THE BUDGET QUESTION
not a day goes by without a member posting a thread with the following criteria:
whatever card you choose, make sure you get the latest drivers rather than using the ones bundled with the card, even if the card is brand new - chances are they will have a newer, more stable version - after all you dont want to take any performance hits - get the most for your money!:
NVIDIA
ATI
guru3d also has beta drivers sometimes. if you are feeling brave - just google it
and remember to use a program to clean the old drivers off your system fully. I personally like to use driver sweeper
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will try to keep this as brief as possible and spec cards based on bang for buck. prices and cards will be correct at the time of writing but bear in mind that card prices fluctuate.
I will try to keep this as up to date as possible
the price points i have used are average budgets stated on ocuk
THESE CARDS ARE MAINLY SPECCED FOR GAMES PERFORMANCE
The following is based from my own advice as well as the general consensus of opinion on OcUK
?WHAT GRAPHICS CARD? 06th November 08
LESS THAN £70 = ati 4670 - from the reviews - this card offers a lot of features for your money as well as being a great performer at the price point
the nvidia 9600gso is due out soon and is shaping up to be a worthy consideration for the <£70 price band
other cards to consider at this price point are: 3870xt
less than £100 = if you cant go past £100 at all then the 9600gt and 9800gt are ones to consider.
out soon: ati radeon 4830 - this card is proving stiff competition for the 9800gt as it performs better in most cases - this could be the one to go for in the sub £100 catagory - its rrp is hitting £90
however, if you can stretch up another few pounds or so - then look at the next category as the 4850 is still a massive performance leap
£100-£150 = you should only be looking at the 4850 - the best performing card you can get in this price range.
other cards to consider at this price point are: 9800gtx+, the 4850 is cheaper and outperforms the 9800gtx in most tasks
£150 - £200 = here you have a real choice as its fairly even stevens
the ati 4870 is known as the big value/ big performance card
the nvidia gtx 260 has dropped in price to make it worthy of consideration
both cards perform similarly - you need to assess what is going to best suit your needs by looking at reviews and benchmarks
new cards- the gtx260 maxcore and 4870 1gb have been released recently - they offer a significant gain over the stock cards if you can get one of these - go for it!
£200+ = here is where there is a leap in the price catagories. if you are spending £200 on a card - you are going to know what you are buying so i wont patronise anyone here...
if it was my money i would be going for an nvidia gtx 280, its known as the fastest single gpu card on the planet - and the benchmarks prove its worth
alternativley there is the ati radeon 4870x2, a dual gpu card. in games with good multi gpu support this card is phenomenal - however it suffers in games with lack of support meaning its on par with the gtx 280 in my book.
the gtx 285 offers little over the gtx 280 - its another nvidia core revision - you should only go for this card if you cant source a 280 for significantly cheaper
the gtx 295 is out now and is considered on par with the 4870x2.
like the x2 it has a dual gpu setup and runs hot
thes cards give astonishing performance in quad sli mode
however, that should only be considered on x58 i7 boards at the moment
on their own they are a good buy and the choice between the 4870x2 and 295 comes down to which driver software you prefer!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"i game at ****x**** resolution, what card should i get?"
a great idea as posted in the thread...
if you have a certain display - getting the most extreme card will not give you good returns on your money
i have lost count of the times that people who game on 19" monitors ask if they should go sli...
this is quoted to give credit to sarge78, but i have added some info for the common monitor resolutions/sizes
nvidia cards=green
ati cards=red
graphics card manufacturing process and what card to buy
many ask here which board partner is the best brand to buy
who offers the best warranty or software package etc
i have decided to do a bit of research into how cards are manufactured and what goes into providing a card to the end user
new buyers guide
before doing this my advise to everyone was to buy the cheapest card as they are all the same as the reference
i personally do this as i like to overclock my hardware straight away to see how much i can get out of it
but for the newcomer - a factory overclocked card may mean a nice boost over stock cards, more performance and in some cases - an upgraded cooling solution
these are great for people who dont want to risk frying their new expensive toy
but there is somtimes [most of the time] a significant price premium involved in doing this
for instance
card a is the top model @ £200 for stock version
card b is the mid range choice @ 130 for stock version
card c is an overclocked version of card b @ £170 with a fancy cooler
card c will always outperform its stock card version but the performance is usually only marginally better.
in most cases if your budget can stretch to a fancy version of the mid range card - you may as well put a few extra notes towards the stock version of the top model.
[please understand that this is a generalisation to be used for guidance and may not apply in all cases]
my advise is that if there is the slightest posibility that you may overclock the card in the time you own it... then you are best off with the cheapest model of your required card that you can find.
so the difference between one card and another will be very small in most cases unless you spend a lot of cash on the next model up - or the same card with a different design/clock speed to the stock card.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
i have put together a brief explanation so that people can make informed decisions on what gpu manufacturer they spend their cash on and also what board partner gives the best warranty etc
obviously, many new cards will include better deals such as included software/peripherals
so most people should make their choice of card on the additions over the stock card and the strength of the product warrenty and in some cases a 'trade up' policy.
for each manufacturer i will include a link to the latest line of cards as well as a link to warrenty information that will be useful to graphics card buyers
hopefully this will get some good feedback and can be added to constructively
notice some manufacturers have no link to warranty info. i have looked all over their websites and not seen any information on warranty
like i said – this is just based on my own research so if you have any other facts, news on specific deals, experience with one of the manufacturers or any general input... post it up so people can check
b-grade
every cople of days someone asks about b-grade cards
a b-grade item is defined as something not in original condition for sale
this means that the stock has been altered in some way that makes it differet to how it was originally shipped
the prices are cheaper to reflect this
b-gradecards will usually be customer returns or something that is not fit to be sold at full rrp - however the stock has to be functional - otherwise they wouldnt sell it to you!
what you get with the card is usually luck of the draw
what matters though is that the card you recieve will be a fully working graphics card
b-grade items from ocuk net you a small warranty: 14 days with ocuk + any additional balance of warranty remaining with the vendor of the product.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
nvidia
nvidia, contrary to popular belief do not make graphics cards – they actually make the gpu chips that run the cards that the end user buys.
a card is made using a reference design which is then reproduced or altered by the board partners to make the individual product.
nvidia specifies the clock speed of the chip it produces as well as recommending the best configuration of video memory, cooler and board layout.
they normally expect board partners to follow their reference design or change it slightly to optimise performance of the card
information on latest cards & warranty details from popular nvidia board partners:
• asus /warranty - 3year asus product warranty based on the serial number
• bfg /warranty - 10year warranty for eu customers *register within 30 days* - some cards include bfg tshirt
• club 3d /warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• evga /warranty - 10 year warranty with evga direct *register within 30 days* / step up program
• foxconn /warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• gainward /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
Gainward cards from OcUK have a 2 year warranty
• Gigabyte /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Inno3D /Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Leadtek /Warranty - 24 months following date of purchase
• MSI /Warranty - 12 months with reseller, next 12months with msi direct
• Palit /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• POV /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• PNY /Warranty - 3 years - year 1 with reseller
• XFX /Warranty - 2 Year Warranty *lots of fineprint to be aware of*
• XpertVision /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Zotac /Warranty - 5 year warranty *register within 14 Days*
• ECS ELITEGROUP/Warranty - 36 months for parts and 24 months for parts and labor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATI/AMD
Similarly to NVIDIA the actual GPU chip is the main product of ATI/AMD
once AMD made the acquisition of ATI they started producing ATI's lines of graphics and chipset processors
this works in the same way as NVIDIA where a reference chip design is made by the GPU manufacturer - then copied/improved by board partners
Information on latest cards & warranty details from popular ATI Board Partners:
• ASUS /Warranty - 3Year ASUS product warranty based on the serial number
• Club 3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Connect3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Gigabyte /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• MSI /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• PowerColor /Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• SAPPHIRE /Warranty - 2 years using original reseller as point of contact
• XpertVision /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• HIS (aka Hightech) /Warranty - 1 year warranty with retailer *HIS cards all come with a multi tool*
• GECUBE /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *12 months within europe*
• Gainward /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
Gainward cards from OcUK have a 2 year warranty
• Diamond Multimedia /Warranty - 1 year warranty with reseller
• Visiontek /Warranty - limited lifetime warranty
• Palit/Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• FORCE3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERCLOCKING AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOUR WARRANTY
Also mentioned in the thread was the matter of how overclocking affects your warranty
*this is generic advice that applies to most warranties*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAINWARD have a good GUIDE HERE that details what most manufacturers consider 'warranty void'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
after looking through all of the warranties i have linked to there is no support or cover for the card as soon as you overclock
weather or not the rma service would be able to actually tell if you had performed an overclock is a seperate [and contentious] issue.
currently no manufacturer covers any form of end user overclocking in their hardware warranty
this means that if you buy a stock card and overclock it yourself using rivatuner or similar then you are effectivley voiding any warranty you have
however if you buy a pre-overclocked card then this overclock is covered providing you leave the overclock at factory settings and do not increase it further
simply put - if you plan on overclocking within the first year you may as well buy the cheapest available model of the card of your choice
the same principle applies for the following modifications in most cases
[some cards warranties cover the application of mods if no damage has been done to the card but this is rare]
applying a third party cooler
pencil mods and the like
basically the card manufacturers are all singing form the same song book in the respect that they want you to take the card out of the box - put it in your pc and not mess with it physically or via software.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERCLOCKING USING SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY THE VENDOR
AMD/ATI drivers include the option to overclock your card using catalyst control center
this disclaimer is reported to show up
NVIDIA drivers have an add on pack for nvidia control panel called nTune which allows overclocking
this has a disclaimer attatched with a warranty warning
not a day goes by without a member posting a thread with the following criteria:
- ATI OR NVIDIA
- BEST CARD FOR £XXX
- BEST CARD FOR 'XXX' APPLICATION
whatever card you choose, make sure you get the latest drivers rather than using the ones bundled with the card, even if the card is brand new - chances are they will have a newer, more stable version - after all you dont want to take any performance hits - get the most for your money!:
NVIDIA
ATI
guru3d also has beta drivers sometimes. if you are feeling brave - just google it
and remember to use a program to clean the old drivers off your system fully. I personally like to use driver sweeper
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will try to keep this as brief as possible and spec cards based on bang for buck. prices and cards will be correct at the time of writing but bear in mind that card prices fluctuate.
I will try to keep this as up to date as possible
the price points i have used are average budgets stated on ocuk
THESE CARDS ARE MAINLY SPECCED FOR GAMES PERFORMANCE
The following is based from my own advice as well as the general consensus of opinion on OcUK
?WHAT GRAPHICS CARD? 06th November 08
LESS THAN £70 = ati 4670 - from the reviews - this card offers a lot of features for your money as well as being a great performer at the price point
the nvidia 9600gso is due out soon and is shaping up to be a worthy consideration for the <£70 price band
other cards to consider at this price point are: 3870xt
less than £100 = if you cant go past £100 at all then the 9600gt and 9800gt are ones to consider.
out soon: ati radeon 4830 - this card is proving stiff competition for the 9800gt as it performs better in most cases - this could be the one to go for in the sub £100 catagory - its rrp is hitting £90
however, if you can stretch up another few pounds or so - then look at the next category as the 4850 is still a massive performance leap
£100-£150 = you should only be looking at the 4850 - the best performing card you can get in this price range.
other cards to consider at this price point are: 9800gtx+, the 4850 is cheaper and outperforms the 9800gtx in most tasks
£150 - £200 = here you have a real choice as its fairly even stevens
the ati 4870 is known as the big value/ big performance card
the nvidia gtx 260 has dropped in price to make it worthy of consideration
both cards perform similarly - you need to assess what is going to best suit your needs by looking at reviews and benchmarks
new cards- the gtx260 maxcore and 4870 1gb have been released recently - they offer a significant gain over the stock cards if you can get one of these - go for it!
£200+ = here is where there is a leap in the price catagories. if you are spending £200 on a card - you are going to know what you are buying so i wont patronise anyone here...
if it was my money i would be going for an nvidia gtx 280, its known as the fastest single gpu card on the planet - and the benchmarks prove its worth
alternativley there is the ati radeon 4870x2, a dual gpu card. in games with good multi gpu support this card is phenomenal - however it suffers in games with lack of support meaning its on par with the gtx 280 in my book.
the gtx 285 offers little over the gtx 280 - its another nvidia core revision - you should only go for this card if you cant source a 280 for significantly cheaper
the gtx 295 is out now and is considered on par with the 4870x2.
like the x2 it has a dual gpu setup and runs hot
thes cards give astonishing performance in quad sli mode
however, that should only be considered on x58 i7 boards at the moment
on their own they are a good buy and the choice between the 4870x2 and 295 comes down to which driver software you prefer!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"i game at ****x**** resolution, what card should i get?"
a great idea as posted in the thread...
if you have a certain display - getting the most extreme card will not give you good returns on your money
i have lost count of the times that people who game on 19" monitors ask if they should go sli...
this is quoted to give credit to sarge78, but i have added some info for the common monitor resolutions/sizes
nvidia cards=green
ati cards=red
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
graphics card manufacturing process and what card to buy
many ask here which board partner is the best brand to buy
who offers the best warranty or software package etc
i have decided to do a bit of research into how cards are manufactured and what goes into providing a card to the end user
new buyers guide
before doing this my advise to everyone was to buy the cheapest card as they are all the same as the reference
i personally do this as i like to overclock my hardware straight away to see how much i can get out of it
but for the newcomer - a factory overclocked card may mean a nice boost over stock cards, more performance and in some cases - an upgraded cooling solution
these are great for people who dont want to risk frying their new expensive toy
but there is somtimes [most of the time] a significant price premium involved in doing this
for instance
card a is the top model @ £200 for stock version
card b is the mid range choice @ 130 for stock version
card c is an overclocked version of card b @ £170 with a fancy cooler
card c will always outperform its stock card version but the performance is usually only marginally better.
in most cases if your budget can stretch to a fancy version of the mid range card - you may as well put a few extra notes towards the stock version of the top model.
[please understand that this is a generalisation to be used for guidance and may not apply in all cases]
my advise is that if there is the slightest posibility that you may overclock the card in the time you own it... then you are best off with the cheapest model of your required card that you can find.
so the difference between one card and another will be very small in most cases unless you spend a lot of cash on the next model up - or the same card with a different design/clock speed to the stock card.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
i have put together a brief explanation so that people can make informed decisions on what gpu manufacturer they spend their cash on and also what board partner gives the best warranty etc
obviously, many new cards will include better deals such as included software/peripherals
so most people should make their choice of card on the additions over the stock card and the strength of the product warrenty and in some cases a 'trade up' policy.
for each manufacturer i will include a link to the latest line of cards as well as a link to warrenty information that will be useful to graphics card buyers
hopefully this will get some good feedback and can be added to constructively
notice some manufacturers have no link to warranty info. i have looked all over their websites and not seen any information on warranty
like i said – this is just based on my own research so if you have any other facts, news on specific deals, experience with one of the manufacturers or any general input... post it up so people can check
b-grade
every cople of days someone asks about b-grade cards
a b-grade item is defined as something not in original condition for sale
this means that the stock has been altered in some way that makes it differet to how it was originally shipped
the prices are cheaper to reflect this
b-gradecards will usually be customer returns or something that is not fit to be sold at full rrp - however the stock has to be functional - otherwise they wouldnt sell it to you!
what you get with the card is usually luck of the draw
what matters though is that the card you recieve will be a fully working graphics card
b-grade items from ocuk net you a small warranty: 14 days with ocuk + any additional balance of warranty remaining with the vendor of the product.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
nvidia
nvidia, contrary to popular belief do not make graphics cards – they actually make the gpu chips that run the cards that the end user buys.
a card is made using a reference design which is then reproduced or altered by the board partners to make the individual product.
nvidia specifies the clock speed of the chip it produces as well as recommending the best configuration of video memory, cooler and board layout.
they normally expect board partners to follow their reference design or change it slightly to optimise performance of the card
information on latest cards & warranty details from popular nvidia board partners:
• asus /warranty - 3year asus product warranty based on the serial number
• bfg /warranty - 10year warranty for eu customers *register within 30 days* - some cards include bfg tshirt
• club 3d /warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• evga /warranty - 10 year warranty with evga direct *register within 30 days* / step up program
• foxconn /warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• gainward /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
Gainward cards from OcUK have a 2 year warranty
• Gigabyte /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Inno3D /Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Leadtek /Warranty - 24 months following date of purchase
• MSI /Warranty - 12 months with reseller, next 12months with msi direct
• Palit /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• POV /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• PNY /Warranty - 3 years - year 1 with reseller
• XFX /Warranty - 2 Year Warranty *lots of fineprint to be aware of*
• XpertVision /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Zotac /Warranty - 5 year warranty *register within 14 Days*
• ECS ELITEGROUP/Warranty - 36 months for parts and 24 months for parts and labor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATI/AMD
Similarly to NVIDIA the actual GPU chip is the main product of ATI/AMD
once AMD made the acquisition of ATI they started producing ATI's lines of graphics and chipset processors
this works in the same way as NVIDIA where a reference chip design is made by the GPU manufacturer - then copied/improved by board partners
Information on latest cards & warranty details from popular ATI Board Partners:
• ASUS /Warranty - 3Year ASUS product warranty based on the serial number
• Club 3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Connect3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• Gigabyte /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• MSI /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• PowerColor /Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• SAPPHIRE /Warranty - 2 years using original reseller as point of contact
• XpertVision /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• HIS (aka Hightech) /Warranty - 1 year warranty with retailer *HIS cards all come with a multi tool*
• GECUBE /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *12 months within europe*
• Gainward /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
Gainward cards from OcUK have a 2 year warranty
• Diamond Multimedia /Warranty - 1 year warranty with reseller
• Visiontek /Warranty - limited lifetime warranty
• Palit/Warranty- warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
• FORCE3D /Warranty - warranty subject to reseller policy *usually 12 months*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERCLOCKING AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOUR WARRANTY
Also mentioned in the thread was the matter of how overclocking affects your warranty
*this is generic advice that applies to most warranties*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAINWARD have a good GUIDE HERE that details what most manufacturers consider 'warranty void'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
after looking through all of the warranties i have linked to there is no support or cover for the card as soon as you overclock
weather or not the rma service would be able to actually tell if you had performed an overclock is a seperate [and contentious] issue.
currently no manufacturer covers any form of end user overclocking in their hardware warranty
this means that if you buy a stock card and overclock it yourself using rivatuner or similar then you are effectivley voiding any warranty you have
however if you buy a pre-overclocked card then this overclock is covered providing you leave the overclock at factory settings and do not increase it further
simply put - if you plan on overclocking within the first year you may as well buy the cheapest available model of the card of your choice
the same principle applies for the following modifications in most cases
[some cards warranties cover the application of mods if no damage has been done to the card but this is rare]
applying a third party cooler
pencil mods and the like
basically the card manufacturers are all singing form the same song book in the respect that they want you to take the card out of the box - put it in your pc and not mess with it physically or via software.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERCLOCKING USING SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY THE VENDOR
AMD/ATI drivers include the option to overclock your card using catalyst control center
this disclaimer is reported to show up
NVIDIA drivers have an add on pack for nvidia control panel called nTune which allows overclocking
this has a disclaimer attatched with a warranty warning
Last edited:
