5.Best High-End Graphics Cards: $250 To $400

1-Best Graphics Cards For The Money July 2013

2-Best Entry-Level Graphics Cards: $100 And Under

3- Best Mid-Range Graphics Cards: $110 To $150

4-Best Enthusiast Graphics Cards: $160 To $210

5-Best High-End Graphics Cards: $250 To $400

6-Best Extreme Graphics Cards: $450 And Up, And Multi-Card Configuration

7-Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart

8-Conclusion: Performance Per Dollar

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Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$250:

GeForce GTX 760

$249.99On Amazon.com

Upper-Midrange Value Leader

The GeForce GTX 760 introduces GeForce GTX 670 and Radeon HD 7950-class speed down to a $250 price point, displacing the Tahiti-based Radeon HD 7870 LE with even more performance per dollar. Because of this, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 760 is one of our favorite cards on the market right now.

PERFORMANCES

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

GPU :

GK104 (Kepler)

Process :

28 nm

Shader Units :

1152

Texture Units :

96

ROPs :

32

Core Clock :

980 MHz (1033 MHz Turbo)

Memory Clock :

1502 MHz GDDR5

Memory Bus :

256-bit

Memory Bandwidth :

192.2 GB/s

Memory Capacity :

2 or 4 GB

DirectX, Shader, OpenGL :

11/5.0/4.3

Max. TDP :

170 Watts

Aux. Power Connector(s) :

2x6-pin

Min. Power Supply :

500 Watt

Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For ~$400:

GeForce GTX 770

$399.99On Newegg.com

Tom's Hardware's High-End Value Winner

The GeForce GTX 770 might be a new model, but it's basically a GeForce GTX 680 with higher clock rates, improved cooling, and a lower price tag. Because the GK104 GPU runs faster and sports 7000 MT/s memory, this board is rated for 230 W. That's quite a bit higher than the GeForce GTX 680's 195 W thermal ceiling. We're not big fans of re-spinning existing hardware with a new model name, but the GeForce GTX 770 earns our respect for delivering higher performance at a more affordable price point (in this case, $400). That's $50 less than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, which tends to be roughly as fast, and at a TDP 20 W-lower. That's enough to earn our exclusive recommendation at $400.

PERFORMANCES

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

GPU :

GK104 (Kepler)

Process :

28 nm

Shader Units :

1 536

Texture Units :

128

ROPs :

32

Core Clock :

1046 MHz

Memory Clock :

1,752 MHz GDDR5

Memory Bus :

256-bit

Memory Bandwidth :

224 GB/s

Memory Capacity :

2 or 4 GB

DirectX, Shader, OpenGL :

11/5.0/4.3

Max. TDP :

230 W

Aux. Power Connector(s) :

1 x 6-pin and 1 x 8-pin PCIe

Min. Power Supply :

600 W