VGA Chart, Hierarchy Graphics Card

What about this other card that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not?

This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen, because inventory levels and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that card you’ve got your eye on is a good buy in its price range?

Here are two resources to help you judge if a card is a good buy or not. The first is the graphics card hierarchy chart, which groups graphics cards with similar overall performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing cards available and performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.

You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.

At the request of readers, I have added mobile graphics and integrated chipsets to the hierarchy chart. I want to make it clear that there is very little performance data available for these graphics solutions. While the discrete video cards in the chart are placed in tiers based on a lot of information, many of the mobile and integrated devices in the chart are guesstimates based on their specifications. At worst, I don’t think they’re more than one tier away from their actual performance, but this is something to keep in mind when considering mobile graphics chipsets.

Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart
GeForce	Radeon	Intel
	Discrete: HD 5970
Discrete: GTX 295	Discrete: HD 4870 X2, HD 5870
Discrete: GTX 280, GTX 285	Discrete: HD 4850 X2, HD 5850
Discrete: 9800 GX2, GTX 260, GTX 275	Discrete: HD 4870, HD 4890, HD 5770
Discrete: 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250	Discrete: HD 3870 X2, HD 4850, HD 5750
Discrete: 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512 MB Go (mobile): 280M	Discrete: HD 4770
Discrete: 8800 GT 512 MB, 9800 GT Go (mobile): 260M (112)	Discrete: HD 4830, HD 5670
Discrete: 8800 GTS 640 MB, 9600 GT, GT 240 (GDDR5)	Discrete: HD 2900 XT, HD 3870
Discrete: 8800 GS, 9600 GSO, GT 240 (DDR3) Go (mobile): 260M (96)	Discrete: HD 3850 512 MB, HD 4670 Mobility: 3870
Discrete: 8800 GT 256 MB, 8800 GTS 320 MB, GT 220 Go (mobile): 8800M	Discrete: HD 2900 PRO, HD 3850 256 MB Mobility: 3850
Discrete: 7950 GX2	Discrete: X1950 XTX, HD 4650 (DDR3)
Discrete: 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX	Discrete: X1900 XT, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX
Discrete: 7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT	Discrete: X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO, HD 2900 GT
Discrete: 7800 GT, 7900 GS, 8600 GTS, 9500 GT (GDDR3) Go (mobile): 7950 GTX	Discrete: X1800 XL, X1950 GT, HD 4650 (DDR2) Mobility X1800 XT
Discrete: 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 7800 GS, 8600 GT (GDDR3), 9500 GT (DDR2) Go (mobile): 7800 GTX, 7900 GTX	Discrete: X800 XT (& PE), X850 XT (& PE), X1650 XT, X1800 GTO, HD 2600 XT, HD 3650 (DDR3), HD 3670, Mobility: X1900, 3670
Discrete: 6800 GT, 6800 GS (PCIe), 8600 GT (DDR2) Go (mobile): 7800, Go 7900 GS	Discrete: X800 XL, X800 GTO2/GTO16, HD 2600 PRO, HD 3650 (DDR2), Mobility: X800 XT, HD 2600 XT, 3650
Discrete: 6800 GS (AGP) Go (mobile): 6800 Ultra, 7600 GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT	Discrete: X800 GTO 256 MB, X800 PRO, X850 PRO, X1650 GT Mobility: HD 2600
Discrete: 6800, 7300 GT GDDR3, 7600 GS, 8600M GS Go (mobile): 6800, 7700	Discrete: X800, X800 GTO 128 MB, X1600 XT, X1650 PRO Mobility: X1800
Discrete: 6600 GT, 6800LE, 6800 XT, 7300 GT (DDR2), 8500 GT, 9400 GT Go (mobile): 7600 (128-bit)	Discrete: 9800 XT, X700 PRO, X800 GT, X800 SE, X1300 XT, X1600 PRO, HD 2400 XT, HD 4350, HD 4550 Mobility: X800, 3470 Integrated: HD 3300
Discrete: FX 5900, FX 5900 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, 6600 (128-bit) Go (mobile): 6800 (128-bit) Integrated: 9300, 9400	Discrete: 9700, 9700 PRO, 9800, 9800 PRO, X700, X1300 PRO, X1550, HD 2400 PRO Mobility: X1450, X1600, X1700, 2400 XT, X2500, 3450 Integrated: HD 3200, HD 4200
Discrete: FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5900 XT Go (mobile): 6600, Go 7600 (64-bit)	Discrete: 9500 PRO, 9600 XT, 9800 PRO (128-bit), X600 XT, X1050 (128-bit) Mobility: 9800, X700, X1350, X1400, X2300, HD 2400
Discrete: 4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8300, 8400 G, G 210, G 310	Discrete: 9600 PRO, 9800 LE, X600 PRO, HD 2300 Mobility: 9700 (128-bit), X600, X1300 Integrated: Xpress 1250
Discrete: 4 Ti4200, 4 Ti4400, 4 Ti4800 SE, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5700, 6600 (64-bit), 7300 GS, 8400M GS, 9300M G, 9300M GS	Discrete: 9500, 9550, 9600, X300, X1050 (64-bit) Mobility: 9600
Discrete: 3 Ti500, FX 5200 Ultra, FX 5600, FX 5700 LE, 6200 TC, 6600 LE, 7200 GS, 7300 LE Go (mobile): 5700, 8200M, 9200M GS, 9100 Integrated: 8200, 8300	Discrete: 8500, 9100, 9000 PRO, 9600 LE, X300 SE, X1150 Mobility 9700 (64-bit)	GMA X4500
Discrete: 3, 3 Ti200, FX 5200 (128-bit), FX 5500, Go (mobile): 5600, 6200, 6400, 7200, 7300, 7400 (64-bit)	Discrete: 9000, 9200, 9250 Mobility: 9600 (64-bit), X300
Discrete: FX 5200 (64 bit) Go (mobile): 7200, 7400 (32-bit) Integrated: 6100, 6150	Discrete: 9200 SE Integrated: Xpress 200M, Xpress 1000, Xpress 1150	GMA X3000, X3100, X3500
Discrete: 2 GTS, 4 MX 440, 2 Ultra, 2 Ti, 2 Ti 200	Discrete: 7500	GMA 3000, 3100
Discrete: 256, 2 MX 200, 4 MX 420, 2 MX 400	Discrete: SDR, LE, DDR, 7000, 7200	GMA 500, 900, 950
Discrete: Nvidia TNT	Discrete: Rage 128	Intel 740

Summary

There you have it folks; the best cards for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.

Don’t worry too much about which brand you choose, because all of the cards out there are close to Nvidia’s and ATI’s reference designs. Just pay attention to price, warranty, and the manufacturer’s reputation for honoring the warranty if something goes wrong.

Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!

(http://www.tomshardware.com)