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Top Budget to Mid-Range Graphics Cards

@ 2010/02/19

While the gaming landscape seems to have shifted toward consoles in recent years, many feel PCs are still where the action is. Naturally those looking to experience the hottest video games in all their glory will need the appropriate hardware powering their rigs. Besides adopting newer platforms, at some point, every gamer or hardware enthusiast worth their salt will upgrade or at least consider upgrading their graphics card.

Of course, going for the latest and greatest (read: fastest and most expensive) is not always an option. Having reviewed a wide variety of graphics cards as they were released in the past months, we've compiled a table with some of what we consider the best options at several price points between $90 and $200. Every product chosen can cope with the typical game on respectable settings.

Comment from Kougar @ 2010/02/21

Some devs argue otherwise. The console is a known quantity, and after the initial learning curve they say it's actually easier.. There is no extra months spent making dumbed down versions of the game playable of lower levels of hardware, no issues of widely differing DirectX support in hardware/OS. No issue of single or quad CPUs, or various memory sizes... Once the game is playable at a constant 60FPS on the console, they can focus on finishing other aspects of the game immediately.

Comment from jmke @ 2010/02/20

I agree with your statements, but

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

and less complex to develop for.

uhm... not quite correct, developing for PS3 is much harder than for PC/XBOX360.

if more companies would support steam and give them the means to increase their security on their software titles, I believe there is hope still for PC gaming to become bigger again; because there are more PCs out there than consoles... if you check the piracy stats for Modern Warfare you'll see that there are more gamers on PC than XBOX/PS3 combined

Comment from Kougar @ 2010/02/20

He's referring to the trend that the majority of game studios are eschewing PC in favor of consoles.

Crysis, Alan Wake, Assassins Creed, all games that have shifted to consoles as the primary (or exclusive) focus to date. Far more profitable, far smaller issues of piracy, and less complex to develop for.

Comment from jmke @ 2010/02/19

Quote:

While the gaming landscape seems to have shifted toward consoles in recent years

que?
gaming consoles were always present, and those who enjoyed console gaming in the past, will continue to do so in the present; those who preferred PC gaming in the past, will continue PC gaming in the present;

fact is that for $200-300 you can get a game console vs $800-1000 for a gaming PC; so your target audience for PC gamers has a higher threshold .

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