Video Card Buyer's Guide - Spring 2009
by Derek Wilson on March 30, 2009 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
For our ~$100 price point (plus or minus a bit) we are going to strongly recommend that people wait for about a month. This price point will be shaken up a bit in about that time and we really aren't comfortable recommending anyone purchase something in this market until sometime in early May. This may or may not further compress the sub $100 market, but there really isn't much more room down there, so we don't expect much change except at right around $100.
~$100 Recommendation: IT'S A TRAP!!! (wait about a month)
It just so happens that this price point is also the highest volume price point. Certainly neither AMD nor NVIDIA will be happy that we recommend waiting, but this is all about the consumer. If you are going to spend about $100 on a video card, just try really hard to wait a little bit longer.
From $130 to $150 we are looking at the a tightly contested price point. At the lower end of the spectrum, the Radeon 4850 gets our nod, while at the higher end the 1GB GTS 250 does perform slightly better in our tests (we do not recommend the 512MB variant though). Whether that slight difference in performance is worth the $20 difference in price really has to be up to the end user, but you get a much bigger bump by jumping up out of the price range to the ATI Radeon 4870 512MB at $165 (which is why we don't recommend the GTS 250 1GB at this point).
$130-$150 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4850
| ATI Radeon HD 4850 | |
| PowerColor | $129.99 |
| Diamond | $159.99 |
| XFX | $169.99 |
This next bit is a little more tricky. Between $165 and $180 there exist the 4870 512MB and 4870 1GB. These cards perform nearly the same at lower resolutions, so for gamers with 1680x1050 and lower resolution monitors, we would recommend the 512MB variant with the caveat that some games are becoming memory hogs. The 1GB might be slightly more future proof, but it's really hard to say whether or not that will last beyond when you'd want to upgrade both either way when talking about 1680x1050 and lower.
$165 (At 1680x1050 and Below) Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870
| ATI Radeon HD 4870 | |
| ASUS | $164.99 |
| HIS | $169.99 |
At resolutions above 1680x1050, the 1GB 4870 and the GTX 260 core 216 are both viable options that come in at $180. So save $20 at average to lower resolutions or make a choice based on the games you play (or preference for a hardware designer) at higher resolutions. NVIDIA and AMD really do trade blows depending on the games we choose to test, so if you want the best performance at this price point, you'll have to pick the games in which performance matters most to you.
$180 Recommendation: End User Preference (4870 1GB or GTX 260 core 216)
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The0ne - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
Maybe he's got one of them Antec P180 cases and the PS is shoved and jammed in their. I had to do it so it "could" happen :)ev0styLe - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
Veroxious add my Xfire ev0style or MSN ecstacy_@hotmail.co.uk I may be able to help u outfaxon - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
I was going to get an HD4870 1GB Vapor-X from Sapphire @ newegg for $220 by the end of the week. looks like maybe there is going to be a price drop or the release of the HD4890 in the very near future? if so sweet, it's probably going to be to fast for my needs anyway! Even then, price drops are FTMFW, and i dont mind paying $20 less for something!7Enigma - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
I built my gaming rig back in January with the 512-meg version of the card you are talking about. While I wish they had designed the cooler to completely exhaust the air out of the case (I'd wager only 30-40% actually goes out the back), it keeps the chip incredibly cool even at a moderate overclock. It will raise your case temps quite a bit since it is dumping most of the heat inside the case, but as long as your PSU and rear case fans are operating properly it shouldn't be a problem. I highly recommend the card(s)!just4U - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
It seems that they use something very similiar now on their stock 4870s to. I have one of those and it looks alot like the vapochill cooling (silver heat pipe mind you) Thing is ... it runs really cool. I get 50C idle and no more then 65 under max load. Sapphire did a nice job on those... which has upped my thoughts of them (considering some of their "stock" cooling options in the past)7Enigma - Thursday, April 2, 2009 - link
I see about the same temps, but mind you the Sapphire Vapochill cards are slightly overclocked (780 core, 1000 memory), but it is a really well designed heatsink that with some small changes could really be fantastic. I was very pleased not to have to potentially void my warranty by buying a new card and immediately ripping off the stock heatsink to use an aftermarket one.Veroxious - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
It REALLY grates my nads that we get ripped off SO badly here in South Africa. On average we are paying 2 to 2.5 times more for our graphics cards. A frggin 4830 is on average $210 while a 9800GTX+ is $300!!!!! YET our memory, mobo and LCD prices are mostly on par with the US. What's up with that? Maybe I should start my own import company and offer gamers better prices. The cherry on the cake is the DISTRIBUTORS here are selling it at these high prices. Gigabyte has a futher 25-50% premium because there is a sole distributor. I'm disgusted to say the least.Back on topic. While I agree that ATI offers considerable savings for performance the drivers really are spoiling it. I have a friend who had endless problems with his Asus 4830. Yes I know the 4800 series run hot BUT I would have expected a company like Asus to fare better in the quality stakes. Also the card works a lot better WITHOUT installing the Catalyst Control Centre. NVIDIA is miles ahead in that department although when the 4800 series is hooked up it does offer amazing eye candy for the money. It just runs too hot though...........
Any of you enthusiasts willing to help a brother out by shipping a card to South Africa that I will purchase online and send to your house? Pretty please????????
SiliconDoc - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
You've got to cue in the marrket size, the advertising dollars and effects, the safety of resources (theft or damage) - perhaps shipping to the horn is a factor, then heat concerns maybe give higher rma rates - a whole host of things - in the USA big ticket stores have large cheap distribution networks and outsized sales number in large quantity discount - etc. Then perhaps also an exchange rate and bit of a push from the capital marketeers backing things.So all sorts of factors.
just4U - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
We have similiar problems in Canada. The 4830 Typically goes for $150, 4850/250 199 and up. The 4870 300-330 and the 260 (oddly enough) about 275.I've been noticing with the 260/216 that it's generally selling below 4870 prices in canada and the uk .. might be the same for the states to. If that's the case it would seem that it is the better buy overall.. It does really get cloudy at the top tho (260/4870/285 ect)
Proteusza - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - link
As a South African living in London, I can say we dont do much better over here. The 4850, which can apparently be had for $130 - $150, goes for £100 to £130 here. Apparently part of the reason for the difference is that all of our prices (Uk and South African) include VAT, while American prices dont because there isnt a nation wide sales tax regime, it can differ depending on the state and even the town apparently. So the prices shown exclude tax and shipping.