Final Thoughts: Gaming at 2560×1600

These days, video card manufacturer’s price their product according to relative performance compared to the competition. Occasionally they attempt to undercut prices to win more business, but typically the parts are priced accordingly.

Top-end graphics cards traditionally add a premium for their unparalleled performance, and from these results we can see that the trend continues. All four graphics cards are considered high-end, representing the premium offerings available from their respective manufacturer.

The data below is arranged In terms of raw frame rate performance, with cost information included for reference:

• Radeon HD 7950: 31.03 FPS test average (baseline performance example)
  • Available online for $269.99 (Amazon | Newegg)
    • Battlefield 3 cost per frame/performance: $6.59
    • Metro 2033 cost per frame/performance: $10.38
    • Unigen Heaven cost per frame/performance: $10.34
• Radeon HD 7970: 36.27 FPS test average (+16.89% over baseline performance)
  • Available online for $349.99 (Amazon | Newegg)
    • Battlefield 3 cost per frame/performance: $7.31 (+10.93% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Metro 2033 cost per frame/performance: $11.86 (+14.26% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Unigen Heaven cost per frame/performance: $11.15 (+7.83% over baseline cost/frame)
• GeForce GTX 770: 37.73 FPS test average (+21.59% over baseline performance)
  • Available online for $399.99 (Amazon | Newegg)
    • Battlefield 3 cost per frame/performance: $7.65 (+16.08% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Metro 2033 cost per frame/performance: $13.79 (+32.85% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Unigen Heaven cost per frame/performance: $12.54 (+21.28% over baseline cost/frame)

• GeForce GTX 780: 48.43 FPS test average (+56.08% over baseline performance)
  • Available online for $649.99 (Amazon | Newegg)
    • Battlefield 3 cost per frame/performance: $9.60 (+45.68% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Metro 2033 cost per frame/performance: $17.76 (+71.10% over baseline cost/frame)
    • Unigen Heaven cost per frame/performance: $15.85 (53.29% over baseline cost/frame)

Every video card tested at 2560×1600 resolution provided 30-FPS or better in these DirectX-11 games, which were generally configured to their highest graphics quality settings. Any of these cards will provide excellent performance with PC video games, but it’s obvious that you get the performance you pay for.

If you’re a gamer with modest demands and a single 1680×1050 or 1920×1080 monitor, the Radeon HD 7950 offers tremendous value for your money. Radeon HD 7970 offers approximately 17% better performance than Radeon HD 7950, but costs about $80 more. GeForce GTX 770 improves upon baseline (Radeon HD 7950) performance by only 5% more than Radeon HD 7970, but costs $130 more (or more than $50 over 7970). The premium GeForce GTX 780 delivers 56% performance improvement beyond Radeon HD 7950, but costs $380 more.

Top level performance comes at a premium, and not everybody needs a graphics card to push maximum frame rates to three monitors. One size might fit all in theory, but certainly not in terms of budget. Please let us know if this article has helped you shape your decision on which video card to purchase.

COMMENT QUESTION: Have the comparisons in this article help you decide on a video card purchase?