Best Graphics Cards For The Money: March 2010

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great-that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.

So, if you don't have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don't feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right card, then fear not.

February Review and March Updates:

AMD cranked out the product launches in February of 2010, with three new products hitting the store shelves: the Radeon HD 5450, 5570, and 5830. From a gaming standpoint, we can ignore the Radeon HD 5450, which is essentially as fast as the older Radeon HD 4550. This is an HTPC card that doesn't have much prowess in the way of gaming. The Radeon HD 5570 has some potential as a low-end gaming card. But with near-4670 performance and a much higher price point, it isn't something we'd recommend until the cost comes down.

The Radeon HD 5830 is a much more interesting card, essentially a cut-down Radeon HD 5870 with 1,120 shader cores. At $240, it sounds like it has potential. But the card is further crippled by disabling half of its GPU's ROPs, and the unfortunate result is that it performs much closer to the Radeon HD 5770 than it does to the Radeon HD 5850. Despite this limitation, now that the $200 Radeon HD 4890 has disappeared from store shelves, there is really no direct competition for the Radeon HD 5830. We award it with an honorable mention for folks who aren't interested in a dual-card CrossFire setup of Radeon HD 4850s.

On the pricing front, we're looking at fluctuations all over the map, as retailers try to peg appropriate relative costs for the new Radeon HD 5000-series cards as older models become obsolete and fall out of inventory. The Radeon HD 4890 is all but a distant memory now, and Nvidia's GeForce cards, from the GTX 260 to the GTX 285, are either MIA or grossly overpriced. In this environment, with no real competition, the Radeon HD 5850 is actually getting even more expensive. It's now around $320, when only a month ago some of these cards were selling for $290. The ultra high-end Radeon HD 5970 has even skyrocketed to $700.

Of course, Nvidia's next-generation GeForce launch is rumored to be just around the corner, so expect the price shifting to continue in the near future, at least until we see where the new cards land. Happily, there are still a lot of great graphics card buys out there, and we don't think that will change. But it certainly makes us sad to see great products like the $200 Radeon HD 4890 ride off into the sunset.

Best PCIe Card: Under $90

Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$50:

Radeon HD 4650

Great 1280x1024 performance in most games, 1680x1050 with lowered detail

Radeon HD 4650
Codename:	RV730
Process:	55nm
Universal Shaders:	320
Texture Units:	32
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	128-bit
Core Speed MHz:	600
Memory Speed MHz:	400 (800 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 10.1/SM 4.1

You will not find a card that packs more punch than ATI's Radeon HD 4650 under the alluring $50 price point. With solid stock performance and an overclockable GPU, this card is an excellent starting point for our list of recommendations, and a wholly worthwhile upgrade if you're currently stuck using a motherboard limited to integrated graphics.

Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$65:

Radeon HD 4670

Good 1680x1050 performance in most games

Radeon HD 4670
Codename:	RV730
Process:	55nm
Universal Shaders:	320
Texture Units:	32
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	128-bit
Core Speed MHz:	750
Memory Speed MHz:	1,000 (2,000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 10.1/SM 4.1

The Radeon HD 4670 continues to offer modest performance and very low power usage, making this product a reasonable all-around value. Its accelerated clock rates and modestly-higher price tag are worth considering if you originally had your eye on the Radeon HD 4650.

It's worth noting that this card's closest competitor, the GeForce 9600 GSO, isn't making a very strong showing. The GeForce 9600 GSOs we could find for sale were crippled 48 shader/128-bit memory versions of the card. The models we'd want to see should be equipped with 48 shaders and a 256-bit memory bus, or alternatively 96 shaders and 128-bit memory bus.

Unfortunately, it seems that the low-priced Radeon HD 4670 cards with 512MB of RAM are getting harder to find. instead there are a lot of 1GB cards on the market. But at $75, the price is too close to the superior GeForce 9600 GT. Though this might be a temporary situation, we do expect the 4600-series to disappear entirely once the new Radeon HD 5570 becomes widely available.

Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$80:

GeForce 9600 GT

Great 1680x1050 performance in most games, 1920x1200 in most games with lowered detail

GeForce 9600 GT
Codename:	G94
Process:	65nm
Universal Shaders:	64
Texture Units:	32
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	256-bit
Core Speed MHz:	650
Memory Speed MHz:	900 (1,800 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 10/SM 4.0

The GeForce 9600 GT is still a great entry-level performer, thanks in part to its high-end 256-bit memory interface and speedy DDR3 memory. It's a solid choice on an $80 budget, even if the architecture on which it centers is showing its age.

While the GeForce GT 240 is beginning to encroach on this card's price territory, the 9600 GT remains a bit faster than even the GDDR5 version of the newer card, and its recommendation remains secure for the time being. It remains to be seen whether the new Radeon HD 5670 will drop in price to give the 9600 GT some real competition.

Best PCIe Card: ~$95 To $180

Best PCIe Card For ~$100:

Radeon HD 4850 512MB

Exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games, 1920x1200 in most games with lowered detail

Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Codename:	RV770
Process:	55nm
Universal Shaders:	800
Texture Units:	40
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	256-bit
Core Speed MHz:	625
Memory Speed MHz:	993 (1,986 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 10.1/SM 4.1

The Radeon HD 4850 is returning to the ~$100 price point after a brief hiatus, and we hope it lasts. If you're considering this graphics card, buy it while you still can, because nothing in the $100 range can touch it. Availability is waning, and these products probably won't be around much longer now that the Radeon HD 5750 has arrived.

Best PCIe Card For ~$130:

Radeon HD 5750 512MB

Great 1920x1200 performance in most games

Radeon HD 5750
Codename:	RV840 "Juniper"
Process:	40nm
Universal Shaders:	720
Texture Units:	36
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	128-bit
Core Speed MHz:	700
Memory Speed MHz:	1,150 (4,600 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 11/SM 5.0

The price of the 512MB flavor of Radeon HD 5750 is quite low, and this month it's enough to take the recommendation from the 1GB versions of the Radeon HD 4850 and GeForce GTS 250. Although it costs a few dollars more, the 5750 is more appealing due to DirectX 11 hardware capabilities. There are other benefits, such as Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Master Audio and Eyefinity triple-output support, making this card an easy choice on all fronts.

Best PCIe Card For ~$145:

Radeon HD 5770 512MB

Great 1920x1200 performance in most games

Radeon HD 5770
Codename:	RV840 "Juniper"
Process:	40nm
Universal Shaders:	800
Texture Units:	40
ROPs:	16
Memory Bus:	128-bit
Core Speed MHz:	850
Memory Speed MHz:	1,200 (4,800 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model:	DX 11/SM 5.0

While the new Radeon HD 5770 isn't any faster than its older Radeon HD 4870 cousin (we've found that it's even slightly slower in many instances), it does have something the Radeon HD 4870 doesn't have: full DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support. Indeed, while the Radeon HD 5770 doesn't run away with any performance crowns in this category, it does look good from a longevity/value standpoint.

Perhaps more importantly, at the $145 price point, there is nothing to compete against the 512MB version of the card now that the Radeon HD 4870 and GeForce GTX 260 are at the end of their effective lives.

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