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

[Sakkura]

Yes, but on many they are actually clocked differently. It's better on Haswell than on Sandy/Ivy, though.

There are small differences in the clock bands, but the real difference is in the TDP that determines where they'll sit within the very large range of clocks allowed. On the desktop CPUs, the base clock of all the iGPUs is either 200 MHz or 350 MHz. The max. turbo ranges from 1 GHz to 1.3 GHz (1.25 GHz is the highest among the non-R models). So all of them fall within reasonably similar ranges, but with a HUGE range from minimum to maximum clocks. So the TDP becomes crucial in determining actual performance.

 

[Onus]

There are small differences in the clock bands, but the real difference is in the TDP that determines where they'll sit within the very large range of clocks allowed...So the TDP becomes crucial in determining actual performance.

That's why the chart ought to simply show them at their best. Those of us who regularly reference this chart know to look out for factors that will bring it down. Put a "*" next to all of them; something like: "will vary, typically lower based on CPU TDP limitations."

 

[xenol]

If I may make a suggestion to the article writer... You should add in your notes about recommendations that freebies are (or not?) factored into the cost. I have a feeling a lot of people are recommending cards because they come with free, recent games. So if we went with AMD's Never Settle Bundle which I think had at most 3 recent games for the picking, some people could claim "well then the video card is effectively $180 less!"

Also regarding mobile GPUs, and notebookcheck.com does have a comprehensive list of mobile GPUs and their performance tiers.

 

[littleleo]

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

Some one say Mammary!? LOL

 

[littleleo]

I thought they did a little better at the top part of the chart this time, though there are always some listings that just make you scratch your head and wonder why.

 

[SessouXFX]

Why aren't these miners using ASIC's to do their work for them? Wouldn't it be more efficient than stacking up 6-8 cards and burning up mega watts in the meanwhile?

 

[tsnor]

I really love the 'hierarchy' chart with older cards. Comparing old to new is really valuable.

The addition of the 'performance per dollar' chart is great. please keep it. You looked at some runner's up cards that did not get a recommendation. Any chance you could add a few of those to the 'performance per dollar' chart ?

 

[Onus]

Why aren't these miners using ASIC's to do their work for them? Wouldn't it be more efficient than stacking up 6-8 cards and burning up mega watts in the meanwhile?

Although ASICs have rendered BTC mining with GPUs obsolete, Litecoin uses a different hashing algorithm and there are not yet ASICs for it.

 

[EmnicJr]

I can't believe the $100 markup on the R9 280X! One week I am ready to buy the card, the next week, it's up to $400!

 

[logainofhades]

I can't believe the $100 markup on the R9 280X! One week I am ready to buy the card, the next week, it's up to $400!

Yea HD 7970's are in the same boat on that one. Good thing I didn't want another for CF. :lol:

 

[Sakkura]

I can't believe the $100 markup on the R9 280X! One week I am ready to buy the card, the next week, it's up to $400!

It's probably temporary. The 280X is still available cheaper than the GTX 770 in my corner of Europe. And Bitcoin, Litecoin etc. are currently dropping in price (making it less attractive to buy GPUs to mine them).

 

[littleleo]

I can't believe the $100 markup on the R9 280X! One week I am ready to buy the card, the next week, it's up to $400!

Hey Capitalism, isn't it GREAT!

 

[littleleo]

Why aren't these miners using ASIC's to do their work for them? Wouldn't it be more efficient than stacking up 6-8 cards and burning up mega watts in the meanwhile?

Litecoin uses a different algorithm I had a customer looking for a bunch of 7950s to build multiple mining machines. Of course there is a big shortage on all the AMD VGA cards so when stock is low and prices are high.

 

[shobuj66]

I am asking to include the HD 4400, HD 4600 and HD 5200 in the hierarchy chart. Though they have insignificant impact in game performance but they are not negligible. Without them the list is incomplete.

The problem is that those integrated GPUs are used in CPUs with different TDPs. Which means that performance can vary a lot.

For example, both the Core i3-4130 and the Core i3-4130T have HD Graphics 4400, but the 4130 has a TDP of 54W while the 4130T has a TDP of only 35W. That means the HD Graphics 4400 is much more likely to reduce its clock frequency to stay within the allowed TDP. Lower clocks = lower performance, thus HD Graphics 4400 isn't just HD Graphics 4400.

 

[shobuj66]

So, there will be different HD 4400 in different hierarchy. If my idea is right then few indications may be given to identify each HD 4400.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Testing those would be an impossibly large amount of work, though. And they don't do different entries for factory OCed GPUs

 

[sunandan]

Lol some of those high-end AMD cards basically have the "screw you Australia" price added on because of demand

 

[eldragon0]

No one's going to point out that our post times are saying 2012 instead of 2013?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'm seeing 2013...

The oldest posts were actually posted in 2012, because they just update the article, rather than creating a whole new one.

 

[Adela Pop]

Thanks a lot for this great update! I am currently trying to upgrade my computer and it´s the first time I do it myself. I was planning on getting an AMD Radeon 280X but now I have to find something else because I don´t want to wait too long. I´m thinking of getting a Zotac GeForce GTX 770 Extreme Edition, which seems just as good (even a little bit faster):
http://versus.com/en/amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-zotac-geforce-gtx-770-extreme-edition

 

[bjarnepedersen]

All the comments in the top are stating they are from december 2012 - maybe your filter isn't working?
And it would be nice to have the newer integrated intel graphics on the list also.
Thanks for a good list.

 

[twocows360]

What about the Radeon r7 240? I was waiting for this month's list in the hopes that it would at least appear on the hierarchy.

 

[logainofhades]

Yea, I would love to see some benchmarks of the low end cards, just to see where they stand.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

What about the Radeon r7 240? I was waiting for this month's list in the hopes that it would at least appear on the hierarchy.

the 240 is liek the 750 on an A8, teh 250 like the 7550 (256 or 384 stream processors at 800 MHz)

 

[anthony8989]

Is there a confirmed naming scheme for the Kaveri APU's GPU?