EggXpert

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Well, I've been seeing quite a few posts here and there that asks the same question, should I upgrade my videocard? and if so, how much of an upgrade would I receive or if I would even gain any performance boost at all. i admit, the model naming/branding scheme is a tad bit confusing, especially with the new AMD cards that dropped the ATI tag. So I decided to develop a chart on excel and paste it here that consists of modern day videocards of both nvidia and amd/ati from generally the most powerful in terms of raw gaming performance, to the very least. I've broken it down to by tier and then again by generation. I really hope this will help people think and choose before upgrading/side-grading and understand just a bit where you stand and how much you're expecting to upgrade to.

Tier <1> - The highest performance gaming video cards on the planet - Without a doubt the best for hardcore gaming and high resolutions, may hurt wallet and electric bill.

Tier <2> - The enthusiast gamers performance card - Breath taking performance for modern gaming with out "overkilling" the majority of games on the market today like "Tier 1" and "Tier 0" cards would.

Tier <3> - The casual / all-around gamers performance card - Perfect for entry level gaming. For gaming on resolutions 1920x1080 or greater, Tier 2 or greater may be more suitable. Solid cards none the less.

Tier <4> - The light gamers performance card - Excellent for light gaming and casual work, however not recommended for modern graphic intense games. Great for home theater computer systems.

Tier <5> - Not recommended for modern gaming - Great for casual work, if planning for modern gaming it would be best to upgrade to a higher tier. Can be used for low budget home theater computer systems.

Tier <6> - Terribly outdated - Typically used for simple applications, comparable to integrated / on-board graphics.

Tier <7> - Obsolete technology - Will not even start up modern games, due to not meeting bare minimum requirements. If your graphics card is not on the list, it is most likely far too outdated and below Tier 7 quality.

Tier <0> - The luxury gaming graphics card - Utterly dwarfs all other graphics cards / tiers performance in comparison. The absolute finest technology created to bring you to the zenith of what performance really is, to a point where it would possibly be considered unnecessary.

Note: Video card models with an asterisk (example: 9800GX2*) are dual GPU's cards. For information about power requirements please view here.

Note: Video cards with bold names indicates support for Directx11

Note: Chart and rankings are based on mostly non-physx modified game / benchmarks

Disclaimer: This chart is in no way an official grading system for the video cards, as they all perform differently for different games/benchmarks. This is just a general layout, or more of a "measuring unit" to place where the products stand, and who the competitors are, from older/newer generation cards to rival companies.

If I am missing anything or anyone feels something is out of place, please do not hesitate to correct/update me.

Hope you all find this chart useful.

Interesting Trivia :

- The GeForce 9800 series cards are remakes of the GeForce 8800 series (example: 9800GT = 8800GT)

- The GTS250 is the 9800GTX+ with a re-branded badge name

- The GTX460[2win] is a dual GPU card, however it cannot be combined with another GTX460[2win] or any other card for Quad-SLI due to the limitations of the GF104 design. There is a SLI bridge connector however it will not work. This applies to the GTX560Ti[2win] as well

- The GTX465 is said to be a crippled GTX470 that couldn't meet certain conditions. This led to the making of a GTX465, which pales in comparison to even a GTX460 in some cases.

- The HD6770 & HD6750 are the HD5770 & HD5750 with re-branded badge names

- The HD6950 is found to be one of the most popular cards due to its ability to tweak the bios to run at full HD6970 speed/settings.

- The HD7970 of AMD is the worlds first discrete GPU that used a 28nm GCN architecture, The GTX680 is the first for Nvidia.

- The GTX680 has been such an outstanding single GPU, that it has been sold out for month(s) after release due to much popular demand.

Removed S3 Chrome from list, focused only on AMD/ATI and NVIDIA ~ (4/5/12)

Nice effort bro, and I would surmise there may be a few out there that would pitch in and try to maintain an ongoing list, much like the PSU list. Some of us though do generally use Tom's, at the end of their monthly best value article series, see: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6870-geforce-gtx-570,2834-7.html

Again though, nice addition, don't want to discourage input, as I am sure it would make a nice little discussion thread.

Penewah! 

Thanks

Ah yeah, I knew of that list but the second I saw they put a 8800GT on top of a 8800GTS, and a 9800GX2 two levels off the 4850X2, and 8800GT 2 levels below the 3870, I immediately saw it was pretty inaccurate :x

So I looked at as many benchmarks as I could to get a closer comparison on each of the cards for a more detailed comparison power vs power, as the list on toms i think is more for price vs performance ;p

With the newer drivers, the GTX 470 is on par with the 5870..

 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-8.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-9.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-12.html

So I think either bump the 470 into Tier 1 or move the 5870 down to tier 2? It doesn't make sense to me to have the 570 and 470 in two different tiers..

 Also, I'd put the 295 and 4870x2 down a tier for it's lack of support for Tessellation and DX11.. Further, these two cards are using last generation's fab tech which means they bring less performance per watt / less performance for the amount of heat generated than the newer cards..

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thanks for the update guys, I'll look into it later this week, been busy studying for exams >.<

Studying!?!?! Blasphemy. Show up drunk and drooling and wearing nothing but someone else's dirty clothes. (They have to be at least four sizes bigger than you.) Flirt with the other students loudly and ace the test like a crazy person!

Studying... Pffft. That is what you *Should* do. Do something crazy enough and they may just pass you through to get rid of you.

OmniNegro:

Studying!?!?! Blasphemy. Show up drunk and drooling and wearing nothing but someone else's dirty clothes. (They have to be at least four sizes bigger than you.) Flirt with the other students loudly and ace the test like a crazy person!

Studying... Pffft. That is what you *Should* do. Do something crazy enough and they may just pass you through to get rid of you.

What highschool did you go to again?

None. I never once set foot in any highschool. And I am old as dirt too. I made up a high school every last time I had to declare it on a job application. They never once checked. I am pretty certain the names I made up never existed before that. And certainly not in that town.

If I was applying to a retailer, I would commonly list my high school as something to the effect of "Retailers Suck High School".

I was always amazed when I was hired.

*Edit* Please delete this post. Gandalf reminded me that we are spamming a useful post. Sorry everyone. And a half dozen more of mine here should go too. Wow. I really should just sleep a bit.

Lol. I know you didn't that's why I made the wise crack. Anyway, that's pretty ironic.

We're also though, we're not in the general discussion section, so let's get back on topic.

hehe, thanks gandolf im going to need it, but too bad for me all my exams are impossible to luck out on simply because they're all math related... >.<

Cool chart, breaks it down nicely. One thing that might be worth noting is it is not always a good idea to just buy a card based onwhat you see in a chart, while it give a general idea does not show which game prefer which video cards driver sets.  Like for mei, I play alot of City of Heroes an older game that still pshs card pretty hard.  ATI/AMD has been trying to years to make drivers that work with this gae and have failed.  (they even sponsored the game for a few years)  

*These driver issues can go both ways depending on the game so please do not feel I am calling out one company over the other, I have cards from both companies in mei house to use depending on the game or software I am using.

So if you are a big time player of one game check reviews at many site till one covers your fav game and see which card plays your game the bestest. 

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Update: For people disputing about the higher end GPU's especially consisting of the HD6970, HD6950, HD5870, GTX580, GTX570, GTX480.

 For resolutions that actually put the GPU's to the test:

Source: Techpowerup.com

Update: For mid tier

source: techpowerup

Suggestion:

Put the Memory of each video card into your chart. I love the chart as is, but I can't tell which type of lets say 6950 you're referring to. 

Yea, Video memory only helps prevent a loss in performance at very high resolutions and texture quality settings...If the game doesn't use it all, then it doesn't do jack for your performance to have more of it.

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High end tier (4/17/12)

Source: Techpowerup

GTX 660 Ti Review by Tweaktown.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4869/nvidia_geforce_gtx_660_ti_2gb_reference_video_card_review/index.html 

Equivalent to the Radeon 7950 and above the GTX 580.

However AMD is releasing a BIOS update for the 7950 to increase the clock speed. So, I guess this is gonna fall between the 7950 and 7870.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7950_Boost_BIOS_Upgrade/

Sure, thanks for managing the list, NTChicken.

According to this, the 660 Ti is similar to the 7870.  Which is better seems to depend on the game....

The 7950 in this already has the new BIOS.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279-2.html

GTX 660, equivalent to the Radeon 7870 in most cases

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4922/nvidia_geforce_gtx_660_2gb_reference_video_card_review/index9.html

It's such a tight race. 

7870 = GTX 660 < GTX 660 Ti < Radeon 7950 (after the BIOS update)  Maybe the GTX 580 and GTX 660 Ti have to be in their own category above the 7870 and GTX 660? Lol!