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

[adamovera]

We talk about the new GeForce GTX 970 and 980 in this months update, and see how these disruptive products have changed the price landscape. We also talkn about the GeForce GTX 970M, 980M, and discuss rumors of upcoming products.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2014 : Read more

 

[adamovera]

Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2337996/graphics-cards-money-october-2014.html

 

[nikolajj]

I feel stupid to want a gtx 980 and not "just" a gtx 970... it is a lot of money for little extra power. I MUST be stupid

 

[Blackaddler]

Just as a suggestion, it would be helpful to add the mid range NVIDIA cards (GTX 760, 770, 780, 780Ti) so that it is easier to compare the performance in that price range.

 

[jkteddy77]

AMD is losing in Temperature, Power Comsumption, Performance, and only winning by price just barely. I have a 290, but I'd personally get a 970 right now if I didn't.
AMD better release the 300 series by January 2015, or they will lose even more money than they already are.
Beat out by Intel and Nvidia now, They'll lose their last legs if they wait 7 months again just like they waited to combat the 780 with the 290/290x.

 

[SessouXFX]

I've yet to understand the reasoning behind Nvidia cards rising in price at EOL status. Can somebody elaborate why a GPU that's currently outdated, increases in price as the supply dwindles, is a legitimate way to do business?

 

[envy14tpe]

Gotta love competition. AMD was killing it with the 280x and 290, then whamm the 970 and 980 come out and blow everything out of the water, including the 780ti. GPUs are finally becoming 1440p affordable.

 

[hardcore_player]

i have a 2way gtx 980 sli setup and i am highly impressed by performance per watt that the gtx 980 delivers. its absolutely a beast of a card ....unfortunately not all 3d software supports sli ....unreal engine 4 only supports one .

 

[nthreem]

I've yet to understand the reasoning behind Nvidia cards rising in price at EOL status. Can somebody elaborate why a GPU that's currently outdated, increases in price as the supply dwindles, is a legitimate way to do business?

Have you ever heard of supply and demand? It happens everywhere for the price determination of goods. As long as the demand for venerable cards such as the GTX 780 TI remain unchanged, the price will increase as the supply decreases.

 

[GodOf_War]

You know, I ended up picking up a Sapphire Vapor-X for $270. I ended up getting 4 games with it, and while I know its not as great as the GTX 970, I'm not looking to do to 1440p gaming. 1080p is fine for me, and this card does everything I ask it to. I needed an update (My old HD 6950 was really showing its age...) And for what I paid, you can't beat it.

 

[SessouXFX]

nthreem...

Supply and demand for a card that no longer has a production run doesn't support the idea that their price should rise. There's more than likely to be a shortage than a simple slow down of supply being added. Which means, the card's value is soon to end at that point.

 

[GodOf_War]

And yes, the 290. I know right now you can get the 280x for that price.

 

[Kwuarter]

This article helps cause I needed to figure out which GTX to get without breaking the bank so I can play Minecraft in HD

 

[jdon]

@SessouXFX

The bump in demand is created by people who already have the card seeing their last chance to SLI.

 

[nthreem]

nthreem...

Supply and demand for a card that no longer has a production run doesn't support the idea that their price should rise. There's more than likely to be a shortage than a simple slow down of supply being added. Which means, the card's value is soon to end at that point.

I believe you understand the supply portion, which is EOL of the card, so supply is dwindling. But I believe you're missing the point that somebody else captured: people still want to buy these older cards. As long as people demand the card, the price will increase up to some equilibrium point.

 

[Tzn]

Gtx 750 ti is the best card on the market, a lot of reasons to be if you know how things go.

 

[jackt]

Seriously, i dont know what NVIDIA is waiting to make a medium performace card ?!?!?!?!? like a gtx760 or gtx 960

 

[jkteddy77]

Seriously, i dont know what NVIDIA is waiting to make a medium performace card ?!?!?!?!? like a gtx760 or gtx 960

Honestly they are gonna, and it was slated to be released early december, but they pushed the 960 back because so many people were already buying the more expensive 970/980.

They didn't release it cause their current product was selling too well... AMD is in deep now...

 

[obababoy]

I am generally on a price/performance side when it comes to picking a Video Card. At the time I picked up a sapphire R9 290 vapor-x for $400 because I didnt want a 780 w/3gb vram card from Nvidia. Now with the new 970 and 980 they made the price drop significant!

I do find it interesting that people think the power consumption has that much of an effect on overall cost of ownership. 60w even 100w difference (ONLY WHILE GAMING) is going to take a long time to balance out price wise if the AMD is cheaper up front. Thermals on the other hand is irrelevant for me with this card and my case but I could see being more important for others. Anyone agree?

In the end if all was equal cost wise i'd prefer AMD because of the lack of "proprietary" features that Nvidia holds so near and dear. Either way I am MUCH happier spending these amounts of moneysss on video cards rather than $700+ like last year! Cheers and happy gaming

 

[RedJaron]

I do find it interesting that people think the power consumption has that much of an effect on overall cost of ownership. 60w even 100w difference (ONLY WHILE GAMING) is going to take a long time to balance out price wise if the AMD is cheaper up front. Thermals on the other hand is irrelevant for me with this card and my case but I could see being more important for others. Anyone agree?

A few different factors here.

First, power costs vary a LOT in different countries. In the USA, yeah it doesn't matter a whole lot. In other countries where electrical bills are much higher, saving 30W or more can slowly add up, especially over months or years. This gets compounded when talking about multi-GPU setups and compute farms.

Second, look at market segment. Power requirements don't mean a lot to the extreme computing crowd. But the mainstream and general enthusiast crowd have to take their existing PSU into consideration when upgrading. Not everyone has a 500W Seasonic unit that can handle any single GPU. You know you can throw a 750 Ti into just about anything, and a 260X should be fairly safe in a lot of systems too, but a 270X may be completely out of the question.

Third, power consumption usually means heat, and heat usually means more fan noise. Not all cooling solutions are created equal, so someone looking for a powerful but quiet PC may err on the lower power consumption side. And you don't need to be a tree hugger to want to save a few watts here and there either.

 

[skit75]

I still would have liked for the Price Vs. Performance chart to have included the GTX 700 series cards even if they have been declared EOL. There are plenty of them still out there that can be purchased as New and would fit right in the middle of the chart making them a relevant choice for shoppers in November 2014.

 

[davide445]

I didn't understand why Intel Iris graphics are not in the Hirerachy chart.

 

[Atomic21]

First, power costs vary a LOT in different countries. In the USA, yeah it doesn't matter a whole lot. In other countries where electrical bills are much higher, saving 30W or more can slowly add up, especially over months or years. This gets compounded when talking about multi-GPU setups and compute farms.

Seriously? Thats like spending the money for a really exotic car .. but then cant afford to pay for the gas. So why have it then.

 

[Atomic21]

First, power costs vary a LOT in different countries. In the USA, yeah it doesn't matter a whole lot. In other countries where electrical bills are much higher, saving 30W or more can slowly add up, especially over months or years. This gets compounded when talking about multi-GPU setups and compute farms.

Seriously? Thats like spending the money for a really exotic car .. but then cant afford to pay for the gas. So why have it then.

 

[RedJaron]

Seriously? Thats like spending the money for a really exotic car .. but then cant afford to pay for the gas. So why have it then.

Why yes, let's exaggerate it a few orders of magnitude by comparing a Lambo to a Honda. These people aren't spending twice as much on a more efficient card. This is more like spending $5000 extra on a Civic hybrid rather than the regular Civic. Depending on the tax credits, cost of fuel, and other factors, you may well come ahead in the long run.

Bottom line, just because one feature isn't a concern for you doesn't mean no one else cares about it.