Top 5 Graphics Cards for Your Money

If you're into computer gaming and high definition 3D graphics, you're going to need the best graphics card you can get. However  not all of us are dancing in pools of cash, and the latest games are making us all drool. Here's a list of the five best values in graphics cards for the hardcore gamer on a budget. Refer to the chart by Tomshardware.com  below for actual values.

1. Radeon HD 5850 *$280

The Radeon HD 5850 is a very powerful card, and at $280 it absolutely can't be beat. It'll currently max out any game thrown at it with playable frame rates.

2. Radeon HD 4870 *$150

The Radeon HD 4870 was the flagship card of ATI's 4-series in 2009. It still offers great performance and if you don't need DirectX 11 effects, you can't get a better card for this price. You'll blast through almost any game at maximum settings with this GPU.

3. Radeon HD 5770 *$160

The HD 5770 is the successor to the 4770, which offered one of the best values in computer gaming last year. However, newer games require a little more juice in your system and the 5770 will provide enough to play almost any game at maximum settings. Best of all, its only $160.


4. Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 *349.99

$249.99 may seem like a lot at first, but this really is a great buy and very smart pricing by Nvidia. The GTX 470 is one of the most powerful single cards available, but priced lower than you would think at $349. Yes that is still a boatload of cash, but if you have that money or are saving for it, there's no better card to spend it on. The GTX 470 is not shown in the comparison above, but expect numbers around the 5770's in crossfire.


5. Radeon HD 5750 1GB *$119.99

This probably the card for those on the tightest budget. If you have no choice but to With the Radeon HD 5750, you should be able to play many games at high or maximum settings. High demanding games such as Crysis are more difficult, but at high settings with no anti-aliasing it should be playable.