Tom's Graphics Card Guide: 32 Mid-Range Cards Benchmarked

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So if the german office was un able to get the stock 560ti cards why not at least make it even and throw in some OC 6950's? Or wait untill you can do a propper review with the base cards?
 
the 560ti is a great card with a big weakness 2560x1600 or 3 monitors
on my new 30" it dispears in sli vs. 6870 in crossfire 3 monitors it gets beat every time
even Tom"s review never mentions 2560x1600 & 560 same breath
but it does AMD cards 6870
 

I guess if your looking at an entry level card review things like 3 monitors are prob not on a lot of peoples radars. However compairing the over clocked 560ti to stock 6950's making the ti look better than it is is a big mistake. I guess the german office could not get the stock cards....ok but then they should have used OC 6950s instead
 
Where can you even get the POV/TGT boards? They're a European company that doesn't sell directly, and don't appear to have any distributors in the U.S. that actually carry their cards. Google shopping shows them being available from "PC-Titan.com," but that place seems sketchy as hell to me. They have one etailer in the UK that has decent stock, but it's looking like most of their distributors are in other countries in Western Europe.

I don't mean to be rude, but what good does it do anyone when a class-winning card isn't easily available to a huge segment of your readership?
 
hmm, last I checked the 550, 550TI are low end. 560-570 series is mid range, and the 580-590 are the upper range. I'm not a gamer, so I dont follow AMD (Adobe supports CUDA waaaay better), but I get the feel that these are low end AMD cards as well, and everything I hear tells me that AMD is way more bang for the $ for gaming. Someday if they ever get Adobe support then maybe I'll be interested as well.
 
Also, it looks like the TGT-tuned GTX 560 Ti "Beast" sells for anywhere from $330 (PC-Titan) to $441 (ComEuro.net) USD, with a few in between (and one as high as $565 USD from some company in the Netherlands).

That means that price-wise, the cheapest available TGT-tuned card is competing directly with the Radeon HD 6970 and GeForce GTX 570, while the most expensive (excluding that weird $565 card) is within $30-50 of some of the cheaper GTX 580s, after rebates.

So, in what sense is the TGT-tuned POV GTX 560 Ti Beast a "mid-range" card? Performance-wise, it sits in second place, between the Gigabyte Windforce 560 Ti and the MSI Twin Frozr 560 Ti. But what about price? I've found both the MSI Hawk 560 Ti and Windforce 560 Ti for around $250 USD, putting them squarely in what I would consider the "mid-range" for price. The POV/TGT card sits anywhere from $80-190 USD higher than the alternatives, and it's considerably more difficult to actually acquire for a lot of people. The performance of a mid-range card, but the price tag of a (potentially significantly) higher-tier card.

Again, I'm not trying to be rude, just struggling to see why a relatively expensive, relatively unavailable card deserves a recommendation amongst other truly "mid-range" cards. Am I just missing something, here?
 
The "range" should be determined by the price segment, and by including the reference 6950, assuming it's there for comparison sake, you have to consider the price as well. So... what the hell?

HiS OC'd 6950 1GB (840clock) can be had on newegg for $240 after rebate right now.

Zotac 560Ti (850clock) can be had on newegg for $220.

Both cards are OC'd past factory clocks and both cards are the cheapest of the OC'd bunch on newegg atm. I'd be willing to wager that 6950 outperforms the 560Ti at 1080 and would show it on the price/performance chart.

You can't bunch cards up, or push them up in "segments" just so they can compete with the higher tier from the other manufacturer. A 6950 doesn't automatically compete with a 570 but rather with what's available for the same price at the moment. Considering the prices haven't drastically changed on these cards for a while it's hard not to come to the conclusion that this article is either biased or just poorly researched and planned. I'd hope it's the latter...
 
for future reference, if you're going to write up articles regarding "segments," please define the segments with a set limit of $$$. Say, over $250 would be upper, under 250 > 150 would be mid and under 150 lower. Buying an inflated 560Ti that costs more than other better performing cards and yet somehow trying to convince the reader that it's "midrange" isn't cool. "Midrange" is defined strictly by what it can be bought for and not what the manufacturer planned to market it for.
 
I REALLY liked the new layout of the "Test System" page, with the pictures and specifications of the hardware used, very well done!
 
You totally failed...

... to include any previous generation cards. Without that, one must go hunting for other site's comparisons to try to figure out whether older beastly cards are now slower than newer mid-range cards. Comparisons which may or may not exist.

A real shame, too, since you bothered to test both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 modes, so throwing in a few older reference cards there would have been no problem.
 
Yeah I to find it odd that they would include a bunch of overclocked gtx 560 ti's with only stock clocked 6950's.

But really the gtx 560 ti is an awesome card. Although it falls slightly behind the 6950 in overall performance in most tests, the 560 ti does have its advantages.

The 560 ti is about 2 inches smaller (very convenient for mid ranged users) I have the very nice and efficient (although cheap) computer case Cooler Master HAF 912, and the 560 ti fits perfectly without any modification. If I had got the 6950 I would of had to reconfigure the case's HD cages to make more room. It's cool the HAF 912 allows you to do this, but I like the fact that my card fit with the default case set up.

The 560 ti also runs cooler, uses less power, and is quieter then the 6950. Also from what I've heard in the past especially, I am not sure how true it is anymore, is that Nvidia drivers are much better they come out faster, and have less glitches.

So overall the 560 ti and the 6950 are pretty comparable. The 6950 is a bit faster, while the 560 ti is more convenient and efficient. In my opinion they are both great cards, although I have not used a 6950 to compare it to my 560 ti.

I have no problem with the praise for the 560 ti because I love mine, but it is VERY strange to not include the similarly priced overclocked 6950s...
 
Oh and this site is not really biased. I admit I don't understand not including the 6950 overclocked models, but I have to admit I have not fully read this article so maybe I missed the reasoning for this.

But the 6950 is consistently listed above the 560 ti in the monthly best cards for the price article. So this is kind of contradictory but maybe the criteria was different?
 
I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, http://BidsNew.com
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How do I report this crap as spam? :lol:
 
[citation][nom]cburke82[/nom]How do I report this crap as spam?[/citation]
Thats been on every article today. It must be how they afford all of the OC Nvidia cards to test!
 

I think its just an oversite or bad judgement on the writers side because toms does recommend AMD cards every month on there best GPU list
 
I'm thinking of upgrading I've got a eVGA GTX260 Super-clocked 216 core, and I wonder how it compares with the GTX560 & GTX560 Ti. I never see it in any comparisons so I'm not sure if its worth the money to upgrade. It plays everything I've gotten SCII, DNFE so I'm not in a rush. I've tried AMD models and I've been happier with the nVidia they just work. So when I upgrade I'll probably go the nVidia route.
 

I like your thinking young jedi...
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/318?vs=330
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/170?vs=180
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/170?vs=160
 
[citation][nom]hardcore_gamer[/nom]Why there is no performance/price chart ?[/citation]
Yes, this is the heart of the problem with this article. In addition to not reviewing HD6950's with OC/aftermarket cooling, it does give the appearance of bias.
Ok, so if you take into consideration the pricing/power usage then why are the GeForce cards getting all the recommendations? And if the HD 6950 is not a midrange card then why include it?

I follow Toms diligently but this article is not very well done. Sorry, but we expect better.
 
Strange .. from Tom's July Best Graphics Card for the Money:

AMD dropped half of the Radeon HD 6950's onboard memory to give us this 1 GB model, and the price fell accordingly. At $245, there really isn't any competition for this powerful, yet relatively low-priced graphics card. It outperforms the GeForce GTX 560 Ti in enough situations, on average, to score the sole recommendation.

In addition, some users have unlocked shader cores artificially disabled by AMD through a firmware update, transforming this board into an underclocked 1 GB version of AMD's Radeon HD 6970.
 
From 'Best graphics card for the money - July 2011'

The Radeon HD 5770 (also available re-badged as the Radeon HD 6770, with the added bonus of Blu-ray 3D decode support) is an extremely attractive $115 option, offering a worthwhile upgrade beyond the cheaper Radeon HD 5750 and GeForce GTS 450. This card is one of our price/performance favorites, and with Radeon HD 4870-class performance, it's an excellent starting point for the serious gamer.
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I would have thought this card was the epitome of 'Mid-range' as beyond this price the money goes up stupidly for less increase in performance.

I am considering upgrading to this card as it is only a smidge above my budget and when I saw the title of this article I thought 'great, just what I need and just when I need it' .... cue the disappointment.

Q
 
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