WITH THE RIGHT midrange graphics card, you can get your game on.
In fact, AMD and Nvidia are clamoring to place one of their under-$200 cards in your system. We look at those cards here.
MSI Radeon HD 7790
The Radeon HD 7790 from AMD fills the gap between the 7770 and the 7850 in price and performance, and is a great entry-level choice for budget-conscious PC builders. For $150 you get 1080p gaming. The 7790 is also the first rival to Nvidia’s GTX 650 Ti at the $150 price level.
MSI's version of the 7790 sports 1GB of GDDR5 memory and a core clock speed of just over 1GHz. For multiple monitor fanatics, it offers two Dual-Link DVI connectors, an HDMI connector, and a DisplayPort output. Plus, it manages to stay compact for smaller cases, measuring just 7.2 by 4.6 by 1.5 inches.
The 7790 also supports CrossFire, which means you can add a second card.
EVGA GeForce GTX
650 Ti Boost A mere week after the 7790 was announced, Nvidia aimed for the graphics card sweet spot as well with its GTX 650 Ti Boost. Though it costs $170, it offers double the memory of AMD's 7790 (2GB of GDDR5) for just $30 more.
EVGA’s take on the 650 Ti Boost utilizes its overclocking capabilities to deliver core speeds of over 1GHz, and comes with a cooler similar to the one in its bigger sibling, the GTX 660. The Boost also has two DVI ports (one DVI-D and one DVI-I), a mini-HDMI port, and a DisplayPort connection. Unlike the older 650 Ti, the 650 Ti Boost isSLI (Scalable Link Interface) compatible, so you can add a second card later if you want to.
GeForce GTX 650 Ti
The $137 GeForce GTX 650 Ti was released back in October, making it an older product at this point. Still, the card provoked direct competition from the Radeon HD 7790.
The 2GB version of the 650 Ti tops out around $160, making it slightly less pricey than the "boosted" version. This cheaper card still provides a mini-HDMI port and two DVI ports (one DVI-D and one DVI-I). But you can’t add a second card later on, as the 650 Ti is not SLI compatible.
The Benchmarks
In our four game tests, results were all over the map, but the Radeon HD 7790 completely underwhelmed us in Crysis 3. The GTX cards required an adjustment from high- to medium-quality settings, but the 7790 had to drop from medium to low settings to achieve at least 30 to 40 frames per second.
Second revelation: The GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost doesn’t live up to its name. The original 650 Ti barely lags behind its successor, and in some cases surpasses it.
Under the Unigine Heaven benchmark—a stiff test for graphics cards—the GTX 650 Ti Boost managed to beat out its two competitors, but just barely. The original GeForce GTX 650 Ti kept up with the more-expensive option and blew the cheaper Radeon HD 7790 away.
In our third benchmark, 3DMark, the results jibed with those of our previous benchmarks. The 650 Ti Boost barely beat out the older 650 Ti, while AMD's 7790 brought up the rear with its 1GB deficit.
Bottom Line
All three cards will give you nice value for your dollar, but the one you choose must be calibrated to your wallet and your needs.
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