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Best Video / Graphics Card For The Money (May 2012, $100-$200)

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Here is list of best mid-range gaming graphics cards for the money, from 100 to 200 dollars. The more expensive models are powerful enough for running newer games (with some exceptions) with almost maximum settings at not very high resolutions. Of course you need a decent processor that will not bottleneck the video card. Before buying one of these graphics cards make sure that you have a good PSU (pre-built brand computers usually don't) and case that is big enough for longer video cards like AMD Radeon HD 6870. Also, you need a motherboard with a free PCI-E x16 slot.

$100 to $110 (AMD Radeon HD 7750 or HD 6770)

AMD Radeon HD 6770 has been the best gaming graphics card in this price range for a very long time, but now there is the super power efficient AMD Radeon HD 7750 available. It is equal or slightly slower than HD 6770 and it consumes 2x less power at full load, so it doesn't require a PCI-E power connector. AMD Radeon HD 7750 and HD 6770 are both better choices than slower AMD Radeon HD 6750 or NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 that often cost more.

Under $120 (NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti or AMD HD 6790)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti is a few percent faster than AMD Radeon HD 7750 and HD 6770 (depends on game and resolution, it can be slower in some situations), but it is a pretty power hungry graphics card compared to HD 7750. If you don't mind higher electricity bills or you need CUDA, PhysX, NVIDIA 3D Vision, better drivers or other things that AMD graphics cards don't have, then grab a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti for $120. Sometimes you can also find even faster (but soon discontinuing?) AMD Radeon HD 6790 for around $120.

Under $130 (NVIDIA GTX 560 SE or AMD HD 7770)

I would recommend AMD Radeon HD 6850 for extra 10 bucks, but if your budget is $130, then get either NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE or AMD Radeon HD 7770. They should have nearly identical performance. The AMD Radeon HD 7770 was originally very overpriced at 160 dollars, but now the price have dropped to pretty reasonable $130.

Under $140 (AMD HD 6850 or NVIDIA GTX 460 V2)

AMD Radeon HD 6850 is still the fastest sub-$150 graphics card, the new Radeon HD 7770 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE are both slightly slower. If you want a NVIDIA, then get a GeForce GTX 460 V2, it should have similar performance to HD 6850. It has higher clock speeds, but only 192-bit memory bus compared to the 256-bit on old GTX 460. AMD HD 6850 is not worth over $140 if you can get NVIDIA GTX 560 or AMD HD 6870 for less than $160.

Under $170 (AMD HD 6870 or NVIDIA GTX 560)

After many months the fastest gaming graphics card for under 200 dollars is still AMD Radeon HD 6870. It is equal or slightly faster than NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 (non Ti) which is finally similarly priced, but the Radeon HD 6870 has lower power consumption. The next step up is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti, unfortunately it costs just over 200 dollars.