Just last month, pricing was much different. Today, those looking for a quality gaming experience can look forward to some great deals. While the low end and midrange has remained pretty fixed in price, cards over $200 have come down quite a bit. This has made some comparisons difficult, but the bottom line is great prices for consumers.

Rather than looking at individual manufacturers, we are going to look at different AMD and NVIDIA SKUs. After we've chosen our recommendation at a specific price, we will look at four of the top PC hardware retailers (newegg, ZipZoomFly, TigerDirect, and Buy.com) and find the best deals on the recommended parts on those sites. These parts might not always be from the same manufacturer, but it will be what we consider the best deal at that retailer. While we feel good about our recommendations, it is important to shop around yourself, as these prices are changing incredibly fast.

To illustrate that point, we had planned on publishing this earlier today, but after looking at the prices one more time we noticed that a lot of changes are taking place every day. From yesterday to today some prices have moved $10 to $20, mostly through the addition of larger rebates. This changed a few of our recommendations and we had to rewrite a bit. The important point to take away is that while we try to keep our recommendations as general as possible, a lot of what matters is price at the time of purchase. And that can fluctuate like crazy. Since Thanksgiving we've seen prices move more than $50 in some cases, and everything is getting more and more competitive and aggressive. Now really is the time to buy.

On each page we will make at least one recommendation based price, performance and features including rebates (both instant and mail-in). This is a little different from our usual recommendations we make based on the general positioning of a card. We normally do this because price fluctuations and overclocking make nailing down a definitive best option very difficult (if not impossible). Today, we are looking at ... well, today. While the general sentiments we discuss remain relevant, the actual recommendations are based on the absolute best price you can achieve today and we even give some leeway to overclocking in a couple cases.

Although we will recommend cards from all four of our selected retailers, we will highlight the one we think is the best deal among the four as well. As some people tend to have a preference for different retailers, we are still allowing for options, but our recommendations will be based on the best deal we can find period rather than something like an average between the retailers.

The Prelude: Sub $75 and $75-$100 Graphics Cards

So this first page, while showing off inexpensive product, doesn't offer really high performance. This page is great for the HTPC crowd, but we aren't going to ignore gamers on a really tight budget. The parts we recommend here will still be the cards that can muster some gaming performance, but low resolutions will need to be run and higher quality settings won't be an option with newer games. Antialiasing is not usually a reasonable method to improve image quality here, and tradeoffs between performance and quality will almost always need to be considered when gaming.

Generally, we need to look at 800x600 and 1024x768 for new games with higher quality settings. Usually running a higher resolution than that requires reduced quality to be playable. If you are monitor limited at a low resolution, or you don't mind running half native resolution on LCD panels, then spending less on graphics hardware is definitely an option. For our HTPC users who still may want to try a game or two, remember that allowing the TV to convert the signal will add delay. If you have a 1080p HDTV, both NVIDIA and AMD now offer GPU accelerated upscaling and can handle rendering at a lower resolution and outputting an upscaled native resolution image.

The competition from NVIDIA in this segment is somewhat lacking with cards either not supporting the features we want or not offering the kind of game performance an AMD alternative can. The GeForce 9500 GT doesn't support 8-channel LPCM audio over HDMI like the Radeon 4550, and it also isn't a good gaming solution compared to the Radeon HD 4670. The GeForce 9500 GT does, however, offer good 24Hz refresh rate performance (useful for HTPCs connected to a 24p display) while AMD struggles a bit here.

While the GeForce 9600 GSO offers competitive gaming performance compared to the Radeon HD 4670, it doesn't offer all the features we want for HTPCs and isn't as quiet. Pushing the $100 boundary is the 9600 GT, which really doesn't have direct competition from AMD, though spending slightly more or finding amazing rebates on the Radeon 4830 is an interesting option.

The lowest performance card we recommend also happens to be great for the HTPC crowd. The inexpensive Radeon HD 4550 can be had passively cooled, and does offer a step up from integrated graphics in terms of game performance. Gaming is not great on the Radeon HD 4550, but being passively cooled and offering 8-channel LPCM over HDMI with adequate video decoding offload is a killer combination for those of you with 7.1 channel speaker setups.

ATI Radeon HD 4550 (Image From newegg.com)

Sub $75 8-channel Audio HTPC Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4550

Opting for the NVIDIA solution for its smooth 1080p24 playback is a viable HTPC alternative to the Radeon HD 4550. As an added bonus, the 9500 GT does offer a bit better gaming performance as well (though it can't touch the 4670 in this area, so if it's gaming you're interested in, this isn't the card to get). Some of these recommendations are silent and some aren't, so make sure you check out each vendor before you buy if you have a specific cooling need or dB level.

Basically if you have a 7.1 audio setup and want to play back original Blu-ray discs in full 8-channel glory, go for the Radeon HD 4550. If you've got a 24Hz display and want smooth 24Hz playback, buy the GeForce 9500 GT.

NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT (Image From TigerDirect.com)

Sub $75 1080p24 HTPC Recommendation: GeForce 9500 GT

If you need to stay inexpensive but still want some gaming performance, the Radeon HD 4670 is really the cheapest viable option. Coming in at about $75, with some holiday special rebate offers dropping that price to $65 (or even $55 in one 24 hour deal at newegg on a gigabyte card), this card is capable of good quality at low resolutions. This one isn't passively cooled, and if the main purpose of the box is for HTPC use then sticking with the 4550 is the way to go here. If you want to build a living room computer with good gaming performance that could also be used as an HTPC where fan noise is acceptable, we recommend stepping further up than the 4670.

The Radeon HD 4670 (Image From newegg.com)

$75 Gaming Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4670

Pushing up closer to $100 the lines get blurry and the 9600 GT becomes more of an option though there's a deal in the next section that sort of negates that advantage. If your target is $100, you'd be better served by spending $10 more dollars to get a better card, but the fastest option for just under $100 today is going to be found on the next page (even though it may only be a very temporary option). Because of this, we don't recommend the 9600 GT as an option.

The People's Performers: $100 - $130 Graphics Cards

Just over the magic $100 mark is a playground for the senses. At low to moderate resolutions (1024x768 to 1680x1050) gamers using this class of hardware are all but guaranteed to be able to play with all the effects and high image quality options enabled. Antialiasing will still be hit or miss, but generally this segment provides the option to either play at the higher resolutions the hardware is capable of without AA or play at lower resolutions with some AA enabled. As antialiasing is a subjective feature in many ways (the level at which the performance tradeoff becomes useful and the degree to which antialiasing improves image quality at specific pixel sizes are really tough to generalize). The flexibility available at this price point is definitely desirable to those who like to tinker.

It is possible to get up to HDTV resolutions, but sometimes this requires a quality reduction and it isn't likely that antialiasing will be an option on modern games at resolutions over 1680x1050. Half resolutions on HDTVs or 30" monitors (for those who need high res 2D and still want a little gaming performance) scale well on digital panels and this price point should get you up to 1280x800 with some level of AA in a good many games and high quality settings.

This price point may get overlooked sometimes, as three digit numbers can be a deal breaker for some and those willing to spend a little more could be more attracted to the better performance of slightly more expensive cards. This space also gets a little blurry because of the availability of so many different NVIDIA products that have been renamed and/or overclocked. The 8800 GT/9800 GT and 9600 GT can run into each other with factory overclocks. Thus this market is a bit more blurry than some of the others. The only AMD competition at this price point is the Radeon HD 4830.

Our Recommendation? The Radeon HD 4830 (Image From newegg.com)

And the Radeon HD 4830 happens to be our general recommendation here. We do have to qualify that though. the Radeon HD 4830 can usually be had for about $110, but so can the 9800 GT, and it may be possible to snag an overclocked version for the same price. While the Radeon HD 4830 does well against the competition at stock speeds, this is the first place where you really have to balance overclocking and price. It is also worth it to try and find specific games you like benchmarked online and choose based on that information as well. The reason we've gone with the Radeon HD 4830 here is because you know what you are getting and it tends to do better than the competition at stock speeds and comparable price.

That and the fact that newegg has a major deal right now with mail in rebate allowing a card with performance greater than a stock 9800 GT to compete in terms of price with a 9600 GT/GSO: 85 freaking USD. Shipped for under $95 is a terrific deal.

Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4830

Let's Get Ridiculous: $130 - $180 Graphics Cards

This is arguably the most important market segment in this entire list. At $150+ the price isn't going to break the bank compared to other graphics hardware, and the performance we can expect is great for gaming at widely used resolutions like 1280x1024 and 1680x1050. This is the lowest performance card anyone who calls him or herself "gamer" will want in their system (though sometimes it is necessary to get by with a little less), but don't mistake that qualification for anything that implies disappointment. Those who need more than what can be had at this price only need it because 1) they are professional gamers, 2) they have large (high resolution) monitors or 3) want it real bad (not all decisions have to be logical, I understand and even identify).

Okay, maybe I'm generalizing a bit much here, but seriously, $150 gets you a lot these days. These cards won't run the highest settings at the highest resolutions in all games, but they will run the highest settings in most games at decent resolutions. They can muster 1920x1200 with reduced quality if you need to push it that high to connect with an HDTV or something.

The midrange segment is populated with what used to be high end hardware from NVIDIA. The GeForce 9800 GTX/GTX+ are priced between $150 and $200 depending on the vendor and whether or not the hardware is overclocked. At the lower end of this price spectrum, this competes with the Radeon HD 4850 from AMD, which happens to be our pick for the best midrange graphics option this holiday season. The AMD solution is generally the same performance or better than the GeForce 9800 GTX, and is more easily found at lower prices (and with rebates can even be found for less).

Beyond the performance and price of the Radeon HD 4850, the card is much smaller, quieter and doesn't require as much power. Because of this, while not the ideal HTPC card, the 4850 does offer a compelling hybrid solution for the living room that can provide an okay HTPC experience (it will be louder than cheaper cards that are designed for HTPCs) as well as a decent gaming experience on an HDTV in the living room. Sure, game consoles are the king of this space, but even this modest card offers multiples of the performance of the graphics hardware in either the XBox 360 or the Playstation 3.

The beloved RV770, the Radeon HD 4850 (Image From newegg.com)

Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4850

Movin' On Up: $180 - $220 Graphics Cards

And here's where it gets really messy. The competition is brutal in this market and price cuts have bounced back and forth since this past summer. It's great for the consumer, but it makes it much harder to recommend products.

The graphical quality you can expect at this price point is terrific for everything short of a 30" monitor. It might not always grab you 4x or more antialiasing at the highest resolutions, but these parts will do high quality at high resolution (1920x1200) in most modern games. This is really the minimum spec graphics card you should look at if you've got a 30" display and want to game at full resolution, but you won't always be able to hit the highest quality options and AA will be really tight (especially in games that make heavy use of a lot of framebuffer at ultra high resolutions). Gamers who bought a 30" monitor for gaming and still have money left over will want a higher performance card.

The hardware up for debate here is the GeForce GTX 260 and the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. It's not quite that simple, as it could be with the price wars going on. And NVIDIA has been pushing for us to get out reviews of with all the games released last month. We are definitely working on testing all those new titles, and we do clearly see more competition from NVIDIA with the addition of these games. Clearly, it is possible for NVIDIA hardware to shine given the right title, but we know AMD hardware is no slouch either. Far Cry 2 is one of the games NVIDIA was pushing as a win for them, but in our recent tests we saw it was more of a wash. And washes are fine with us, as that means the consumer is really the winner.

Honestly before November, we would never have recommended the GeForce GTX 260 over the Radeon HD 4870. This time around, considering the increased competitiveness of NVIDIA hardware both in terms of performance on recent games and price mean it's not as clear cut. We also have the Core 216 to consider and the fact that manufacturers offer overclocked versions of NVIDIA hardware far more frequently than AMD hardware.

At the low end of this market, we are going to stick with recommending the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Finding this part for under $200 is now possible (this is the original price point of the Radeon HD 4850 back at launch), and it competes with stock clocked GTX 260s with 192 SPs. If you want to stay in this general market segment and have a little extra money to spend, it's possible to find GeForce GTX 260 core 216 cards with modest overclocks that could push a buyers decision in that direction for an extra $20 or so. Really, with the pricing like it is here, you just can't go wrong no matter which option you go with. Solid recommendations are hard because of the variety of options and the tight pricing, but really the beneficiary is the consumer buying cards in this market.

Thus, we've decided to make a recommendation here based on platform. We still have some qualms with the AMD drivers running on Core i7 systems. Because people spending this much money should not have to worry about whether or not upcoming drivers will iron out all the outstanding issues, we will recommend that people with a Core i7 system go with the GeForce GTX 260 and those with other platforms pick up the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Of course, if price is the absolute deciding factor for you, the cheapest 4870 we found did beat out the cheapest GTX 260 we could find.

Unexpectedly Affordable: The Radeon HD 4870 512MB (Image From newegg.com)

Non-Core i7 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 260, a better mate for an i7 system (Image from productwiki.com)

Core i7 Recommendation: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

To the East Side: $220 - $300 Graphics Cards

This price point brings solid playability to 2560x1600 resolutions with 4xAA possible in many cases. I throw my plug out there that 2xAA is all you need on 30" monitors, but that's definitely going to vary depending on taste. These cards are slight tweaks of hardware offered at a lower price point. We are looking at highly overclocked GeForce GTX 260 core 216 hardware and Radeon HD 4870 1GB cards.

The RV770 chip on the Radeon HD 4870 is much more suited to a 1GB framebuffer, especially at high resolutions with AA enabled. The advantages over the 512MB version are more apparent at higher resolutions, and necessary to get the most out of the hardware on 30" monitors. Highly overclocked GeForce GTX 260 core 216 hardware is available that could offer a great performance boost over stock hardware and over the Radeon HD 4870 1GB in some cases. In the cases where the 4870 beats the GTX 280, the 4870 will still pull out ahead, but in many other cases the super high overclock of some of these GeForce GTX 260 cards is going to be a better option. In fact, for $250, you can pick up an XFX GTX 260 core 216 clocked at 666MHz core (~15.5% increase), 2300MHz memory (~15% increase), and 1440MHz shader clock (~15.9% increase) bundled with Far Cry 2. This will provide some good increases in performance, as no matter where you are limited you have a potential theoretical maximum performance increase of about 15%.

This is another tough one and it really does depend on the games that will be played. When shopping for an overclocked GTX 260 core 216, you have to do a little more work to make sure you get the best deal, but the best deal there could be a better deal than the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Then again, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB is a great deal at $250 and you know exactly what you are getting when you pick one up. The continuum is much more convoluted with NVIDIA hardware, but giving manufacturers a chance to differentiate themselves does add another level of competition to the market and has made highly overclocked GTX 260 hardware a viable alternative to the highest end AMD single GPU solution. In the end though, we've really got to give the nod to the super cheap $220 PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Top that off with the fact that the PowerColor card is an overclocked version of the 4870 1GB, and that really seals the deal.

PowerColor's Radeon HD 4870 (Image From newegg.com)

Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB

Stuntin': $300+ Single and Multi-GPU Graphics Solutions

From the introduction of the GeForce GTX 280, it hasn't done enough to justify it's own price. The GTX 280 is the fastest single GPU in most games out there, but the Radeon HD 4870 1GB leads the GTX 280 in performance in too many cases for us to be comfortable recommending spending a lot more money even just to have the fastest single GPU out there -- since it sometimes is not. Until now, based on the value of the hardware, we recommend those looking at the GTX 280 go with the cheaper Radeon HD 4870 1GB or a highly overclocked GTX 260 core 216 unless they are looking at going with SLI. Price drops and rebate madness have gone quite far, and the GeForce GTX 280 is now available at a decent price. You do still pay a premium for the card, but it is a premium we can stomach and that makes sense. Since AMD doesn't have a part that directly competes with the GeForce GTX 280, we give the $300 nod to NVIDIA. Had the price remained closer to the $400 mark, we would left the GTX 280 off our recommended list altogether.

Selling at around half of what it debuted at: The GeForce GTX 280 (Image From EVGA.com)

Single-GPU Recommendation: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280

What buyers get for their money here is playability on 30" monitors with the highest quality settings and antialiasing in almost every game. There are some new games that won't be playable with everything turned up, and as with everything else games that come out will continue to demand more and more horsepower. But in the meantime, this stuff is the cream of the crop. For monitors smaller than 30", spending this kind of cash isn't really necessary. For huge (60"+) HDTVs, these solutions could also be useful as they can provide huge levels of antialiasing that could help improve image quality on monitors with very large pixels. If you've got a smaller monitor (19x12 or below on a less than 30" display), you'll be better off going with a cheaper card and saving up for a bigger monitor.

Beyond $300, and aside from the GTX 280, this market encompasses the world of multiGPU solutions. The Radeon HD 4870 1GB, GeForce GTX 260 SLI and GeForce GTX 280 SLI are the options here. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is currently the only single card multiGPU option available at the ultra high end, and thus this is the option you will want if you only have a single PCIe x16 slot on your board. The added advantage that the 4870 X2 runs in any PC also helps. It is for these reasons that the Radeon HD 4870 X2 gets our recommendation here.

Image From TigerDirect.com

Multi-GPU Recommendation: AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2

For those who don't mind multiple card multiGPU solutions, we whole heartedly recommend going with NVIDIA's SLI on a supported Intel Core i7 system. This combo will bring you the maximum performance you can find on PCs today. The return on investment isn't there, but there is always a premium to have the best of the best. Three way SLI with GeForce GTX 280 on a 3.2 GHz i7 system is the ultimate build today. Even though we don't recommend this option both for the protection of your wallet and because the cost benefit analysis is not favorable, this is the only option for those who need the highest performance out there.

Final Words

That does it for our recommendations for this holiday season. Remember that these prices might change even day to day at this point, but some of these deals are absolutely terrific. Of special note are the Radeon HD 4830 for $85, the Radeon HD 4850 for $130, and the 1GB Radeon HD 4870 for $220. Pay attention to mail in rebates here, as most of these great deals are enabled by them. You'll have to do a little more shopping around if avoiding mail in rebates is particularly important. But some of these deals are just too impressive to pass up.