[Bang for Buck] For the value-minded or just number geeks...

[Jimbo Mahoney]

I'm a numbers geek and also a budget-conscious consumer. I tend to buy entry-level or mid-range parts and overclock them heavily using watercooling and voltage (hard mods in some cases).

I thought others might be interested in my 'Bang-for-Buck' analysis of the current crop of graphics cards.

I'm using the numbers from Anandtech's review here for all the games at 1920 x 1200 and the cheapest prices available from OcUK.

Basically, I'm averaging the framerates and then dividing by cost to give a number that represents FPS/£ (It's actually FPS per £100).

So, in decreasing order of value:

Radeon 4850 = 47
GTX 260 = 38
Radeon 5770 = 38
Radeon 5850 = 28
GTX 285 = 27
Radeon 5830 = 24
Radeon 5870 = 24
GTX 470 = 21
Radeon 5970 = 20
GTX 480 = 18

The average fps ranges from 40 for the 4850 to 99 for the 5970 (I know I've missed a couple of cards).

This results in the following recommendations from a value perspective:

~£100 = 5770
~£150 = GTX260 (worth stretching to over the 5770, but not DX11 compliant)
~£200 = 5850
~£300 = 5870
~£500 = 5970 (not single GPU)

Of course, once you go beyond ~£200, bang for buck is probably less of a consideration, so the GTX480 is of course the fastest single card.

Hope others find this useful. For me, this means a 5850 will be a pretty sweet upgrade, taking me from ~40fps to ~60fps on average in the latest games. Of course, it will probably be a little more than that once I stick the waterblock on it and clock the GPU within an inch of its life....

 

[wolvers]

Excellent. Thanks for doing that.

 

[surfsquid]

nice little guide there, cheers!

 

[d_brennen]

If you are using watercooling to eek more pif from a card that instantlly makes it more expensive than a higher end part on air surely?

 

[Alex74]

doesnt really take into account power consumption or overclocking potential, but cheers for the numbers nonetheless .
Not really surprising which ones get the big points, seems to be a standard phenomenon that value for money tends strongly to zero as price rises.. Still, fact is that you'd really need more than a 4850 to play modern games "well", especially given the demands of most people on these forums.. (probably why it's 'bang for buck' is so high )

 

[Fledge]

...you'd really need more than a 4850 to play modern games "well", especially given...

Enter crossfire.

 

[Lemin]

Nice, i didnt see the green ones at first

 

[bhavv]

two 4850s are still fine for everything except DX11.

4850 / 5770 / GTX 260 / 5850 / 5970 are the ones that I would reccomend at each price point, the only problem being that the 4850 and GTX 260 dont support DX11.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

If you are using watercooling to eek more pif from a card that instantlly makes it more expensive than a higher end part on air surely?

It depends on how much you spend, but the waterblock is often a one-off purchase (unless you go for a full cover).

I've been using the same CPU and GPU block for a few cards and CPUs now.

In addition, watercooling the GPU can massively raise the headroom (note the speed of my 4830 in sig), especially when increasing the voltage. Many people spend extra on 3rd party aircoolers anyway.

Nice, i didnt see the green ones at first

Aye, sorry about that. I've made it a brighter green.

 

[James J]

for the value cards definately wait for the lower end 400 series as their specs seem rather good for the predicted prices

 

[{SAS}TB]

Don't know if you saw this before it was taken down?

 

[JTrickle]

In addition, watercooling the GPU can massively raise the headroom (note the speed of my 4830 in sig), especially when increasing the voltage. Many people spend extra on 3rd party aircoolers anyway.

Not always. My original 4850 wouldnt clock any more when watercooled than it would on air (5%). Volt modding them was harder than just flashing a bios, so perhaps a bit different now.

And whilst it gets to the top of your chart, my 4850 was needing most new games settings down to medium/low. Was a good card in 2008/9 but not 2010.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Not always. My original 4850 wouldnt clock any more when watercooled than it would on air (5%). Volt modding them was harder than just flashing a bios, so perhaps a bit different now.

Watercooling will always be superior to aircooling if voltmodding is done. I agree that sometimes, watercooling offers no headroom because in those cases, the GPU is voltage-limited.

And whilst it gets to the top of your chart, my 4850 was needing most new games settings down to medium/low. Was a good card in 2008/9 but not 2010.

I only included it because basically that's the card I have now (heavily overclocked 4830).

Like I say, I didn't do this for others, just thought they might find it useful.

 

[Kharbyne]

5850 King IMO