Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2014 (Archive)

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You can get a 760 for 180 bucks with a rebate and it is not listed. And the 750 ti can be found for 125 with or with out a rebate by multiple vendors. These prices have been around for the 3 weeks I have been shopping for a new rig come on Toms.
 

Only regular retail prices are considered for the chart so you are not going to see those included until the retail price drop to integrate the discounts.
 
I see some awkward tweaks have been made to the chart. For example, a GTX760 should be at least a tier higher than the HD7870 (like it was a couple months ago), but now they're on the same tier. If driver changes have made that much difference, I believe they should be called out in the article.
Little nuances like that are what clearly illustrate that as useful as the chart is, it is not a be-all/end-all. Consider it a substantial data point, but don't forget to consider others, such as benchmarks of the specific games you want to play.
 
Can we get an update on the available integrated graphics ratings?
It seems like it hasn't been updated in years (HD 4000 was Q2 '12).

At least their inclusion into the hierarchy chart as a base of comparison.
 
Please, scale the price like you have the performance so the highest prices is at the same point as the highest performance (the 100% line).
 
I don't think that the R9 295X2 deserves a recommendation anymore. 2 GTX 970s or even 980s in SLI cost less, perform better, and even score better in the noise and heat department.
 
The 295X2 is recommended because it's a single board ideal for small rigs.

The reference 780 ti clocks are low compared to the 900 series cards. The gap in performance between the 980 and 780 ti is probably at stock. I know you can overclock the 900 series to over 1400 and what not but if you compare the out of box overclocks on, for example, the MSI 780 ti gaming and MSI 970 Gaming, you will see the 780 ti pulls ahead by quite a bit and in fact produces the same performance as an MSI 980 gaming. Don't take my word for it, here are the benchmarks...

MSI 980 Gaming - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_980_Gaming/6.html

Asus Strix 970 - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/6.html

MSI 780 Ti Gaming- http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_780_Ti_Gaming/6.html
 
Why are Nvidia cards so much more expensive than AMD? I freaking hate AMD cards and their schit drivers. They dropped support of my Crossfired 4850's even though they still run lots of games well. Only reason I had to upgrade was because it wouldn't run Thief or NBA 2k15.

I was forced to buy a Radeon 280 and guess what? I spent 2 hours trying to get the damned card to accept the newest Catalyst drivers - install kept crashing. What the F is wrong with AMD and their drivers?
 

Including rebates isn't a good idea because...


  • ■ You still have to pay full price up front.
    ■ The time window for rebate maybe ending by the time this goes up
    ■ You don't get cash anymore. Most rebates are giving out gift cards (those pre-paid Visa ones or something).
    ■ You won't get the rebate in a timely manner anyway.
    ■ Rebates require you to snip off the UPC code. If something goes wrong with that part, you can't return it if you've already submitted the rebate and returns require the UPC code.

Rebates are like letting a friend borrow money, you just have to accept you may never get it back.


With high quality comes a price. Or so I'm led to believe. Even with people complaining about AMD's drivers (with a few in the camp who say they've never had a problem), I still question their hardware engineering sometimes.
 
My 770GTX Superclocked ACX Sli will steamroll any of these single cards......and I paid nothing for them!!! The best graphic cards, free ones!!
 
its seems alot confusion here in hierarchy chart..

to keep the hierarchy list short and neat
its good idea to cut the table from bottom up to at least DX 10 capable card
because its not making any sense to keep such ancient card in the list
and there is no way to play nowadays games...
 

Yeah well you can get a more powerful R9 280 for 170 bucks, so the GTX 760 is just not a good buy at the moment.
 
Mail-in rebates are the biggest joke in the industry. I've never gotten any money back from mail-in rebates and I don't bother with them. The only rebates that are worth anything are instant rebates that result in an instant price reduction when checking out. Other than that, rebates may as well not exist.
 
You should UPDATE the description for the 780Ti because it's no longer the "Fastest Single-GPU Gaming Card" and the description itself feels like it's been copied from last month's article without changing a single letter. This is not the Tom's Hardware standard I'm used to seeing.
 
Agreed, anything in the $200-300 range is not worth, better get 970. The R290 would have been a buy if around $250. The 280X would be OK if $180. Right now the only worth AMD is 270X if on sale around or under $150
 


Come on yourself, bro. You can find one-off rebates on pretty much every type of product, why call out the 750 Ti and 760 specifically?

Radeon R7 260X starts at $100 on Newegg. The Radeon R9 280 starts at $190. Both of those are *without* rebates, so why not mention those? 😉

Regardless: we look for good, average pricing. Not special rebates that might be gone tomorrow, or heavily discounted one-offs.
 


This article is more on the editorial side, based on what *I* benchmark. Indeed, I've seen cards like the 760 fall behind in newer benchmarks (check our Radeon 285 article).

Our Charts benchmark suite is kind of old, but it's in the process of an update, so we should see things reflect more accurately in the future.
 
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