Gaming cards are commonly known as GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) unlike the CPUs, theGPU is responsible for handling several tasks, these tasks often range from rendering videos or playing graphically intensive games. Over the span of last couple of years, the demand for gaming cards has increased a lot. This is mainly because the constantly flourishing game industry.
People are now willing to spend thousands of dollars on gaming cards just so they can have unparalleled performance in video games. With that being said, two major manufacturers Nvidia and AMD have made sure that the market is filled with gaming cards that will suit every gamer regardless of their budget. However, in this article, we are going to look at the gaming cards that range from high-end to enthusiast grade.
To keep everything as balanced as possible, gaming cards from both Nvidia and AMD have been added into the list along with their basic specifications and current price for the different 3rd party board partners in the market. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the best gaming cards 2016.
Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti AMP! Extreme: Buy Now
The first up on the list is Zotac’s rendition of the highly powerful GTX 980 Ti by Nvidia. For those who don’t know, the 980 Ti is a slightly cut-down version of the ever so powerful Titan X. The major difference is the reduced amount of CUDA cores and a cut-down V-RAM. Where Titan X comes with 12 gigs of GDDR5 V-RAM, the GTX 980 Ti has 6 gigs.
The Zotac variant is the fastest available 980 Ti in the market, it offers a base clock of 1253 MHz and boosts up-to 1355 MHz. The card offers an effective memory clock of 7.2 GHz. In addition to that, the GPU offers a completely non-reference design as well as non-reference PCB.
The back of the GPU is protected by a spectacular looking back-plat that states “push the limit” and the front is covered by a metal shroud that houses 3 fans, the fans won’t spin as long as there is an intensive task being performed, as for the passive cooling, the GPU remains really cool under idle situations.
As compared to the original 6+8 pin power connector requirement, the Amp! Extreme requires two 8 pin power connectors and provides a lot of overclocking head-room.
What other says about this graphics card?
It comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise all at the same time –techpowerup
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming: Buy Now
For the people who love Gigabyte’s Wind-force lineup of coolers, this is a must buy. The GTX 980 Ti G1 Gigabyte comes carrying a factory overclock and still managed to offer a plenty ofover-clocking potential.
That being said, the chips are cherry-picked by Gigabyte’s Gauntlet program, the program is created to ensure that the chips that are picked are of the best quality and offer the most amount of stability and overclocking potential.
The 980 Ti G1 Gaming follows the same design foot print as the GTX 980 G1 Gaming, however, the shroud has nice silver accents on top of it, apart from that, another major change is the ability to change the color of Wind-force logo from 7 given colors.
The GPU comes with the base clock of 1152 MHz and a boost clock of 1241 MHz, and as far as the performance is concerned, all GTX 980 Ti gaming cards are capable enough to offer smooth gaming experience at an amazing resolution of 1440p and can even perform really well at 4K.
What other says about gigabyte 980ti ?
The product is superb as it has awesome cooling, it’s silent, it’s factory overclocked (and not a little) and combined with the default variables like the 6 GB graphics memory this product oozes performance and awesomeness –guru3d.com
MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G: Buy Now
Want quality gaming but don’t want to spend a lot of money? Don’t sweat, the MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G is a high end graphics card and a younger sibling to the GTX 980 Ti. As compared to the elder brother.
The GTX 980 features a 4 GB V-RAM clocked at 7010 MHz and has a lot of gaming potential, and thanks to MSI’s dedication and potential that goes into building these brilliant gaming cards, the GTX 980 Gaming 4G is the perfect choice for gaming on 1440P without any hindrance.
Speaking of the gaming card, the MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G comes in the signature black and red color scheme and features an improved MSI Twin Frozr V cooler as well as an improved aftermarket black PCB for added stability.
The GPU comes factory overclocked with base clock of 1190 MHz and a boost clock of 1291 MHz when in gaming mode, you can increase the clock speeds up a notch by putting the card in OC mode.
Asus Strix Radeon R9 390X: Buy Now
Moving our focus to the red team, the first one from AMD is Asus’ rendition of the Radeon R9 390X. The gaming card goes by name called Strix. As you may or may not know, the GPU comes factory overclocked and has a massive V-RAM of 8 gigs.
The Asus Strix R9 390X comes with a 1070 MHz engine clock that bumps up to a respective 1090 MHz when the GPU is put into the OC mode, GPU Is effectively clocked at 6.0 GHz and offers a 512 bit bus interface. As compared to the Nvidia line of GPUs, the R9 390X by Asus is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the GTX 970.
That being said, the card comes with Asus brand new design that incorporates a completely custom design; this means the cooler as well as the PCB are aftermarket.
Do keep in mind that the GPU does have a lot of potential to overclock and also provides more than enough future-proofing.
MSI R9 390 Gaming 8G: Buy Now
We have another one from AMD, this time, it’s the R9 390. For those who don’t know, it is a slightly cut down version of the original R9 390X.
This time, we are talking about the non-reference, MSI R9 390 Gaming 8G. Just like the R9 390X by Asus, this one comes factory overclocked as well and has a design much similar to the GTX 980 Gaming 4G by MSI.
Like we stated, the factory overclocked GPU offers an engine clock of 1040 MHz, the GPU also offers an effective memory clock of 6 GHz. Do keep in mind that these numbers are at the Gaming Mode and switching to OC mode will grant you a higher level of OC on both engine and memory clock.
The GPU powers through one 6 pin and one 8 pin power connector.
Moving on to the aesthetics, if you are familiar with MSI’s design language, then it shouldn’t come to you as a surprise.
The card features MSI’s Twin Frozr V cooler and a completely black PCB. Much of the PCB is covered with a stylish back-plate, but of course, you can still have glimpses of it.
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G: Buy Now
We are back with another GeForce, this time, it’s the MSI variant of the GTX 970. The GPU comes dubbed as the the GTX 970 Gaming 4G.
Speaking of the popularity, according to the survey done by Steam, the GTX 970 happens to be the most popular GPU among the gamers. This doesn’t come as a surprise because it offers one of the best price/performance ratio one could ask for.
The GPU follows the same design language as all the other MSI gaming cards, with its red and black colour scheme and MSI’s amazing Twin Frozr V cooler. The GPU come factory overclocked and offers a base clock of 1114 MHz and a boost clock of 1253 MHz. The card is clocked at 7010 MHz memory.
Performance wise, the GPU really manages to hit the 1080p sweet spot and also has the capability of running games flawlessly at 1440p. That being said, the card is a top performer, however, the V-RAM controversy manages to give it a bad name.
If you are in the market and don’t want to spend a lot, then MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G is your perfect bet.
Asus Strix GeForce GTX 970: Buy Now
Another entry from the green team is the Asus Strix GeForce 970. Much like the MSI variant, this comes factory overclocked as well and is one of the quietest variant, thanks to the special care that’s put into the cooler.
The GPU offers a base clock of 1114 MHz and a boost clock of 1253 MHz, the GPU is effectively clocked at 7010 MHz to ensure the best amount of performance.
The Strix GTX 970 comes with a stylish shroud that houses 2 fans, the fans are fine-tuned and ensure that there is no noise during intensive gaming sessions. With that being said, the back of the all black PCB is protected by a gorgeous looking back-plate with Strix branding all over.
As far as the performance goes, the Strix variant performs somewhat closer to the other variants and manages to offer a respectable amount of overclocking headroom.
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0: Buy Now
We have yet another GTX 970 variant and this time, it’s the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC Gaming ACX 2.0. This particular GPU happens to be one of the faster alternatives as compared to the ones we have listed before.
The GPU comes with a base clock of 1165 MHz and a boost clock of a massive 1317 MHz, the GPU is effectively clocked at 7010 MHz.
Sadly, this particular variant focuses more on performance than aesthetics, the GPU comes with EVGA’s iconic black shroud that houses 2 fans for cooling, under the shroud, and you will find a set of heatsink pipes.
Sadly, this variant doesn’t come with a back-plate. However, if you are willing to have really good performance with decent level of overclocking head-room, then this one’s for you.
Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming 4 GB: Buy Now
Moving on to the more budget oriented gamers, the GTX 960 G1 Gaming by Gigabyte is the best choice for gamers who are aiming at the resolution of 1080p.
Although the GPU can’t hold against the elder sibling, it still provides plenty of power for the amount you have to pay for it. Needless to say, it can be said that the GTX 960 G1 Gaming is one of the best GPU with amazing price/performance ratio.
The GPU has the same design language as the GTX 970 and the 980 offers the same Windforce cooler on the back that has 3 fans and a stylish, black back-plate. That being said, the GPU comes factory overclocked and offers a base clock of 1241 MHz and a boost clock of 1304 MHz. The GPU is effectively clocked at 7010 MHz.
Speaking of performance, the GTX 960 G1 Gaming manages to perform eloquently on almost all the games, surely, you have to turn down a couple of settings if you want smooth gaming experience. Other than that, it’s a perfect beast with a decent price tag.
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SSC Gaming: Buy Now
GTX 960 makes a second return, however, this time, the GPU is coming straight from the helms of EVGA.
The EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SSC Gaming ACX 2.0+ 4GB is the supercharged version of the GTX 960 being sold as a reference GPU. The card carries a stylish shroud and a free back-plate that comes pre-installed.
The GPU comes with a base clock of 1279 MHz and a boost clock of 1342 MHz, on top of that, the GPU memory is effectively clocked at 7010 MHz.
It can be said that this GTX 960 by EVGA is one of the top dogs and perform quite decently at higher resolutions.
MSI R7 370 Gaming 4G: Buy Now
It is finally time to pay attention to the mid-range gaming cards. The first one on our list is MSI R7 370 Gaming 4G.
This is one of the gaming cards that fall under the price tag of $200 and is a must if you are on a tight budget. Thanks to its 4 gigabyte memory, gaming on higher resolutions is possible to an extent.
The R7 370 Gaming 4G by MSI features a base clock of 950 MHz and a boost clock of 1030 MHz, the card’s memory is clocked at an effective 5600 MHz. Thanks to the aftermarket cooler as well as an improved PCB, the card allows a modest amount of overclock.
Speaking of aesthetics, the card shares the same design we have seen on almost all the GPUs by MSI. Do keep in mind that the card doesn’t come with a back-plate, mainly because of the price it is being offered at.
Asus Strix GTX 950: Buy Now
The last one on the list is the low-cost gaming card on our list; the Asus Strix GTX 950. The card retails for about $155.99 and offers enough horsepower for gamers who are on a really tight budget.
Do keep in mind that the price is just a deception as the gaming performance of this gaming card is really commendable.
The GPU comes with a base clock of 1140 MHz and a boost clock of 1329 MHz, the card runs at 6610 MHz of memory clock. To be honest, in this price range, it is the best GPU you can buy in 2016.
The GPU does support SLI and has a modest headroom for those who want to overclock. As far as the performance goes, the GPU manages to give playable amount of frame-rates at full-HD resolution.
Conclusion
Thanks to the extensive time spent in research, we have reached a conclusion that these 10 listed GPUs are the best ones you can buy in 2016. There were a lot of options to choose from but we went with what the customer would want as well as how much a person is willing to spend on a gaming card.
For those wondering why Titan X wasn’t included, it’s mainly because the heavy price-tag it carries and because it isn’t specifically built for gaming. In case we missed any of your favorite gaming cards or cards you think should be in our list, feel free to let us know in the comments below, Let’s start a conversation.
Source : blazinglist
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