The supreme graphics playing cards for PC gaming: The latest GPU is a blast from the previous

Most those who’re in the marketplace for a recent graphics card maintain one most valuable quiz in solutions: Which card will give me the most bang for my buck? Obviously, the acknowledge will vary reckoning to your budget. Past that, there are a spread of components to  purchase into consideration: Uncooked performance is known, however so are things esteem noise, the driver experience, and supplemental application. And save you’ll want to pay a top class to rep in on the bleeding edge of exact-time ray tracing?

Enable us to assemble it easy for you. We’ve tested virtually every most valuable GPU that’s hit the streets over the final couple of years, from $100 budget playing cards to $1,800 luxurious gadgets. Our recordsdata has been distilled into this text—a procuring for book with solutions about which graphics card to purchase, no topic what form of experience you’re procuring for.

Show mask: There are customized variations of every graphics card from a host of vendors. As an illustration, additionally, you will purchase numerous GeForce GTX 3080 gadgets from EVGA, Asus, MSI, and Zotac, among others.

We’ve linked to our complete review for every advice, however the procuring for hyperlinks result in gadgets that hew carefully to every graphics card’s MSRP. Spending further can rep you hefty out-of-the-field overclocks, beefier cooling methods, and extra. Are trying our “What to search in a customized card” portion below for guidelines on how additionally, you will gain a customized card that’s actual for you.

Graphics card recordsdata

• It’s all however very now now not going to procure graphics playing cards actual now, particularly at sane costs. Our explainer of the precise GPU storm unearths why. The GeForce RTX 30-series and Radeon RX 6000-series supplied out without lengthen and stay scarce in the face of overwhelming ask, with scalpers and bots snatching them up upright as greedily as enthusiasts. Place a question to is so high that even older-era graphics playing cards are selling for better than they impress recent, years previously, in most cases. Ought to you’re stuck with out a graphics card, purchase into consideration attempting Nvidia’s free GeForce Now cloud streaming or a next-gen gaming console as an alternative to tide you over. Nvidia upright launched a recent RTX 3080 tier for GeForce Now that now now not handiest presents you irregular rep entry to to talked about hardware, however also provides nifty aspects esteem longer 8 hour play sessions and 1440p, 120Hz streams, to boot to 4K HDR streams on Nvidia’s Defend TV console. It costs $100 for six months—steep, to make certain, however a lot more affordable than the $1,500 to $2,000 you’d topple on a recent RTX 3080 on Ebay this teach day. 

• More realistic graphics playing cards may well commence as much as absorb out this era soon. Nvidia now now not too long previously launched the GeForce RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti for mainstream laptops—the first time in latest memory a recent GeForce GPU debuted in laptops in region of desktops. They’d well now not wind up in desktops, alternatively, as Nvidia now now not too long previously revived the RTX 2060, however wielding 12GB of memory as an alternative. Huh. There wasn’t an genuine announcement, however with twice the memory as earlier than and gathered-winning mining hash rates, don’t anticipate the 12GB RTX 2060 to return that cheap on the streets. AMD also upright launched its non-XT Radeon RX 6600, the first lawful 1080p graphics card of this era—even supposing at $329, it’s now now not precisely priced for the masses.
• More reduction will be on the capacity soon (even supposing now now not too soon) in the originate of a third contender. Intel now now not too long previously took the wraps off its hotly anticipated “Arc Alchemist” GPUs, built on the firm’s Xe structure. These gamer-centered graphics playing cards—Intel’s first stab at discrete person GPUs—at some point soon in the first quarter of 2022, complete with hardware-based entirely mostly ray tracing wait on and XeSS, an AI-based entirely mostly image upsampling application built to rival Nvidia’s DLSS tech.
• Ought to you’re lucky ample to procure a more affordable Radeon graphics card, AMD will now toss in a free month of Xbox Game Pass for PC.
• Must dive even deeper into your hardware? We’ve now now not too long previously printed guides explaining how additionally, you will benchmark your graphics card and how additionally, you will spark off AMD’s Stunning Procure admission to Memory for sooner gaming performance, to boot to an explainer on Nvidia’s “Lite Hash Payment” anti-mining expertise.

Only budget graphics card

Editor’s mask: Place a question to is by approach to the roof for graphics playing cards actual now. More moderen gadgets promote out without lengthen and in overall impress hundreds of bucks better than MSRP. Even older-era graphics playing cards are selling for better than what they impress recent, years previously. We are capable of’t suggest folk purchase graphics playing cards at these markups, however at the same time as you’re lucky ample to procure inventory at MSRP, this book may well gathered abet. Show mask that costs below focus on about MSRP, because it’s very now now not going to cease latest with on the recent time’s volatile pricing.

The following-gen Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series and AMD Radeon RX 6000-series maintain but to trickle all the manner down to budget markets, an understandable twist given how unparalleled graphics playing cards on the 2d promote for. And with even former old graphics playing cards selling for hundreds of bucks, it’s virtually very now now not going to snag a graphics card on a budget actual now. Admire in mind attempting Nvidia’s free GeForce Now cloud streaming or a next-gen gaming console as an alternative to tide you over. The recent RTX 3080 tier of GeForce Now delivers a top-shelf gaming experience if your Web connection can absorb, however costs $100 for six months, so it could well now not be the supreme budget option. Luckily, the Priority tier with RTX 2080-class performance costs half that, and there’s also a free tier that runs on roughly RTX 2060-grade hardware.

Ought to you wish a native PC gaming acknowledge these clearly gained’t sever it even supposing. Your supreme bet is to purchase up one among AMD’s game-ready Ryzen 5000G APUs, which stay in inventory in both DIY originate and interior a quantity of prebuilt methods. “You are going to also fabricate a Ryzen 5 5700G machine on the recent time and rep prominent CPU performance alongside with OK gaming performance,” we talked about in our review. Yes, you’ll must dial down some graphics suggestions for the supreme performance, however you’ll be ready to play esports video games and even triple-A titles at a moral clip at 720p or 1080p decision. At $259 for the Ryzen 5 5600G and $369 for the Ryzen 7 5700G, they aren’t precisely cheap, particularly because you’ll also want a motherboard to plop them into, however undergo in solutions that you’re getting both a CPU and a doable GPU stand-in for the impress. And hey, they’re if truth be told in inventory.

Only 1080p graphics card

Editor’s mask: Place a question to is by approach to the roof for graphics playing cards actual now. More moderen gadgets promote out without lengthen and in overall impress hundreds of bucks better than MSRP. Even older-era graphics playing cards are selling for better than what they impress recent, years previously. We are capable of’t suggest folk purchase graphics playing cards at these markups, however at the same time as you’re lucky ample to procure inventory at MSRP, this book may well gathered abet. Show mask that costs below focus on about MSRP, because it’s very now now not going to cease latest with on the recent time’s volatile pricing.

The following-gen Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series and AMD Radeon RX 6000-series maintain but to trickle all the manner down to extra mainstream impress components, an understandable twist given how unparalleled graphics playing cards on the 2d promote for. That talked about, the Radeon RX 6600 is a moral option for excellent 1080p gaming at 60 frames per 2d or greater, assuming you’re engaging to use $330 or extra for 1080p gaming, a impress that may well be thought to be entirely indecent pre-pandemic. (You are going to also be greater off procuring for a console or turning to cloud gaming as an alternative.) AMD’s GPU is the first lawful 1080p/60 graphics card of this era, and it boasts coarse energy efficiency that helps retain it working frigid and gathered to your system, even supposing it isn’t the supreme option at the same time as you’re hoping to flip on ray tracing.

The (ostensibly) $330 GeForce RTX 3060 is a moral option for top refresh price 1080p gaming when additionally, you will rep your fingers on one, whereas the $379 Radeon RX 6600 XT is even sooner but. They’re overkill at the same time as you’re gaming on a frail 60Hz existing, alternatively, and going for $500 to $800 on the streets, so you need to well maintain a wiser time finding a Radeon RX 6600 or an older, less grand GPU at the same time as you’re lacking a high refresh price existing. Both would also be uninspiring on epic of their high decal costs if the GPU market wasn’t entirely bonkers actual now. Ought to you need to well perchance procure an RTX 3060 at MSRP, it’s a wiser option than the identically priced Radeon RX 6600—it’s sooner, has 4GB extra VRAM, and handles ray tracing greater—however in the exact world you’re doubtlessly going to want to use $675 or extra to rep one. Nasty.

The GeForce RTX 1660, 1660 Expansive, and 1660 Ti are all moral 1080p gaming suggestions for 60Hz panels, as is AMD’s older Radeon RX 5600 XT and 5700. The GeForce RTX 2060 may well also be rate smitten by in state for you ray tracing and DLSS capabilities. Even older suggestions esteem the Radeon RX 580 and 590 or Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 can attain in a pinch, even supposing you’ll must assemble some visible compromises as they’re in actuality initiating to teach their age.

Only 1440p graphics card

Editor’s mask: Place a question to is by approach to the roof for graphics playing cards actual now. More moderen gadgets promote out without lengthen and in overall impress hundreds of bucks better than MSRP. Even older-era graphics playing cards are selling for better than what they impress recent, years previously. We are capable of’t suggest folk purchase graphics playing cards at these markups, however at the same time as you’re lucky ample to procure inventory at MSRP, this book may well gathered abet. Show mask that costs below focus on about MSRP, because it’s very now now not going to cease latest with on the recent time’s volatile pricing.

Ought to you’re taking a peek to pressure a 1440p existing at 60-plus frames per 2d (and in overall unparalleled greater) with no graphical compromises, Nvidia’s $400 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a “virtually flawless” option. It’s sooner than final era’s $800 RTX 2080 Expansive—the 2d strongest GPU on this planet till a pair of months previously. “That performance paired with 8GB of GDDR6 memory makes the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti an fantastic 1440p gaming option,” we talked about in our review. “It exceeds the hallowed 60-frames-per-2d trace in every game tested at that call, even with the most strenuous visible settings enabled. It flies properly previous that trace in plenty of video games, and it could well gathered don’t maintain any be troubled keeping 90 fps+ at 1440p in most titles at the same time as you don’t solutions performing minor tuning on graphics suggestions.”

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti performs ray tracing greater than AMD’s costliest GPUs, thanks in no runt portion to Nvidia’s improbable DLSS 2.0 expertise. It’s also capable of stunning 4K gaming, however the 8GB of memory may well absorb it abet future 4K video games.

Ought to you maintain a 120Hz+ 1440p video display, the $500 GeForce RTX 3070 may well also be rate smitten by, however it’s handiest 9 percent to 15 percent sooner than the RTX 3060 Ti at 1440p reckoning on the game for 25 percent extra cash. That makes the RTX 3060 Ti a wiser option for many other folks, even supposing the RTX 3070’s performance boost will be precious at the same time as you absorb onto your graphics playing cards for an particularly long time earlier than upgrading again.

The $600 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is extraordinarily a runt sooner than that, even even supposing it comes with unparalleled sooner GDDR6X memory. Most folk may well gathered rep the 3060 Ti in the event that they may be able to procure one at a semi-cheap impress.

The GeForce RTX 3070 (and 3060 Ti) handiest has 8GB of GDDR6 memory. That can well perchance now now not be ample for 4K gaming going forward, however it’s stunning for 1440p in most scenarios—however now now not all. Ogle Canines Legion, shall we convey, uses better than 8GB of VRAM at 1440p at the same time as you crank up the graphics settings and spark off exact-time ray tracing. Ought to you’re leery, purchase into consideration procuring for the $580 Radeon RX 6800 as an alternative. You pay a runt extra for a runt sooner performance, however extra importantly, AMD loaded the Radeon RX 6800 with an giant 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Nvidia’s RTX 30-series playing cards are unparalleled, unparalleled greater at ray tracing, alternatively—and $80 more affordable.

The step-down AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT comes with 12GB of VRAM. It delivers grand 1440p gaming performance that’s a runt bit sooner than the RTX 3060 Ti, however at $479 and up, it’s priced extra in-tune with the RTX 3070, and that comparison does it no favors. 

Turning abet to Nvidia, the $330 GeForce RTX 3060 also presents an giant 12GB of memory (thanks for the market strain, AMD!) alongside with a moral entry-stage 1440p experience. You are going to also must turn down the graphics settings a runt in particularly intense video games to hit 60fps, however this may well perchance gathered don’t maintain any be troubled surpassing that hallowed purpose in every title. 

Ought to you’re taking a peek to max out a high refresh-price 1440p video display, or pressure a 3440×1440 ultrawide video display, Nvidia’s $700 GeForce RTX 3080 and AMD’s $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT are stellar suggestions that trade blows in raw performance. Even with all the visible settings cranked to Extremely, these horrible playing cards bring above 100fps at 1440p decision across the 10+ video games we tested, and in overall properly above. The RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6800 XT bring over 50 percent extra performance than the RTX 2080 as a baseline across the board and beat even the RTX 2080 Ti by a healthy margin.

All of these suggestions are also snappily ample to play ray traced video games at a restful clip at 1440p—one thing you couldn’t convey with older RTX 20-series playing cards. You are going to also must tweak some visible suggestions abet when enabling ray tracing on AMD’s playing cards, alternatively, whereas sooner RT cores and DLSS expertise imply you gained’t must assemble the same sacrifices with Nvidia’s GPU. AMD holds the memory capacity edge all over again, alternatively, at 16GB of GDDR6 versus 10GB of GDDR6X in the RTX 3080, however that shouldn’t topic too unparalleled at 1440p decision.

Don’t purchase the RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 6800 at the same time as you handiest maintain a 60Hz 1440p video display. They’re pricey overkill except you maintain a 120Hz-plus 1440p video display that can save it ludicrous speeds to moral use. They’re a dazzling pairing with a 60Hz 3440×1440 ultrawide existing, even supposing, as that greater decision is extra tense.

Only 4K graphics card

The same concerns we listed about final-gen playing cards in our 1440p portion continue here. The arrival of the recent era of Radeon and GeForce GPUs without lengthen was most high-close playing cards from earlier than into depraved values, and costs for all graphics playing cards are crazy actual now, however you maintain extra suggestions among top class GPUs at the same time as you’re lucky ample to rep your fingers on one.

The supreme concerns between AMD and Nvidia up here in the high close? Ray tracing and memory capacity. AMD’s Radeon 6000-series GPUs approach with giant 16GB memory pools that may well gathered handle every part video games throw at them for the foreseeable future. In opposition to this, Nvidia wasn’t quite as generous with the memory in its RTX lineup, and some uncommon, particularly strenuous video games are already pushing GeForce VRAM limits. However the RTX 30-series provide vastly superior ray tracing performance, both in raw horsepower and with the giant uplift supplied by DLSS 2.0 supersampling, which AMD on the 2d has no acknowledge for. Ray tracing is selecting up steam now that it’s in the next-gen consoles however remains quite uncommon in on the recent time’s video games, alternatively.

Spend your poison; these are all grand graphics playing cards.

Ought to you’re on a $500 budget, or attempting to energy a 60Hz 4K video display, the $500 GeForce RTX 3070 is rate smitten by. It’s upright as snappily because the aged $1,200 RTX 2080 Ti flagship and exceeds or flirts with the 60fps trace in most—however now now not all—video games at 4K decision with graphics settings maxed out. Be warned that you’ll must dial the visuals in some video games abet to hit 60fps, even supposing, and the cardboard can fight at the same time as you spark off ray tracing in video games that wait on it.

The RTX 3070’s modest 8GB memory buffer isn’t seemingly to be very future-proof either, as some video games already exceed that capacity at 4K, so we purchase into consideration Nvidia’s $500 card greater for top refresh price 1440p gaming, or 4K gaming with some runt doable quality compromises. High graphics settings gathered peep grand at 4K, even supposing the 8GB of VRAM would assemble me leery about procuring for the RTX 3070 as a protracted-term 4K gaming acknowledge.

The $600 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has sooner GDDR6X memory and a runt extra horsepower so it handles 4K a runt greater than its non-Ti namesake, even supposing all the same caveats in overall exist for that card as properly.

Ought to you don’t desire to assemble these occasional graphics quality tweaks or misfortune about whether or now now not 8GB of memory will be ample for 4K gaming in a year or two, purchase into consideration AMD’s $580 Radeon RX 6800 as an alternative. It’s a runt sooner than the RTX 3070 and is derived with a generous 16GB of GDDR6 memory. AMD’s Stunning Procure admission to Memory expertise also presents Radeon RX 6000-series graphics playing cards an further glide boost when paired with a Ryzen 5000 processor in an X570 motherboard.

Ought to you desire even sooner performance, or maintain a high refresh price 4K video display, step as much as the $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT or $700 GeForce RTX 3080. They kick ass, purchase names, and trade performance blows. There’ll now not be any video games in our test suite that fail to definite a 60-frames-per-2d moderate at 4K decision with all doable visuals effects enabled on these playing cards, and so they in overall exceeds that trace by a ways.

 The GeForce RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6800 XT spit out frames as much as 80 percent sooner than the RTX 2080 in plenty of video games at 4K, and 60 percent greater in the others. They’re roughly 30 percent sooner than the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the $1,200 old-gen flagship, and a ridonkulous 100 to 160 percent sooner than the older GeForce GTX 1080. The overwhelming horsepower makes these grand suggestions for 3440×1440 ultrawide gaming, too.

The purpose differences are particularly key here. The Radeon RX 6800 XT packs a future-proof 16GB of GDDR6 memory, versus 10GB of sooner GDDR6X memory in the RTX 3080. But Nvidia’s ray tracing revenue shines even brighter on the high-close, as its 2d-gen RT cores and DLSS expertise allow 4K gaming with ray tracing enabled. AMD’s playing cards merely can’t play ray traced video games previous 1440p with out body rates slowing to a dash.

Transferring up but greater, the unparalleled extra horrible GeForce RTX 3090 “BFGPU” wields 10,496 CUDA cores, SLI connectors, and a giant 24GB of that rapidly GDDR6X memory. It’s an shapely impress for creators who can tap into all that VRAM, and can close 60fps gaming at a daft 8K decision in a handful of video games, however it’s handiest about 10 to 15 percent sooner than the RTX 3080 at 4K for over twice the impress. Most folk may well gathered rep the RTX 3080 as an alternative for a gathered-fantastic 4K experience, however there’s no denying the GeForce RTX 3090 is the fastest gaming card on this planet—even supposing AMD’s $999 Radeon RX 6900 XT hopes to be troubled that claim when it releases on December 8.

In a surprise twist, Nvidia’s comprise Founders Edition cooler is phenomenal, which makes it a wiser purchase than customized playing cards since the FE mannequin sells on the cardboard’s $1,499 MSRP, in region of coming with a steep top class. We’ve bought 3440×1440 ultrawide benchmarks for the RTX 3090, too.

Ought to you’re engaging to use four figures on a graphics card even supposing, your supreme bet is the $1200 GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. It’s upright as snappily because the 3090 if truth be told, however knocks $300 off the impress impress by losing the GDDR6X memory capacity from a daft 24GB all the manner down to a gathered-grand-for-4K 12GB.

For the first time in a truly long time, AMD presents a rival to Nvidia’s flagship GeForce GPU, however it’s exhausting to suggest the $1,000 Radeon RX 6900 XT no topic its steep good deal in opposition to the RTX 3090. It’s handiest two percent slower than the RTX 3090 at 1440p gaming, so it could actually be rate smitten by for a high-refresh price 1440p video display, or for powering a 3440×1440 ultrawide experience, the attach it performs thoroughly. It is also a solid option for Linux users, since AMD drivers manufacture with unparalleled less headache there. And this card also presents unparalleled extra overclocking headroom than rival GeForce GPUs at the same time as you’re into hardcore tweaking. 

However the Radeon RX 6900 XT loses to the RTX 3090 by over 9 percent at 4K gaming, and since AMD doesn’t provide a DLSS rival, ray traced video games are minute to 1440p decision—a bummer in a four-figure graphics card. And the $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT is quite as snappily for $350 less, whereas the $700 RTX 3080 is truly as snappily at 4K with significantly greater ray tracing performance. Right here’s an fantastic graphics card, and it’s grand to peep AMD competing in opposition to Nvidia on the high close after a protracted absence, however the Radeon RX 6900 XT doesn’t slice out a solid area of interest for itself. Hot-rodded customized variations of this GPU may well absorb quite plenty of doable after they hit the streets, even supposing.

What to search in a customized card

Ought to you’ll want to shop previous the scope of our picks, know that finding the true graphics card may well additionally be tense. Diverse vendors provide customized variations of every GPU. As an illustration, additionally, you will purchase numerous Radeon RX 6700 XT gadgets from Sapphire, XFX, Asus, MSI, and PowerColor.

To abet narrow down the suggestions and procure the true card for you, you need to well perchance gathered purchase into consideration the next things when doing all your review:

Overclocks: Elevated-priced customized gadgets are in overall overclocked out-of-the-field to plenty of degrees, which will result in greater performance. Most smartly-liked customized playing cards provide the same famous stage of performance,alternatively.

Cooling suggestions: Many graphics playing cards are on hand with customized coolers that decrease temperatures and fan noise. The overwhelming majority manufacture properly. Liquid-cooled graphics playing cards flee even cooler, however require further room interior your case for the tubing and radiator. Terminate faraway from graphics playing cards with single-fan, blower-fashion cooling methods when additionally, you will abet it, except you maintain a runt-originate-component PC or belief on the use of customized water-cooling blocks.

Measurement: Many graphics playing cards are of a the same dimension, however longer and shorter gadgets of many GPUs exist. High-close graphics playing cards are initiating to sport particularly giant customized cooling suggestions to tame their fanatic-class GPUs. Double-test that your chosen graphics card will match to your case earlier than you bought.

Compatibility: No longer all hardware helps a giant sort of connectivity suggestions. Elevated-close graphics playing cards may well lack DVI ports, whereas decrease-close monitors may well lack DisplayPorts. Only the most modern Radeon and GeForce graphics playing cards wait on HDMI 2.1 outputs. Guarantee your graphics card and video display can join to every numerous. Likewise, be certain that your energy present meets the instructed wattage for the graphics card you bought out.

Right-time ray tracing and DLSS: AMD’s Radeon RX 6000-sereis graphics playing cards and all of Nvidia’s RTX offerings can play video games with exact-time ray tracing effects active. Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs absorb a giant revenue over every part else even supposing, propelled even extra by devoted tensor cores for processing machine studying duties such as Deep Discovering out Expansive Sampling, which uses AI to glide up the performance of your video games with minimal hit to visible constancy. GeForce RTX 20-series GPUs also wait on DLSS, however AMD has no acknowledge for it but, even supposing the firm is teasing a extra originate “FidelityFX Expansive Decision” purpose to rival it in the impending months.

Are trying our latest evaluations

Below is an inventory of our most latest evaluations for particular person graphics playing cards. We’ve stored it to the most latest GPUs.