Best Graphics Cards For The Money: Jan. '09

Status
Not open for further replies.

fudgeboy

Distinguished
Jul 7, 2008
51
0
18,630
would be interesting to have a dual card section in the hierarchy chary and go back over the older models to see how they shape up (where applicable). i'd love to see where my 7600gt would sit as compared to a single card...
 

V3NOM

Distinguished
Jun 18, 2008
2,599
0
20,780
i think they should reformat it... pick a bunch of resolutions and show us the best cardsssssssss fpr low, medium and high settings for the majority of the games. or three different pric ranges for a specific res.
 

xsamitt

Distinguished
Mar 28, 2007
268
0
18,780
Quote"It turns out that the Radeon 4870, when equipped with a whole gigabyte of GDDR5 RAM, can up the ante to compete against the GeForce GTX 260+ in some titles".

Interesting way of wording it.......Since it was the nvida card that was beefed up to the Radeon card,which by the way was out first.

All in the wording isn't it?
 

Lans

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2007
46
0
18,530
A report by Fudzilla shows it is questionable that the GTX 295 will actually debut at the $500 MSRP... Early indication is closer to $600.

Good news is there are signs that the prices of GTX 280 are dropping and as mentioned in article, others will likely to follow with the actual launch of the GTX 295 (and the GTX 285). :)

Yeah, I am going to have to stay tuned for Feb. charts. :)
 

theblade

Distinguished
Oct 18, 2008
111
0
18,690
It would be nice to have some numbers to inform the readers further about the average performance per dollar of each card recommended, also to have the best bang for the buck at the targeted resolution and in general.
 

smirnovovich

Distinguished
Dec 11, 2008
3
0
18,510
I believe this to be the first time Tom's acknowledge the existence of the 4870 1GB end even now it is being acknowledged as "It turns out that the Radeon 4870, when equipped with a whole gigabyte of GDDR5 RAM, can up the ante to compete against the GeForce GTX 260+ in some titles."

I think it would be better if you would turn this around because GTX 260+ was only launched to match the 4870 1GB.

(btw, i am no fanboy cause i am gonna sell my 4870 to get a 260+ because it is slightly better :))
 
G

Guest

Guest
The GTX 280 is only $315 on newegg I think it should be on the list between the 4850 x2s.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
The GTX 280 is certainly looking better, as prices have dropped sharply in the last week. Clearly they're getting rid of the stock to set up the soon-to-be-here 285.

UNfortunately, that's the nature of this article - it's a 'snaphot', and on a month like this when new products are coming out, things are going to change quite a bit.
 

JonnyDough

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2007
2,235
3
19,865
[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]A few days too early. GTX 285 will lunch on January 9th. It's basically a die shrank version of 280 with higher clock speed.[/citation]


Shrank ain't a word cuz my teacher said it ain't. I think you meant shrunk, which happens to be the past tense of the word shrink.
 

drixle45

Distinguished
Jun 16, 2008
3
0
18,510
[citation][nom]V3NOM[/nom]i think they should reformat it... pick a bunch of resolutions and show us the best cardsssssssss fpr low, medium and high settings for the majority of the games. or three different pric ranges for a specific res.[/citation]

I agree. I have always felt that there could be a better way of formatting these articles but didn't know what to suggest. I would make my decision based on quality, not price. V3NOM's idea bears consideration as an alternative.
 

Pei-chen

Distinguished
Jul 3, 2007
1,279
5
19,285
[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]Shrank ain't a word cuz my teacher said it ain't. I think you meant shrunk, which happens to be the past tense of the word shrink.[/citation]
Thank you.
 

bourgeoisdude

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2005
1,240
25
19,320
So...finally we see the end of the AGP section (sorry Cleeve, someone had to bring it up :) ). I'm actually surprised you kept it this long, but from someone who has read your "Best Gaming Cards For The Money" articles since you were putting them in the forums--heh, brings back memories...

...Okay I'll shut up now.
 

cerulean

Distinguished
Aug 20, 2008
40
0
18,530
[citation][nom]V3NOM[/nom]i think they should reformat it... pick a bunch of resolutions and show us the best cardsssssssss fpr low, medium and high settings for the majority of the games. or three different pric ranges for a specific res.[/citation]

I was thinking the same thing as I was reading through this article. The format of this article is the same month after month and that's great if you know exactly how much you want to spend on a video card--but it tells you nothing of how good each card's performance is relative to the others in adjacent price ranges. For instance, a card might be the best within a particular price range, but if it's just slightly faster than a card, which is $50 less, it might not be justified to some buyers.

I would like to see these articles formatted differently and, as per V3NOM's suggestions, rate the cards based on their overall performance per dollar at different resolutions using a standard set of benchmarks. As new benchmark apps and new hardware are introduced, you can change your standard set of benchmarks and add a date/revision so we have a reference point to compare the results. This will allow the readers to rate the cards not only on their price but on their relative performance.
 

marraco

Distinguished
Jan 6, 2007
671
0
18,990
This series of articles are great, but the last page "GRAPHICS CARD HIERARCHY CHART" needs some performance comparison orientation.

Also, it would be more useful to include Crossfire/SLI setups.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
I'll address some of your comments here:

- This article will never have benchmarks for a direct performance comparison. Why? Because this is an editorial article based on my knowledge and experience, it's purpose is to provide quick refrence for people who don't want to look at mountains of data. To add a ton of benchmarks would be in direct conflict with the purpose and spirit of this article; if you're not satisfied with this general overview or are curious about how a specific card performs, google a review of that particular card.

- I hesitate to add Crossfire and SLI to the heiarchy. Why? Multi-card performance can be very inconsistant. Truth be told, I'm not even 100% comfortable with the dual-GPU cards on the chart, but it's important to have them there so I do the best approximation I can muster.

- ubersmurf, I'm not talking about the upcoming 265 (if there is an upcoming 55nm version of the 260), I'm talking about the newer versions of the 260 with more stream processors than the original 260 had. Hence, the unofficial designation "260+".
 

FreyjasChosen

Distinguished
Jan 8, 2009
101
0
18,680
Wow, this article was really helpful, especially the comparison chart. I bought an 8800 Ultra last October and I haven't been able to find a comparison of that to the newer cards until I came across this. Thanks guys! (And isn't it sad that I paid $620 for that card a year ago and now I can upgrade for $220? Ah well!)
 

harrycat88

Distinguished
Jun 18, 2008
98
0
18,630
Don't be writing AGP off just yet.
I heard that some of ATI's partners are going to release 4650 and 4670's in AGP flavor. As for the 4830 or 4850, don't hold your breath to long. There is still a sizable AGP market so don't be surprised if HIS, Powercolor, or Sapphire decide to drop us a HD4830 for all the 754's, 939's and a few AM2s.
Don't expect any 4000 series AGP cards from VisionTek or Gecube. They said they were finished with the AGP plateform in a very rude manner.
If they are going to be that rude to customers, we can do without them.
 

anonymous x

Distinguished
Apr 22, 2008
121
0
18,680
Wow, once again, no 9800 GTX+, even though it runs faster than the ati 4850 in the majority of benchmarks, it runs cooler (reverence cooler is dual slot, and mine at stock fan speed idles @ 47°C and loads at 58-63°C depending on game), and most review sites get it to overclock higher.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3178641562_72bdc67111_o.png
(idle temp, my card, stock everything (note that it's factory overclocked))
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-9800-gtx-512mb-plus-review/1
(9800 GTX+ wins 6 benchmarks, 4850 wins 3)
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/732/1/
(9800 GTX+ wins 6 benchmarks, 4850 wins 3)
quote:
It seems most of the review sites around the web show the GeForce 9800 GTX+ about 10-15% faster than the Radeon HD 4850

price????
here's one for $144.99 ((after rebate), without rebate it's $164.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130416
AND it includes Call of Duty World at War

Now once again, why isn't the 9800 GTX+ on your best graphics cards for the money article? It should at least tie the 4850.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS