Which graphics card should I buy?

Question

Hi, I'm buying a new graphics card, upgrading from my Nvidia GeForce 7900 GT/GTX card that finally died...

I have come across a number of cheap deals on the internet, but I'm unsure as to what specs are the best.
What would be more important to look out for? GPU clock speed? Memory clock speed? memory output type?
I'm a little unsure as to what factors are the most important when looking at a graphics cards specs.

Here are some cards I have come across that look alright overall:

Gigabyte GT220
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
- Chipset NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
- Core Clock 720 MHz
- Mem Clock 1600 MHz
- Memory 1GB
- Memory Bus 128 bit
- Memory Type DDR 3
- Card dimension ATX
- Bus Type PCI-E 2.0
- Bus Speed x16
- Shader Clock 1566 MHz
- Maximum Digital Resolution 2560x1600
- Maximum VGA Resolution 2048x1536


HIS ATI HD4670 ICEQ 1GB
Chipset
Radeon HD 4600 PCIe Series
ASIC
Radeon™ HD 4600 GPU
Pixel Pipelines
320 stream processing units* (Unified)
Vertex Engines
320 stream processing units* (Unified)
Manu. Process (Micron)
55nm
Transistor
514 million
Memory Size (MB)
1024
Memory Type
DDR3
RAMDAC (MHz)
400
Engine CLK (MHz)
750
Memory CLK (MHz) 1700 Memory Interface (bit)
128


ASUS ATI HD4670 1GB

Model Name
ASUS ATI HD4670 1GB
Memory Size (MB)
1024
Memory Type
DDR3
Engine CLK (MHz)
750
Memory CLK (MHz) 1.6 GHz ( 800 MHz DDR3 )

Memory Interface (bit) 128



The last two on the list are from a retailer I have bought from before and trust a little more.

Are these graphics cards a good find? or am I missing something?

If anyone else can find a better graphics card for around the same price in Australia, then please let me know

Answer 1

****Update****

Having GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit card yields about the same performance as GDDR3 memory on a 256-bit card.



The Radeon 4770 is nice (it's what I have currently) but AUD $188 is way too much. The 4770 is about 10% faster than a GeForce 9800GT. 1gb 9800GT cards cost between AUD $125-150. The 512mb model is available for AUD $99:

https://www.pcdiy.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=9799&osCsid=f15888e17edfd63427518785fede4250



Pay 80% more for a 10% speed increase? No thanks!!



For $188 you can snag the more powerful Radeon 5770, which WOULD be worth it for high-end titles like Crysis.

https://www.pcdiy.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=10844&osCsid=f15888e17edfd63427518785fede4250

https://www.pcdiy.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=10701&osCsid=f15888e17edfd63427518785fede4250



If you're only playing stuff like World of Warcraft, Oblivion, Call of Duty and Half-Life 2, you don't need anything that expensive.



*****

Here's the breakdown of best graphics cards values:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521.html



For about USD $75 the Radeon 4670 is the best card- although the GT240, Radeon 5670 and GeForce 9800GT are considerably faster (and a bit more expensive)



The previous poster seems a bit confused about graphics cards. Although the Radeon 2400 series was indeed weak, that had nothing to do with "HD" being in the name.



When choosing graphics cards, the amount of video memory is among the LEAST important specs compared to the TYPE of video memory (Fast GDDR5, GDDR3 vs slow GDDR2), GPU clock speed, number of stream processors etc.



A midrange card like a GeForce 9800GT or Radeon HD4770 with 512mb is far superior to a low-end card like a GeForce 9500GT or GT220 with 1gb.



http://www.hardware-revolution.com/mistakes-when-buying-video-card/



See card performance comparisons below.

Answer 2

It would depend on what you'd need it for. If you're planning to use it for gaming, I'd stay away from anything with "HD" in the product name. I currently have an ATI Radeon HD2400 PRO and it totally sucks for gaming.



The thing to look for in a graphics card is the memory size if used for gaming. Usually any game today will ask for a minimum of 256MB of video memory, so having a card that can supply at least that much would be good. In Australia I'm unaware of any online stores that offer it, but you could look take a look at the ones listed on newegg.com and see if you can find one at a similar price if not cheaper.



If you're more concerned with HD video, then any of the last ones you listed would be fine. Hope it helps.

Answer 3

Don't get the GT 220.