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

[j6uj6u123]

I noticed neither my laptop gpus are there ,such as 8750m gddr3 1gb ,8850m 2gb gddr5 ,i hope u add them soon

 

[bassbeast]

What I don't get is why no love for the HD7750? I've been seeing those a LOT lately in the $70-$80 range and that should beat the DR 3 240 and HD6670 and if you keep an eye out you can find the GDDR5 in the $75-$85 range.I picked one up to replace my aging HD4850 and I have to say its a great card, low power while giving me a great picture and letting me crank the settings on a lot of games.

 

[de5_Roy]

What I don't get is why no love for the HD7750? I've been seeing those a LOT lately in the $70-$80 range and that should beat the DR 3 240 and HD6670 and if you keep an eye out you can find the GDDR5 in the $75-$85 range.I picked one up to replace my aging HD4850 and I have to say its a great card, low power while giving me a great picture and letting me crank the settings on a lot of games.

because radeon hd 7770 is too close to it's price but offers a lot more performance. even some 7790 and r7 260/x cards are close enough in price. for example, this 7770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161402 ~$110
while this 7750 is $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125417
the price difference is too small and the perf advantage is too big to pass up the deal on 7770. other 7770 offers have rebates, lowering price even further, as long as you take advantage of it, like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121663 $90 after rebate (excl. shipping).
as for bonaire, this 7790 is selling for $140 (excl. shipping), $115 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131491
this r7 260x, with 2gb gddr5 memory, is $130, $120 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127762

edit: keep in mind that prices change daily. the prices posted here are only valid until they change due to market situation.

 

[Onus]

The HD7750 should be mentioned for not needing a PCIe power connection, making it suitable for white box prebuilts with undersized PSUs.

 

[de5_Roy]

The HD7750 should be mentioned for not needing a PCIe power connection, making it suitable for white box prebuilts with undersized PSUs.

yeah. in my previous post, i emphasized card/gpu performance and price only. but if users are somehow restricted by power and/or form factor, 7750 becomes more suitable.

 

[RedJaron]

The HD7750 should be mentioned for not needing a PCIe power connection, making it suitable for white box prebuilts with undersized PSUs.

yeah. in my previous post, i emphasized card/gpu performance and price only. but if users are somehow restricted by power and/or form factor, 7750 becomes more suitable.

Speaking of form factor, 7750 also is the strongest card I can find with a half-height bracket too ( and is usually the best single slot card. ) Even if it's not the "best" card for the money, these reasons should make it at least an honorable mention.

 

[logainofhades]

There is a company out there selling a slim HD 7850. They are a bit difficult to find though.

 

[RedJaron]

There is a company out there selling a slim HD 7850. They are a bit difficult to find though.

Right, I've seen those too, which is why I said "usually."

 

[Wisecracker]

I've never had the pleasure, but my understanding is those mini Sapphire HD7850s ran quite a bit 'toasty' ...

but, in the right cabinet with proper ventilation/fans would make a sweet multipurpose HTPC.

 

[razoRjaw]

thanks so much for this, just convinced me not to upgrade my card lol

 

[bassbeast]

What I don't get is why no love for the HD7750? I've been seeing those a LOT lately in the $70-$80 range and that should beat the DR 3 240 and HD6670 and if you keep an eye out you can find the GDDR5 in the $75-$85 range.I picked one up to replace my aging HD4850 and I have to say its a great card, low power while giving me a great picture and letting me crank the settings on a lot of games.

because radeon hd 7770 is too close to it's price but offers a lot more performance. even some 7790 and r7 260/x cards are close enough in price. for example, this 7770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161402 ~$110
while this 7750 is $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125417
the price difference is too small and the perf advantage is too big to pass up the deal on 7770. other 7770 offers have rebates, lowering price even further, as long as you take advantage of it, like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121663 $90 after rebate (excl. shipping).
as for bonaire, this 7790 is selling for $140 (excl. shipping), $115 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131491
this r7 260x, with 2gb gddr5 memory, is $130, $120 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127762

edit: keep in mind that prices change daily. the prices posted here are only valid until they change due to market situation.

Actually if you look around the HD7750 can be had in the $70-$80 range so you can almost buy 2 7750s (if you want to go CF) or add a 64Gb SSD for the price of the single 7770. Also since the 7750 doesn't need external power it puts out less heat which depending where you live (or how much you like loud fans) does matter. My youngest has the 7790 (on sale its often close to the 7770 which makes the 7770 a bad buy IMHO) and its a good 30-40% louder than my 7750 so if you want a quiet PC I'd also go with the HD7750.

 

[Novuake]

Actually if you look around the HD7750 can be had in the $70-$80 range so you can almost buy 2 7750s (if you want to go CF) or add a 64Gb SSD for the price of the single 7770. Also since the 7750 doesn't need external power it puts out less heat which depending where you live (or how much you like loud fans) does matter. My youngest has the 7790 (on sale its often close to the 7770 which makes the 7770 a bad buy IMHO) and its a good 30-40% louder than my 7750 so if you want a quiet PC I'd also go with the HD7750.

Yes because Crossfire HD7750s is SUCH a good idea...

 

[Onus]

The cheaper HD7750s tend to be made with DDR3 instead of GDDR5 though, making them abominations unsuitable for a gaming PC.
It will be interesting to read next month's comments on the GTX750Ti (and GTX750).

 

[de5_Roy]

your arguing gfx card prices nearly after a month, after some phase-outs, new gpu introductions, price reductions and price increases make your reply moot. i'll still add some points below.

Actually if you look around the HD7750 can be had in the $70-$80 range so you can almost buy 2 7750s (if you want to go CF)

unless i'm buying 2x 7750s for two different pcs, i won't be going that way. i strongly doubt anyone else will. the cheapest one on newegg is an xfx one with gddr5 (stay the heck away from ddr3 ones) @ $110, $90 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150663 there may be cheaper on other sites/shops. again, prices change daily.

or add a 64Gb SSD

64GB is actually too small for current trends. for example, titanfall pc version is rumored to take over 40GB disk space. future games will be even bigger space-hogs. instead of a 64GB ssd that will soon fill up, i could go for.....

for the price of the single 7770.

..... this $100 radeon hd 7770 from h.i.s.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161433
or this msi one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687, $90 after rebate - matching the post m.i.r. price of the above-mentioned cheapest xfx 7750 on newegg. or this $100 sapphire one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202084, $85 after m.i.r. 😀

Also since the 7750 doesn't need external power it puts out less heat which depending where you live (or how much you like loud fans) does matter. My youngest has the 7790 (on sale its often close to the 7770 which makes the 7770 a bad buy IMHO) and its a good 30-40% louder than my 7750 so if you want a quiet PC I'd also go with the HD7750.

riight. i guess you wrote this before geforce gtx 750 and 750ti came out. if pricing is less of an issue, those two are stronger contenders. as for noise - that is largely dependent on overall card construction.
if price is an issue, there are other options. such as this power color r7 250x, based on the same cape verde gpu from 7770, at $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131559
or this asus one at $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121853
or r7 260x (new gcn 1.1 based bonaire gpu) or 7790
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131490
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150688
or this gtx 750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487027
prices like these make the 7770 indeed worse buy... but 7770 prices make the 7750 even worse buy...

 

[bassbeast]

The cheaper HD7750s tend to be made with DDR3 instead of GDDR5 though, making them abominations unsuitable for a gaming PC.
It will be interesting to read next month's comments on the GTX750Ti (and GTX750).

I didn't even look at those as anything with les than GDDR5 isn't worth having honestly. You look around Amazon and newegg its really not hard to find the HD7750 in the $70-$80 range which is frankly lower than the HD66xx card they were recommending and a better performer so it really made no sense. The 6 series suck more power, generate more heat, and the 77s beat the 66s by a pretty good margin performance wise.

As for the other poster who suggested nvidia? Sure if you have an Intel system that is an option, if you have an AMD system its not as driver issues will turn the system into a giant mess. Too many of the AMD NB and SB drivers use bits of Catalyst in them and you end up with some serious WTH moments as Windows gets confused and can't decide which driver should be doing what, you end up spending more time debugging than playing. The only exception is those that have a budget board based on Nvidia chips, those don't seem to have the issues.

If you can find an HD7770 or HD7790 for the same price or VERY close to an HD7750 and don't mind the extra noise? Go for it, after all my youngest found an HD7790 for $99 and at that price it would be hard to turn down, but I'd put the HD7750 in place of the 6670 the article calls a winner.

 

[rrr1431]

Ever since I upgraded to a 7770 about a year ago I've had so many problems with my PC culminating in my HEC cougar 500W PSU blowing up. I'm not sure why I had this problem since the 7770 only requires a 450W PSU according to this article. For the record i had 2 hdds (340GB and a 500gb) a ASUS Xsonar PCIe sound card and a DVD Writer. The 500 W should have been able to handle that. Anyway I'll be replacing my PSU to a 600W or 700W unit soon.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Ever since I upgraded to a 7770 about a year ago I've had so many problems with my PC culminating in my HEC cougar 500W PSU blowing up. I'm not sure why I had this problem since the 7770 only requires a 450W PSU according to this article. For the record i had 2 hdds (340GB and a 500gb) a ASUS Xsonar PCIe sound card and a DVD Writer. The 500 W should have been able to handle that. Anyway I'll be replacing my PSU to a 600W or 700W unit soon.

Quality is what matters most. That build should be fine on ~400W, but cheap PSUs have a tendency to have fake ratings etc. Second link in my sig is a good reference.

 

[h2323]

Omg, toms is so shameless...um the new maxwell performs like a 7850.....(not even close) then later states how its closer to a 7770. Use the branding amd has used its much simpler and chill on the Nvidia fame. Fail toms fail

 

[ralanahm]

It would be nice to have the APU listed like intel or mixed in the Radeon. I know this is for desktop graphics but this is a nice list and it would be nice to know how a HD 8400 hits on the list when looking at laptops. Also I think the intel 5200 iris is at or just below a 4850. If you want to put it on the list.

 

[17seconds]

Two months in a row not a single AMD card recommended over the $120 range. Not even an honorable mention. Even the "assorted multi-card configurations" is only referring to Nvidia SLI options.

 

[logainofhades]

Omg, toms is so shameless...um the new maxwell performs like a 7850.....(not even close) then later states how its closer to a 7770. Use the branding amd has used its much simpler and chill on the Nvidia fame. Fail toms fail

The THG, 750ti, review did show the performance close to that of an HD 7850. The non TI, 750, looks to be closer to an HD 7790 after looking at Anand's review. It was trading blows with a 260x.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Two months in a row not a single AMD card recommended over the $120 range. Not even an honorable mention. Even the "assorted multi-card configurations" is only referring to Nvidia SLI options.

Something to do with the fact that AMD's cards are uneconomical because of the whole LiteCoin mess?

 

[Isaiah4110]

Two months in a row not a single AMD card recommended over the $120 range. Not even an honorable mention. Even the "assorted multi-card configurations" is only referring to Nvidia SLI options.

I can spend $400 for an AMD 7950/280X or I can spend $250 on an nVidia GTX 760 and get the same gaming performance... I don't see any reason I would choose the AMD option right now, and the LiteCoin miners are the obvious cause of the AMD price hike.

 

[Muckster]

You think there would be some kind of educated, howbeit speculative, discussion on the inflated costs of video cards created by the bitcoin miners. For example, are video card manufactures doing anything to up production? I've watched bitcoin prices start at near $800 in december, then crash down to just under $500 and now its up near $650. Does bitcoin value even matter? Are newer card generations likely to drive down prices on older generations? Are all markets inflated or it is predominately the North American markets? I Would be nice if we consumers had something better than a random guess as to when prices might come down. Another month? Six months? Give me anything, even speculation.

 

[Onus]

No one mines BTC with a graphics card any more. Miners are generating Litecoins, not Bitcoins.
I don't think AMD is setting the prices, or profiting from the high prices; their distributors and retailers are. I'm sure AMD is churning them out as fast as they can.