Most serious gamers know that buying a computer directly from a retailer isn’t ideal, cost or performance wise, when it comes to higher end games. Deciding what the best graphic card for gaming is can be a hotly debated issue. Many video card benchmark tests are done daily by consumers to compare efficiency between models. The following is a list of the five best cards on the market in 2013.
Price Conscious
The Asus Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II is, in short, a medium-range graphics card for gamers on a budget. It is priced around $250 at most retailers and supplies decent power at only a slightly elevated price. It comes packed with 2GB of video memory and can display up to 2048 x 1536 digital resolution. It is also boasts Asus’ Direct Cooling technology, which keeps it quiet and gives the card a long life. There are much more powerful options on the market, but this one remains the most accessible.
From the Head of the Industry
In the GTX family, there are much better options performance-wise, but the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 provides considerable value for its cost of around $500. It is capable of up to 4096 x 2160 digital display resolution and provides 2GB of memory at a bandwidth of 192GB per second. Perhaps the most interesting feature available on this graphics card is Nvidia’s SLI Technology, which allows users to install two additional units of the same card and use them all simultaneously for triple the power, functioning much like a multi-core processor.
Bang for Your Buck
Price vs quality is a huge debate for most consumers. The AMD Radeon HD 7970 has the best value per-dollar out of every item on this list. It far outperforms its earlier cousin for only a hundred dollars more. At right around $400, this card delivers 3GB of memory at 264GB bandwidth per second and boasts nearly a solid 1GHz processing speed.
Spare Some Expense
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 is a slightly downgraded version of Nvidia’s next model in the GTX series, but still has quite high performance. The primary reason one would buy this card over its successor is that it performs excellently right out of the box. This card is basically the same as the 680, though it is slightly slower. It still delivers 2GB of memory at 192GB/sec. and has the same resolution. It does however consume considerably less power and is about $100 cheaper, and the power tradeoff is something many find appealing. It is also one of the quietest cards on the market.
Spare no Expense
As far as price goes, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 a bit inaccessible. If spending upwards of $1,000 isn’t an issue, this is the best graphics card available for consumers. It is capable of display in high resolution, up to 4029 x 2160, and has a bandwidth of 384GB per second. The card boasts a memory configuration of 4GB and features the same SLI technology that makes the GTX 680 so popular – except that this card can only be doubled, not tripled. This is the best graphic card for gaming available on the market.
Many of these items have passed the video card benchmark test by various consumers. Each of them have been given between four and five star ratings on various retail websites and are tried and true gaming graphics solutions. Whether looking for value or straight, raw power, this list will be helpful in choosing what to buy for your gaming machine.
