The Best Video Card for your money: July 2008
By Mathieu • Jul 4th, 2008 • Category: Best of|
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(Edit: Here’s the follow-up of this article. Best video card for your money: August 2008)
(Edit: Due to the recent prices drops by both ATI and Nvidia and the sudden popularity of this article (Over 25,000 hits in two days!), I’ve decided to update the prices before publishing the follow-up.)
Howdy! First of all, happy 4th of July to all my American readers! I hope you have a great time =)
Today I’ll be discussing the topic of video cards and I’ll be sharing with you my opinion on what are currently the best video cards for a given price. All the prices are in USD$.
In June and July, a lot of things changed in the video cards industry, as both ATI and Nvidia released their new generations video cards. Nvidia was the first, with the GTX 260 and GTX 280, then ATI followed with the Radeon HD 4850 and the Radeon HD 4870. Following the release of the ATI cards and their unexpected performance, Nvidia decided to drop their prices on the GTX 260 and GTX 280. Also, with the release of new video cards, usually the price of the older generations (Geforce 9xxx and Ati 3xxx) are lowered. All of this offers plently of choice for you and I understand it can be confusing, so let me give you an hand and tell you what are the Best Video Cards for your Money, in July 2008.
Under $100
Now considered a low-end card, due to its price, the Radeon 3850 definately offers the best performance in the low-end market in ages. This card will allow you to play a lot of games with medium or high details and its 512MB will allow you to play with great fps! Definately the best card in the sub-$100 market. The only reason not to buy it? Save up another $25 and go with the HD 3870, a superior video card!
Click here to buy the DIAMOND Viper Radeon HD Video Card for only $99.99
Under $125
The 3850’s big brother, the 3870 is ATI’s previous most powerful single gpu video card. At $124.99, it offers incredible performance for such a low price tag. The Radeon HD 3870 simply cannot be beaten at this price!
Click here to buy the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 Video Card for only $124.99
Under $150
Of course, who hasn’t heard of the 8800GT? One of Nvidia’s best shot in the recent years, as it offers performance close to the 8800/9800 GTX for much much less money! Clearly is the best card in the sub-$150 market.
Click here to buy the ZOTAC GeForce 8800 GT ZT-88TES3P-FCP Video Card for only $149.99
Under $200
Now, if you thought that the 8800GT was a powerful card, wait to see the ASUS HD 4850! It is simply an amazing card, offering performance unheard of before, at this mainstream price of only 194.99$! If you want to play pretty much any games at full details, for a decent price, this is the card you want!
Click here to buy the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 Video Card for only $174.99
Under $250
Nothing is worth buying at that price. You are better off with either a 4850 at 174.99$ or invest more and get a 4870.
Under $300
The Radeon HD 4870, probably the most popular card right now! Certainly a card that gets my personnal recommendation! AMD’s masterpiece, at only 274.99$, this card offers very serious and high-end performance. It’s performance/price ratio is simply amazing! It’s by far more powerful than a 8800GT/GTX/Ultra. and Nvidia’s GTX 260 and it also gets very close to the GTX 280, yet for 200$ less than it! This is the card you want if you want the best bang for the buck!
Click here to buy the DIAMOND Radeon HD 4870 Video Card for only $274.99
Under $350
If you thought the performance from the Radeon HD 4850 was amazing, wait until you see two of them together! That’s what you’ll get for 389.98$! Two Radeon HD 4850 in Crossfire.
Click here to buy 2X SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 Video Card for a CrossFire setup, for only $349.98
Under $400
The good “old” Geforce 9800 GX2, which remains superior to the GTX 280, while being cheaper than it. Nvidia’s most dangerous competition? Itself! =)
Click here to buy the XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 Video Card for only $369.99
Under $450
If money is no problem for you and all you want is the absolutely best performance for a single card, without the problems of CF/SLI, then the Geforce GTX 280 is your answer.
Click here to buy the BFG Tech GeForce GTX 280 Video Card for only $429.99
Under $550
Something better than the Geforce GX2? You bet! What about the the Radeon HD 4870… in Crossfire! For a bit more money than a single GTX 280, you get two HD 4870 which will simply destroy it.
Click here to buy 2X DIAMOND Radeon HD 4870 Video Card, for a CrossFire setup, for only $549.98
No spending limit ( A mere $860…)
If money is no problem for you and all you want is the absolutely best performance, without the problems of Quad SLI, then the Geforce GTX 280 in SLI is your answer.
Click here to buy 2X BFG Tech GeForce GTX 280 Video Card for only $859.98
To conclude this, I have to say that I’m really surprised by ATI! This new generation, the 4800 series, really shuffle things arround and I believe that Nvidia never expected such great products from ATI. ATI’s strategy, of offering the best bang for the buck products, with a smaller core is paying off. I can’t wait to see the 4870 X2 arrive in August!
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nice list, thanks for sharing.
Really bad list.
Would be nice if you even checked the prices before sorting them by price.
MSI N280GTX-T2D1G OC GeForce GTX 280 1GB is $499 on newegg.
and that is not the only one that the price if off on.
@NE
Really bad list? How’s that? If the only problem are the prices, you’ll see that this article was published on July 4th and the prices were accurate at that time. Anyhow, I’ve just updated the prices, before publishing the follow-up on Friday. If you take a look, you’ll see that you can actually get a GTX 280 for $479.99, on NewEgg as well.
Cheers!
http://threadbombing.com/details.php?image_id=998
i just bought the Geforce GTX 280 and there is no comparison on the market. The graphics are amazing, no lag, and perfect picture and sound quality. I don’t even recognize some of the games I used to play because they look so sharp and restored.
That Radeon HD 4870 look awesome. Then again they all do.
Thanks! I am in the middle of my build now and this (Vid Card) is the next step….I now may wait for August and the 4870×2..well they be crossfire ready?
@Shandon: Yes it will be. You might want to wait for reviews to see how well it scales from 2 gpu(1 card) to 4 gpu(2 cards) however.
I feel that this is a nice list. Thanks for sharing!
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Wow, you’re my hero.