Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Get the best graphics card upgrade

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | August 14, 2008, 6:46am PDT

Choosing a good graphics card upgrade can be difficult. Depending on what you already have fitted, a new graphics card might mean that you get a really good frames per second boost, or it might mean that you’ve spent money on little more than a sideways upgrade and you’re seeing no gain for having spent your money. Worse still, you could find that your new graphics card actually performs worse than what you’ve already got!

What I’ve done here is compiled a list of possible upgrades based on your current graphics card and what you could upgrade to in three categories - budget, mid-range and high-end.

Check out the graphics card gallery here!

Note: Only PCI-E graphics cards will be considered here (so those of you still using AGP are outta luck. Also, I won’t be considering SLI/Crossfire setups either because performance can vary dramatically based on hardware and what games you are running.

OK, let’s get stuck in and start looking at possible upgrades based on your current GPU.

Right now you have a low-end GPU, such as …

something old, like a GeForce 7800GT
an integrated (build-in) GPU

Upgrade to …

Budget: a Radeon HD 4850
Mid-range: a Radeon HD 4870
High-end: a GeForce GTX 280

Right now you have a reasonably good GPU, such as …

a GeForce 8800 GT
a Radeon HD 3850/3870

Upgrade to …

Budget: … keep your money! A budget upgrade here will be a sideways move at best, and at worse you’ll be downgrading your system.
Mid-range: a Radeon HD 4870
High-end: a GeForce GTX 280

Right now you have a pretty decent GPU, such as …

a GeForce 8800 GTX
a GeForce 9800 GTX/GX2

Upgrade to …

Budget: … don’t waste your money! Any budget upgrade is going to mean a downgrade for your system.
Mid-range: … again, keep your money! A mid-range upgrade is unlikely to offer your system much in the way of a frames per second boost.
High-end: a GeForce GTX 280 is about your only viable upgrade option here.

Bottom line …

Graphics card updates can be a real minefield, so spend your money wisely.

If you’re current GPU is from the era of the Flintstones then you have a broad set of upgrade options in front of you, ranging from the the budget Radeon HD 4850 that you can pick up for around $170, to the monster GTX 280 which will set you back over $400. It all depends how much power you are looking for.

Some videos for your enjoyment - HD 4870 vs GTX280 vs 9800GX2 vs 9800GTX (you might want to watch the high quality videos to see the frame rates):

COD4 2560×1600 MAX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkGsbybFSjw
GRID 2560×1600 MAX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgaqtdfzATs
Crysis 1920×1200 Very High
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYnXxI1UjxE

Enjoy!

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Video Card, Nvidia GeForce, Graphics, Radeon, GPU, Video Cards, Hardware, Components, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Performance Check

The low-end part was right, but then again upgrading to just about any card >$100 from a low-end is common sense. Moving on, say you do have a 8800GT or a HD3870, the HD4850 happens to be a rather large upgrade to either card for a still reasonable price. Of course given your first uninformed opinion piece on the HD4850, the exclusion wasn't surprising. Theres also another factor you neglected to mention the relative timeframe of seperate purchases. If you said "if you recently purchased an 8800GT or HD3870" then you would have a point. Moving on again, same story with the bottom portion of the article, but you were correct to leave out the HD4850 this time around. However, the HD4870 has clearly shown itself to outpace both the 8800GTX and 9800GTX, not so much the 9800GX2, but if you have the 9800GX2 as most reviewers have implied/said (Anandtech, HardOCP, bit-tech, etc.) even the upgrade to the GTX280 is a rather unnecessary expenditure. I think you need to start rounding up all the reviews on these cards for the past month or so before posting things like this, the average enthusiast/tech saavy individual generally ignores ZDNet already, you're not helping.
kishin.arts
14th Aug 2008
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ZDNet Blogger

Graphcs cards ...

... are broad brush upgrades. What staggers me is the wide variation that you can see amongst cards witht he same GPU from different vendors, especially when you are dealing with ones that are pre-overclocked.

Purchase timeframe comes into the picture but that's more a total cost of ownership issue rather than a performance one. Whether you bought say a 3870 now or when it was released, the FPS you get out of it now is the same (assuming you've updated the drivers).

You're right that it is hard to separate the 9800GX2 and the GTX280 - it depends on the game. For Crysis, the GTX280 is best overall, for CoD4 then it's the 9800GX2.

It's also true that the 4870 will beat the GTX 280 in some games, but overall the GTX 280 is the winner there. The 4870 X2 will be different, but that X2 bothers me in that I don't like the fact that some games took way too much of a performance hit under the 3870 X2 (I know, I own several).
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
14th Aug 2008
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ZDNet Blogger

Also ..

"... average enthusiast/tech saavy individual generally ignores ZDNet already, you're not helping."

If I exclude feedback on blog posts, graphics card questions are, as a rule, the main type of question I come across in my inbox, a fact which surprises me.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
14th Aug 2008
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Why does it surprise you that you get so many graphic card ?

Why does it surprise you that you get so many graphic card ? now days with all the eye candy OS's have. and when you look at the intense media for computers. it stands to reason people would want to upgrade the graphic card.

i know in my stores my staff are all ways getting questions about upgrading them.
and as far as the hardware we sell. CPU's' Video cards' and memory are the biggest seller's whether we install them for the client or they buy it and take it home for self install.

lets face it all though you can watch a blue ray movie with the low end graphics integrated on the motherboard. you can all so go to media rich websites and have an enjoyable time. but to get the most WOW out of media now days you really need a mid to high end graphics card.

no more than they cost now days it's a good investment if you use your computer for entertainment.
SO.CAL Guy
14th Aug 2008
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ZDNet Blogger

Because ...

... there are outlets churning out far more graphics card reviews than I do!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
14th Aug 2008
- Flag
well people trust your opinion

well people trust your opinion
SO.CAL Guy
14th Aug 2008
- Flag
ATI = better bang for the buck

nVidia has an advantage in overall speed. But ATI is certainly king when it comes to bang for the buck. So for a ******** gamer the nVidia would be great. But for everybody else, ATI should be their choice.
Stuka
14th Aug 2008
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ZDNet Blogger

And oddly enough ...

... that's how it played out here
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
14th Aug 2008
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True...

though when using remote desktop connectivity software, accessing my work computer from elsewhere while it is running Hydravision and a couple graphics background wallpaper changers render the PC unusable the next time I'm back at my workstation and have to reboot.

For everybody else, I'm not so sure ATi is there either.

Especially Linux users, but I'm glad I migrated back to Windows...
HypnoToad
14th Aug 2008
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ATI = my $300 Canadian paperweight

ATI = my $300 Canadian paperweight.

A few years back I bought the All In Wonder 9800 Pro, it never worked on my Asus Pentium 3 1 gig system. After a number of international long distance calls to Canadian tech support (they read you the web site troubleshooting info) and 3 RMA's, the last one is still in the box, (the paperweight). I gave up and went back to Nvidia.
rob07601
15th Aug 2008
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say what?

Nvidia makes a tv tuner video card?
whk51
16th Aug 2008
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ATI

Had the same problem with a 9600 AIW pro, Two different motherboards it had spontaneous reboots and the BSOD always diplayed the ATI driver as the fault. So it is now a paperweight as well.
cirievans@...
18th Aug 2008
- Flag
Great article Adrian

Great article Adrian
SO.CAL Guy
14th Aug 2008
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Go with ATI, there's been recient problem with Nvidia

Recient articles including a lawsuit against Nvidia show that 8800 GT, GTS, and GTX cards have bad drivers which overheat the unit and have poor performance. I find ATI cards more robust and you receive more bang for your buck.
Maarek
14th Aug 2008
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i've sold 1000s of nvidia cards from my stores and i get no more back

i've sold 1000s of nvidia cards from my stores and i get no more back for factory defects than i do with ATI chip's. bloger hype does not make it true. as far as drivers go we get more issues with ATI drivers than we ever had with nvidia. granted ATI drivers are a lot better now days. but to tell ya the truth. whether you go with nvidia or ATI you will have a good experience with ether.
SO.CAL Guy
14th Aug 2008
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