Oct 30 2009
There are a remarkable variety of graphics cards on the market aimed at gamers. While the very latest technology is always expensive, there are also solutions for those who don't have hundreds of dollars to spend. These video cards were selected because they are good values in their class, and they are ordered roughly from fastest (most expensive) to slowest (most affordable). I can't include every quality card, but I do update the list when I can, so your suggestions are welcome.
1. ATI Radeon HD 5870
ATI's Radeon 5800 chipsets represent one of the largest leaps in video card performance in a long time. The HD 5870 has quite easily taken the top spot for single-GPU performance, and also holds its own against many of the dual-GPU cards on the market. The HD 5870 has 1 GB of GDDR5 onboard and a core clock speed of 850MHz, as well as full support for DirectX 11. It is a little big and occupies two slots in your system. While there are less costly cards available that will probably get the job done, we've rarely seen a high-end offering like this launch at such an attractive price point.
2. ATI Radeon HD 5850
The second card released in Radeon's 5800 series is the HD 5850. Although a little slower than the HD 5870, it has most of the same features, including DX11, Eyefinity, HDMI bitstreaming, supersample anti-aliasing, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. As well as being less expensive than the HD 5870, 5850s require less power and tend to be shorter in length. Comparable to a GTX 285 in speed, these cards are a great deal right now, but retailers have been selling out of them very quickly.3. Nvidia GeForce GTX 295
Not to be outdone by ATI's dual GPU Radeon HD 4870 X2, Nvidia released another dual GPU card in January 2009. The GTX 295 is essentially 2 GTX 260 GPUs running in SLI on a single card, except that these chips have 240 stream processors each rather than 216, and they're made with a smaller 55 nm process. Nvidia has used the 2 PCB approach instead of trying to put 2 GPUs on one board the way ATI does. While the GTX 295 offers impressive performance for a single card, they don't come cheap.4. ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Another one of ATI's dual GPU cards, this time with two HD 4870 graphics processors and a whopping 2 GB of memory onboard. It's a close race between the HD 4870 X2, the GeForce 9800 GX2, and the GeForce GTX 280 in terms of overall performance, with each showing strengths in certain games. This card definitely puts out some impressive framerates. Of course, like other dual GPU cards, they tend to consume a lot of power and produce a lot of heat, but their price has dropped dramatically in recent months.5. ATI Radeon HD 4890
Radeon's fastest single-GPU card at the moment is the HD 4890. Most of this chip's specifications the same as the HD 4870, apart from faster clock speeds and a slightly different layout. This card keeps right up with the GeForce GTX 275 and 280, benchmarking slightly slower than the pricey GeForce GTX 285. The HD 4890 launched in April, but it can already be found for around $200, which is putting downward pressure on video card prices across the board.6. Nvidia GeForce GTX 285
Only a few months after releasing the GeForce 9800, Nvidia entered a new era by launching the GTX 280 and 260. The GTX 285 is a 55nm version of the 280, and it is a true graphics powerhouse with some 1.4 billion transistors. While the GTX 285 entered the market at a more attractive price that the 280, it's still a considerable sum for a video card, and it's now facing stiff competition from Radeon HD 5000 cards.7. ATI Radeon HD 4870
Because of a good price/performance ratio, Radeon HD 4000 cards have put ATI back in the competition. The HD 4870 is not as fast as the GeForce GTX 280 on most game benchmarks, although it actually packs more raw arithmetic computing power. It has an efficient design built on a 55 nm process, which has made it relatively affordable. It's the first card to use GDDR5 memory, and as a bonus it supports DirectX 10.1. At current prices this card remains an excellent value for high-end gamers.8. Nvidia GeForce GTX 275
With one GPU rather than two, the GeForce GTX 275 is essentially half of a GTX 295, and it lands between the GTX 260 and the GTX 285 in terms of performance, as its numerical designation suggests. The GTX 275 has 240 stream processors, 896 MB of memory, and a core clock speed of 750 MHz. It will beat the Radeon HD 4890 on some benchmarks, but it costs a lot more, so the 4890 or even the slower 4870 are a better value right now.9. Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
The main difference between the GTX 260 and the more powerful 280 is that it has fewer Arithmetic Logic Units, fewer Texture Units, a bit less memory, and a considerably lower price tag. These cards typically sport 896 MB of GDDR3 and a GPU clocked at 576 MHz. The 260 is a very good gaming card, but I think I'd opt for the similarly priced Radeon HD 4870 at the moment.10. ATI Radeon HD 4850
Technically, the Radeon HD 4850 has slower clock speeds than the HD 4870 and it uses GDDR3 memory rather than GDDR5. The 512 MB cards are very strong contenders in the $120 price range, and they can also be purchased with 1 GB of RAM. Like other HD 4800 cards, these are a good alternative to the GeForce 9800 for Radeon fans.