Video Card Buyer's Guide - Spring 2009
by Derek Wilson on March 30, 2009 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
At the $180 - $280 range, we are going to ask our readers to wait until the end of this week to make a decision. If you want a little more power than the 4870 1GB / GTX 260, but you don't want to spend the money required to push up to the next price point, we might have something (or two somethings) for you.
$180 - $280 Recommendation: Almost There ... Stay on Target (Wait a few more days)
I wish we could talk about this a little more now, but all will be clear by the end of the week.
The only real options between $280 and $400 are the 4850 X2 2GB and GTX 285 (we could only find the GTX 280 for a couple bucks less negating the value). Making this choice isn't for the feint of heart though. Yes, the GTX 285 does offer the highest performance of a single GPU solution in many cases. But the fact that the 4870 costs just a little more than half as much, and in some cases performs higher, leaves a sour taste in our mouths.
The fact that the 4850 X2 2GB comes in at the low end of this price range and the GTX 285 requires an investment of at least $50 more dollars tilts our recommendation heavily in favor of the 4850 X2 2GB in terms of value. But at the same time, Sapphire is still the only vendor out there building the 4850 X2. And while current drivers are doing pretty well, we are still reeling from the AMD driver issues we had from the end of last year up through the beginning of this year.
So there are caveats for both options. But our recommendation is the 4850 X2 2GB.
$280 - $400 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB
| ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB | |
| Sapphire | $279.99 |
At the highest end, there are only two options left. The 4870 X2 and the GTX 295. The GTX 295 is much more expensive, but does outperform th 4870 X2 in most cases. There are some games where the 4870 X2 does top the GTX 295, just like the 4870 1GB sometimes leads the GTX 285. But really it's diminishing returns.
If you want the top of the line, the choice is clear: the option is the GTX 295. If you want top of the line performance without breaking the bank as hard, the 4870 X2 would be the option to go with.
Our recommendation is that there are something like two games where this level of hardware make any difference at all. But if you have the money to spend we're going to go ahead and recommend the part that delivers better price/performance: the Radeon 4870 X2.
$400+ Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
| ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 | |
| Sapphire | $429.99 |
| Diamond | $449.99 |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
91 Comments
View All Comments
The0ne - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
I think the article would be substantially more useful if there were links for the review(s) of the video card selections made and a link to your "overall" performance charts of the various video cards if there is one. Thanks in advance.The0ne - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
This is where I’m interested in for my next video card. My PC’s are all running on 30” LCDs now so high resolution is a must. My main is setup as dual-view to my big TV as well and performance takes a hit from that. Having said that however, I’m hoping for some good reviews for whatever cards you guys announce. Although my 9800gx2 is doing well, I have a dual-core sitting on the ground with no video card.Only one week so no big deal. Thanks for the heads up!
poohbear - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
sweet, most recomendations are for ati products. I hope this wakes nvidia from their stupor and they release another 8800gt type of card that shakes up the market!SiliconDoc - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
But ATI is losing a billion a year- so be careful what you wish for.Nvidia stock aint great but its been there before - and has legs with TESLA sales.
So just cool it - or the red roosters might be jumpin the coop chickless after a bit more castration.
Do some real good and dial 1-800- O and beg a couple billion stimulus for the reds - right, everyone should pay for failure.
Finally - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
...those suckers already did that. Those are called 9800 and 250...frozentundra123456 - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
Yes that was a typo in my earlier comment. I did mean the 4670 for a 300w power supply.I agree that the 4830 or 4850 is a better value if your system can handle it. However, I don't want to upgrade my power supply too, because this is quite a bit more difficult than just plugging in a new video card. I don't think the power supply even has the proper connectors for an 6 pin connector.
However, this is really irritating in a way. It would cost so little to put a 400 or 500 watt power supply in even an off the shelf model, and it would make the computer much more versatile.
caliche - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
Check on your power supply specs. Say you have a 300W PS with 70% efficiency rating, that gives you around 210W to work with. A P4 based chip may by iffy (power hogs) but a Core 2 Duo or newer AMD chip probably has the headroom. I have an "off the shelf" C2D with 300W PS and added a 512MB Radeon 3850 to it and it games well. Look up the power usage for the newer cards under load and see what will work, I know the lower/middle end cards are getting pretty thrifty on the power usage. Maybe borrow a Kill a Watt or similar to see what your current power usage is under load.So maybe a 4830 or a 9800 GTX+ with a power adapter may work out. Some vendors include the "2x4 pin Hard Drive to 6 pin" adapter or you can get them separately, if you have two 4 pin adapters it's worth a shot.
Exar3342 - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
That is incorrect; the PSU still supplies 300W, but it is pulling 390W from the wall. The efficiency just describes how much actual wattage is needed to supply the rated wattage amount.caliche - Thursday, April 2, 2009 - link
Thanks for clearing that up, so I was being way too cautious and probably could have went with a bigger card. Good to know. I just heard so much about underpowering it causing artifacts, lockups, etc so going a little lower made more sense than messing around with returns and issues. I just want it to work.So "300W power supply" should be providing 300W of power if it's not total junk, but you still have to look at what cable is getting what power. A single six pin adapter or two 4 pin drive adapters converted into a single six pin is all you need for most of the midrange cards, so a 4650 or whatever they announce next month (4750?) in a smaller off the shelf system should be just fine from what you are saying. And a 4830 may be fine as well if you figure out the power use in detail.
And a dual slot cooler if possible in case the off the shelf parts on the case are not quite ready to deal with all that heat the bigger cards throw out. Now I want to upgrade again.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
Is the power supply riveted into the case or something? Removing 4 screws and some connectors doesn't seem that hard.