5. Club 3D Radeon HD 7750

• Reviewed on: 20 March 12
• RRP: £85 inc VAT
• Rating:

At around £85, the AMD Radeon HD 7750 is a very affordable card. It's extremely light on power and, when the cooling system has been improved, will even be suitable for home media-centre use. A card like the 6790 will probably offer you slightly more gaming power for not very much more, although on a frame per pound basis, the 7750 remains the best value. Overall, it looks like being a very dependable (if hardly the most exciting) addition to the graphics card market.

4. PNY GeForce GTX 650 Ti

• Reviewed on: 16 October 12
• RRP: £125 inc VAT
• Rating:

At the time of writing, pricing wasn’t totally clear. However, assuming a price of around £125, the AMD Radeon 7850 is clearly this card’s biggest competitor. That card offers marginally more performance for a price for around £25 more. There may well be some juicy pricing strategies on the 650 Ti in the next couple of months. Currently though, the 7850 is probably better value.

3. AMD Radeon HD 7990

• Reviewed on: 3 June 13
• RRP: Around £900 inc VAT
• Rating:

Impressive though the 7990's specifications may look, it still only just defeats nVidia’s new top-dog GTX 690 in real-world testing. The latter consumes less power, and will cost around £100 less too, which means that it remains the more compelling deal overall. When it comes to the AMD Radeon HD 7990’s other potential rival, the nVidia Titan, the 7990 certainly seems a superior card on general gaming, but the Titan has more potential in terms of Compute speed. Neither is quite fast enough nor sufficiently technologically advanced to oust its two main rivals, leaving the 7990 as a good card in search of a compelling reason for being. A price cut may well provide it with that reason, but until then it'll likely remain a second choice to most users.

2. Gigabyte HD 7770 OC

• Reviewed on: 11 June 12
• RRP: £110 inc VAT
• Rating:

Unless you’re really strapped for cash, the Gigabyte HD 7770 OC is a better card. The superior specifications and improved fan are well worth the extra, and the Gigabyte HD 7770 OC offers quite playable game framerates in today’s titles, just as long as you aren’t expecting fireworks – you’ll still need to spend £250 or more for strong frame rates in titles like Crysis. The 6850 remains a slightly faster bet if you can find it, although the difference is marginal, and the 7770 OC’s architecture may well see it improving slightly in future games. As a value prospect, the Gigabyte HD 7770 OC is an excellent little card.

1. MSI GeForce GTX 650 Power Edition OC

• Reviewed on: 25 January 13
• RRP: £90 inc VAT
• Rating:

The MSI GeForce GTX 650 Power Edition OC is actually a pretty decent card. It’s already possibly a value option next to the 7770, and this MSI version has several upgrades that seem to make it that bit more fearsome. Add good overclocking and the incredible power efficiency, and the 650 is an appetising buy at around the £90 mark.