Budget Graphics Card Comparison

In the last few months, AMD and Nvidia released what will likely be the last additions to their current generation graphics cards: the Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590. Although both products deliver incredible performance for single card solutions, they are reserved for the most demanding users with pricing set around $700.

For all the glory that comes with owning a dual-GPU video card, the reality is most hardware buffs don't have the coin to fund their desires. Instead, the typical system builder settles for a graphics solution in the $100 to $250 territory, which generally provides enough performance to play any modern game with reasonable settings.

Fortunately for cash-strapped gamers, intense competition between AMD and Nvidia ensures that the sub-$200 market is well stocked. Along with wallet-friendly HD 6000 and GTX 500 products, many older mainstream cards have been demoted to the budget bracket. We'll compare the most relevant ones in this review.

Folks looking to spend around $150 have several options to choose from, no matter what camp they root for. Nvidia's current-gen GeForce GTX 550 Ti is at $145, while the GeForce GTX 460 (768MB) is now only $150, down from $200 last summer. On the other side of the fence, AMD recently released the Radeon HD 6790 at $155.

Stepping down a level, AMD recently launched its Radeon HD 6770 at $120 and the HD 6750 at $110. It should be noted that both cards are rebadged versions of the original HD 5770 and HD 5750, barring a firmware update that adds support for HDMI 1.4a as well as hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D video playback.

AMD's Radeon HD 6670 also occupies the $100 territory, though it's not a rebadged 5670. The HD 6670 is based on a new core codenamed "Turks," which has a higher clocked GPU that boasts a more complex configuration. Meanwhile, the $80 Radeon HD 6570 and $55 HD 6450 are also updated versions of their predecessors.

Nvidia relies on its eight-month-old GeForce GTX 450 to compete with the Radeon HD 6770 ($120), HD 6750 ($110) and HD 6670 ($100). Priced at $110, the GTX 450 represents Nvidia's only offering in this bracket, and the company feels no urgency to change this because again, AMD's HD 6770 and 6750 are renamed 5000 series cards.

At the bottom of the pile, Nvidia's GeForce GT 430 will square off with the Radeon HD 6570 in the $70 range, while the $60 GT 520 will be pitted against the HD 6450.

Before placing your bets, we should note that AMD won our previous sub-$200 showdown. In fact, Nvidia notoriously focuses on the performance market and it hasn't recently had much of a presence in this price range, so it'll be interesting to see if the green team can pull an upset this time around.

Test System Specs & 3Dmark 11

Test System Specs
- Intel Core i7-920 (Overclocked @ 3.70GHz)
- x3 2GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 (CAS 9-9-9-24)
- Asus P6T Deluxe (Intel X58)
- OCZ ZX Series (1250w)
- Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (SATA 6Gb/s)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1024MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 (768MB)
- Inno3D GeForce GTS 450 (1024MB)
- Inno3D GeForce GT 430 (1024MB)
- Inno3D GeForce GT 520 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6790 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6770 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6750 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6670 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6570 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6450 (1024MB)
- Asus Radeon HD 5670 (1024MB)
- Asus Radeon HD 5570 (1024MB)
Software
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Nvidia Forceware 270.61
- AMD Catalyst 11.4

The 3Dmark 11 data indicates that the GeForce GTX 460 (768MB) is the fastest graphics card tested with a score of 5360pts, just ahead the Radeon HD 6790's 5276pts. The 6770 clocked in at 14% slower than the 6790, but it proved to be 5% faster than the pricier GTX 550 Ti.

The $110 GTX 450 and HD 6750 delivered almost the same performance with 3758pts and 3815pts, respectively. AMD's rebadged HD 6670 was 4% faster than the old HD 5670 while the HD 6570 and HD 5570 were 14% slower with virtually identical performance.

With 1923pts, the GT 430 was 23% slower than the HD 5570 and over 80% faster than the new HD 6450 and GT 520 graphics cards.

Using the medium quality preset -- otherwise known as "gamer" -- with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering disabled, we managed to achieve reasonable performance with many of the budget cards when playing at 1280x800, 1440x900 and 1680x1050 resolutions.

Rendering 57fps at 1680x1050, Nvidia's GTX 460 was the quickest card tested in Crysis, edging ahead of the HD 6790 about 3fps. Performance declines quickly after the 6790 with the 6770 averaging 47fps, which is about 2% faster than the more expensive GTX 550 Ti.

The GTS 450 and HD 6750 managed to average 40fps and at $110 they were 30% slower than the GTX 460 while being 27% cheaper. After the HD 6670's 32fps showing, performance dips below the 30fps threshold, making it hard to recommend the cards for gaming.

For reasons unknown to us, Crysis 2 is still a DX9-only title, but Crytek still reportedly plans to release a DX11 patch sometime this year. The game has been heavily criticized for being a console port and that is somewhat evidenced by the performance seen above.

Nearly all of the low-end GPUs presented playable performance at 1280x800 with anti-aliasing disabled (the PS3 and Xbox 360 are limited to 1280x720 and no AA). Even the GT 430 mustered 33fps, showing how underwhelming the GPU power of today's consoles is.

The performance does slip a little at 1680x1050, but the above trends remain much the same. The GTX 460 was again the fastest while the HD 6790 was 15% faster than the GTX 550 Ti. The HD 6770 fared 9% better than the HD 6750 and 21% worse than the HD 6790.

The Radeon HD 5670 and HD 6570 delivered practically the same numbers with a little over 30fps, while the HD 5570 offered only 28fps. Things degraded to a completely unplayable state when looking at the GT 520 and HD 6450, with each squeezing out a dismal 12fps.

Civilization fans hoping to play the latest installment with DX11 visuals will be please to find that the medium settings are not taxing at all. The GTX 550 Ti raced to the top of the chart with 87fps, ahead of the HD 6970's 78fps. The GTX 460 and 6770 also comfortably broke the 70fps barrier.

Even the HD 6750 managed to score 60fps at 1680x1050, while the GeForce GTS 450 and HD 6670 earned 58fps and 51fps -- very playable for a slow-paced game like Civilization. Interestingly, the rebadged HD 6670 was about 7fps faster than the older HD 5670 on average.

When maxed out, Dragon Age II is pretty demanding, but it tames down quite a bit when on medium. At 1680x1050, the Radeon HD 6790 claimed a momentary taste of supremacy with 92fps. The HD 6770 followed with 84fps, a notch ahead of the GTX 460 and GTX 550 Ti.

Performance dipped to 70fps with the HD 6750 and then to 63fps with the GTX 450, steadily decreasing by a few fps until we reached the GT 430 with 35fps -- 14fps below the 5570. Unsurprisingly, HD 6450 and GT 520 reminded us again they are unfit for gaming.