Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2011

[kyuuketsuki]

[citation][nom]akula2[/nom]Price is $270 with rebate vs $360
$90 difference keeps me to rethink on going back to GTX 570. Comments please.[/citation]
570 and 6950 are not comparable in terms of performance. You need to be looking at 6970 vs. 570 or 6950 vs. 560(ti).

 

[CocoHacker]

AMD placed the bet on the winning horse ... ATI the way its meant to be played!

 

[verbalizer]

AMD placed the bet on the winning horse ... ATI the way its meant to be played!

 

[JeTJL]

Didn't know they sold Graphics Cards at Walmart.

 

[gbwatson96]

Bought the XFX 6770 to replace a Nvidia GTS 250 512 MEG. I played COD MW1, COD WAW and Half Life 2 without being too shocked either way with the performance. The ATI 6770 plays everything my GTS 250 did with no problem, but not really faster, either. Granted, I have no newer DX11 games or have done any overclocking with the 6770.
For the money you can get one of these cards (less than $110 with rebates), I would agree totally with Tom's on their recommendation. I will say that, if I had paid more than $125 or $130, I might think twice...

 

[gam0reily]

There is large disparity between the prices at various sites, the difference being 30-50$ for many.
Plus, some cards which are OCed to a better extent get priced at rates of higher series, thats why much confusion is around.

MY Picks :

for casual gamers (16xx-11xx) - nvidia 550 ti

for moderate players (19xx-14xx) - nvidia gtx 560 ti

for enthusiasts (22xx- 18xx) - ati 6950

thx

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]There is large disparity between the prices at various sites, the difference being 30-50$ for many. Plus, some cards which are OCed to a better extent get priced at rates of higher series, thats why much confusion is around.MY Picks : for casual gamers (16xx-11xx) - nvidia 550 tifor moderate players (19xx-14xx) - nvidia gtx 560 tifor enthusiasts (22xx- 18xx) - ati 6950thx[/citation]

Overclocked cards are always a bad deal, because the lowest priced cards will often overclock just as high.

Recommending the 550 Ti over the 5770 is a very strange call. the 5770 performs a but better for cheaper, and for the same price as the 550 Ti you could buy a 5790, which performs a lot faster.

 

[gam0reily]

@cleeve, gtx 550 gives about 4-5 fps better than 5770 in my experience at the above quoted res. Also, I am an nVidia fanboy so it goes right up there.

Although, I reviewed my picks and now think that I shoud replace the gtx 560 ti with 6950 and the 6950 with gtx 570, coz I heard they overclock well and perform better in higher settings.

 

[gam0reily]

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]@cleeve, gtx 550 gives about 4-5 fps better than 5770 in my experience at the above quoted res. Also, I am an nVidia fanboy so it goes right up there.Although, I reviewed my picks and now think that I shoud replace the gtx 560 ti with 6950 and the 6950 with gtx 570, coz I heard they overclock well and perform better in higher settings.[/citation]

wait, 560ti remains as it is. and for the enthusiast, I 'd say HD 6970

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]@cleeve, gtx 550 gives about 4-5 fps better than 5770 in my experience at the above quoted res. [/citation]

Well, when I reviewed it that certainly wasn't the case. Usually it's a tie, but the 5770 wins more than it loses:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-550-ti-gf116-radeon-hd-5770,2892.html

...and you can find it a lot cheaper.

But if you're going to spend the $140 for the 550 Ti, you'd be crazy not to get a 6790, which is notably faster at almost everything:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6790-barts-gpu-geforce-gtx-460,2917-8.html

I guess if you're an Nvidia fanboy and value is irrelevant, the 550 Ti is your card.
But when it comes to performance, it's embarrassed by the similarly-priced 6790, across all resolutions...

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]I reviewed my picks and now think that I shoud replace the gtx 560 ti with 6950 and the 6950 with gtx 570, coz I heard they overclock well and perform better in higher settings.[/citation]

Also, if you're looking to mod/overclock, the reference-based 2GB 6950s can be modded into the 6970... on par with the GTX 570, but for under $300.

 

[gam0reily]

and @cleeve, opinions will differ for guyz with different resolutions. I hav recently got a 22" monitor, which is very demanding performance wise. Hence, I got a 6870, which I guess makes mw a hypocrite :-DDD

 

[gam0reily]

and for the 550 5770 argument, its seen from man benchmarks that 550 is a bit better tha 5770 on cooler games like crysis, just cause etc. Plus nvidia's got this gr8 driver support which is unsatisfactory for amd.
But I totally agree tht 140$ is not justifiable. 130$ wud hav been gr8 for this card.

And if u r preferring 6790, I 'd say tht u r wasting ur money coz for 145-150$, u can get a 6850, which is a 15% increase in performance from 6790!!
http://www.hwcompare.com/9995/radeon-hd-6790-vs-radeon-hd-6850/

 

[gam0reily]

and like 550 is not good 4 the price, similar is the issue with 6790.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]and for the 550 5770 argument, its seen from man benchmarks that 550 is a bit better tha 5770 on cooler games like crysis, just cause etc. [/citation]

Well, when the 550 wins it usually doesn't win by all that much, but on average the 5770 will beat it. That's the thing, every game engine will have its own characteristics but I try to recommend on averages. But since the 5770 can be had for $100 it's a no-brainer when the two are compared.

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]Plus nvidia's got this gr8 driver support which is unsatisfactory for amd.[/citation]

I disagree, that's 1999 talking. AMD's drivers have been just as, if not more, stable than Nvidias for some time now. Both have some issues but neither does a perfect job at everything. Havfing said that I haven't seen a show stopper from either company's drivers for a long time, and I've been testing them for years.

[citation][nom]gam0reily[/nom]But I totally agree tht 140$ is not justifiable. 130$ wud hav been gr8 for this card.And if u r preferring 6790, I 'd say tht u r wasting ur money coz for 145-150$, u can get a 6850, which is a 15% increase in performance from 6790!!http://www.hwcompare.com/9995/rade [...] n-hd-6850/[/citation]

You can get the 6790 for $130 now, most 6850's start at $165 althoguh you can sometimes find a sale at $150 or lower with rebates. At that price the 6850 is the obvious way to go, but at retail prices the 6790 is a good deal at $130. Any way you slice it tho, the 550 Ti is overpriced.

 

[Guest]

I think the Radeon HD6620G needs to be moved up about 4 slots on the chart to be in with the mobility 5650 which it is pretty much equivalent to.

 

[gam0reily]

Well, when the 550 wins it usually doesn't win by all that much, but on average the 5770 will beat it. That's the thing, every game engine will have its own characteristics but I try to recommend on averages. But since the 5770 can be had for $100 it's a no-brainer when the two are compared.



I disagree, that's 1999 talking. AMD's drivers have been just as, if not more, stable than Nvidias for some time now. Both have some issues but neither does a perfect job at everything. Havfing said that I haven't seen a show stopper from either company's drivers for a long time, and I've been testing them for years.



You can get the 6790 for $130 now, most 6850's start at $165 althoguh you can sometimes find a sale at $150 or lower with rebates. At that price the 6850 is the obvious way to go, but at retail prices the 6790 is a good deal at $130. Any way you slice it tho, the 550 Ti is overpriced.

cleeve, i don't live in the US, and get what my local IT market has gotta offer. So I find some of the cards overpriced here and others under.
For instance, I get a 20$ difference between a sapphire 6770 and zotac 550 ti, woht 550 ti offering a little better performance, nVidia's reassurance and else. And since one doesn't keep changing it's hardware in a couple of months, it's actuallly better 2 spend a little more, 2 get better support and performance. And 20$ ain't that much if u consider the other options as well.

What I wud like 2 know is how much practical diference wud be between a 560 ti (zotac, overclocked) and 6870 (sapphire, non-OC) . Coz my 6870 runs very smooth, and I play Assassin's creed 2 and blur on it at a 1920X1080 res.

 

[cleeve]

cleeve, i don't live in the US, and get what my local IT market has gotta offer. So I find some of the cards overpriced here and others under.
For instance, I get a 20$ difference between a sapphire 6770 and zotac 550 ti, woht 550 ti offering a little better performance, nVidia's reassurance and else. And since one doesn't keep changing it's hardware in a couple of months, it's actuallly better 2 spend a little more, 2 get better support and performance. And 20$ ain't that much if u consider the other options as well.

What I wud like 2 know is how much practical diference wud be between a 560 ti (zotac, overclocked) and 6870 (sapphire, non-OC) . Coz my 6870 runs very smooth, and I play Assassin's creed 2 and blur on it at a 1920X1080 res.

Absolutely you should get what makes sense in local markets, prices differ of course.

Although I will argue that the 550 Ti is notably slower than the 5770/6770 in most cases (I test them on a regular basis, this is a fact), and AMD's driver assurance has surpassed Nvidia's with regular driver updates.Both vendors have their problems in specific games and circumstances, no one is perfect of course.

The 560 Ti is faster than the 6870, but I wouldn't advise that upgrade. You won't see a notable difference. From a 6870 I wouldn't bother with less than a GTX 570 or 6970.

 

[gam0reily]

Absolutely you should get what makes sense in local markets, prices differ of course.

Although I will argue that the 550 Ti is notably slower than the 5770/6770 in most cases (I test them on a regular basis, this is a fact), and AMD's driver assurance has surpassed Nvidia's with regular driver updates.Both vendors have their problems in specific games and circumstances, no one is perfect of course.

The 560 Ti is faster than the 6870, but I wouldn't advise that upgrade. You won't see a notable difference. From a 6870 I wouldn't bother with less than a GTX 570 or 6970.

well, if u say so. i wont bother much with 550 ti. that isn't my card and frankly, i cudn't care less.
Although, there should also be a post mourning the absence of good online shopping portals in asian markets. the stuff online here is ridiculously overpriced.

 

[Guest]

this is an amazing list. i use this list for all my graphics cards comparisons. what a better way to determine better cards than by seeing a list all nicely organized like this? thanks!