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

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[citation][nom]avk[/nom]Just curious, but where would 2 HD 5850s (crossfire) stand in this chart?[/citation]

They'd probably be somewhere around a GTX 660 or GTX 660 Ti in raw performance, but would probably also be more stutter-prone and thus not necessarily give as good of an experience despite similar performance.
 
If you really want a budget gaming card, you can find used Radeon 4850's on eBay for about $30. Half the cost of a 6670 and pretty much identical performance.
 

+1
And not removing the previous months' recommendations so to view any shifts in the market?

Please.
 
Hey Tom's! ... I know you've been running the new layout for the "Best Graphics or CPU for the Money" for a bit now... I like it... makes it easy to read quickly... well organized.... and the chart at the back puts everything in perspective...
Thanks!
 
I've seen the 7870 LE being sold under the name 7870 XT in Denmark. That name makes slightly more sense, although the -70 in 7870 means the same thing as XT used to mean. Oh well, confusing naming is par for the course these days.
 
I still don't like the fact that, in the hierarchy chart, the GTX 670 is matched with the 7950 when every other website and review has it on par with a 7970. Overclock it and you've got a GTX 680 / 7970 Ghz Edi. The GTX 660 Ti matches up with the 7950, but not according to Tom's.
 
I still think the starting point for gaming video cards should be the GDDR5 version of the HD6670. It may also be worth pointing out that there are some DDR3 versions of the HD7750 out there, which should be avoided.
Edit: I also just noticed that the GDDR5 version of the HD6570 is a tier higher than the DDR3 version of the HD6670. So, recommending a DDR3 card makes no sense at all now.
 

The GTX 670 doesn't perform on par with a 7970. The 7950 doesn't really perform on par with the GTX 670 either, but the hierarchy chart isn't meant to be very precise and granular anyway.
 
i didnt like the 550ti earning a recommendation alongwith 7750. 550ti isnt even in the same league as 7750. its old, it consumes much more power than 7750 , costs a little more and performs the same. so 550ti can never be recommended over a 7750.
also 7850 1gb can also be no longer recommended as 1gb is just not enough for todays demanding games at 1080p high to ultra settings. just like tom's changed their recommendation from pentium to athlon they should also realise same goes for 1gb mid range graphics cards. they are no longer good buy. so 7850 and 550ti should be removed from tom's recommended list or else bring back pentium cpu's also for the cpu recommended list.
 

+1. Double the power, for the same performance? As a niche product, perhaps as an add-on PhysX card, but not a full-scale recommendation.


-1. Nothing about a recommendation implies ultra settings and/or maximum eye candy, or even the resolution. Would you similarly criticize the HD7770 for the same reasons? For the money, this card is an excellent choice.
 
[citation][nom]mohit9206[/nom]i didnt like the 550ti earning a recommendation alongwith 7750. 550ti isnt even in the same league as 7750. its old, it consumes much more power than 7750 , costs a little more and performs the same. so 550ti can never be recommended over a 7750.also 7850 1gb can also be no longer recommended as 1gb is just not enough for todays demanding games at 1080p high to ultra settings. just like tom's changed their recommendation from pentium to athlon they should also realise same goes for 1gb mid range graphics cards. they are no longer good buy. so 7850 and 550ti should be removed from tom's recommended list or else bring back pentium cpu's also for the cpu recommended list.[/citation]
It's really at a break point. The 7770 isn't fast enough to play any games/settings that require 2GB VRAM, while the 7870 is plenty fast enough for 2GB VRAM. The 7850 is somewhere in between, having 30% less processing power than the 7870 and the same memory backend.
 
i mean that anyone who wants to buy 7850 should always get the 2gb variant not the 1gb. toms themselves had said that going into 2013 all mid range cards having 2gb ram should be the norm and 1gb should only be for entry level cards. so in this sense 7850 1gb is not a good buy for anyone who looks to keep the card for 2 or more years.
however am more interested how this holds up for the 650ti. its lower than 7850 but higher than 7770 so am not sure whether 650ti would benefit from an extra gig of vram at 1080p. so is it better to get 2gb 650ti or 1gb 7850 for the long term for someone with $150 budget is interesting to consider
 

I disagree. Benchmarks have shown that the 1 GB 7850 performs like the 2 GB 7850 in pretty much all games at 1080p. It's only at higher resolutions that the 1 GB VRAM becomes insufficient. Of course, over the next few years games will gradually demand more VRAM at a given resolution (and settings), so you could get the 2 GB version for future-proofing. But the 1 GB version is definitely a legitimate option for 1080p gaming.
 
[citation][nom]beninchi[/nom]The reason there is little coverage of the 7990 is because there "officially" is no 7990. Because AMD has yet to spec one, hardware vendors have taken upon themselves to mash two 7970s and call it a 7990. It exists, but is not very official from AMD's point of view.[/citation]
Powercolor made one. I thought they'd get sued. 😉
 
Hi :)

I read what you said about 7990`s not being official... lol

Well my shops are selling a LOT of them official or not, and I use them myself...

NOT have the most powerful graphics card in the world (TH COMPARISON) on the list is unforgivable... 🙁

To be honest it looks like Bias...

All the best Brett :)
 
Hi :)

And what does "Unofficial" mean when its selling well, and is THE most powerful graphics card in the world...?

Toms is meant to be about new hardware and innovation... not about unofficial or official 🙁

Its like saying lets talk about the best car in the world and only talking about a Prius as the Ferrari is unofficial ...

All the best Brett :)
 


The article is about making good-faith recommendations to consumers, some of whom may well be inexperienced with respect to new hardware and innovation. The introduction says that very thing:

"So, if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right card, then fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for the money."

So no, this isn't an appropriate place to highlight an unofficial (and therefore, not officially supported) graphics card. Tom's did do an article comparing the performance of the 7990 and the GTX 690 a few of weeks ago, though -- so you can't accuse them of ignoring the 7990's existence.

There's nothing unofficial about a Ferrari.
 
That Radeon HD 7870 LE looks promising, I wish it came out a lot sooner though would have saved me a lot of grief. Ah well that's how the pc game works I suppose.
 
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