The Best Video Cards For Your Money: March 2010

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Geforce GTX 480: Coming March 26th

March 2010 update:

AMD has been busy in the last two months:

In January, they released the Radeon 5670. Compared to the Radeon 4670 that it replaces, it makes sense, as it faster and support all the goodies from the Radeon 5xxx series: DirectX 11, Eyefinity triple-display outputs and low power consumption.

However, starting at $90, it’s priced too closely to the older, yet much more powerful Radeon 4850, which can be found starting at $100, so it doesn’t get my recommendation as far as getting the best card for your money.

In February, AMD introduced the Radeon 5450, a card not really targeted to regular gamers, rather to HTPC users or casual gamers who play older games.

They also released the Radeon 5570, which is basically a DDR3 version of the Radeon 5670, but with prices starting at $85, it doesn’t make sense to not save up a few more dollars and get a better card such as the Geforce 9600 GT or the Radeon 4850.

Finally, they just launched the Radeon 5830, a card meant to fill the gap between the $160 Radeon 5770 and the $300 Radeon 5850. Compared to the Radeon 4890 that it’s meant to replace, it is only a tad slower. With the Radeon 4890, which can now be found for $220 and is now getting harder and harder to find in stock, the Radeon 5830 is a worthy replacement for only $20 more considering that it requires a lot less power to run, operates cooler and supports DirectX 11 as well as Eyefinity

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 ~$60:

Radeon HD 4670 512MB DDR3

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 $60 and a Radeon 4670 with DDR3.

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 DDR3 and not the slower DDR2 that would impair performance.

Alternative: If you prefer Nvidia video cards, the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is a worthy alternative, as it offers performance on par with the Radeon 4670. 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 GDDR3

The Radeon 4850 is still in stock, although we have no idea for how long. 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.
Alternatives:

The Radeon HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 is a good alterntive. Although it is slower by a few % compared to Radeon 4850, it is produced on 40nm process instead of 55nm, meaning that it runs cooler and consumes less power. It is also available for $99.

If you prefer Nvidia cards and don’t mind spending an extra $10, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB GDDR3 is also an excellent alternative as it performs on par with the Radeon 4850, being faster in some games and slower in others.

Best Video Card for ~$120-$140: None

While the Radeon 5750 is a good video card, performing on par with the older Radeon 4850 while offering lower power consumption, DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support, its price went up lately and at its current price of $140, it is too close to our next recommendation at $160, the Radeon 5770, to be worth a recommendation.

Best video card for ~$160 :

Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5

With the Radeon 4870 no longer available and the Geforce GTX 260 being expensive, as it is now starting at $200, the Radeon 5770 is the king of the hill at the $160 price point.

Performing pretty much on par with its predecessor, the 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 ~$240:

Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5

Compared to the Radeon 4890 that it’s meant to replace, the Radeon 5830 is only a tad slower. With the Radeon 4890, which can now be found for $220 and is now getting harder and harder to find in stock, the Radeon 5830 is a worthy replacement for only $20 more considering that it requires a lot less power to run, operates cooler and supports DirectX 11 as well as Eyefinity

From Nvidia, the Geforce GTX 275 is a good alternative, as it tends to slightly edge out the Radeon 5830, however that comes at the price of higher power consumption and lack of DirectX11. The main problem is: Good luck finding a Geforce GTX 275 in stock…

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

Alternative:

If you have a motherboard that supports Crossfire, two Radeon HD 4850 in Crossfire will cost only $200 and outperform the Radeon 5830 with no problem. On the flip side though, this setup will require a much beefier power supply, a case with good ventilation and you will lose DirectX 11/Eyefinity support.

Best video card for ~$300:

Radeon HD 5850 1GB DDR5

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 stock situation has much improved and it can now be bought without a problem.

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

Best video card for ~$400:

Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5

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.

The Radeon 5870 stock situation has much improved and it can now be bought without a problem.

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 $480:

Two Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 in Crossfire

If you have a Crossfire compatible motherboard, two Radeon HD 5830 will provide a nice boost over a single Radeon HD 5870.

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

Best video card for ~$700:

Radeon HD 5970 2GB GDDR5

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.

Best video card for $800:

Two Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 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.

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 completed their launch of the Radeon 5xxx series. The next big thing now will be the release of Nvidia’s Geforce GTX 470 and GTX 480, scheduled for March 26th. All we know so far is that the GTX 470 should be priced at $299, meaning that it will be facing the Radeon 5850. Rumors go that its power consumption is higher though, due on Nvidia recommending a 550W power supply for the GTX 470, as opposed to the recommended 500W for the Radeon 5850. The rest is unsure.

Until we see reliable benchmarks and reviews, we can’t say for sure what will happen. One thing is for sure though: Nvidia has to deliver, after a delay of nearly six months…