Best Graphics Cards For The Money: August 2011

[Final8ty]

This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, then the cards on this list are more expensive than what you really need. We've added a reference page at the end of the column covering integrated graphics processors, which is likely more apropos.

The criteria to get on this list are strictly price/performance. We acknowledge that recommendations for multiple video cards, such as two Radeon cards in CrossFire mode or two GeForce cards in SLI, typically require a motherboard that supports CrossFire or SLI and a chassis with more space to install multiple graphics cards.

They also require a beefier power supply compared to what a single card needs, and will almost certainly produce more heat than a single card. Keep these factors in mind when making your purchasing decision. In most cases, if we have recommended a multiple-card solution, we try to recommend a single-card honourable mention at a comparable price point for those who find multi-card setups undesirable.

Prices and availability change on a daily basis. We can’t base our decisions on always-changing pricing information, but we can list some good cards that you probably won’t regret buying at the price ranges we suggest, along with real-time prices from our PriceGrabber engine, for your reference.

The list is based on some of the best U.K. prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary.

These are new card prices. No used or open-box cards are in the list; they might represent a good deal, but it’s outside the scope of what we’re trying to do.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming...iew-32251.html

[Vinas]

IMHO the best setup for the money = two 5870's in CF, then bitcoin up and pay them off.

[Sesto Sento]

best setup for the money has to be what i made...
I bought 2 hd 6870's for 130€ each on PIXMANIA.
It costed me a total of 280€ (with transport included of course) and can beat a GTX 580 for a little bit more than half of it's price...

[Jamesrt2004]

Win (:

Graphics ATM is a buyers Market it's awesome, just waiting for 7 series to drop though now (:

[Manicdan]

i disagree, prices have been flat for way too many months. anyone looking to buy a new gpu i tell them to wait until the holidays and see how much things drop by then.

[Aerwidh]

This looks very useful. Thanks for linking to it, Final8ty!

[Pantsu]

Personally I'd choose 5770-6850-6870-560ti-6950-570-580-6950CF-570SLI-580SLI. Depending on the given budget those are the best in their categories, if you don't count special discounts.

[dasa]

looks fairly accurate to me

here is some of the current prices in au
HD 5450 512m $30
HD 6450 1g $49
HD 5570 1g $55
HD 6570 1g $69
HD 5670 1g $60
HD 6670 1g $77
HD 5770 1G $111
6770 1G $115
550 TI 1G $130
6790 1G $137
HD6850 1g $161
GTX560 1g $199
HD6870 1g $184
6950 1g $223
GTX560 TI 1GB $240 900mhz model
6950 2G $269
GTX 570 $339
6970 2g $339
GTX580 1.5G $489 3G $529
HD6990 4Gb $729
GTX590 3g $809

and the cards i might go with for there price
6670 1g $77
6770 1G $115
6850 1G $161
6870 1g $184
6950 1g $223
GTX560 Ti 1G oc 900mhz $240
6950 2G $269
6970 2G $339
CF 6950 2G $538
CF 6970 2G $678
SLI MSI GeForce GTX 580 3GB Lightning XE $1278

[CedricFP]

Best buy is easily a used GTX580 for 350 or so that they're going for now on forums... IMO. Nothing like having the best single GPU.

With that said, I've always thought the 6870's simply offered massive value.

[BeepBeep2]

looks fairly accurate to me

here is some of the current prices in au
HD 5450 512m $30
HD 6450 1g $49
HD 5570 1g $55
HD 6570 1g $69
HD 5670 1g $60
HD 6670 1g $77
HD 5770 1G $111
6770 1G $115
550 TI 1G $130
6790 1G $137
HD6850 1g $161
GTX560 1g $199
HD6870 1g $184
6950 1g $223
GTX560 TI 1GB $240 900mhz model
6950 2G $269
GTX 570 $339
6970 2g $339
GTX580 1.5G $489 3G $529
HD6990 4Gb $729
GTX590 3g $809

and the cards i might go with for there price
6670 1g $77
6770 1G $115
6850 1G $161
6870 1g $184
6950 1g $223
GTX560 Ti 1G oc 900mhz $240
6950 2G $269
6970 2G $339
CF 6950 2G $538
CF 6970 2G $678
SLI MSI GeForce GTX 580 3GB Lightning XE $1278

I like how the 5770 wasn't on your "i'd go with list"

[nullface]

IMHO the best setup for the money = two 5870's in CF, then bitcoin up and pay them off.

lol good luck with that.

[osiris999]

Many people mine with their 5870s and pay them off.

[dasa]

I like how the 5770 wasn't on your "i'd go with list"

heh it kinda was since 5770 and 6770 are much the same thing and there is only $4 in it but the 5770 is getting harder to find

[Pillo-kun]

I m thinking of buying a sandy bride/mobo and gtx580 or gtx 590... using a athlon 2 x4 and a gtx 470 atm.. playing bc2 only but this new setup is for bf3 and skyrim but if i would get cheaper gfx and sli/xfired them would the micro-stuttering still be present??? I dont see as many reports on this as before...

[victor9191]

Does anyone else agree with me when I say the 560 Ti is definitely the best graphic card for the money? I mean come on, it has great video Ram for high resolution support, cheap price (around $250) and definitely has a good price vs performance review.

[Jamesrt2004]

no, ati can bitcoin

[BababooeyHTJ]

i disagree, prices have been flat for way too many months. anyone looking to buy a new gpu i tell them to wait until the holidays and see how much things drop by then.

I completely agree, other than a few exceptions like 6870 all of these cards have been sitting at about the same price for the past year. GTX570 hasn't budged. I would love to pick up a second but not for $330.

[nullface]

no, ati can bitcoin

Has anyone acctualy looked into bitcoining? Power consumption alone kills the profit if I'm not mistaking.

[stangracin3]

Has anyone acctualy looked into bitcoining? Power consumption alone kills the profit if I'm not mistaking.

it does now but back then it was worth it.

[Sparky]

Win (:

Graphics ATM is a buyers Market it's awesome, just waiting for 7 series to drop though now (:

You must be forgetting 2008 when the 4800 series came out. I got my 4870 brand new for under $200.

[OCX600RR]

Does anyone else agree with me when I say the 560 Ti is definitely the best graphic card for the money? I mean come on, it has great video Ram for high resolution support, cheap price (around $250) and definitely has a good price vs performance review.

Ehhh I wouldn't say that. GTX 560Ti is $250 new. I would much rather go for a good custom GTX 460 1GB and bump the clocks to 560Ti speeds for much less money.

[Bolas]

Has anyone acctualy looked into bitcoining? Power consumption alone kills the profit if I'm not mistaking.

It depends on which state you inhabit. Nebraska is fairly inexpensive electricity, so with a high end Radeon card, it's still profitable to farm bitcoins.

Also, the price of bitcoins has been known to fluctuate. Just because something is $3 today does not mean that it won't be $0.30 or $30 tomorrow. If you're betting on $30, then farm or buy bitcoins. If you are betting on $0.30, then don't.

[Stevethegreat]

I must say that I enjoy this chart immensely. It gotta show how -strongly- developments on software influences hardware development and evolution.
Take 2001 for example, the flagship card of that year (Geforce 3 Ti 500) is 17 (!) tiers down from the flagship card of 2006 (8800 GTX). And now in the equivalent stretch of time (from 2006 to 2011) he have only "gained" 8 tiers (from 8800 GTX to GTX 590). I'm sure this reflects on the actual difference of performance between the aforementioned cards as well. The development on real time graphics hardware -now- seems (to be) half than what it was and I predict that in the next 5 years and it will be brought to a grinding halt (unless something major happens).

Consoles won and I believe that's their *real* legacy. Demand for GFX cards have not increased as it was expected (specifically because of XBOX 360's popularity). I mean game titles come and go and really they're irrelevant in the whole scope of things, but actual scientific/technological development is being held back because of such silliness and apart from making this guy cry we would actually going to feel this in our every day lives. You may say that imaging technology is not that important in the whole scope of things, maybe not, but developments that take place within that industry is/are.

The GFX industry used to be the pearl of the Computer industry, never failing to make strides forwards and always amazing us, but lately they seem to follow parallel roads to the CPU industry which "manages" to double it's (real life) performance every 5 years, if that... Our last "hope" lies on the mobile arena let's hope companies like PowerVR will not stop making *strides* forwards, for soon they would surpass their desktop counterparts...

[tbone8ty]

yeah crossfire 6850 seems like it would be sweet price/performance...especially since the 6850 core can be overclocked heavily

or also gtx460 sli

560ti seems overpriced

[Chickenfeed]

560ti seems overpriced

Can't agree more here. I'm considering replacing the 460 768mb in my other machine for a non ti model. Looking at most reviews they are only 10% or so behind and often can be had for 25-30% less than the ti ( here in Canada anyways )

Now I tend to stay away from crossfire / sli with lower end gpus as they've always let me down in the past ( due to the inevitable driver conflicts / inconsistencies; I didn't like waiting forever for competent driver or game support ) That said 2 6950s 1gb would really shred for 1920x1080 and under.