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Video Card Price/Performance Guide (Jan 09)
Performance Sumary
Combining all the games scores and dividing them by the cards' prices, this picture is painted:
Average FPS/$
0.898
0.795
0.770
0.743
0.592
0.509
0.482
0.430
0.402
0.250
0
FPS per $ (higher is better)
1.0327
These are the results of taking the 3DMark Vantage scores and dividing them by the power consumption rates of the video cards:
Performance Per Watt
49.99
44.44
43.54
41.62
39.36
39.16
37.02
36.47
33.84
28.90
0
Performance per Watt (higher is better)
57.4885
Conclusion First off, never before has the price of video cards so closely reflected their performance. If you pick any of these cards (with one exception) you're getting an excellent deal and a serious chunk of gaming hardware. There's (almost) no way to go wrong. But then, there are some things this guide makes clear. I'm surprised how great a showing the cards of yesteryear amount to. Seriously, if you're looking to get the best bargain, the cards to beat are (in order) the 9600 GT and the HD 3870--even though the 9600 GT consumes a lot of electricity for what you get--but those cards aren't upgrades for many people, even if they're worth their FPS in gold. You're looking to get more than just a good deal, so, Let's break things out in pairs: HD 3850 ($70) vs. 9600 GT ($75) They're not really close, the GT is a remarkably faster card. But I like ATI for having a dead-silent, low-power card--though there are lots of 9600 GTs with quiet aftermarket cooling. So 3850 for the HTPC, 9600 GT for the super-budget gaming PC. Tie. HD 4830 ($100) vs. 9800 GT ($110) As nice a deal the 4830 presents, the 9800 GT is a better gaming card. It's even better with power consumption. They're both very quiet, and both excellent for entry-level multi-GPU gaming, but everything except video playback favors NVIDIA here. Winner: 9800 GT. HD 4850 ($140) vs. 9800 GTX ($170) Both cards are available in beefed-up versions, the '50 with extra RAM and the GTX with a +, and they are both great mid-range gaming cards. But the 4850 is a slightly better deal, even if the GTX gets (unnoticeably) better scores, and ATI absolutely creams NVIDA performance-per-watt-wise. Toss in superior video quality and single-slot cooling, well… Winner: HD 4850. HD 4870 ($190) vs. 9800 GTX ($170) The 9800 GTX just doesn't have a place in the current GPU market, outside of triple-SLI (but if you can find the rare triple-SLI-capable 9800 GT, go with the cheaper option, you know, three times) and if you were already looking to close in on the $200 mark, the HD 4870 is a stellar performer. Winner: HD 4870. HD 4870 1GB ($230) vs. GTX 260 ($220) It's not really a contest, here. Unless you're going for three-card CrossFireX (one of these and an HD 4870 X2) the GTX 260 is priced right, plays right, and is second only to the HD 4850 for its performance per watt. By the way, these cards are downright silent.  Followed by the HD 4850, which I give our TheTechLounge Recommended Award:  But wait, there was another card. Loser: GTX 280 For someone interested in spending this kind of money, there's no reason not to just buy two of any other video cards. This one's hot, it's loud, and it's retardedly expensive. If you absolutely need the best, you'd better be buying three of these, otherwise, you're doing yourself a disservice.
Page 1: Introduction & Test Setup
Page 2: DirectX 10 Titles Page 3: DX9, OpenGL, and Synthetics Page 4: Averages, Performance Per Watt, & Conclusion 
Related Reviews Video Cards September 23, 2009
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Add Comment
5 User Comments 1 - Posted by
YellowCard
on January 12, 2009 - 1:24 pm What was the price used to factor in the GTX 280? All the prices are listed on the last page except the 280? I'm just curious because I've seen them on sale recently for around $300.
2 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on January 14, 2009 - 9:51 pm Yes, NVIDIA just recently cut the prices of GTX 280s. They're still the worst price-performance-wise, although they cost quite a bit less now.
3 - Posted by
Robb
on January 18, 2009 - 8:34 am Hi, Really appreciate your thoroughness; I have a question, hope it's O.K. to ask it here: How can I tell which card will fit in my pc? I have an Alienware/Area 51, full tower, Core 2Duo E6700, GeForce 7800GT, 700watt power and 2 GB DDR2 RAM--purchased 10/06. Can you direct me on this? Again, that's a clear assessment of the options and I found it quite helpful.. Robert S. Methuen, MA robbsey@gmail.com 4 - Posted by
Kurtis
on January 18, 2009 - 9:15 am Robert: Do you know what the motherboard is inside of the system? I would assume you're PCI-Express compatible, but could only be sure if I know what motherboard you're running on. The motherboard probably has its name etched into it big enough to be easily visible.
5 - Posted by
tomfeinerg
on August 21, 2009 - 2:55 am I am using PNY GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB XLR8, great videocard!
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