New game releases this 2015 makes the most out of current gen hardware. This is why gamers are forced to either update their rigs or relegate to watching livestream videos of new games being played by others. The desire to play these new PC titles such as GTA 5 and Battlefield Hardline will all be impossible to fulfill if upgrades are not made on one's computer rig.
The following are the best graphics cards of 2015 as rated by PC critics such as PCadvisor, Tom's Hardware and PC gamer.
nVidia GeForce GTX 970 - $340 on Amazon
Specifications:
GPU: GM204 (Maxwell)
Process: 28nm
Shader Units: 1664
Texture Units: 104
ROPs: 56
Core Clock: 1050MHz
Memory Clock: 1750MHz GDDR5
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth: 196 GB/s (3.5 GB) 28 GB/s (512MB)
Memory Capacity: 4GB
DirectX, Shader, OpenGL: 12/?/?
Max. TDP: 145W
Aux. Power Connector(s): 2x 6-pin PCIe
According to PCGamer, the GTX 970 is the best graphics card for those who want to have a decent gaming system but are in a budget. The card also garnered praise from game critic Eurogamer, calling it "...that rarest of things in the graphics card market - a genuine game-changer."
The card provides good performance when tested on demanding games such as Battlefield 4 and is priced reasonably. Though it is not the best card for 4k gaming, it is the best thing one can get when in budget. The GTX 970 is an all-around card that can handle most games released this 2015.
AMD Radeon R9 290X - $330 on Amazon
GPU: Hawaii (GCN)
Process: 28nm
Shader Units: 2816
Texture Units: 176
ROPs: 64
Core Clock: 1000MHz
Memory Clock: 1250MHz GDDR5
Memory Bus: 512-bit
Memory Bandwidth: 320GB/s
Memory Capacity: 4GB
DirectX, Shader, OpenGL: 12/?/?
Max. TDP: 250W
Aux. Power Connector(s): 1x 8 and 1x 6-pin PCIe
Min. Power Supply: 500W
Though a bit power-hungry compared to GTX 970, it is the next best thing on the market. The R9 290X is rated by Tom's Hardware as a second place contender to the top graphics card spot of 2015. Observed to have a lower performance at 1080p compared to GTX 970, but it can pump up game rigs to handle high 4k gaming resolutions. A good buy for gamers if one wants to have 4k resolutions no matter what.
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