Best Graphics Cards for your money

hj2k_x

hj2k_x

Honorary Master
Joined
Jan 22, 2006
Messages
32,137
Reaction score
1,893
Location
/\/¯¯¯¯¯\/\
I am gonna make categories of price ranges for graphics cards and then what is the best one available at that price. Then I can update the thread with time and with you guys' input. :)

Then maybe it can be sticky'ed at a later stage ;)

So, here goes....


---------> Less than R1000 <--------

The 8500 range? My 8500GT is not great but for under a grand I am happy with it.
Code: 
Memory Clock: 800 MHz
Dual Link DVI - Supporting digital output up to 2560x1600:Single
Clock rate: 450 MHz
Chipset: GeForce 8500 GT
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Type: PCI-E
Memory Type: DDR2
Memory Bus: 128 bit
Output: VGA, DVI
XFX 8500GT - R849 at Computersonly


8600GT - R999 at Landmark:
Code: 
XFX T84J-UDF/UAL 
geforce 8600GT 
SLi support 
Pci-E 16x 
256mb 128bit DDR3
support DirectX 10.0 + shader model 4.0 +FP32 HDR + 16x AA
max dual link DVI resolution 2560x1600
8.64 billion/sec texture fill rate
22.4Gb/sec memory transfer
32 stream processors @ 1190Mhz ( pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines )
core/memory : 540/1400mhz
d-sub + dvi 
HDTV tvout - retail pack


HD3650 at Landmark for R917
Code: 
Asus EAH3650/HTDI/256M
HD3650 chipset
HDMi ready
support crossfire-X
built-in HDMi codec+5.1 audio
support DirectX 10.1
1080p HDCP Compliant
pci-e 2.0 x16
256mb 128bit DDR3
RoPs : 8 , 25.6Gb/sec memory transfer
120 stream processors ( pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines )
core/memory : 725/1600mhz
dual dvi ( with dvi to d-sub + dvi to HDMi converter )
HDTV-out - lite retail pack

***At the moment, the 3650 seems to outperform both the 8500GT and the 8600GT in this price range so I'd have to recommend that for the budget choice.***


------> R1000-R2000 <------

Winner seems to be the 9600GT right now
Code: 
*  512mb 256bit DDR3
    * 650mhz Core Clock
    * 900mhz Memory Clock
    * 1625mhz Shader Clock
    * Direct X10 Shader Model 4
    * Nvidia SLI Ready, HDCP
    * Dual DVI, HDTV-OUT
9600GT - R1790 at Prophecy
9600GT - R2067 at Landmark

The GDDR4 version is also worth a look:
Code: 
512MB GDDR4 
256-bit GDDR4 memory interface 
Blue PCB 
Core/Memory Clock – 775 / 1125MHz 
PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface 
DirectX 10.1 support 
CrossFire X support 
ATI PowerPlay 
Hardware processed 1080p video playback of Blu-ray and HD DVDs 
HDMI with 5.1 surround sound audio

3780 GDDR4- R1999 - ComputersOnly

***Nothing to compete with the 9600GT for less than R2000 right now. Go and get one! :)***


------> R2000-R3000 <------

8800GT - R2286 at Prophecy
Inno3D 8800GT 512MB Overclocked - R2110 at Landmark
Code: 
    *  256-bit advanced memory interface
    * 600 MHz engine clock
    * 1800 MHz memory clock
    * PCI Express 2.0 support
    * Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Support
    * Support High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (Dual Link HDCP )
    * Built for Microsoft Window Vista ™
    * Integrated HDMI Support
    * NVIDIA SLI Technology
    * NVIDIA nView multi-display technology
    * NVIDIA PureVideo HD™ technology
    * Dual 400 MHz RAMDACs
    * Dual dual-link DVI supports two 2560x1600 resolution displays
    * OpenGL 2.0 Optimizations and Support
    * 16X full-screen anti-aliasing
    * 128-bit floating point high dynamic range (HDR)


HD4850 512MB - R2399 at Landmark
HD4850 512MB -R2462 at Prophecy
Code: 
Model Name - HIS HD 4850 (Full HD 1080p) HDMI 512MB (256bit) 
GDDR3 Dual DL-DVI & TV (HDCP) PCIe (RoHS) 
Chipset - Radeon HD 4800 PCIe Series 
Pixel Pipelines - 800 stream processing units* (Unified)
Vertex Engines - 800 stream processing units* (Unified) 
Manu. Process (Micron) - 55nm 
Transistor - 956 million 
Memory Size (MB) - 512 
Memory Type - GDDR3 
RAMDAC (MHz) - 400 
Engine CLK (MHz) - 625
Memory CLK (MHz) - 1986
Memory Interface (bit) - 256
9800GTX 512MB for R2799 at Prophecy

Code: 
NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX
675 MHz GPU
128 Stream Processors
400 MHz RAMDAC Memory 512 MB
256 bit DDR3 2200 MHz (effective) 70.4 GB/s Memory Bandwidth Interface
PCI-E 16x DVI-I, DVI-I, HDTV-7 SLI Capable
Max Refresh Rate 240Mhz
Max reoslution 2560x1600 
Requirements: Minimum of a 450 Watt power supply. 
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 24 Amp Amps.) 
Minimum 550 Watt for SLI mode system.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 30 Amp Amps.) 
Two available 6-pin Molex hard drive power dongles 10 Year Warranty

***General consensus has it that the 8800GT won't disappoint in this price range***



------> R3000-R6000 <------

HD3870x2 - R3897 at Prophecy
Code: 
1.0 GigaByte GDDR3 high speed memory on-board.
Unified Superscalar Shader Architecture built-in 320 stream processing units.
Built-in HDMI support for HD video with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support,
enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution.
Dual DVI display port supports resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 
2560x1600 (dual-link DVI, HDCP).
ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU technology support 
High-Speed 128 bit HDR (High Dynamic Range) rendering
ATI Avivo HD technology includes fully integrated HD audio capabilities and
supports playback of multi-channel (5.1) audio streams.
ATI PowerPlay™ technology
Windows Vista with comprehensive DirectX® 10.1 support.
Shader Model 4.1

BFG Geforce GTX 260 OC 896MB-R5590 at Prophecy


***Quite a broad category this one. Hearing good things about the 9800GTX and the price looks good. The cards with two GPUs like the 3870 mean you *could have like 6 GPUs in one system in triple SLI if that catches your fancy...For price, I'd have to go with the 9800GTX***


------> R6000+ <------

9800 GX2 1GB - R6361 at Prophecy
9800 GX2 1GB - R6499 at Landmark
Code: 
Graphics Engine : NVIDIA 9800 GX2 GPU
Video Memory : 1024 MB (512 per GPU)
Core Clock : 600 Mhz
Memory Clock : 2000 Mhz
Shader clock : 1500 Mhz
Memory Speed : 1.0 ns GDDR 3
Memory Bus : 512 bit
Interface : PCI Express 2.0 16x
RAMDAC : Dual 400 Mhz
DVI-I : 2x Dual Link
HDMI : 1x
Video-In : No
HDTV : Yes
Stream processors : 256

BFG Geforce GTX 280 OC 1gb - R9318 at Prophecy



For some comparisons based on 3DMARK scores check out Tomshardware and Guru3D
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

VERDICT: At the moment, the 9600GT with it's 256 bit bus seems like the best bet and best value for money in the lower-budget range going for as little as R1800 or so depending on where you look.
If you are made of money you can go for the GX2 range, with specs better than a lot of PC's, and costing about the same as well!



But for now, I'd appreciate whatever input people are willing to give with the above list...Links to benchmarks and the like appreciated :)
 
Last edited:
R1000 - R2000 If you search you can find an geforce 9600 gt for under R2000. You can also get some the ati 3870 and 3850 in this category which is also better than the 8600gt.

For the R6000 plus range it's the 9800gx2.
 
Gonna ask the mods to make this post the 2nd in the thread so I can say more stuff here. The OP has already got the maximum 10 000 characters :(
 
Last edited:
9600GT seems to be best mid range :) seen some go for 1.8k!!
 
Anything in the budget category? Under R1000. For those that aren't going to game but want something decent for watching movies and the like. Better than onboard...
 
The HD 3850 should definitely get in at R1000-2000.

There will be price cuts soon, if they get to SA then the 3870 could even fall under R2000. You can get it for R2199 atm from lankmarkpc.
 
Ekhaatvensters said:
The HD 3850 should definitely get in at R1000-2000.

There will be price cuts soon, if they get to SA then the 3870 could even fall under R2000. You can get it for R2199 atm from lankmarkpc.
Click to expand...

Is it true that they do not offer a warranty though?
 
I see you use prophecy in most cases. There are lots of them where you can get it cheaper like from LandmarkPC.
 
Ask Andy from LandmarkPC, he's now the preferred reseller for eVGA card in SA now and he should know something about the warranty we are getting this side.
 
cyberarmy said:
I see you use prophecy in most cases. There are lots of them where you can get it cheaper like from LandmarkPC.
Click to expand...

Ya, I just do that cos I have had good service from them in the past, know that their prices are usually good and that they have most of the cards on an easy-to-browse website.

I know that is not going to always be the cheapest, which is why I asked for other people's input as to where the best deal can be had :)
 
qinglung said:
He's referring to the lifetime warranty that eVGA offer in the US, there should be some warranty though for us in SA, even if limited.
Click to expand...

I see. Ok. Well that would change things then. Will try to find out what the warranty is, as they do seem to have really good prices.
 
hj2k_x said:
No warranty? Not cool :(

How much are those 2400s going for that you mentioned?
Click to expand...

The warranty does stick in SA. EVGA locally has a 10 year warranty. Thats what foxcomp( the local supplier) and Landmark offers. The thing which doesn't apply to SA is the stepup program. Two different things.

Here in this thread you will see EVGA has a local 10 year warranty as explained by Andy. http://www.systemshock.co.za/forums/index.php?showtopic=20298
 
Last edited:
stefan9 said:
The warranty does stick in SA. EVGA locally has a 10 year warranty. Thats what foxcomp( the local supplier) and Landmark offers. The thing which doesn't apply to SA is the stepup program. Two different things.

Here in this thread you will see EVGA has a local 10 year warranty as explained by Andy. http://www.systemshock.co.za/forums/index.php?showtopic=20298
Click to expand...

Cool beans. I'll work on adding Landmark links to the OP. I'll buy something from them one of these days so I can also vouch for them and their service or not :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X