When choosing a new graphics card, different people will be looking for different things. Some users will want a good quality brand with a 3 year warranty, while others will simply want to get the best performance bang for buck.
It is important to decide which camp you fall into before going out to purchase a card, although many will fit in somewhere in between. Do you spend extra on something like an Asus HD 5850, or do you go for the same card made by Club 3D? Of course there are many options in between, such as MSI and Gigabyte, both popular among enthusiasts at the moment.
Then of course you have to decide how much you want to spend. With this out the way you can narrow your selection down to a few cards. For the purpose of deciding which card to get, I recommend TomsHardware’s “Best Graphics Cards for your Money” feature.
Once you have an idea of what you want, you need to decide where you are going to buy it. There are loads of reliable local options, many of which carry different brands, and more importantly, have different profit margins. You can off the bat forget places like Incredible Connection, and your best bet will be to start online.
To aid this, we have rounded up prices for 8 different popular graphics cards from 9 different local stores. For each card we chose the 2 cheapest brands at each store.
We compared the following graphics cards:
Amd
HD 4850, HD 5750, HD 5770, HD 4890, HD 5850, HD 5870 and HD 5890.
Nvidia
GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 465, GTX 470 and GTX 480.
At the following stores:
Pcinternational, Prophecy.co.za, LandmarkPC.co.za, ComputersOnly.co.za, Take2.co.za, Wootware.co.za, Sybaritic.co.za, Digitaladdiction.co.za and Zapsonline.co.za
| PC Int |
Prophecy |
LandmarkPC |
Take 2 |
Computers Only |
Sybaritic |
Zaps |
Wootware |
Digital Addiction | |
|
HD 4850 1GB |
NA |
R1293 (Club 3D) |
NA |
R1278 (Club 3D) R1915 (Gigabyte) |
NA |
R1248 (Club3D) R1629 (Gigabyte) |
R1236 (Club 3D) R1836 (Sapphire*) |
R1265 (Club 3D)
|
R1620 (Sapphire) R1733 (Sapphire*) |
|
GTS 250 1GB |
R1151 (Inno3D) |
R1298 (Club3D) R1519 (EVGA)
|
R1524(Club3D) R1729 (Asus) |
R1283 (Club3D) R1577 (MSI) |
R1699 (Asus*)
|
R1253 (Club 3D) R1730 (Asus) |
R1416 (Zoltac) R1439 (EVGA) |
R1270 (Club3D) R1459 (EVGA) |
R1840 (Asus*) R1786 (Asus) |
|
HD 5750 1GB |
R1393 (Sapphire) |
R1336 (Force3D) R1462 (Club 3D) |
R1436 (Club 3D) R1591 (Sapphire*) |
R1444 (Club 3D) R1616 (Asus) |
NA |
R1592 (Sapphire*) R1819 (Gigabyte) |
R1385 (Club 3D) R1562 (Sapphire) |
R1404 (Club3D) R1584 (Sapphire) |
R1620 (Sapphire) R1761 (Sapphire*) |
|
HD 5770 512MB |
NA |
R1592 (Club 3D) R1642 (Sapphire) |
NA |
NA |
NA |
R1537 (Club 3D) |
R1508 (Club 3D) R1562 (Sapphire*) |
R1576 (Sapphire*)
|
NA |
|
HD 5770 1GB |
R1764 (Sapphire) |
R1721 (Club 3D) R1812 (HIS) |
R1662 (Club 3D) R1867 (Sapphire*) |
R1701 (Club 3D) R2298 (Gigabyte) |
R1599 (Force 3D) R1899 (Asus) |
R1592 (Sapphire) R1662(Club 3D) |
R1631 (Club 3D) R1718 (HIS)
|
R1654 (Club 3D) R1738 (Asus) |
R1786 (Sapphire) R2173 (Asus) |
|
HD 4890 1GB |
R2337 (Sapphire) |
R2744 (Asus) |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
R2049 (Biostar) R2424 (Sapphire) |
R2612 (Asus) |
R2462 (Sapphire) R2632 (Asus) |
|
GTX 260 896MB |
NA |
R1923(Inovision) R2072 (Club 3D) |
NA |
R2101(Innovision) R2190 (MSI) |
R2299 (Inno3D) |
R2507 (Asus)
|
R2311 (Sparkle) R2322 (EVGA*) |
R2429 (Asus) |
R2277 (Asus) R2317 (Asus) |
|
GTX 465 1GB |
NA |
R2913 (Inno3D) R3637 (MSI) |
R3569 (Asus) R3691 (EVGA) |
R3322 (EVGA) R3686 (Asus) |
NA |
R3135 (MSI) |
R3247 (EVGA) R3564 (Zoltac) |
NA |
NA |
|
HD 5850 1GB |
R3020 (Sapphire) |
R3034 (Club 3D) R3194 (HIS) |
R2875 (Club 3D) R3186 Sapphire*) |
R3192 (HIS) R3232 (Club 3D) |
R3050 (Sappire) R3099 (HIS) |
R2929 (Club 3D) R3247 (Sapphire*) |
R2875(Club 3D) R3186 (Sapphire) |
R2699 (VTX3D) R2888 (Club 3D) |
R3476 (Sapphire) R3635 (Asus) |
|
GTX 470 |
R4102 (Asus) |
R3637 (Inno3D) R4056 (Zoltac)
|
R4056 (Club3D) R4517 (Asus)
|
R3831(Innovision) R4061 (EVGA) |
R3799 (Inno3D) R3399 (Asus*)
|
R4076 (MSI) |
R3969 (EVGA) R4057 (Club3D) |
R3937 (Twintech) R4008 (MSI) |
NA |
|
HD 5870 1GB |
R4102 (Sapphire) |
R4404 (Club 3D) R4412 (MSI) |
R4172 (Club3D) R4180 (MSI) |
R4298 (MSI) R4348 (Club 3D) |
R4299 (Asus) R4399 (XFX) |
R4250 (Club3D) R4594 (Sapphire) |
R3886 (Biostar) R4122 (MSI)
|
R3748 (VTX3D) R4192 (Club 3D) |
R4596 (Sapphire) R4969 (Asus) |
|
GTX 480 1.5GB |
NA |
R5235 (Inno3D) R5903 (Zoltac) |
R5785(Club3D) R5847 (Asus) |
R5235(Innovision) R5821 (MSI) |
R5499 (Inno3D) |
R6896 (MSI) |
R5750 (EVGA) R5785 (Club3D)
|
R5726 (Twintech) R5731 (Club 3D) |
NA |
|
HD 5970 2GB |
NA |
R7011 (HIS) R7016 (MSI) |
R6597(Club 3D) R7023(HIS) |
R6833 (MSI) R7003 (Club 3D) |
R5999 (Force3D) R6999 (Asus) |
R6545 (Club3D) R7523 (Asus) |
R6642 (HIS) R6721 (Club 3D) |
R5941 (VTX3D) R6616 (MSI) |
R7657 (Sapphire*) R7701 (Asus) |
* special editions
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