2008 graphics card round-up
2008 was a great year for graphics cards. It had to be, because let’s face it, 2007 wasn’t. It did get better towards the end with Nvidia bringing out its first 65nm G92 core 8800GT, but ATi’s inability to compete put a serious dampener on things.
Early 2008 saw Nvidia’s high performing G92 based 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB essentially rebranded to become the 9800GT and 9800GTX. Some minor feature enhancements and a slight clock speed increase were all that really separated the 9800GT/9800GTX from the 8800GT/8800GTS.
There was also the release of the 9800GTX+ which shrunk the 9800GTX to a 55nm process, as well as the 9800GX2. These are both great performers, but have been eclipsed by the Nvidia GTX200 series and ATi’s comeback kid, the HD4800 series.
Up until mid-way through this year ATi had been playing catch-up, and not particularly well. Nvidia’s 8800 and 9800 series dominated the ATi’s HD 3800s at almost every price point. There was however a brief period where the ATi HD 3870X2 was hailed as the performance king. This was just not enough however, and the graphics card market was looking rather stale going into June.
In June things got interesting, with Nvidia bringing out its GTX280 and GTX260. These two cards offered screaming performance at high prices. However, it was ATi’s response to GTX200 that really got things going.
Shortly after Nvidia’s GTX200 cards were released, ATi brought out its HD 4850 and HD 4870. While both cards were produced on a trimmer 55nm process, neither could match the raw power of the GTX200 series.
It turns out however, that this did not matter, because they were still very fast and were both significantly cheaper than Nvidia’s latest offerings. This lead to Nvidia being forced to drop its GTX200 pricing.
Not content to win on pricing alone, ATi released the 4870X2 in August. This snatched the performance crown from the GTX280.
Nvidia also followed up with the highly impressive GTX260 Core 216 which pushed the shader count up from 192 to 216. This card offers show-stopping performance at a relatively good price.
The just-released 4850X2 manages to marginally beat Nvidia’s GTX280 for price and performance, leaving ATi with the worlds two fastest graphics cards going into Christmas. Unfortunately it has yet to surface locally.
With so many good graphics cards to choose from, it was tough selecting the best of 2008. Since user choice is usually dictated by desired price point, we have chosen the three best cards at three different price-points.
Price/performance king – R2 000: ATi Radeon HD 4850
If you shop around you can find this card for as little as R2 000. Nvidia’s 9800GTX+ is the closest competitor in terms of performance, but retails for around R700 more, making the HD4850 the clear winner at this point.
On its own, the HD 4850 will comfortably handle most games on high settings at resolutions of 1680×1050 with some anti-aliasing. At higher resolutions two HD 4850s in Crossfire mode (dual graphics set-up) will beat any single card solution on the market, including the R5 200 Nvidia GTX 280.
Performance king: ATi HD 4870X2 – R6 500
This was easy. The fastest card to come out of 2008 is the ATi HD4870X2, plain and simple.
These cards are wasted on any resolution below 2560×1600.
At R6 500, the HD4870X2 is a few levels up from the mainstream. However, it is the fastest graphics card ever made, and we have seen previous high performance graphics cards go for over R10 000.
High performance single GPU winner: Tie
Nvidia GTX260 Core 216 R4 000
This new release from Nvidia is a beefed up GTX260, and it comes very close to the more expensive GTX 280 in terms of performance, while a mild overclock will have it nipping ahead.
They are still quite hard to find locally, and are also due for a price-cut. However, if you are looking for an incredible single GPU performance option, then the GTX260 Core 216 offers very good value.
ATi HD 4870 1GB R3 800
The HD 4870 1GB trades blows with the GTX260 Core 216, and depending on the game it is either slightly faster or slightly slower. The differences are usually negligible, making it difficult to choose between these cards.
Right now, due to limited availability of the GTX260 216, the HD 4870 1GB is slightly cheaper, making it a slightly better value purchase.
If you are playing on resolutions less than 1680×1050 or you don’t require too much anti-aliasing, then the regular HD 4870 512MB also offers great performance for around R3 200.
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