Conclusions
PerformanceThe aging GeForce GTX 460 768MB card however IS a strong competitor to the HD 6790 with its $149 price point. With the exception of Lost Planet 2, I would give the Radeon HD 6790 the edge EVER SO SLIGHTLY over the GTX 460 card in our other tests where the cards were tied. The prices are identical and the performance is very similar so it could be a very tough match up for both sides except that AMD has a couple other feathers in its cap including lower power consumption as well as support for 3+ displays (though Eyefinity gaming would be a waste on a card with this level of performance). Not to mention that the GTX 460s are getting harder and harder to find…
As expected, the new HD 6790 is quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 5770 at only $20 more; a good move for consumers that want to get the most performance out of their dollar.
Pricing and Availability
- AMD Radeon HD 6790 1GB – $149
- NV GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Reference – $139
- AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB – $129
- NV GeForce GTX 460 768 MB – $149
Final Thoughts
AMD’s new Radeon HD 6790 1GB graphics card based on the Barts GPU design is a great choice for users looking for a ~$150 graphics card for their next budget build. The competition between AMD and NVIDIA in this particular space is interesting, with AMD’s move to use a single GPU for as many SKUs as possible (Barts and Cayman basically cover the entire 6000-series spectrum with two GPU spins) and NVIDIA’s tendency to make a large GPU for their flagship card and slowly spin out new designs for the changing price segments (GF110, GF114, GF116). Both offer advantages and disadvantages but it seems that AMD’s flexibility has allowed it to undercut NVIDIA in many ways while maintaining performance levels and pricing that customers demand. The only question for AMD long term is how that affects their profitability.
For the majority of gamers though, that doesn’t really matter; what does is how much gaming power you can get for your hard-earned (or lazily acquired) local currency. In that regard, the Radeon HD 6790 1GB is a graphics card that puts even more pressure on NVIDIA and its GTX 500-series than it had before and leaves AMD as our favorite option for $150.
Further Reading:
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 3GB Dual-GPU Fermi Graphics Card Review
- MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr II Review: Cool, Quiet, and somewhat Beastly
- AMD Radeon HD 6990 4GB Dual GPU Cayman Graphics Card
- The Upgrade Dilemma – How your old graphics card stands up
- GeForce GTX 560 Ti Review Roundup – Galaxy, MSI and Palit Compared
- Galaxy GeForce GTX 460 1GB WHDI Edition – Wireless HDMI Streaming
- What to Expect from Desktop Graphics in 2011
- AMD Radeon HD 6970 and 6950 Review – The Cayman Architecture Revealed