VR-Zone

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 560 Ti release, followed by the introduction of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 1GB, has shaken up the $200-$300 GPU market. The new prices are as follows:

AMD Radeon HD 6870 - $219
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - $249
AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB - $259
AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB - $289

Despite the major shake-up in the $200-$300 market, the prices of the $179 HD 6850 and the $350-$370 GTX 570 / HD 6970 remain unchanged.

There's no shortage of options in the mainstream market, with each product having its own selling points. The overall pick, however, is arguably the Radeon HD 6950 1GB, edging out the GTX 560 Ti, and consuming much lesser power for a reasonable $10 premium. However, do watch out for the 2GB version dropping in prices further, as the 1GB variant may suffer poor availability thanks to a rushed release. If you aren't concerned about power consumption, the GTX 560 Ti is a champion overclocker. The HD 6870 continues to be excellent value with the latest price drops, but cannot reach the performance of GTX 560 Ti. Overclocked versions of the HD 6870 are expected to bridge the gap between the HD 6870 and GTX 560 Ti in both price and performance.

The mainstream performance market is now filled with plenty attractive options. You can't go wrong with any of the above cards.