Best Graphics Cards For The Money: January 2012 (Archive)

[iceclock]

We'll they already overheat and crash so we need to wait until they get a revision cooler.

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

Ah I see unlocking to an 290x interesting if it's even possible

I actually found a thread on Overclockers.net where people had successfully done this. It appears PowerColor and Sapphire boards have been fairly successful flashing up to a 290X BIOS. GPUz has confirmed the change in core count/pixel shaders so it definitely works, but it seems to be hit/miss as to which cards this works on.

These cards have dual BIOS and there seems to be a trick to getting them to accept the new bios using this feature, but it's not clear if there is a significant performance difference, if any.

 

[iceclock]

simpler to just to wait and have revision coolers on 290x and buy em, instead of playing silicon lottery lol

 

[Roger Rogers-1382392]

For poor gamers like me living in a country where prices are too high, the best for me would be a 650ti boost/hd7790. I can only dream of a costlier card like gtx770/R9 290.

For seven years I lived with an Athlon 64 and a Sapphire 512mb X1950XTX toytown gaming card. The 650 Ti I could only dream of; until this past year.

Being poor can be a God-given education in learning about EFFICIENCY.

 

[iceclock]

thats what dreams are made for.

 

[littleleo]

For poor gamers like me living in a country where prices are too high, the best for me would be a 650ti boost/hd7790. I can only dream of a costlier card like gtx770/R9 290.

For seven years I lived with an Athlon 64 and a Sapphire 512mb X1950XTX toytown gaming card. The 650 Ti I could only dream of; until this past year.

Being poor can be a God-given education in learning about EFFICIENCY.

Amen!

 

[grumpigeek]

Where does Intel's HD5000 series graphics fit on the Hierarchy chart?

Hard to say. It actually has the resources to perform quite well, but with simultaneous CPU and GPU load, it will have to throttle down to avoid overheating with both the CPU cores and the integrated GPU producing heat. So in benchmarks or short gaming sessions it may perform like reasonable entry-level desktop gaming graphics cards, but in more realistic gaming scenarios it'll fall behind. HD Graphics 5000 is hit particularly hard by this phenomenon because it's only available in ultrabook processors, which have TDPs of no more than 15W (which is extremely low when it comes to graphics processors, let alone graphics processors that have to share their TDP with CPU cores).

Actually its quite the opposite: And its not only for ultrabooks but they can be fitted there too.
Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics Review: Core i7-4950HQ Tested

Spoiler

Where Iris Pro is dangerous is when you take into account form factor and power consumption. The GT 650M is a 45W TDP part, pair that with a 35 - 47W CPU and an OEM either has to accept throttling or design a cooling system that can deal with both. Iris Pro on the other hand has its TDP shared by the rest of the 47W Haswell part. From speaking with OEMs, Iris Pro seems to offer substantial power savings in light usage (read: non-gaming) scenarios. In our 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display review we found that simply having the discrete GPU enabled could reduce web browsing battery life by ~25%. Presumably that delta would disappear with the use of Iris Pro instead.

Lower thermal requirements can also enabler smaller cooling solutions, leading to lighter notebooks. While Iris Pro isn't the fastest GPU on the block, it is significantly faster than any other integrated solution and does get within striking distance of the GT 650M in many cases. Combine that with the fact that you get all of this in a thermal package that a mainstream discrete GPU can't fit into and this all of the sudden becomes a more difficult decision for an OEM to make.

The real problem comes when you are going to the "buy" button 😛:
Intel Core i7-4950HQ $657
Intel Core i7-4850HQ $468
With these prices, only for the CPU (with the GPU) its really hard to be placed to some laptops or to be attractive to anyone that can buy far better combinations. Ofcourse for people that power consumption and battery life is the most important, then Iris Pro (HD5200) is probably the best...

Thanks for that info and link about the 5200. My curiosity is satisfied.
I currently have an ultrabook with HD4000, which I don't use for gaming. Even using MS Office, I notice a lag in graphics performance sometimes.
I hope the 5200 comes down to a reasonable price before I have to buy another ultrabook.

 

[iceclock]

well u can get laptops for 800$ that do better than these i7s. so yeah u might wanna rethink that.

 

[r13j13r13]

Nvidia 10% mas rapido y 40% mas caro

 

[Rebeljt]

What is momory?

 

[TheZenClan]

You made a mistake on "r7 270" it got to be r9 270

 

[Sakkura]

Where does Intel's HD5000 series graphics fit on the Hierarchy chart?

Hard to say. It actually has the resources to perform quite well, but with simultaneous CPU and GPU load, it will have to throttle down to avoid overheating with both the CPU cores and the integrated GPU producing heat. So in benchmarks or short gaming sessions it may perform like reasonable entry-level desktop gaming graphics cards, but in more realistic gaming scenarios it'll fall behind. HD Graphics 5000 is hit particularly hard by this phenomenon because it's only available in ultrabook processors, which have TDPs of no more than 15W (which is extremely low when it comes to graphics processors, let alone graphics processors that have to share their TDP with CPU cores).

Actually its quite the opposite: And its not only for ultrabooks but they can be fitted there too.
Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics Review: Core i7-4950HQ Tested

Spoiler

Where Iris Pro is dangerous is when you take into account form factor and power consumption. The GT 650M is a 45W TDP part, pair that with a 35 - 47W CPU and an OEM either has to accept throttling or design a cooling system that can deal with both. Iris Pro on the other hand has its TDP shared by the rest of the 47W Haswell part. From speaking with OEMs, Iris Pro seems to offer substantial power savings in light usage (read: non-gaming) scenarios. In our 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display review we found that simply having the discrete GPU enabled could reduce web browsing battery life by ~25%. Presumably that delta would disappear with the use of Iris Pro instead.

Lower thermal requirements can also enabler smaller cooling solutions, leading to lighter notebooks. While Iris Pro isn't the fastest GPU on the block, it is significantly faster than any other integrated solution and does get within striking distance of the GT 650M in many cases. Combine that with the fact that you get all of this in a thermal package that a mainstream discrete GPU can't fit into and this all of the sudden becomes a more difficult decision for an OEM to make.

The real problem comes when you are going to the "buy" button 😛:
Intel Core i7-4950HQ $657
Intel Core i7-4850HQ $468
With these prices, only for the CPU (with the GPU) its really hard to be placed to some laptops or to be attractive to anyone that can buy far better combinations. Ofcourse for people that power consumption and battery life is the most important, then Iris Pro (HD5200) is probably the best...

You're linking to Iris Pro 5200. I was talking about HD Graphics 5000, which IS only available in ultrabook processors.

 

[Memnarchon]

You're linking to Iris Pro 5200. I was talking about HD Graphics 5000, which IS only available in ultrabook processors.

He didn't said HD Graphics 5000.
He said Intel's HD5000 series. So I assumed he was talking about The GT3 and its variances. Thats why I post about Iris Pro. 😛
Here is a link for HD5000 graphics: A Look at Intel HD 5000 GPU Performance Compared to HD 4000
And anyway if tom's is about to place new haswell intergrated GPU why to place only HD5000 in the hierarchy chart?

 

[iceclock]

interesting yes

 

[king smp]

I dont understand the purpose of having desktop IGP on the GAMING chart
anybody that games seriously will want a discrete card
only in the mobile market does it make sense to show IGP
but if you want a laptop for primarily gaming than a discrete should be the solution there also

 

[Sakkura]

You're linking to Iris Pro 5200. I was talking about HD Graphics 5000, which IS only available in ultrabook processors.

He didn't said HD Graphics 5000.
He said Intel's HD5000 series. So I assumed he was talking about The GT3 and its variances. Thats why I post about Iris Pro. 😛
Here is a link for HD5000 graphics: A Look at Intel HD 5000 GPU Performance Compared to HD 4000
And anyway if tom's is about to place new haswell intergrated GPU why to place only HD5000 in the hierarchy chart?

But Iris Pro 5200 is not HD Graphics. It's at least marketed under a separate brand name. The only 5000 series iGPU under the HD Graphics branding is the HD Graphics 5000.

 

[Memnarchon]

But Iris Pro 5200 is not HD Graphics. It's at least marketed under a separate brand name. The only 5000 series iGPU under the HD Graphics branding is the HD Graphics 5000.

Hmmm it seems that they dropped the names HD5100 and HD5200 completely. They are using Iris and Iris Pro.
But we should have them all in the hierarchy chart anyway. (www.notebookcheck.net already got them in their hierarchy chart.)

 

[Novuake]

I dont understand the purpose of having desktop IGP on the GAMING chart
anybody that games seriously will want a discrete card
only in the mobile market does it make sense to show IGP
but if you want a laptop for primarily gaming than a discrete should be the solution there also

Soon enough lower resolution gaming(every AAA title too) will be possible on IGPs.

So I can see the reason behind it. But I can not see why this chart is even mildly helpful other than in a very general and vague sense, unless you want to count the value it adds to flame wars. 😀

Anyone who reads this should just realize that the chart is a GUIDELINE, and that performance tiers are useless when you start consider price and usage. For example a GTX280 may be better than a HD7770 in pure performance, but how do you factor in DX11 support (requirement for many games) on a tiered chart? Not really possible? Precisely.

 

[netspiderz]

momory clock rates ?

 

[emailaddress]

How about NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 620 and 645 that come with Dell computers?

 

[Cata]

The performance per dollar graph is not as performance per dollar graph, its a confusing performance graph with some pricing line point thingies in the middle

 

[CookingMasterMan]

There's a typo. "The only differences between them are their core and momory clock rates." It should be 'memory' not 'momory.'

 

[king smp]

I guess it's better than mammary
that would be a good typo

 

[Novuake]

LOL momory...

 

[Centosan Centosanjr]

Why does http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html say that the GTX 590 has higher performance than GTX 660 but you guys state the reverse as true?