Best Bang Per Buck Graphics Cards for October 2008

Tom's Hardware recently released their October 2008 choice picks for gaming video cards.

Recommended PCI-E cards:

• Radeon HD 3650 GDDR3 (US$35)
• Radeon HD 4670 GDDR3 ($85)
• GeForce 9600 GSO (aka GeForce 8800 GS) ($85)
• Radeon HD 3870 ($100)
• GeForce 9600 GT ($100)
• GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (aka GeForce 9800 GT 512MB) ($120)
• Radeon HD 4850 ($170)
• Radeon HD 4870 ($260)
• GeForce GTX 260 ($260)
• GeForce 9800 GX2 ($260)
• 2x Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire Configuration ($340)
• Radeon HD 4870 X2 ($550)

If you are building a new system, and will just use it for some very light gaming on the side, the Radeon HD 3650 GDDR3 would probably be a good-enough discreet graphics solution. Other than that, the 8800 GT 512MB, 9800 GT 512MB, and HD 4850 seem to be the "middle-ground" choice cards.

Recommended AGP cards:

• Radeon HD 3650 (under $US100)
• Radeon HD 2600 XT ($100)
• Radeon HD 3850 512MB ($135)

[Source: Tom's Hardware | The Best Graphics Cards for the Money: October 2008]

It's interesting to note that an AGP HD 3650 card would cost almost 3 times a PCI-E card with the same GPU. Unless you need to replace a broken AGP card, maybe that $100 is best kept for your next system build.

Technorati : agp, bang, best, buck, card, game, gaming, graphics, october, pci-e

Best Bang Per Buck Graphics Cards for August 2008

(Please see October 2008 article)

Tom's Hardware recently released their monthly article on the Best Video Cards For The Money: August '08.

The recommended PCI-E cards were the following:

• GeForce 9500 GT GDDR3 (under $100)
• Radeon 3850 512MB (about $100)
• GeForce 9600 GT 512MB (about $125)
• Radeon 3870 (about $125)
• GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (about $150)
• Radeon 4850 (about $175)
• Radeon 4870 (about $280)
• 2x Radeon 4850 in Crossfire Configuration (about $350)
• 2x GeForce 9800 GTX in SLI Configuration (about $360)

Most inexpensive PCI-E gaming card:

"The 9500 GT GDDR3 is essentially a reworking and optimization of the popular 8600 GTS GPU on a smaller process. ... The extra $30 is well worth stepping up to a Radeon 3850, but if you want the absolute cheapest gaming card and don't plan to go higher than the 1280x1024 resolution, the 9500 GT is a good option. Just be sure to get the faster GDDR3 version, not the slower DDR2-equipped cards." [Tom's Hardware]

Maximum is US$360 for most expensive PCI-E gaming card setup:

"... we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than two Radeon 4850s. As more data surfaces as to how the 4870, GTX 260 and GTX 280 perform in multiple card configurations compared to two 4850s in Crossfire, we might add a higher price point to the list. But for now, the power of two 4850's in Crossfire is our top recommendation for performance. ... While two Radeon 4850s are really the way to go in terms of price/performance, those of you who have an SLI motherboard will probably find staying with Nvidia's video cards a cost-effective choice. For you folks, two GeForce 9800 GTX cards are about as good as it gets..." [Tom's Hardware]

The recommended AGP cards were the following:

• Radeon HD 2600 PRO (under $100)
• Radeon HD 2600 XT (about $100)
• Radeon 3850 512MB (about $140)

Sadly for AGP, Radeon HD cards are usually a rarity on store shelves. I guess if you see a Radeon 3850 512MB for sale, grab it immediately.

Technorati : agp, ati, bang, best, card, graphics, nvidia, pci-e, value, video

ATI Radeon HD 4850 Graphics Card Tested

The ATI Radeon HD 4850 (US$199) is a performance graphics card that competes with the likes of the 8800GT, 8800GTS, and 9600GT Nvidia cards. It features:

• RV770 PRO GPU
• 800 Stream Processors
• 40 Texture Units
• 625MHz Core clock
• 993MHz (1986MHz data rate) GDDR3 Memory clock
• 256-bit Memory Bus Width
• 512MB Frame Buffer
• 956M Transistor Count
• TSMC 55nm Manufacturing process

AnandTech believes that AMD successfully delivers performance for the masses:

"... the Radeon HD 4850 looks to be the best buy at $199, even better than NVIDIA's price-dropped GeForce 9800 GTX. What's also unbelievable is that compared to the 4850, our beloved GeForce 8800 GT seems downright slow in a number of benchmarks - and the 8800 GT is only 8 months old. It's also very refreshing to see this sort of competitive pressure at such a reasonable price point, while it's fun to write about 1.4 billion transistor GPUs it's a dream come true to be able to write about this type of performance at under $200." [AnandTech | HD 4850 Preview]

And to add, sees it is a real bargain at the $200 price point:

"... For now, the Radeon HD 4870 and 4850 are both solid values and cards we would absolutely recommend to readers looking for hardware at the $200 and $300 price points. The fact of the matter is that by NVIDIA's standards, the 4870 should be priced at $400 and the 4850 should be around $250. You can either look at it as AMD giving you a bargain or NVIDIA charging too much, either way it's healthy competition in the graphics industry once again..." [AnandTech | 4850 & 4870]

HardwareZone paired 2 HD 4850 cards in Crossfire configuration, and found the combo to be at par in performance with the new GeForce GTX 280 graphics card:

"... the Radeon HD 4850 newcomer looks to be a very interesting card and keeps our spirits up for the forthcoming Radeon HD 4870 model, as well as the X2 edition of it later in the pipeline." [ HardwareZone | HD 4850 Crossfire ]

Tom's Hardware gives the HD 4850 a "Recommended Buy":

"... there's no denying that the 4850 is a very good card. Its performance is only 19% below the GeForce 260 GTX' and is overall on a par with the GeForce 9800 GTX +, while beating out the 3870 X2! ... Despite its advance in presenting the GeForce 9800 GTX +, Nvidia has been bested for performance/price ratio and at this price level." [Tom's Hardware | HD 4850]

FiringSquad gave the MSI R4850 512M card a score of 94%:

"If you've been hesitant to pick up a Radeon HD 4850 card because you were concerned about GPU temps, you owe it to yourself to take a long hard look at MSI's R4850 512M. Thanks to its unique dual-slot copper cooler, the card is capable of running significantly cooler than the stock Radeon 4850 cooling at both idle and load." [FiringSquad.com | MSI R4850 512M Review]

If you are in the market for a nice graphics card within the $200 price point, look no further; the Radeon HD4850 is IT!

Technorati : 4850, ati, card, graphics, hd, radeon, review

Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 GPU Reviewed

The Nvidia GTX 280 1GB GDDR3 (US$649) is a graphics card that features:

• GT200 Core
• 1400 million transistor count
• 65nm manufacturing process
• 602MHz Core Clock
• 240 Stream Processors
• 1296MHz Stream Processor Clock
• 2214MHz GDDR3 Memory Clock
• 512-bit DDR Memory Bus
• 141.7GB/s Memory Bandwidth
• PCIe ver 2.0 x16 interface

Tom's Hardware likes the GTX 280, having improved GeForce 8 architecture, overall performance, very low power consumption at idle, and accelerated CUDA software:

"The new very-high-end GTX 280 from Nvidia ($650) suffers a little from comparison with the 9800 GX2, which regularly bested its performance in tests, despite the inherent and irremediable drawbacks of bi-GPU cards. But in reality, the real threat is from the card's "little sister," the GTX 260, especially since the price will almost buy you two GTX 260s to run in SLI!" [Tom's Hardware | Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review]

HardwareZone.com gives the GTX 280 4 out of 5 stars:

"For all this, NVIDIA is asking quite the premium for its new high-end flagship, with the GTX 280 priced at a whopping US$649 at launch, far beyond any existing high-end GPUs now. By contrast, the GTX 260 will be available for US$399, which once you consider the likely performance delta between the two, looks like much better value. If getting the best is your main prerogative then the GTX 280 is exactly that, but you'll have to pay dearly for it. The key to really take advantage of the GTX 280 is cutting edge games at extreme quality settings as well as GP-GPU computing tasks, so keep these in mind and you won't be disappointed. For all other purposes and needs, the GTX 280 would easily be an overkill." [HardwareZone | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB GDDR3]

The GeForce GTX 280 is a nice card, but the GTX 260 would probably be the much more attractive one, considering its very attractive price at around US$400.

Technorati : 260, 280, card, geforce, graphics, gtx, nvidia, review

What Gives More Performance: CPU or GPU Upgrade?

When upgrading a PC rig, one is faced with the question: Which upgrade would give me more gaming performance? A processor upgrade, or a graphics card upgrade?

Tom's Hardware mixed and matched seven (7) graphics cards and four (4) processors:

Graphics cards:

• Geforce 6800 GT
• 7950 GT
• 8800 GT
• 8800 GTS 512
• 9600 GT 1024
• 9800 GTX

Processors:

• Intel E2160
• E6750
• Q6600
• X6800EE

"The change to a new generation of graphics card achieves more, but the CPU should still have sufficient brawn to provide the basic level the card requires. Changing from a Geforce 6800 GT to a current Geforce 8800 or 9800 can quintuple the overall results for 3D games. Changing from a Geforce 7950 GT to one of the new G92 graphic chips will at least double the overall results." [Tom's Hardware | GPU vs. CPU Upgrade: Extensive Tests]

As Tom's Hardware states, a system would properly utilize the full 3D potential of GeForce 8 and 9 graphics cards, provided that the processor (CPU) has a speed of 2600 to 3000 MHz.

So what now, brown cow? For practicality, I'd say that upgrading to the most inexpensive processor at the mentioned MHz range (2.6 - 3 GHz) would be the first step. Then, gather enough moolah to snag one of those GeForce 8 or 9 series cards.

Technorati : card, cpu, gpu, graphics, processor, upgrade

Best Bang Per Buck Graphics Cards for May 2008

(Please see October 2008 article)

Tom's Hardware recently released their monthly article on the Best Graphics Cards for the Money: May 08.

The recommended PCI-E cards on the list were:

• Radeon HD 2600 XT (under US$100)
• GeForce 8600 GT (under US$100)
• GeForce 8600 GTS (~US$105)
• GeForce 8800 GS (~US$130)
• GeForce 9600 GT 512MB (~US$155)
• Radeon 3870 (~US$155)
• GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (~US$175)
• GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB (~US$220)
• 2x GeForce 8800 GS in SLI configuration (~US$260)
• 2x Radeon 3870 in Crossfire Configuration (~US$310)
• 2x GeForce 9600 GT 512MB in SLI configuration (~US$310)
• 2x GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in SLI configuration (~US$350)

"... the performance increase of two 8800 GTs over two 9600 GTs is usually not worth mentioning, but there are a handful of games where at high resolutions the 8800 GT will win by a significant percentage. If high resolution gaming with high image quality options enabled is your forte, and budget isn't a concern, two 8800 GTs might be justifiable for you. ... Spending more than $350 will provide very little extra in the way of performance. Two 8800 GTs will outperform the 9800 GTX or 9800 GX2 in the great majority of situations." [Tom's Hardware | The Best Graphics Cards for the Money: May 08]

If you are a gamer on a budget, it would probably be best to opt for a GeForce 8600 GTS (~US$105). A GeForce 8800 GT 512MB looks like a good midprice buy at $175, especially if you plan to upgrade to two 8800 GT cards in SLI.

For AGP cards, Tom's Hardware chose these cards:

• Radeon HD 2600 PRO (under US$100)
• Radeon HD 2600 XT (~US$100)
• Radeon 3850 512MB (~US$175)

"[The Radeon 3850 512MB AGP] is the most powerful AGP card you can get. Perhaps you have an AGP gaming system you just can't bear to part with, or perhaps you an anomalous motherboard that has both a dual-core CPU and AGP slot - whatever the reason, you can't get better than an AGP 3850. If anyone ever releases a more powerful card in the future for the dying bus, we'll be incredibly surprised." [Tom's Hardware]

There isn't much to choose from on the AGP bus, and the mentioned Radeon cards are quite rare (at least, from my side of the world). I guess the if you really need to get an AGP card now, the next best easier-to-find card would be a GeForce 7600 GS (which should be easy to get under $100).

Technorati : agp, ati, card, geforce, graphics, nvidia, pcie, radeon, value

Is Two GeForce 9600 GT Cards in SLI Worth It?

X-bit Labs tests a system with two (2) mainstream GeForce 9600 GT graphics cards in SLI, and compares its performance with premium-class single graphics cards. The idea is to know if this two 9600 GT tandem is a good alternative to the higher priced GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, GeForce 9800 GTX, or the Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics cards.

"The GeForce 9600 GT SLI configuration has done very well in our tests, showing high performance and proving that the G94 chip has optimal architecture. ... The GeForce 9600 GT SLI had higher performance than one such card in nearly all of our tests. ... But in most of the tests the GeForce 9600 GT SLI subsystem had the same or higher performance as such cards as ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. ... Summing it up, the GeForce 9600 GT SLI is currently a high-quality and fast graphics subsystem." [X-bit Labs | Affordable Multi-GPU: Two GeForce 9600 GT in SLI]

So, is it worth it to put two 9600 GTs in SLI? If you already have a single 9600 GT, and a motherboard that supports SLI, then buying a second 9600 GT is a great affordable graphics upgrade, increasing graphics performance to the level of the GeForce 9800 GTX and Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards.

Technorati : 9600, card, geforce, graphics, gt, nvidia, review, sli

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX Cards Reviewed

Tom's Hardware, AnandTech, ExtremeTech, HardwareZone test the new Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards (US$299 - 349).

GeForce 9800 GTX Baseline Specs:

• G92 Core Code
• 65nm manufacturing process
• 675MHz Core Code
• 128 Stream Processors
• 1688MHz Stream Processor Clock
• 2200MHz GDDR3 Memory Clock
• 256-bit DDR Memory Bus
• 70.4GB/s Memory Bandwidth
• PCIe ver 2.0 x16 interface
• SLI Multi GPU technology