Roughly 1.5years back, ATI introduced the Radeon 3 series. It was an upgrade and speed bump for the Radeon 2 series which based on the same architecture R600. The 3 series from ATI wasn’t that competitive agaisnt the Geforce 9 series. But ATI lowered their price and compete in the middle and lower end segment. The Radeon 2 series  from my opinion, wasn’t a good product. It was reminiscent of the Phenom K10 architecture. It only starts to shine when AMD/ATI make a transition to 55nm manufacturing process for its 2400 and 2600 graphic processing unit. We can get cheap mainstream graphic card back then like the 8600GT from nvidia or the 3670 from ATI.

In the mid of 2008, is an even better time for graphic market. This is when ATI introduces the R700 family of graphic cards. The spotlight is on ATI 4850, the fastest mainstream at a reasonable price at that time. Performance was close and faster in some cases than the Geforce 9800 GTX which priced higher than the 4850. Nvidia couldn’t afford to lose market and lowered down their high end product to mainstream prices to compete with 4850. From top to bottom, ATI 4 series(R700) own all the performance crown in every segment. It was indeed a good year for ATI and a better year for consumers.

Ok, enough of history lesson. Today we have the Geforce GT200 series, the ATI 4 series (R700) and 5 series (Evergreen). The GT200 wasn’t really shine untill nvidia migrate the manufacturing process to 55nm earlier this year (or the very end of 2008). It was too hot and too expensive to produced using the 65nm. While ATI doesn’t have any new graphic other than the 4770 and 4890 for the first 9months of this year. Therefore, with competitive pricing from nvidia and the newly improved GT260 and GT285 later on, ATI would have to lower their prices as well. A very good first half of 2009 for consumers I would say. To sum up for today’s graphic card market, starting from the oldest to newest graphics family and from low end to high end segment:

ATI R700 family of GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), Radeon 4 series:

• The 4650 and 4670 remained the best bang for buck in the lower segment.
• Scant availability of 4830 means it is in the process of phasing out. And with the price that is almost similiar with 4850. It’s best just to forget the former and get the later for more performance at just slightly few bucks more.
• The same goes to the 40nm Radeon 4 series – 4770 GPU. Worst is, 4770 is getting pricier than 4850.
• The most popular card of 2008 – Radeon 4850 is getting pricier, no thanks to the fact that this card is getting lesser due to low production from ATI. But anyway, is still the best lower mid range card for today’s standard.
• With strong competition from nvidia GTX260, the Radeon 4870 is tied with GTX260 at the same price range. It’s hard to recommend either one, it boils down to which game you played most. But I would recommend 4870 as it is faster in most games, if Phsyx matters for you then GTX260 is the one to go.
• Radeon 4890 while just an overclocked version of Radeon 4870,  was more overclocker friendly than 4870. With 30-40% higher selling price than 4870, 4890 has the upper hand in performance after maximum overclock. But if you’re not into overclocking, it’s best just to settle with nvidia GTX260 or 4870 or maybe the new Evergreen 5850( more on it later).

Nvidia GT200 GPU

• Lower end for these family of GPU is better be left out for recommendation list. However, the newly released GT240 which is based on 40nm and doesn’t require extra power connector is the one to look for. But since it couldn’t be found selling anywhere in stores and with unknown price yet, this segment had AMD’s Radeon 4650/4670 won hands down.
• GTX260 is only worth for your penny if you are looking for GPGPU applications . Else, just go for Radeon 4870.
• In the range of high end GT200, it’s hardly recommendable for anyone. With ATI’s Evergreen took back the performance crown at competitive pricing, I don’t see reasons to get the GTX285. The GTX295 is still reasonable choice as ATI Radeon 5970 is simply overpriced.

ATI Radeon Evergreen GPU (R800)

• There are no low end cards in this family of GPU yet, but expect AMD/ATI to release Redwood early next year (January possibly). My speculation is, given the performance that we see from this new Evergreen architecture, this would make 9800GT and GTX240 irrelevant as Redwood will be position at that price range. It wouldn’t replace 4650/4670 initially, but expect it to do so by end of next year.
• Juniper is the latest mid range card from AMD/ATI. It is basically half of horse power from Cypress(see below). The 5770 is almost as fast as 4870, but in some cases it was actually slower by few frame rates. Well, that doesn’t concern me with an extra added feature like DirectX 11 and bit streaming. 5770 vs GTX260 vs 4870 at the same price range, I definitely be going for 5770.
• The fastest single chip GPU fall into the hands of Cypress. There are two variant, 5870 and the cut down version 5850. Though 5870′s performance is remarkable, but its price is a bit on the high side no thanks to the non-competition from nvidia and the limited stock available. 5850 on the other hand is really the card to get this year, having performance which is faster than nvidia GTX285 with lower price tag. But it faces the similiar problem with 5870 as well, is very hard to get this card and some shops actually marked up the price above market level.
• ATI/AMD decided to name their dual chip Cypress as Hemlock with their high end named 5970. Boasting two 5870 chip in one card, this is a beast. The 5870 is already insanely fast, having two of them makes nightmare to nvidia. While having the fastest frame rates in all games, this card is not for the faint hearted. Prepare to churn out a big hole in your bank account for this card.

So there you have it, a detailed summary of every discrete graphic families available in the market now. But many of you have guessed, why it isn’t a good time to upgrade your 2-4 years old graphic card now?( thats a different story if you are getting a new PC man )  Well, first of all, availability problem causes some of the most popular graphic card to hike up in price. The Radeon 4850 and nvidia GTX260 is actually pricier than few months back. The new Evergreen graphic from ATI is even in the worst case here, the Radeon 5850, 5870 and 5950 have very little available globablly. Inadvertently causing some stores to mark up their prices. While the cheaper variant of the Evergreen; 5770 and 5750 is just slightly better in the position. The lower end card like the Radeon 4670 and 4650 are still available and getting very affordable these days, but if you are upgrading your graphic card, you won’t get these cards right? My advice, is actually worth to play the wait game just for few more months now. This is what will happen: ATI will ramp up production for their Evergreen graphics family in January, the lower end Redwood will show up Q1, nvidia Fermi will show up by March best case scenario. It’s a very interesting 1st half. If Fermi perform half as good as what nvidia claim, that would be already enough to make ATI lower down their pricey Cypress and Hemlock, and price wars ignite. It’s good for the consumer in the end, you see, im not a fan boy in either side. I’m a fan boy of any side which can produce cheap, efficient, and high performing card, and I believe everyone should.

Roughly 1.5years back, ATI introduced the Radeon 3 series. It was an upgrade and speed bump for the Radeon 2 series which based on the same architecture R600. The 3 series from ATI wasn’t that competitive agaisnt the Geforce 9 series. But ATI lowered their price and compete in the middle and lower end segment. The Radeon 2 series  from my opinion, wasn’t a good product. It was reminiscent of the Phenom K10 architecture. It only starts to shine when AMD/ATI make a transition to 55nm manufacturing process for its 2400 and 2600 graphic processing unit. We can get cheap mainstream graphic card back then like the 8600GT from nvidia or the 3670 from ATI.

In the mid of 2008, is an even better time for graphic market. This is when ATI introduces the R700 family of graphic cards. The spotlight is on ATI 4850, the fastest mainstream at a reasonable price at that time. Performance was close and faster in some cases than the Geforce 9800 GTX which priced higher than the 4850. Nvidia couldn’t afford to lose market and lowered down their high end product to mainstream prices to compete with 4850. From top to bottom, ATI 4 series(R700) own all the performance crown in every segment. It was indeed a good year for ATI and a better year for consumers.

Ok, enough of history lesson. Today we have the Geforce GT200 series, the ATI 4 series (R700) and 5 series (Evergreen). The GT200 wasn’t really shine untill nvidia migrate the manufacturing process to 55nm earlier this year (or the very end of 2008). It was too hot and too expensive to produced using the 65nm. While ATI doesn’t have any new graphic other than the 4770 and 4890 for the first 9months of this year. Therefore, with competitive pricing from nvidia and the newly improved GT260 and GT285 later on, ATI would have to lower their prices as well. A very good first half of 2009 for consumers I would say. To sum up for today’s graphic card market, starting from the oldest to newest graphics family and from low end to high end segment:

ATI R700 family of GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), Radeon 4 series:

• The 4650 Buy “”, Buy “”, Buy “” Without Prescription and 4670 remained the best bang for buck in the lower segment.
• Scant availability of 4830 means it is in the process of phasing out. And with the price that is almost similiar with 4850. It’s best just to forget the former and get the later for more performance at just slightly few bucks more.
• The same goes to the 40nm Radeon 4 series – 4770 GPU. Worst is, 4770 is getting pricier than 4850.
• The most popular card of 2008 – Radeon 4850 is getting pricier, no thanks to the fact that this card is getting lesser due to low production from ATI. But anyway, is still the best lower mid range card for today’s standard.
• With strong competition from nvidia GTX260, the Radeon 4870 is tied with GTX260 at the same price range. It’s hard to recommend either one, it boils down to which game you played most. But I would recommend 4870 as it is faster in most games, if Phsyx matters for you then GTX260 is the one to go.
• Radeon 4890 while just an overclocked version of Radeon 4870,  was more overclocker friendly than 4870. With 30-40% higher selling price than 4870, 4890 has the upper hand in performance after maximum overclock. But if you’re not into overclocking, it’s best just to settle with nvidia GTX260 or 4870 or maybe the new Evergreen 5850( more on it later).

Nvidia GT200 GPU

• Lower end for these family of GPU is better be left out for recommendation list. However, the newly released GT240 which is based on 40nm and doesn’t require extra power connector is the one to look for. But since it couldn’t be found selling anywhere in stores and with unknown price yet, this segment had AMD’s Radeon 4650/4670 won hands down.
• GTX260 is only worth for your penny if you are looking for GPGPU applications . Else, just go for Radeon 4870.
• In the range of high end GT200, it’s hardly recommendable for anyone. With ATI’s Evergreen took back the performance crown at competitive pricing, I don’t see reasons to get the GTX285. The GTX295 is still reasonable choice as ATI Radeon 5970 is simply overpriced.

Well, it was certainly a nice upgrade for anyone having Pentium 4 systems with Northwood or Prescott core, or any AMD socket 939/754 AGP systems. Throw a stone over a crowd of PC systems, Silagra your stone will probably land on a system with PCI-E interface, the De facto graphics interface since 2005. The thing is, AGP system is rare and I have no idea why Gigabyte want to do a 4650 AGP card. Heck, even the most powerful AGP card is the ATI 3850. For anyone upgrading their AGP system with 4650, the CPU will likely bottleneck the whole system, not the graphic card.

Anyway, for people with AGP based HTPC, 4650 is a good upgrade as it only consumes 48W, thanks to its 55nm manufacturing process. And it inherits all the features of ATI’s 4XXX series features like ATI Avivo HD, DirectX 10.1, Shader Model 4.1 and HDMI ready.

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