Graphic's Hierarchy Chart

[Tylerryan79]

There has been a few members asking about graphics cards, mainly what to get. When I bought my new card a while back I found Tom's Hardware as a good source(among many out there). This is a link to a Graphics Hierarchy Chart, basicly the cards at the top are the best, the ones at the bottom aren't. Find your card on the list, and then compare it to the one your planning on buying. If the card is not more than 3 tiers above your card you may not notice much improvement. Also I posted a links for August 2010's update for "Best Graphics for the Money". It lists cards in different price ranges, and helps with the guess work. They also have links for reviews of the cards, if you want to learn more before purchase.

Also by no means is this the "source" of all knowledge on cards. Look at other sites also. I found it very confusing at first, as the naming of the cards can trick you, and you may buy a card that sounds good, but is just rebranded and really an older model. Anyways, good luck to everyone, I hope this helps someone!

Chart- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697-7.html

Best Price/Performance http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697.html

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Here is a site with a list of mobile GPUs:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.html

 

[civ_king]

I feel so much better with my 9800 GTX

 

[Tylerryan79]

Looking at the chart does help you know where you stand, and can calm some nerves . This chart has some mobile cards, but not all. Also it doesn't have the gts 450, but I'd just place that with the gts 250 group.

 

[Auncien]

Nice chart. Also don't forget that if your system RAM or your processor is somewhat lacking you can experience some bottlenecks as far as framerates go so if your card is ranking high but you're still having problems check those two spots as areas where you can improve.

 

[ShaqFu]

Yikes; my integrated 9400 ain't going to cut it, at all.

Guess it's time to look for a good cheap low-profile card.

 

[Tylerryan79]

I didn't even notice the Intel column! Oh man, the new i5/i3's graphics are waaayy down there!!

 

[SeismoGraf]

Also http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU/88

If you only want to play Civ5 then you can use a specific method to calculate the "value" a certain product gives you:

net cost = price of new GPU - money from selling old GPU
performance increase = number of FPS with new GPU - number of FPS with old GPU
value = performance increase / net cost

So a certain product giving 50FPS in Civ5 for 50$, may well have less "value" than one giving 80FPS for 100$, because this method takes into account what you already have.

 

[EmpireOfCats]

I didn't even notice the Intel column! Oh man, the new i5/i3's graphics are waaayy down there!!

Which is why it is so interesting the developers (well, quoted by Intel) say that they wanted it to run on these chips' native graphic systems.

For the record, when you are not talking about computer games, the integrated graphics of the i5 is fantastic on a laptop. Little power drain, little heat, big win.

 

[aziantuntija]

My 9800 GX2 suddenly broke (it gave me 'code 43' wich means hardware failure, yes i tried installing drivers many times but it makes no difference) and now i have to buy a new one. The card was BFG and it had lifetime warranty but unfortunately BFG went bankrupt just a few weeks ago. Talking about a bad luck.


I was looking for GTX 470 or HD 5850 to replace my broken 9800 GX2, i play at 1900x1200 res and currently it looks like im going for the GTX 470 because its clearly faster than the HD 5850. Yes it heats alot but i have a good case for cooling and GTX 470 also has a 3 years warranty so i should be safe.


Any Thoughts?