Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December 2011

[cleeve]

Seasons greetings are accompanied by information about the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core, a list of products that are suffering availability, seasonal price increases, and some rumors regarding the next-gen Radeon HD 7000 and GeForce 600 families.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December 2011 : Read more

 

[alhanelem]

im still saving up cash and eagerly waiting for the GTX 600's and HD 7000's

 

[Yargnit]

Where'd you find 2x GTX 560ti's to SLI for $370? That would be more than an honorable mention if it were true.

Perhaps you meant 2x GTX 460's?

 

[Onikage]

Hey tom i'd like to see where 6870x2 would fit in Hierarchy Chart and who could be its closest competitor from both camps,

 

[Dacatak]

December has barely started!?????

Might as well paste November's article.

 

[Dacatak]

[citation][nom]Yargnit[/nom]Where'd you find 2x GTX 560ti's to SLI for $370? That would be more than an honorable mention if it were true. Perhaps you meant 2x GTX 460's?[/citation]

I got my 560 Ti brand new (PNY OC version) for $180 (no tax, free shipping, and no need for BS MIR).
I could've gotten two for SLI at $360 even, but I don't like microstutter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOtre2f4qZs

Where? eBay of course. Where every day is Cyber Monday.
(I even saw some manufacturer refurbs for $175)

Never buy retail again.

 

[theuniquegamer]

The anandtech has recently got some info about the upcoming 7000 desktop and mobile entry level and 600m entry level gpu specs. The 7000 are going to be revealed today.

 

[Gamer-girl]

Under Honorable Mention: Radeon HD 6950 2 GB

In our testing, this product shows no advantage over the cheaper 1 GB flavor of Radeon HD 6970 unless you're playing high resolutions

Is there such a card or is it a typo?

 

[DSpider]

The Radeon HD 6670 isn't really much of an upgrade over the Radeon HD 5670. However, we're going to give it an honorable mention for being the fastest card (at least compared to reference versions from AMD and Nvidia) that doesn't require an auxiliary PCIe power cable. That is to say its power requirements are entirely satisfied by a second-generation PCI Express x16 slot.

What if my motherboard only has PCIe x16 1.0 ?

 

[Onus]

The $85 HD6750 you mentioned is probably so cheap because it uses DDR3; how would it perform compared to a GDDR5 version? The second thing I noticed about it is that it doesn't need a PCIE power connector. Would it outperform a HD6670, or does the slower RAM make that much difference?

Also, the HD6850 seems to be mostly in the $130-$150 range (some after MIR), not $160.

 

[jemm]

As always another good gpu reference.

 

[cmcghee358]

Kinda surprised there was no mention(side bar, not a real recommendation) of that 5970 during neweggs Black Friday deal, that also carried into the next week. $299 on BF, 329 until discontinued.

 

[vaughn2k]

HD5770 for one straight year! Still the best!

 

[ojas]

Hmmm....a suggestion for the "Best Things for the Money" Articles:

Why not have an average performance chart page for the hardware? As in, one with just the selected best price/performance winners and the honourable mentions...apart from the hierarchy chart.

You know, just as a quick reference for the critical moment before pressing the 'buy' button.

 

[DSpider]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Hmmm....a suggestion for the "Best Things for the Money" Articles:Why not have an average performance chart page for the hardware? As in, one with just the selected best price/performance winners and the honourable mentions...apart from the hierarchy chart.You know, just as a quick reference for the critical moment before pressing the 'buy' button.[/citation]
Probably because the term "best" is very subjective. Some people can game just fine at 15-22 fps, while others won't even look at anything lower than 35-40 fps.

Another reason would be that prices fluctuate all the time. It's been asked for this countless times now... "Price/performance" doesn't apply to other countries or even multiple vendors within the US. Sometimes the same model by a different brand will be so expensive that it bites the heel of the next (superior) model, pricing-wise.

There's also the second hand market, which you can find some very good cards, and in excellent condition as opposed to the cards from a few years back. Because of competition quality has gone up and technology lasts longer these days. Almost everything has solid capacitors these days.

So yeah. A price/performance chart would be pretty much useless as it can become very quickly outdated.

 

[badtaylorx]

holy crap!!! almost a total win for the red team!!!

 

[ksampanna]

When the 5850 drops out of the top five groups, I'l buy a second one (retail/second hand). When the 5970 drops out of the top five, it's time for me to replace the Xfired 5850s

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]Probably because the term "best" is very subjective. Some people can game just fine at 15-22 fps, while others won't even look at anything lower than 35-40 fps.Another reason would be that prices fluctuate all the time. It's been asked for this countless times now... "Price/performance" doesn't apply to other countries or even multiple vendors within the US. Sometimes the same model by a different brand will be so expensive that it bites the heel of the next (superior) model, pricing-wise.There's also the second hand market, which you can find some very good cards, and in excellent condition as opposed to the cards from a few years back. Because of competition quality has gone up and technology lasts longer these days. Almost everything has solid capacitors these days.So yeah. A price/performance chart would be pretty much useless as it can become very quickly outdated.[/citation]

You missed my point entirely. I said performance chart for the cards they've selected, not price/performance. So people know what to expect. Like you said, some will be fine at a lower FPS. If they see the 6770 and 6670 listed on a benchmark instead of just tiers, it'll help more IMO. THIS is what i was saying.

They've listed price/performance winners anyway, that's what this article is about: Best xyz for the money = best bang for the buck = price/performance win.

I don't even live in the US, so i'm fully aware that the prices aren't the same.

 

[caamsa]

I got 2 GeForce GTX 460 1 GB cards off craigslist for 150 bucks.....beat that toms ;-P

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]caamsa[/nom]I got 2 GeForce GTX 460 1 GB cards off craigslist for 150 bucks.....beat that toms ;-P[/citation]
I remember factory OC 1GB 460s drom MSI i think selling for $120 back when BestConfigs was going on...sad newegg doesn't exist here where i live.

 

[tuffjuff]

Hmm, 6870 or 560 when ordering my video card next month? Decisions, decisions...

 

[Guest]

Thank you for this! I want to play Skyrim and was looking for DirectX 11 compatible cards, but it seems like budget options available would be a downgrade. This chart lets me know that my 4870 is still a strong card. I would have to spend around $200 for a strong upgrade.

 

[Guest]

Newegg also has 4870s for ~$60 each. Xfire for 120 can't be beat, if you don't mind old tech

 

[tzhu07]

I have a new build, but I'm running the Intel HD3000 graphics for now. I plan on dropping in a next generation high end graphics card once they are released. Can't wait!

 

[gm0n3y]

Prices stagnating, stock diminishing.. the next gen can't come out soon enough. Let the graphics war continue!