Gaming Community Best Cards for the Money

hallowed_dragon

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This thread tries to list the best cards in their respective price ranges. This will be updated as the community responds to it and gives better options.

~100$:

HD 4850:
- This card achieves high quality settings for all current games for resolutions of up to 1680x1050 at a good price.

~150$ (tie):

HD 4870
- Perfect for the 1680x1050 with high-very high settings.

HD 5770
- A bit slower than the 4870 (1GB version) but it uses alot less power and has Dx11 support + Eyefinity technology.

~200$:

Crossfire HD 4850
- Gaming goodness at 1920x1200 resolution with high details and some AA.

~250$:

HD 5850
- Faster than the Crossfired 4850 with Dx11 support, lower power consumption, Eyefinity technology all in single GPU package.

~300$ (tie):

Crossfire HD 4870
Crossfire HD 5770

- We are talking about enthusiast settings that these configurations will handle.

~350$:

HD 5870
- A bit slower than the 300$ configurations, but single card package.

>400$:

Pure enthusiast only: crossfire HD 5850 or HD 5870 will achieve perfect performance in any game at the highest quality and resolution settings.

If the community has anything to object to the above recommendations please post with valid arguments and the post will be edited accordingly. :)
 

hallowed_dragon

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If someone gives me arguments for something to be added in the list I will happily do it no matter the company. :)
 

amnotanoobie

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Well it's nvidia's fault, up to now we are left with cards that are a generation or two behind when it comes to power consumption and heat. Physx might be a driving factor for some, but based on threads here at Tom's most recommend ati offerings over nvidia anyway.

* Or CUDA, though that is a very specific case.