Radeon vs. NVIDIA Gaming Graphics Cards Round-Up : Let The Right One In

The Rock-Bottom

A. Tier 1

1. Radeon HD 5450
2. GeForce 210
3. Intel HD 3000
4. Geforce 8400GS

These are the cheapest video cards you can find on the shelf or they come as the integrated graphics chipset.

They do not have much juice to make any gamer girl happy but they will play nicely with low-budget configuration. When you are in need of a rendering component just for simple screen output, they can be the one.

As the matter of fact, these video cards still offer some good values in them. They can run many 3D Games at the most modest settings and be able to draw two displays simultaneously.

The Radeon HD 5450 delivers the best performance in this rock-bottom level with 80 Stream Processors at 650 MHz clock and is paired with DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bandwidth. You also get Audio channel when using HDMI as an output. Gaming experience is acceptable but not truly commendable.

The GeForce 210 is not totally close to Radeon HD 5450 in term of performance, it lags behind due to the implementation of old DDR2 memory and a low count of processors. However the video card does not release much heat, if any at all. Perhaps, it is more ideal for a HTPC Build since it can play HD videos seamlessly and bless the system with the low-profile characteristic.

The Intel HD 3000 on other hand comes as part of selected Sandy Bridge processors. It puts a small stress on system main memory but not really makes a huge impact. It is a good chipset for both gaming at low settings and high-quality movie playbacks (720p).

GeForce 8400GS still exists on the shelf these days if you have to purchase a cheap PCI-Express video card for your computer. I found a handful of them at Microcenter for less than $25, the clearance was $9. They don't own many reasons for enthusiasts to be really excited about; except that we may buy it and keep for it for another 85 years, just for history record and then resell.

Average Performance in Crysis Warhead - Medium Setting - 1920 x 1080
Radeon HD 5450	23 fps
Intel HD 3000	20 fps
GeForce 210	15 fps
Geforce 8400GS	4 fps
In-Game Sample : HD 5450 - GeForce 210 - Intel HD 3000

B. Tier 2

1. Radeon HD 5570
2. GeForce GT 430
3. GeForce 240
4. Radeon HD 6450
5. Intel HD 4000
6. GeForce 620 or GeForce 530
7. GeForce GT 520 or GeForce GT 610
8. GeForce 220

This price range are the most confusing bracket. There are so many existing options for a similar cost but their performance are substantially different. Leading the pack is the Radeon HD 5570 in term of raw power. It supports the latest DirectX 11 for a better compatibility with modern games as well as AMD Eyefinity Technology to drive more than just a single monitor. Right on its tail is the GeForce GT 430 by NVIDIA. Both of these two components give you the best value and performance for the money in this category.

It's also surprisingly good to know that finally integrated graphics processing unit has been up to par with today standard performance, a little. The Intel HD 4000 is slightly faster than the Radeon HD 6450 in processing power, yet it still has much room for improvement before it can come close to the Radeon HD 5570.

In most games, the Radeon HD 6450 offers a playable frame-rate while the Intel HD 4000 is only 4~5 frames ahead. Even though they are both rock-bottom level, you do get the ability to play a lot of 3D games at low settings. The plus side is that they are not power-hungry components, which means you do not need to provide additional power for them to work.

The NVIDIA Geforce 240 is an old architecture yet it still has the power to deliver decent pictures. It can definitely play Crysis smoother than the two next in line but there are drags on the frame rate at some point due to the lack in support for newer DirectX engine.

Consequently, the picture quality of the game are not too impressive. Those who really want to play computer video games but do not want to take risk on a big investment could definitely make use of any of these video cards here.

The bottom of the line NVIDIA Geforce 220 is really outdated at this moment and you should not have your eyes fixed on it. For the same cost, you should get the GeForce GT 520 or 610. We talked about the rebadged product earlier and the GT 610 performs nearly identical to the GT 520. Therefore if you find the GT 520 cheaper then be confident to skip the GT 610 at the moment.

Average Performance in Crysis Warhead - Medium Setting - 1920 x 1080
Radeon HD 5570	44 fps
GeForce GT 430	41 fps
Intel HD 4000	39 fps
Radeon HD 6450	34 fps
GeForce GT 520	26 fps
In-Game Sample : HD 6450 - GeForce 520 - Intel HD 4000

The Entry-Level List

A. Tier 1

1. Radeon HD 6770 or GeForce GTX 460 SE
2. Radeon HD 5770 or Radeon HD 7750
3. GeForce 650 or GeForce 450 or Radeon HD 4870 (discontinued)

The Radeon HD 6770 is extremely similar to Radeon HD 5770 in term of performance. The difference is so little that if you are currently having a Radeon HD 5770 there is absolutely no point to upgrade to a Radeon HD 6770. If you find a good price for Radeon HD 5770, go for it.

My personal advice is skip the new Radeon HD 7750 for now; The current asking price is still higher than a Radeon HD 6770 and its performance is just about the same. This is not a good value video card, yet.

On the NVIDIA offer, you should find the GeForce GTX 460 SE on this list isn't the regular edition. This Special Edition is the trimmed version of the original GeForce GTX 460. It has only 288 CUDA cores (shader units) and a slower memory bandwidth. This GTX 460 SE was released for competitive reason to fill the spot between AMD Radeon HD 6770 and their other lower models. However, it is actually faster than most of the Radeon's in this price range.

On the other front, the new NVIDIA GeForce 650 leads in all games and benchmarks over the rest of the group but not by a far margin to the GeForce GTX 460 SE. However, it runs cooler and more energy-efficient due to the implementation of Kepler architecture.

Once again,  you will find similar performance between the two. There is rarely a case to truly recognize the difference. Go with the best price if you just want a good budget gaming video card for the system.

Before we move on to the next category, NVIDIA still has one decent offer up their sleeves. Essentially the GeForce GTS 450 loses a bit of frame rate in comparison to other previous premium video cards but after the recent price cut, it has become a very attractive deal for entry-level gaming computers.

If you happen to get one for lower than $90 mark, you will have a nice computer that plays.

The High-End Options

A. Tier 1

1. Radeon HD 7870

The Radeon HD 7870 is alone in this bracket as of October 2012, until we have the next price cut (hopefully). The Radeon HD 7870 seems to be the direct answer to NVIDIA GTX 580 with both deliver almost the same result in many in-game benchmarks.

The Radeon HD 7870 even pulls ahead in more than couple of games when compared to NVIDIA GeForce 660 Ti that has just come out recently. This is the best bang for the bucks high-end video card you can get.

Now the rest of this list are the no-brainer options. The more expensive the video card the higher the performance, to some margin. It definitely will not double the frame rates but it will take care of gaming on a multiple monitors setup a lot easier.

A. Tier 2

1. GeForce GTX 660 Ti

When the GTX 660 Ti first came out, it was meant to do scratches to Radeon counter parts in this league.  Unlike many other high-end NVIDIA has releaseed in the last five months, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is blessed with the new Kepler architecture (same as in GTX 680). The GTX 660 Ti is very well-designed; it generates less heat, it consumes reasonable amount of power and it produces really good number of pictures per second.

However, AMD still stands very strong with their Radeon HD 7950 offer which is faster for only a small price difference. Moreover, the key opponent of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is actually the Radeon HD 7870, per se. Several online benchmarks also reveal that the GTX 660 Ti is only close to, or sometimes a little behind the Radeon HD 7870 in many stressed runs. Now if you are strictly with NVIDIA for Physx or 3D features or maybe you have good experience with them, this is the video card that probably catches your utmost attention.

Perhaps when you are open for options, move on to the Radeon offers in the next price bracket or the one before this. You get a bit more for the money spent.

A. Tier 3

1. Radeon HD 7950
2. Radeon HD 6970

It's about time you meet the best bang for the bucks of the High-End category : Radeon HD 7950. This graphics card has everything it takes to go head on with the more expensive NVIDIA video cards such as the GeForce GTX 670.

With proper overclocking, the Radeon HD 7950 shows its true potential and unlockable horsepower over the older generation Radeon HD 6970. It even outperforms the GTX 670 in many occasions. When you are looking to spend over $300 for a video card and it gives the $400 ones a run for frame rates, you know you have found the one. She's a keeper.

A. Tier 4

1. Radeon HD 7970

I'd rather wait for the price to go down a little more.

Currently, the regular Radeon HD 7970 only gives a few frames higher than Radeon HD 7950. Save the cash for something else :P !

On the flip side, if you really have extra $60 to spend, then you problably should head for the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition.

What's special ? Unlike the regular edition that only pushes between 10 to 20 fps higher than the Radeon HD 7950 , this is one new kid on the block that took away the crown from the GeForce GTX 680 in the $500 price range. It challenge the GeForce GTX 680 at all edges, dominates all the records that once were only to the GTX 680 and only stays put to the GeForce GTX 690 (but that is an unfair comparison !).

AMD has applied a higher chip binning to make the new edition superior to its older twin. It comes with higher core clock speed (1000 MHz compared to 925 MHz) and memory speed (1500 MHz compared to the original 1375 MHz). As the result, the old Radeon HD 7970 becomes the new untamed beast that fearlessly waits for NVIDIA to bring up something worthy. This is also the best video card for mining bit coin available to the PC market.

What is chip binning ? In short, it is the portion toward the center of the silicon wafer that can produce extremely power efficient, more powerful and higher quality chips than the outer areas. As for a CPU example, we would compare the mainstream processors to the Xeon processors. When it comes to GPUs, it is usually the normal generic video card versus the super-clocked edition, such as GeForce GTX 570, GeForce GTX 570 FTW, etc..

A. Tier 5

1. GeForce GTX 670
2. GeForce GTX 580

To most enthusiasts, the two video cards above are the best value they are willing to purchase for their high-end gaming computer, without breaking the bank or getting a divorce from their wife. One can push the wallet a little further but it's not totally worth the money spend. It comes to the point where the dollars for performance isn't as efficient as they were spent in the lower range.

Lastly, the GeForce GTX 580 sometimes is seen in professional workstations that are specifically tailored for high-definition video editing, graphics design or 3D rendering works. It carries 512 CUDA processors which provides software developers a powerful and easily accessible engine to utilize the full processing resource from these shader units. As the result, graphics-related programs are more optimized to deliver the most efficient output at your demand. Which is an true advantage over Radeon video cards.