Mid-range graphics cards: Price vs Performance

In this article we round-up a selection of mid-range GPUs available locally from various retailers.

In our earlier round-up of budget graphics cards, we looked for reasons why you’d go with something on the cheap end that just fulfils your basic requirements and nothing more. As you hike up the budget, you have to balance the price you pay for the performance you’re actually getting and hitting that sweet spot has never been easier.

As per our previous roundup, Rebeltech, Wootware and Prophecy were used for price comparisons to calculate average pricing and reviews were sourced from reputable websites such as TechReport, Tom’s Hardware and TechpowerUp!

Raising the bar a little higher: PNY GTX650 Ti XLR8

PNY GTX650 TI XLR8

The GTX650 Ti is slightly faster than the Radeon HD7770 and benefits from a host of Nvidia-only technologies – both CUDA and Physx can alter your game experience significantly. PNY’s back panel for the XLR8 edition features a single and dual-link DVI port along with a single Displayport out.

The GTX650 Ti has the same power requirements as the HD7770 and produces slightly less heat. Its also physically smaller, edging just over the length of a regular PCI-Express 16x slot. Most bundles of this card kit it out with the bare essentials but PNY throws in a free copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 to seal the deal for a reasonable price average of R1,800.

If you take the game at its current value on the PC at R400, you’re effectively paying only around R1,400 for the card itself.

Nvidia’s Kepler-based cards now also support the same triple-monitor configurations as AMD, allowing you to hook up three monitors in portrait or landscape orientations using the available ports. Most GTX650 Ti cards out there are reference designs, so Hardware Canuck’s glowing review of the cards they had with the reference fan should be the closest in performance to the PNY.

The Sweet Spot: PowerColor HD7850 PCS+

PowerColor HD7850 PCS+

The PowerColor HD7850 PCS+ uses only a single 6-pin PEG power connector, so you can power it form most power supplies starting in the 450W range. In most games and benchmarks, it’s the equal of the HD6950 and occasionally trades blows with the HD6970 and GTX570 as well.

TechpowerUp’s review of the card also highlighted its overclocking ability and good cooling ability. This card outdoes or equals so many other last-generation cards that were considered high-end that it’s almost unthinkable that R2,200 nets you this kind of performance today.

Shaking things up a little bit: PowerColor HD7870 LE MYST Edition

PowerColor HD7870 LE MYST Edition

If this was a regular HD7870 I’d have a GTX660 in here, but this is Tahiti LE. Its a cut-down HD7950 and its almost as good and just as fast as the real thing.

The HD7870 LE is a bit different because it can only Crossfire up with another card with a Tahiti core, meaning that Pitcairn owners can’t pick this up for a Crossfire setup. You can pair this card up with a HD7950, HD7970 or even any of the HD7990 cards already out there. Its a very versatile little thing.

At around R2,600 it’s a better choice than the more expensive GTX660 cards because not only does it have better performance, it also comes with two free games: Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider. Tom’s Hardware’s review of the MYST HD7870 LE awarded it the “Smart Buy” recommendation, citing it’s high performance and low price as reasons why you would pick it up.

The edge of reason: PNY GTX660 Ti or PowerColor Radeon HD7950

PNY GTX660 Ti and PowerColor HD7950 3GB

The edge of reason is the point where spending any more money for gaming at 1080p is a waste. The tussle between the GTX660 Ti and the HD7950 has sparked a price war between Nvidia and AMD. The HD7950 excels at higher resolutions because it has more memory (3GB) and a larger 384-bit memory bus, whereas the smaller 192-bit bus on the GTX660 Ti bottlenecks performance.

Many GTX660 Ti variants available locally don’t have Nvidia’s Free-to-Play bundle, where in-game credit for several online multiplayers like Hawken and Planetside 2 is gifted along with the card in the US and Europe. The Radeon on the other hand comes with two free games – Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3, adding in around R700 worth of value.

Both cards perform similarly at 1080p, both require a 600W power supply with two 6+2-pin PEG power connectors and both need about 28cm of clearance space in your chassis.

The GTX660 Ti has received many awards including Techreport’s Editor’s Choice, while the same site found that the HD7950’s value was far more apparent at resolutions higher than 1080p. At an average of R3,300, you can’t go wrong with either card here.