Autumn 2009 Graphics Card Upgrade Guide

Bang for Buck

Looking at our bang for buck numbers reveals that pricing is just as important as performance when considering that new graphics card. The HD 4890 is a run-away winner when it comes to value for both 22in (1,680 x 1,050) and 24in (1,920 x 1,200) screens. This is due to a combination of remarkable performance in Dawn of War 2 and Fallout 3 and its heavily discounted price tag of just £129.99 (inc VAT). The HD 4890 only flakes out when we forced it to run games at 2,560 x 1,600, which perfectly acceptable for a £130 card. Just remember that the reference cooler is unbelievably loud.

From Nvidia’s camp it’s easily the GTX 260-216 that takes the win on bang for buck. The bargain basement price of just £119.59 belies the fact that’s it’s based around the same GT200 core as the more expensive GTX 275, the only difference being that the GTX 260 is clocked lower. The card performed admirably similarly to the GTX 285 and GTX 275 in a number of games. It’s bang for buck score at 2,560 x 1,600 is slightly skewed by its impressive performance in Call of Duty: World at War, but it’s still a fine card.

What surprised us from this round of testing was how poorly the ageing GeForce 8800 GT (which performs identically to a 9800 GT) performed. Even at 1,680 x 1,050 the 8800 GT rose from the bottom of the performance graphs very rarely, and usually only when a dual-GPU card was let down by a flaky driver. If you’re one of the millions who bought this card at its height, then it may well be time to consider a upgrade.

Also surprising is what poor value the super-high-end cards all offer at 1,680 x 1,050 and 1,920 x 1,200. The newly released HD 5870, despite delivering excellent playable minimum frame rates in a number of games, struggles to justify it's £300. Similarly, the GTX 285 struggled to justify the extra £80 you pay over the GTX 260-216. While these cards do offer clear performance advantages and are arguably more of an investment (especially the DX11-compatible HD 5870), you pay a lot more for your playable minimum frame rate than the cheaper cards on test.

So, which graphics cards should you buy?

It’s an unfortunate time for us to be running this article, as we’re on the cusp of a graphics revolution, with new ranges of cards DX11-comaptible cards from ATI and Nvidia imminent. However, we have to start somewhere, so here we go.

From the numbers we’ve seen, it’s clear that anyone with even a relatively old GTX 260-216, a HD 4870 1GB or a HD 4890 can wait and see what the future brings. These card are fine for now, and you can sit back and watch as ATI and Nvidia scrap it out over the next few months. Oh, and feel pretty chuffed at your excellent buying acumen. Well done you!

If you’re really struggling to get decent fps out of your card and desperately need a new card now, it’s hard not to consider the HD 5870. It’s the only DirectX 11 card out at the moment, and it’s a decent price for the performance it offers. It’s also cool and quiet, so it’s hard to see the card being too much of a turkey.

However, there’s also the issue of the imminent release of the Radeon HD 5850 (we didn’t receive a card in time for this article, sadly) and Nvidia's Fermi range of cards, both of which we’re hoping to either get our hands on or learn a significant amount about in the coming week.

With such exciting new releases still on the horizon, you’d be forgiven for sitting on your cash and waiting till the DX11 dust has settled. However, this probably won’t happen until decent DX11 game are released, and heaven knows when that’ll happen. If you don’t want to take the plunge with the HD 5870, you should either wait for the Radeon HD 5850 which looks like it’ll be a strong performer for around £200, or look at one of the bargain mid-range cards.

We’d recommend GeForce GTX 260-216 or Radeon HD 4890 as both perform well above what you’d expect for the price. If you can bare the noise the HD 4890 shades it for performance, but for a fast card that you can live with, the GTX 260-216 is what we’d opt for. We can’t imaging either card will be round for much longer though, so you might have to act fast. Find links to the cheapest prices for all the cards tested on Page 10

Agree with our recommendation? Excited about all the new GPU announcements? Let us know in the forums.