10 Cheap Budget Video Cards

The Radeon 260X is a great budget card for people who don't want to be to complex about their choices, there isn't much to it. It has decent performance, it can hit 50 FPS (Frames per second) on a demanding benchmarking game called BioShock Infinite at Ultra Settings. This card works great on 1080p and has a PassMark of 3000 which is alright. The over clocking capacity (pushing the speed of a card beyond factory performance) is good, however the cooling system could be better. This card is a great card for your first gaming PC. The price definitely lives up to the cards' power. This is overall a great deal for the money, and a great choice for anyone looking for a nice budget card that can run on Mid-High Graphic Settings at a playable frame rate.

The next card is the Radeon 260X's little brother, it's the Radeon 250X, somewhat cheaper than the 260X, it has very nice clock speed of 1,100 MHz and goes for just under $110. It works better on older/smaller monitors, such as a 720p monitor, however it can't really compete with a lot of other cards since it falls a bit short of the rest. This is still a very good deal, it doesn't exactly specialise in handling brutal over clocks but it still performs miraculously with most of the games around. There are some things that are pretty bad, like the power consumption and such. What's so bright about this card is it's extremely compact size, not that you should be carrying around video cards with you but it still is considered “cute”, like a lot of other small & surprisingly strong GPU's

I was putting this card off for a while because I didn't see the potential in it, and I was somewhat correct, however with a bit of over clocking the nVidia GT 730 is an amazing card for it's price, at under $70 this card may seem like much, and it isn't much at 900 MHz, but when you over clock this GPU it becomes a completely different story. It may not reach top notch performance and doesn't get too close to the above cards but the price is where it really shines, there are some video cards that have the same performance at an unreasonable amount of money. There isn't much to say about this card except for it's price tag. But it's a great choice for anyone looking to set up a mass amount of gaming PC's or just looking for a days' earning of decency.

We're back to the Radeon series, and I had to include this one because it was a bargain. It's the Radeon R7 250, it's quiet and cool, and for the price that was thrown on this I thought was a joke. But this card just takes the cake of the budget Radeon series because of it's features, running at a very nice 1000 MHz (that can be over clocked to 1100 MHz) it was a fierce competitor. With no doubt this card is better than the price, it's not very big either and you shouldn't have much problems running games at medium settings with a terrific frame rate. This card needs more attention even though it's not brand new.

This had to be on the list somewhere, it's the nVidia GTX 750, undoubtedly a popular choice for someone looking for a budget card. It has an awesome 1,000 MHz and is an adaptable choice for anyone. It is compact and silent, and can stay cool in heavy rendering situations. You should be able to run the latest games at Mid-High, or even ultra if you happened to over clock. This is accepted as a very good budget card all over, and the price is decent. People have a lot of opinions of the GTX 750 but mine is as positive as the card. Generally speaking power consumption is a downside. But all in all its a very good choice for a budget card.

It's the nVidia GT 740, and unlike the GT 730 it isn't here specifically for the price but the actual performance. It has just under 1000 MHz (which can easily be over clocked to 1000 MHz) it stands out from the other cards. It's very unique but is always criticised and at the bottom of peoples opinions. No one has really stopped to really see the potential this GPU withholds. It can be silent, however it has some problems with staying cool, but they aren't severe. In the end it's a very decent card which deserves a lot more attention. Overall this card deserves a chance, and is rich of potential.

The GTX 550 Ti has low stats, and everyone has to agree on that, but it doesn't tell the full story. This card definitely balances on the older side of cards, but it doesn't disappoint, don't take my word for it but this card is awesome. It only has 900 MHz, and it also costs more than the stats explain. And again; that because they don't say the full story. It has an extremely high over clocking capacity which is the sole reason it made it to the list. It can reach 1050 MHz which is a huge jump up from 900 MHz. This is because it can stay cool (not very silent however) in situations like over clocking or huge rendering heaps. Overall it's a great card with just a bit of maintenance. Power doesn't come easy.

I saw this card a did some research, which I was hugely surprised to what I found. The nVidia 560 Ti is spectacular. It has a generous over clocking capacity and can stay extremely silent and extremely cool during heavy tasks. It seems very durable, which it is, and is a brutal GPU, with a core clock of around 950 MHz it seems terrible. But just like the 550 Ti, it can over clock extremely high. It's almost like a super hyper version of the 550 Ti, which seems to explain it in a nutshell.
There isn't much to say, there a some good stats on it, and the price isn't exactly super cheap. But the price definitely pays off for what it offers. Overall it's double the 550 Ti in a nutshell.

For some odd reason I'm sticking to the GTX 500 series, and it's because the series has a unique style. The GTX 580 is high performing, but it beams more to the expensive side. It has an extremely low factory over clocked speed of around 750 MHz, but again, just like the 2 above, it strives in over clocking at extreme capacity. But this one is the mother of the 2 above, it has the lowest out of the box speed, but has the highest limit in over clocking. This is purely a upgrade GPU, don't expect to be putting this on your first PC, since it needs experimenting with over clocking. However the adjustments are compulsory to make this card shine.

This one is the mother of budget video cards. It's the GTX 750 Ti, the performance on this is chillingly amazing, and the price is amazing. It's the first choice that comes to my mind if the situation is budget gaming. The card is fascinatingly priced and generally awesome. Overall, this card is a terrific, must have budget card. The over clocking is not too good, but you can run games in Med-High, and even sometimes Ultra at a playable frame rate.