[tenyawph]

Which PCIe DirectX 11 capable Graphics Card to buy in May 2013?

This serves as a one-stop location for decision-making for buying graphics cards. Complementary to this, short sections on possble choices for the following:

Tips on buying 2nd hand graphics card
High Definition Movie Playback Requirements
Full 3D Requirements on PC


BUYING GRAPHICS CARDS GUIDE

Current Trend
The main stream cards (aka mid-range cards) now come standard with 1 GB memory, which matches gaming requirements at high resolutions (i.e. 1680 x 1050 or 1920 x 1200) and AA/AF enabled, found on 22", 23" and 24" LCD monitors. Examples are the HD7700 and GTX660 series. For even better performance at resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels (27" LCD monitors), 2GB or more graphics card will be required. Nvidia GTX 600 and Radeon HD7000 series cards supports PCIe 3.0 specs, and usually comes with 1 or 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 1 or 2 display ports.

GTX 600 series DirectX 11
Latest Driver
GeForce Release 314.22 WHQL Win 7 25 Mar 2013

Radeon 7x00 DirectX 11.1 Series
Latest Driver - Catalyst 13.4 Win 7 24 Apr 2013


Cheapest Low-End Cards - Weak 3-D Performance
These AMD HD 7300 series and GeForce GT 610, 620 series are best suited for 2D-display and some 3D games (modern 3D games unplayable at high settings). Instead of buying such cards, I recommend onboard graphics if playing modern 3-D games is not your forte. Most of the motherboards with onboard graphics come with a PCIe X16 slot, so you can add on a powerful graphics card later.


COMPARISON OF CARDS IN TERMS OF GRAPHICAL SPEED/POWER

AMD Radeon Cards
HD7770
Comparable to GTX550Ti, slower than HD6850
HD7850 2GB
As fast as HD6970
HD 7870 2GB
Faster than HD 6970, slower than GTX570
HD 7950 3GB
A slower cousin of HD7970
HD 7970 3GB
Trade blows with GTX580, slightly slower than GTX670
HD 7990 3GB
Close fight with GTX690


Nvidia Cards
GTX650 Ti
Faster than HD7770, comparable to HD7850
GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB
Almost as fast as the GTX 660
GTX660 Ti 2GB
Faster than HD7950
GTX670 2GB
Faster than HD7970, a slower cousin of GTX680
GTX680 2GB
Faster than the HD7970 and GTX580
GTX690 4GB
Fastest dual GPU Graphics card in the world

The list of 1GB (unless otherwise stated) PCIe DirectX 11 cards to buy in each S$ category as follows:

Below $100
Palit GT 620 - 83 Fuwell, Videopro
Palit GT 630 2GB - 88 Videopro

$100 to $199
Leadtek GT 640 - 109 Videopro
Leadtek GT 640 2GB - 119 Videopro
Powercolor HD7750 - 134 Videopro
Powercolor HD7770 - 158 Videopro
Palit GTX650Ti OC - 195 Fuwell

S$200 to $299
Power Color HD7850 1GB - 229 Videopro
Power Color HD7850 2GB - 252 Videopro
Sapphire HD7850 OC 2GB - 265 Videopro

$300 to $399
Powercolor HD7870 2GB - 329 Videopro
Palit GT 660 OC 2GB - 349 Fuwell, Videopro
Sapphire HD7870 2GB - 365 Videopro
Sapphire HD7870 2GB OC - 375 Fuwell
Powercolor HD7950 Boost 3GB - 398 Videopro

S$400 to S$499
Palit GT 660 Ti 2GB - 429 Videopro
Palit GTX670 2GB - 499 Fuwell, Videopro

Above $500
Power Color HD7970 V2 3GB - 513 Videopro
Palit GTX680 2GB - 659 Fuwell

TIPS ON BUYING 2ND-HAND GRAPHICS CARDS

1st - Buy the card with some warranty period left.

2nd - The card must come with receipt or warranty card (to make claim of warranty with distributor later - note: some brands do not have warranty card. Having the receipt is sufficient, as distributor depends on the warranty sticker on the card itself).

3rd - Buy from someone who have a lot of postings (at Market place/sales garage in VR-Zone forum), and have done some selling transactions. Check that there are no posting of complaints by buyers on that person.

4th - Inspect the card closely during the meeting with the seller. Check for signs of burnt marks/smell.

5th - Go to seller's house and see that the card is operating properly in his computer (this depends whether the seller is willing to do this for you). Peace of mind for both parties, actually, because seller is also protected from buyer's subsequent accusation that the card is already spoilt.

6th - Check out the card on the same day. If spoilt, immediately contact the person for refund.

Of course, despite the above, problems can still occur, especially, if there are people who are out to cheat you in the first place.

If the card is found spoilt and buyer refuses to take back the card, you can still go to the distributor for repair/ replacement. Applicable if you follow rule 1.


HIGH DEFINITON MOVIE PLAYBACK REQUIREMENTS

1) HDCP-supported Graphics Cards/Devices
IGP:
Intel 965G, G33, G35, G45, Core i3, i5 with integrated graphics
AMD 690G, 780G, 785G, 790G, 880G, 890G graphics

Discrete Graphics:
GeForce 7600 GT, 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTX, 7900 GX2, 7950 GX2
GeForce 8, 9, GTX 200, GTX400, GTX500, GTX 600 series
Radeon X1600, X1800, X1900, HD 2x00, HD 3x00, HD 4x00, HD 5x00, HD 6x00, HD 7x00 series

2) CPU: Dual Core or Better
3) OS: WinXP SP2, Vista or Win 7
4) Memory: At least 2GB recommended
5) Graphics Driver: HD-capable Graphics Driver: Catalyst 7.12 / ForceWare 167.37 or later versions
6) Hardware: Blu-Ray or HD-DVD Drive
7) HD Movie Playback Software: Cyberlink Power DVD Ultra (ver 7.3 for HD-DVD and ver 8 for Blu-Ray) or Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-Ray or ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 (Note: Power DVD version 8 and above does not have HD-DVD support).
8) HDCP Compliant Display: LCD Monitors with DVI-D or HDMI connection

Full 3D REQUIREMENTS ON PC
For full spectrum of Blu-ray-3D movie, 3D gaming and 3D photos content on PC

1) Supported Blu-ray 3D (with hardware decoding - Nvidia VF4 engine or AMD UVD 3.0) graphics cards:
Nvidia: GT240, GT320, GT330, GT340, GT400 or GT500 series graphics card
AMD: Radeon HD 6000 series graphics card
Note: Earlier generation(s) of graphics card will still work, albeit with higher CPU utilisation due to software decoding

2) Graphics Driver: Nvidia Forceware 257.21 (and 257.21 3D for Nvidia) / AMD Catalyst 10.10 (skip 10.11) or later

3) Supported OS: Vista or Win7

4) Blu-ray 3D playback media player:
Cyberlink Power DVD 10 Ultra 3D, Corel WinDVD Pro 2010 or Arcsoft Total Media 5

5) Blu-ray drive (playback of movies to be converted from 2D to 3D)/ Blu-ray 3D drive (playback of Blu-ray 3D movies)

6) Supported Display Hardware:
See supported list of monitors (for Nvidia's 3D Vision and AMD's HD3D): http://www.arcsoft.com/estore/softwa...etails#submenu

7a) Nvidia's 3D Vision
1) Nvidia 3D Vision Kit (glasses)

7b) AMD's HD3D
1) Active shutter 3D glasses from third parties
2) Stereoscopic 3D software: TriDef 3D Media player 6.5.5 or iZ3D

List of Blu-Ray 3D movies available
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ay_3D_releases

There are glass-free 3D displays but they suffer from a narrow angle field of view (FOV) of 30 degrees. Toshiba comes up with an improvement by using a 6-axis accelerometer to sense the orientation of the display with respect to the viewer and present the correct 3-D view to the viewer, up to a FOV of 90 degrees. However, this display is solely for a single user, as other viewers around the single user may not see the 3D image properly.

[tenyawph]

REVIEWS OF LATEST GENERATION OF CARDS AND LOCAL DISTRIBUTORS' INFORMATION

GEFORCE GTX 600 SERIES
Review of GTX 690
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 - Looking For The Knockout - HardwareZone.com.sg

Review of GTX 680
GeForce GTX 680 - NVIDIA's 28nm Successor to Fermi - HardwareZone.com.sg

Review of GTX 670
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 - Gaining Momentum, Building Steam - HardwareZone.com.sg

Review of the GTX660
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Shootout - Clash of the Titans - HardwareZone.com.sg

Review of the GTX 650 Ti Boost
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/revie...d-range-kepler

Review of the GTX650
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/featu...-kepler-bite-0

AMD RADEON HD 7000 SERIES

Review of the HD 7990
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/revie...90-speak-devil

Review of HD 7970 and HD 7950
AMD Radeon HD 7970 & HD 7950 - Heading to Southern Islands with Tahiti - HardwareZone.com

AMD Radeon HD 7970 Duel - ASUS vs. Sapphire - HardwareZone.com.sg

XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation - A Performance Thoroughbred - HardwareZone.com.sg

Review of HD 7870 and 7850
X-bit labs - Print version

Review of HD 7770
AMD Radeon HD 7770 - Seizing the Day with Cape Verde, the ASUS Way - HardwareZone.com

PCIe 2.0 slot supplies up to 150W power
PCIe 3.0 slot supplies up to 300W power
Anything above and the card needs an external power plug


GRAPHICS CARDS DISTRIBUTORS - 2-year warranty unless otherwise stated

ASUS (Longest warranty period with competitive pricing) - 3-year warranty
Leadtek (popular Nvidia brand among users)
Powercolor (popular ATI brand among users)
Ban leong
UBI TECHNOPARK
150, Sunlight Building, Ubi Ave 4, Level 4, S408825
Tel: 6512 9252

EQS (Disappear from the retail scene since the late 2007)
Elsa (known more for its professional range of cards) 3-year warranty
Sapphire (one of the established ATI brands around)
Zotac (Disappear from the retail scene since late 2007)
B & H Trading Pte Ltd
Rochor Canal Road, #02-19 Sim Lim Square, S188504
Tel: 65-6334-5168 / Fax: 65-6334-5138
EQS www.eqscomputers.com

Eagle (no frills brand, very affordable cards - cheapest in town)
ESPCO Computer (S) Pte Ltd
Blk 105 Boon Keng Rd,#02-15/16 Kallang Basin Ind.Est,S339776
Tel: 63378262, Fax: 63378269
www.espco.com.sg

Forsa (disappeared from retail scene after the GeForce 7 series was launched)
eSys Technologies
1 Rochor Canal Road #05-44, Sim Lim Square,S188504
Tel : 63390988
Fax : 63394558

GeCube (very affordable brand for ATI, HD 3000 and 4000 series)
Galaxy (known for outfitting excellent cooling solutions)
HIS (reputable brand with excellent cooling solutions)
AIM RESOURCES (S) PTE LTD
1, Rochor Canal Road. #05-23,Sim Lim Square. S188504
Tel:6336 6980,Fax:6336 6041
Operating Hours :
Weekday: 10:30am-7pm
Sat: 10:30am-3pm

Gigabyte (Longest warranty, rock solid cards) 3-year warranty
CDL trading
115a Commonwealth Drive #03-10/12, Tanglin Halt Industrial Estate, 149596
Tel: 64767659

Inno3D (one of the most competitively priced brands)
Connect3D (Disappear from the retail scene since late 2007)
MCP Computer Pte Ltd.
Sim Lim Square
Tel: 63322481

MSI (rock solid cards)
Pixelview (disppeared from the retail scene since the ATI 9000x series)
Corbell
Block 4012, Ang Mo Kio Ave 10
#06-04 TECHplace 1,SINGAPORE 569628
tel:6452 4122 ,
fax:6456 7859
Weekday: 9am-6pm
Sat: 9am-12pm

Gainward (Overclocked Non-reference Nvidia Cards)
Point of View (new comer in town)
DigitalHub
150 Ubi Avenue 4, Level4
Singapore 408825
Tel: 6512 9206
www.pointofview-online.com

Sparkle (Disappear from the retail scene since late 2007)
Maetric Technology
Blk 5 Ang Mo Kio Ind Park 2A
AMK TECH II #07-07
Singapore 567760
Tel 64823298

eVGA (Overclocked Nvidia graphics cards at attractive prices)
Palit (formerly known as Xpertivision) (known for introducing uniquely overclocked versions at affordable prices)
Convergent Systems (S) Pte. Ltd.
60 Albert Street,#11-01 Albert Complex(A.k.A OG building)
Tel: 6337-0177
Fax: 6336-2247
operating hours:
Weekdays: 9am-6pm
Saturday: 9am -2.45pm

XFX (many models of overclocked Nvidia cards) 2-year warranty for products purchased from Dec 2005 onwards
KAIRA TECHNOLOGIES PTE LTD
31 Kaki Bukit Road 3 #06 – 19
Techlink, Singapore - 417818
Tel: 6746 9827
Fax : 6836 4971

[ragnarok95]

Forsa under Gainward right

[tenyawph]

Forsa Brand is manufactured by GIL.

Geniman International Limited (GIL) as a leading Graphic player in the OEM & ODM electronics, games application, graphic solution, we are glad to announce our goal is to meet the challenges of this new graphic enhancement age by addressing the ever changing needs of our customers.
To achieve this goal, we have made global investments in Reach and Development and meeting the OEM & ODM global manufacturing and global network in order to fulfill our customer needs.
GIL, established in 1998, has growth into a USD 80 Millions yearly revenue, with more than 800 employees operates in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dongguan in region of China.

http://www.geniman.com.hk

[Humster]

Cool thread.

Now all we need is a

"Which CPU to buy 2006" thread

No wait.. that will start a new war (>...>

[tenyawph]

let someone start that thread. Do you want to be that person?

[LongWei]

cool man just ditch my 6200 for a second hand 6600gt

[tenyawph]

LongWei wrote:

cool man just ditch my 6200 for a second hand 6600gt

The 6600GT represents the best performance/cost ratio, especially for 2nd hand ones.

[tornedo]

Excellent thread!!

Clear cut, down-to-earth suggestions, with best price/shop and availability.

We surely being pampered by your effort

Do hope similar cpu/motherboard combo thread will surface with similar format and purpose. These are definitely helpful.

Great job and keep it up...

[tenyawph]

tornedo wrote:

Excellent thread!!

Clear cut, down-to-earth suggestions, with best price/shop and availability.

We surely being pampered by your effort

Do hope similar cpu/motherboard combo thread will surface with similar format and purpose. These are definitely helpful.

Great job and keep it up...

Thank you. I go my fair share of feedback and criticisms along the way, which helped to me update the information and keep in current.

Not planning to do the CPU and motherboard, because maintaining this thread is hard work already. Hope someone else can do the job.

[Humster]

tenyawph wrote:

let someone start that thread. Do you want to be that person?

Its better not to have it.

The chances of it going up in flames in 2 days is very REAL.

(-_-lll

[tenyawph]

Humster wrote:

Its better not to have it.

The chances of it going up in flames in 2 days is very REAL.

(-_-lll

Yes, I went thru' my baptizm of fire already, me being a junior member when I first started my graphics card thread.

[ragnarok95]

Every thread has its own flaming way, this thread can also turn into a flaming thread since both ATI and Nvidia are involve, but then, flaming power is still litte compare to intel vs amd

[tenyawph]

By the way, fellow HWZoners, any distributors that I left out?

[ragnarok95]

gecude and alberton and elsa