Calculating Value: Performance per Dollar

Have you ever wondered what you get for your money? Well, I suppose that's a silly question, as anyone reading this page could guess. There are a couple of ways to present this data, and we wanted something simple to understand. It is important to remember that the way we've presented this information, absolute performance is not accounted for at all: the only metric we are looking at on this page is how much you get for the money you spend. Keep in mind that a good deal on 25 frames per second might not be what you are after: absolute performance is important too and we'll be looking at that in the next section. In general, more expensive solutions perform higher, so even if there is lower "value" the performance increase could be worth it to some buyers.

We will be using these prices for this calculation.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 SLI700
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 SLI630
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 SLI400
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI290
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295500
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285350
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280315
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 core 216225
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260200
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2300
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+145
ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2290
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB CrossFire350
ATI Radeon HD 4850 CrossFire290
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2440
ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB220
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB175
ATI Radeon HD 4850145

These prices were gathered from newegg.com and google and do NOT include mail-in rebates.

Our method here is to look at the performance you get for every hundred dollars spent. Specifically this answers the question: how many fps do you get in a specific game for every hundred bucks you spend on a particular graphics card. To calculate this data, we divided our performance data in average framerate by the cost of the card and then multiplied the result by 100. This isn't really a number that means something tangible: it's more just a metric that helps us relate the value of cards within a specific test. You can't compare any of these numbers between games, or even between resolutions, except in terms of relative order -- you need to look at one test and one resolution at a time.

To help out, if all the cards in a test had a score of "10", that would mean for every hundred dollars you spend you get 10 frames per second of performance in our test. Of course, though our value chart shows all the cards on equal footing, more expensive cards will have proportionally higher performance: if you wanted 30 frames per second in that specific benchmark you would need to spend at least $300.

So this isn't the bottom line in what to buy. These benchmarks are an indication of relative value outside absolute performance. Absolute performance is also a value metric: higher performance is more valuable and may be disproportionally more valuable if it crosses a playability threshold. These graphs will help show how much of a premium or a deal you are paying or getting on your absolute performance relative to other parts.

In general, multiGPU solutions will show less "value" than single GPU counterparts because we see less than linear scaling. If a two card solution costs twice as much while performance scales at less than 2x, we'll see a lower "value" result. The single card multiGPU options have a better chance at improving value than two card solutions, as they can sometimes be found for less than twice the cost of their nearest single card single GPU derivative.

Who Scales: How Much? The Test
Comments Locked

95 Comments

View All Comments

  • kmmatney - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link

    Especially at the 1920 x 1200 resolution - that resolution is becoming a sweetspot nowadays.
  • just4U - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link

    I disagree. I see people finally moving away from their older 17-19" flat panels directly into 22" wide screens. 24" and 1920/1200 resolutions are no where near the norm.
  • SiliconDoc - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - link

    Correct, but he said sweet spot because his/her wallet is just getting bulgy enough to comtenplate a movement in that direction... so - even he/she is sadly stuck at "the end user resolution"...
    lol
    Yes, oh well. I'm sure everyone is driving a Mazerati until you open their garage door....or golly that "EVO" just disappeared... must have been stolen.
  • DerekWilson - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link

    The 1GB version should perform very similarly to the two 4850 cards in CrossFire.

    The short answer is that the 1GB version won't have what it takes for 2560x1600 but it might work out well for lower resolutions.

    We don't have a 1GB version, so we can't get more specific than that, though this is enough data to make a purchasing decision -- just look at the 4850 CrossFire option and take into consideration the cheaper price on the 1GB X2.
  • politbureau - Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - link

    I realize this is an older article, however I always find it interesting to read when upgrading cards.

    While I find it admirable that Derek has compared the 'older' GTX 280 SLI scaling, it is unfortunate that he hasn't pointed out that it should perform identically to the GTX 285s if the clocks were the same.

    This was also passed over in the "worthy successor" article, where it does not compare clock for clock numbers - an obvious test, if we want to discover the full value of the die shrink.

    I recently 'upgraded' to 3 GTX 285s from 3 GTX 280s through warranty program with the mfg, and there is little to no difference in performance between the 2 setups. While cabling is more convenient (no 6 to 8 pin adapters), the 285s won't clock any better than my 280s would, Vantage scores are within a couple hundred points of each other at the same clocks (the 280s actually leading), and the temperature and fan speed of the new cards hasn't improved.

    I think this is a valuable point in an article that compares performance per dollar, and while slightly outside the scope of the article, I think it's a probabtive observation to make.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now