January 05, 2010 | Comments Comments

Best Video Card For Your Money: January 2010

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The Radeon 5870 is finally easily available

The Radeon 5870 is finally easily available

January 2010 update:

During December, the stock situation of the AMD/ATI Radeon 5850 and 5970 has greatly improved and you can now find them in stock without a problem.

Looking for one?

Get yours at NewEgg here for the 5850and there for the 5870or on Amazon here for the 5850and there for the 5870.

In the meantime, there are rumors about Nvidia delaying once again the launch of their Fermi GT300 series, which is now expected for “Q1 2010″, which means before March 31st. However, Nvidia is expected to have working cards for the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) and could possibly launch their GT300 series cards anytime shortly after.

Nvidia launched the Geforce GT 240, meant to replace the Geforce 9600 GT as a product that is less expensive for them to produce. It’s nothing to write home about, as it is performs on par with the Radeon 4670, while costing $25 more.

The best video card for your money?

By that, I mean the cards that offer the best performance at a given price. Why would you want that, you ask?

Because you want the best bang for the buck, because you want the best possible card for your hard-earned money and because you want the highest FPS possible!

If you have the time, reading detailed video card reviews and specs are a lot of fun. However, most of us don’t have the time to do the research and just want the answers. In other words, what you want to know is what is the best video card within your budget.

So if you don’t have the time to do the research, or just don’t care to do it, don’t worry. I’ll come to your help with this guide of the best video card for your money.

Keep in mind:

I’ll use this opportunity to remind you that this article is only a guideline for the prices I’ve seen on January 5th. You’re letting yourself down if you’re not looking for deals when you decide to purchase.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you read this list:

  • This list is for gamers who want the best bang for the buck. If you don’t play videos games, the cards in this list are way overkill.
  • This list is based on the best U.S. prices from NewEgg and/or Amazon. Prices and availability change everyday. I can’t keep up with accurate pricing everyday, but I can suggest to you great cards that you won’t regret buying at the price ranges that I list.
  • All prices are based on new card prices, no used or open box cards are listed; they might be a good deal, but they come with trade offs, such as limited return policy, limited warranty, etc.
  • ATI’s Stream Processors and Nvidia’s Stream Processors are quite different, so do not rely on that spec to compare cards from both company. Instead, this spec should be used to compare cards within the same company.
  • Each video card will perform more or less well depending on the game played, as each game have different requirements. Also, some games run better on Nvidia or on ATI/AMD hardware.You may be able to crank up the graphics settings on some games or have to lower it a notch on others, compared to what I say below.
  • The resolution that I mention below should only be used as a guideline to give you an idea of the capability of the chosen video card on recent games. As a rule of thumb, the older the game, the higher you can set your settings and the other way around with newer games.

Best video card for ~$75: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4670 1GB

While there are cards priced at $50 or so, such as the Radeon 4650, they are hard to recommend due to their slower DDR2, which limits their performance pretty badly. You’re better off saving a tad more, to get $75 and a Radeon 4670 with GDDR3.

Good to know:
The Radeon 4670 doesn’t need an extra power connector, taking all the power it needs from the PCI-Express slot.

This card will do the job at 1280 x 1024 and even 1680 x 1050 although you might have to lower details in some games.

Be careful to buy a version equipped with GDDR3 and not the slower GDDR2 that would impair performance.

Cost:
$75 at NewEgg for a GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3. This particular card from Gigabyte is equipped with an after-market cooler from Zalman, making it a much more interesting card than the other brands.

Alternative: There’s also the EVGA GeForce 9600 GSO 1GB to consider, as it will outperform the Radeon 4670 in most games but the drawback is that it requires an additional 6-pin PCI-Express power connector and consumes more power.

Best video card for ~$100: Radeon HD 4850 512MB

The Radeon 4850 is now somewhat back in stock and this might just be your last chance to grab one at this low price of $100.

This card will do the job at 1440 x 900 and even 1680 x 1050 although you might have to lower details in some games.

As for the Radeon 4770, which is slower by a few % compared to Radeon 4850, but produced on 40nm process instead of 55nm, it costs at least $15 more right now, making it hard to recommend.

Best Video Card for $125: Radeon HD 4860 1GB

Sapphire came out with this very interesting card, based on the RV790 core (from the Radeon 4890). Like the Radeon 4850, it has 640 SP but it is equipped with GDDR5 like the Radeon 4870, giving it much more bandwidth

Also, considering that it is based on the RV790 core, in theory it should have a lot of overclocking potential, but it isn’t yet supported by third-party utilities and the CCC (Catalyst Control Center) only allows for an overclock of 10MHz. Let’s hope that this gets resolved in the next few weeks/months as this card probably has a lot of overclocking potential.

Mind you, even at stock speed, it is the best deal at this price,as it has no problem outperforming the Radeon 4770, 4850 and 5850. This card will do the job at 1680 x 1050 and even 1920 x 1080 although you might have to lower details in some games.

Best video card for ~$150 : Radeon HD 5770 1GB

Now that the Radeon 4870 512MB/1GB are pretty much off the market, that we are in 2010 and that the prices are coming down, the Radeon 5770 is the new king of the hill at the $150 price point.

Performing close to the level of the previous generation Radeon 4870, but bringing in DirectX 11 support for future games coming this year and consuming much less power, especially at idle, this card is a nice balance between power, power consumption and price.

This card will do the job at 1680 x 1050 and even 1920 x 1080 although you might have to lower details in some games.

Best video card for ~$195: Radeon HD 4890 1GB

With the 5xxx series replacing the 4xxx series, vendors are getting rid of their stock of older models and thus are reducing prices, which means you can get great deals if you act fast before those cards are gone for good.

From Nvidia, the Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 is their product is this price range. To avoid, considering the 4890 at the same price will easily outperform it.

1680×1050 is the sweet spot here, with 1920 x 1080 playable with most games.

At this price, you could go for two Radeon 4850 in Crossfire or a Geforce GTX 275, none of which I recommend. Why?

The 4850 in Crosssfire will sooner or later get limited by their 512MB memory buffer. As for the Geforce GTX, the Radeon 4890, which on average outperforms it, cost less, starting at $195, while the Geforce GTX 275 starts at $240.

Best video card for ~$300: Radeon HD 5850 1GB

AMD brings performance unheard of at this price point, as the Radeon HD 5850 outperforms Nvidia’s Geforce GTX 285 in most benchmarks and do this while being less expensive. Good to know: It also supports Direct X 11, like the Radeon 5870.

If you have some free time, check out AnandTech’s review of the 5850 for benchmarks, power consumption, pictures and more.

The Radeon 5850 has been hard to find in stock for a while, but the situation seems to be improving, as it’s currently in stock on NewEgg and Amazon. Stock levels have improved a lot in December, but if when you read this, it’s no longer in stock via the link above, here are a few links where you can find the Radeon 5850.

My recommendation? If you can’t find it in stock, get it from Amazon, where you can place your order even if it is out of stock and they will deliver it to you once it’s available. They won’t charge you until they ship it to you and that way, you won’t have to check the page all time in the hope of getting one, not to mention that you’ll be in line to get one already ;)

On Amazon:

On NewEgg:

Perfect for gaming at 1920 x 1200 (or 1920 x 1080 for 1080p).

Best video card for ~$400: Radeon HD 5870 1GB

Nothing short of the fastest single-GPU card on the planet, bringing performance close to the dual-GPU and much more expensive Geforce GTX 295 at a much more reasonable price and much lower power consumption, lower noise and not to mention not having to worry about SLI scaling/compatibility. Also, the 5870 supports DirectX 11, while the Geforce GTX 295 does not.

If you didn’t have the chance to read about the Radeon 5870 yet, here’s an excellent review of the Radeon 5870 on AnandTech.

My recommendation? If you can’t find it in stock, get it from Amazon, where you can place your order even if it is out of stock and they will deliver it to you once it’s available. They won’t charge you until they ship it to you and that way, you won’t have to check the page all time in the hope of getting one, not to mention that you’ll be in line to get one already ;)

Amazon:

NewEgg:

This card will run any game at 1920 x 1200 (or 1080 for 1080p) and most games at 2560 x 1600.

Best video card for ~$630: Radeon 5970 2GB

Now, ATI brings down the hammer by smashing the GTX 295 performance by offering the Radeon 5890. The Radeon 5890 is made of two Cypress cores, 2 GB (2 x 1GB) of GDDR5, all together on a single card. For a detailed review of it, see this great article on AnandTech.

Other than being a single card, the Radeon 5970 is a great choice because it’s TDP is under 300W, making its power consumption reasonable for a dual-gpu solution. However, it achieves that lower TDP with lower clocks, on the same level as the frequencies of the Radeon 5850.

This card will run pretty much any game that you throw at it at 2560 x 1600.

Cost: $630 for a XFX Radeon 5970 2GB

If you can’t find the XFX in stock, try these other Radeon 5970:

Best video card for $800: Two Radeon HD 5870 1GB in Crossfire

How do you get the most performance today? Simple: Combine two Radeon 5870, the fastest single GPU video card, in a Crossfire setup. This is even faster than the dual-GPU Radeon 5970, as the frequency of the Radeon 5870 is higher.

Simply enough, this is pretty much the fastest reasonable setup available on the market today.

While perhaps three Geforce GTX 285 in Three-Way SLI or two Geforce GTX 295 in Quad-SLI could possibly be faster in some games, the huge power consumption, along with games that do not necessarily scale well with Three-Way/Quad SLI, not to mention the much higher cost ($1000+) prevents me from recommending those solutions.

Cost: $800 for Two Radeon HD 5870 1GB in Crossfire

My recommendation? If you can’t find it in stock, get it from Amazon, where you can place your order even if it is out of stock and they will deliver it to you once it’s available. They won’t charge you until they ship it to you and that way, you won’t have to check the page all time in the hope of getting one, not to mention that you’ll be in line to get one already ;)

Amazon:

NewEgg:

Pretty much any current game will run at up to 2560 x 1600 without a problem. This is a great solution if you don’t want to upgrade for a long time.

Conclusion:

AMD/ATI finally fixed their supply issues for the Radeon 5850/5870 during December and the situation for the Radeon 5890 is improving as well. The next thing to look forward to from AMD are the lower end 5xxx series cards that will launch sometime in the next few weeks/months.

As for Nvidia, they once again delayed their Fermi/GT300 series. The rumors go that we won’t see them in stores until April, but then again, other rumors say that we’ll see them in action at the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Vegas and that they will launch shortly after.

The pressure is clearly on Nvidia to deliver and to take over the performance crown. I believe that their top cards will outperform the Radeon 5870 and Radeon 5970, but at what prices and with what availabilities? I’m afraid that no one has the answers to these questions yet.

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  • Great article. I'm split between the HD 5850 and 5870. I mainly play at 1920X1080. Which one should I get? I'm currently on two 3870 X2 in CrossFire so will 5850 be a worthwhile upgrade?
  • That would depend on which games you intend to play at that resolution and with what settings?

    As for the performance between two Radeon 3870 X2 and a single Radeon 5850: I couldn't find any direct comparison between the two, which is normal considering the two generations gap.

    However, according to Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-4...), a single Radeon 4870 outperforms a single Radeon 3870 X2 on average by 20%, without AA or AF that is. Add AAx4 and AF in the mix and the 4870 outperforms the 3870 x2 by 50%.

    Then, on average, a single Radeon 5850 outperforms a single Radeon 4870 by 30%.

    By using logic, one would say that on average, a Radeon 5850 would be about as good as two Radeon 3870 X2. However, from experience, I know that two Radeon 3870 X2 or four GPUs, don't scale well in all games, are subject to low minimum frame rates and such annoyances.

    So, in the end, a Radeon 5850 will provide better performance in the majority of cases, but more importantly, it will be much more consistent and will consume WAY less power.

    As for 5850 vs 5870: A 5850 will run pretty much any game at 1920 x 1080 without any problems, so a Radeon 5870 would be overkill for now. While it does provide some overhead making it a bit more future-proof, nothing prevents you from getting a single Radeon 5850 today and getting a second one, if necessary, later on.

    Then again, by then (end of 2010/beginning 2011), the Radeon 6xxx series should be out or almost, so you could just upgrade from a single Radeon 5850 to that. We also have yet to see how the Nvidia GT300 series will perform, so that's something else to watch for.

    Hope that helps.
  • Some really good points there Mathieu, especially "a single Radeon 4870 outperforms a single Radeon 3870 X2 on average by 20%". Hmmm... didn;t know that.

    Plus I made the mistake of choosing the GA-EP35-DS4 which basically limits the second PCIe slot to 8x when using CrossFire. That makes performance even slower. Wish I found articles such as Warning: These P55 motherboards will cripple your Crossfire/SLI performance before . However, Im happy with my current setting and wouldn't want to throw $800 worth of videocards away. So, I'll wait till years end.
  • Actually, according to the specs on the motherboard page on NewEgg: http://bit.ly/58vKPI the second slot runs at PCI-E 2.0 4x. You own the board though, I figure that you would know better, so that might be a mistake on my end, correct me if I'm wrong here.

    If I'm right though, your second Radeon 3870 X2 is seriously limited.

    My suggestion would be to see what will happen when Nvidia release their cards, in the next few weeks/months. Most likely, it will force AMD to drop the prices on their cards, especially considering that their production yields should be higher by then, allowing them to cut their prices to compete and allowing you to save some money.

    Then what you can do is to get a Radeon 5970, which is basically a "Radeon 5860 X2", as in it has the full SP, ROPs, etc. of the Radeon 5870, but it runs at the frequencies of the Radeon 5850.

    Mind you, the lowered frequencies are due to a regulation (I can't remember which one), which prevents a card from consuming over 300W. Nothing prevents you from overclocking the card and laugh at said regulation.

    Then again, we have yet to see what will Nvidia come out with, so patience is your friend here. If anything, at least you'll get a lower price on whatever card you pick in the end.
  • driverboy007
    Seems a tad bit Radeon biased... Seems from this that Nvidia has nothing to compete at any level
  • james
    artical seems biased
  • To those who think that this article is biased, stay tuned for an article this week where I tackle the topic of Nvidia vs ATI, what happened in 2009 and what I predict in 2010. Then, I hope that you'll understand my recommendations.
  • Polak
    I have a quick question about the ATIs. I currently have a 4850 1gb and was curious if the 5770 is any much better. unfortunatly when it comes to the Radeons i sometimes get confused with their series numbers compaired to their performance.
  • upetro
    "Mind you, even at stock speed, it is the best deal at this price,as it has no problem outperforming the Radeon 4770, 4850 and 5850. This card will do the job at 1680 x 1050 and even 1920 x 1080 although you might have to lower details in some games."

    How can you say a hd4860 outperforms a hd5850, thats bull-shit. Also the 4850 has 800sp not 640, like you say. It seems to me you dont have a clue what you are talking about.
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