citation]

As a general guideline, 'Good' would indicate that you could run most games at that resolution.
'Exceptional' would indicate that you could run most games at that resolution very smoothly.

[citation][nom]skora[/nom]Did the geForce 9300/9400 not make the bench in time for this? I missed that the 4200 falls short of the 3300 at stock speeds. Had to go back and see why it was a full tier lower.[/citation]

9300/9400 added, and the 4200 runs at 500 MHz vs. the 3300 running at 700 MHz, that's why it's a full tier lower.

 

[sledgehammer]

I didn't notice the Radeon HD 4730 / 4750 cards in the chart on the last page. Maybe it should be updated a bit?!

 

[sailfish]

These articles should also include the wattage usage for each card since one of the hidden costs for them is the added monthly costs to one's electricity bill; especially for those who have a high "On" time for their systems.

 

[sailfish]

These articles should also include the wattage usage for each card since one of the hidden costs for them is the added monthly costs to one's electricity bill; especially for those who have a high "On" time for their systems.

 

[sailfish]

Not sure how it hiccup'd double posts? Sorry.

 

[joey_sfb]

When its done.

[citation][nom]barmaley[/nom]Anyone knows when Nvidia is going to announce their cards to counter ATI's launch in near future?[/citation]

 

[joey_sfb]

Understand your predicament. Though i recently bought a 4870 and love it for my games. I will also be very piss if they announce they will terminate my 4870 support after 2 years.

Next round just buy Nvidia then, when you really need it.

I have a thought on why they would terminate support for x1900 series and maybe not do the same for 4800. x1900 series is pre-AMD/ATI days and the design is vastly different from 2400XT,3870 and 4800 which is design along the same path. Unless 5870 is vastly different, they would not terminate support for any of the three mentioned. Anyway, we shall see.





[citation][nom]Windaria[/nom]Actually, the latest x-server is now shipping in most recent Linux releases, and due to an exposed flaw in the older ATI drivers, it requires the newer ones, that have dropped the support for "older" cards that were being shipped as recently as a year ago. This means that, say, I can use Ubuntu 8.10, but 9.04? No, not without a round-about hack that is being used, and for how long? Or, without the open-source drivers, which, say, Regnum does not work with, because they aren't yet up to par.So, no, what ATI did was simply not acceptable. When people buy hardware, there is a reasonable expectation of having working drivers for about, what, 3 years? Cutting it off after 1 year of a product being sold is, again, simply not acceptable.[/citation]

 

[quotas47]

I agree with KT_Wasp on the 4870. After the 4770 shortage, I conceded spending an extra $100 to crossfire two of the sapphire 4870s together for about $300, as opposed to my original cost of $200 for two 4770s. They have the same core features, DDR3 video memory (but 1gb instead of 512mb per card), and are a little stronger. There were two sub-versions of the 4870s from Sapphire and I opted for the cheaper version that didn't come with HDMI built in, but instead each come with a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. I find the inclusion of this adapter a welcome bonus, and more than adequate for connection to my High Definition TV.
Further note: The Sapphire Vapor-X 4870 is the version that comes with integrated HDMI, and has an improved cooling solution. With my particular case, I found the NON Vapor-X 4870 inadequate and modified my case with two in-line (front to back) 115CFM fans externally, blowing inward onto the video cards. The fans are extremely loud at max speed, but I have since added a variable resistor dial to the case to dial them down to near silence when I know the high RPM isn't needed.

 

[Guest]

I might wait for the 5000 ATI ones with DX11 and all on Windows 7. I found this when searching: http://2geek.org/pt/blog/default.aspx?id=154&t=ATI-5000-Series-Preview. Is that for real? Is that what it will look like minus the cooler?

 

[Guest]

I might wait for the 5000 ATI cards. They're supposed to handle DX11, with Windows 7 and all. Looks promising with smaller die sizes too. I found this while searching: http://2geek.org/pt/blog/default.aspx?id=154&t=ATI-5000-Series-Preview Is that what they're going to look like without the cooler?

 

[skora]

As a general guideline, 'Good' would indicate that you could run most games at that resolution.
'Exceptional' would indicate that you could run most games at that resolution very smoothly.

Thanx DW, I'd suggest putting that in the first page somewhere and if it can be expanded, that would be cool.

 

[werepossum]

Please remember that many folks are looking to upgrade and that not everyone will have a particular motherboard configuration. Perhaps a Crossfire or SLI configuration is the best buy for a new build - although remember, Crossfire or SLI motherboards are more expensive too - but it's certainly not the best buy if you'd need to buy a new motherboard to use it.

 

[inmytaxi]

Uh, how is this not just a listing of every card combination possible in order of price? At least for cards over 100 bucks. You'd save the reader trouble by just saying get the best deal on the card you can find, but don't buy a gtx 275 or ati 4890.

Frankly, this would be useful if you just selected one card at every $100 price point. With all the runners up and ties it seems like you're trying to please manufacturers and advertisers.

What you have here is a list, nothing more.