Best Bang Per Buck Graphics Cards for Gaming, February 2009

February 25 2009, 12:23am

Tom’s Hardware released their February 2009 choices for best gaming video cards for the money. [Source: Tom's Hardware]

The list for AGP cards have been dropped, most probably because of the low demand and supply of these previous generation cards. If you are interested in these cards, you can view the January 2009 List. Recommended PCI Express Cards:

Radeon HD 4650 (US$60) Radeon HD 4830 ($90) [review] Radeon HD 4850 512 MB ($150) [review] GeForce 9800 GTX+ ($150) Radeon HD 4870 512 MB ($190) [review] Radeon HD 4850 X2 1 GB ($260) 2 x GeForce 9800 GTX+ in SLI Configuration ($310) Radeon HD 4850 X2 2 GB ($310) Two Radeon HD 4870s in CrossFire Configuration ($380) GeForce GTX 295 ($500)

The Hd 4650 is still going strong, being the ‘budget gaming card’ of choice for a good price of around $60. At the opposite end of the scale is the GTX 295, a card that is probably reserved for people who need the fastest card, or someone with lots of money to spare (usually both). This time, my choice midrange card is from Nvidia - the GeForce 9800 GTX+ - which retails for about $150. It could later be upgraded to an SLI configuration by just adding another 9800 GTX+ card. ATI fans, however, could opt for the HD 4870 512 MB, and later upgrade to a Crossfire configuration. IceRocket: best bang per buck gaming graphics card