Purchasing or upgrading a graphics processor for the first time can be an intimidating experience; not only is the consumer required to have at least a basic knowledge of which product lines are currently available but also an idea of where to buy which card so as to get the best deal.
With this in mind MyGaming has compiled a thorough pricing comparison between seven of South Africa’s most popular retail outlets among the tech community. We looked for the lowest price on 7 different Nvidia cards, and 6 AMD cards.
It is important to note that the GPU environment may soon change with the release of Nvidia’s Fermi product line in April. Currently AMD is the only manufacturer to have released DirectX 11 compatible graphics processors, as represented by the HD 5000 range.
The Fermi architecture will be Nvidia’s answer to this, and will also be the company’s overdue debut into the 40 nanometer manufacturing process – the smallest die used so far in consumer graphics proceeding.
Nvidia is currently being criticised for delivering its DirectX 11 compatible range much later than AMD, who introduced the HD 5870 in September. This time difference has given AMD the opportunity to release more affordable units for the mid to lower end of the market, allowing the manufacturer to capture a significant portion of Nvidia’s market share.
Graphics card price comparison
| Nvidia | 9800GT | GTS250 (1GB) | GTX260 | GTX275 | GTX285 | GTX295 |
| PC International | R1024 (512MB DDR3) | R1476 |
R1914 | R2521 | R3988 | R5470 |
| Prophecy | R1818 (1GB DDR3) | R1968 | R2223 | R2770 | R3676 | R6318 |
| Zaps Online | R1057 (512MB DDR3) | R1883 | R2303 | R2857 | R3903 | R5675 |
| Take 2 | R1341(512MB DDR3) | R1788 | R2554 | R2832 | R4279 | R6384 |
| Kalahari.net | R1819 (1GB DDR3) | R2079 | NA | NA | NA | R6383 |
| Landmark Computers | R1190 (512MB DDR3) | R1524 | R2105 | R2493 | R4554 | R5226 |
| Computers Only | R1199(512MB DDR3) | R1499 | R1899 | R2399 |
R3499 | R5499 |
| AMD | HD 4870 | HD 4890 | HD 5770 | HD 5850 | HD 5870 | HD 5970 |
| PC International | NA | R2278 | NA | NA | R4672 | NA |
| Prophecy | R2208 (1GB DDR5) | R2744 | R1574 | R2893 | R4923 | R6562 |
| Zaps Online | R2053(512MB DDR5) | R2049 | R1714 | R3012 | R3938 | R6642 |
| Take 2 | R2101 (512MB DDR5) | R2670 | R2809 | R3110 | R4245 | R6856 |
| Kalahari.net | NA | R3378 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Landmark Computers | R2071 (512MB DDR5) | R2105 | R1603 | R3076 | R4074 | R6874 |
| Computers Only | R1499 (512MB DDR5) | R2499 | R1999 | R3599 | R4899 | R7399 |
Ed’s note
It is also worth mentioning that different retailers carry different brands. For example, some will stock Asus cards, while others will stock Sapphire, XFX or Force3D. This will have a significant effect on the card’s price, and arguably its build quality. Whether or not more expensive brands are worth the outlay remains a running argument.
While some believe brands like Force3D provide better value for money with cheaper cards, others prefer to spend a bit extra on brands like MSI and ASUS with the view that the cards will last longer, despite the fact that most cards use a reference design dictated by AMD or Nvidia and are infact very similar in build quality.
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