Updated on August 14, 2022
The heart of every gaming PC is the graphics card, which is responsible for creating the gorgeous visuals on your screen. The perfect option for you may not exist for everyone, but we’re here to assist you in finding what works for you.
A number of people are looking for the fastest graphics card available, while others are looking for the best overall value. The graphics card is the single most important part of your gaming system, so finding the right combination of TDP (thermal design power), price, and functionality is vital.
Top GPU for Gamers:
CHEAP GRAPHICS CARDS FOR GAMING
Even the most demanding PC games and editing chores may be handled by top-of-the-line graphics cards, provided you don’t expect 4K resolutions.
Regardless of whether you’re interested in AMD or Nvidia, the greatest graphics cards for gaming on a budget may be found if you’re willing to look a little harder.
Which PC graphics cards are the best bang for your buck right now? Here’s a list that’ll show you.
GEFORCE RTX 3080
The Ampere architecture of the GeForce RTX 3080 has been updated and upgraded by Nvidia. In comparison to the previous generation 2080 TI, this one is more than 30 percent quicker.
RTX 3080 TI was unable to replace the incumbent because of its significantly higher pricing. If you intend to play in 4K or 1440p, this is the GPU you need.
Enabling all ray-tracing effects in games that support the technology makes 1080p playable, even though it’s overkill.
If you missed out on the first round of RTX GPUs, the RTX 30-series could be your ticket to ray tracing.
If you want to play games like Cyberpunk 2077 that use ray tracing, the RTX 3080 is your best pick. It has twice the ray tracing speed of turning, and it can use even more ray tracing effects in games like that.
It also has improved tensor cores for DLSS, a technology that will be used more frequently in future games as it no longer requires a supercomputer to be trained for each game.
More and more games are utilising DLSS 2.0 now that it can be activated with a toggle and a UI tweak in Unreal Engine.
It is excellent news for AMD’s new RX 6000 graphics cards that NVidia has outperformed them in RT and DLSS performance, but it is bad news for the company’s traditional rasterization performance (which is what our raw numbers are based on).
Most likely, the most difficult part of owning an RTX 3080 is finding one in stock at a fair cost. Right now, we think the 3080 TI is the greatest choice for a fast GPU in a gaming laptop, and it costs $699.
PNY GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER
Because it employs the TU116 GPU, the GTX 1650 Super is closer to a GTX 1660 in terms of performance than it is to a GTX 1650. CUDA cores, clock speeds, and RAM are all higher on this GPU than on the standard GTX 1650.
It is one of the best graphics cards for 1440p gaming as a result of these improvements.
The Supermodel is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a GTX 1650. In order to create a home theatre PC that doesn’t take up too much space next to your television, you can use the PNY GTX 1650 Super graphics card, which has an extremely tiny footprint.
To be honest, it’s a beautiful item that costs $550.
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER
One of the greatest budget gaming graphics cards now available is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super, which replaces the older Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660.
At 1080p, Middle Earth: Shadow of War runs at an average frame rate of 80 fps, and at 1440p, it can hit a frame rate of 54 fps. Given that it costs less than $700, this is remarkable.
Following the PNY GeForce GTX 1650 Super, it is likewise touted to be one of the best graphics cards for 1440p gaming.
However, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super has several drawbacks. Even while it does have a DisplayPort, you won’t be able to attach multiple monitors to it because it has a DVI port instead of a second HDMI port (or even USB-C).
Ray-tracing cores are also missing, but this is to be expected given the graphics card’s pricing. Even so, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super is the best budget graphics card you’ll discover.
What are the greatest budget graphics cards currently available? This card unquestionably answers that question, since it unquestionably stands out as one of the best.
AMD RADEON RX 5700
The Radeon RX 5700 is the greatest budget gaming graphics card currently available. At this price point, it’s difficult to find a mid-range graphics card that can handle 1440p gaming at Ultra or Max settings better.
The Radeon RX 5700 lacks ray tracing, so it’s not perfect, but it’s still more economical than the Radeon RX 5900.
Even the best low-cost graphics cards won’t be able to support that capability for a while longer. Whatever the situation may be, we’ll see you again next year. Right now, it’s $399.
AMD RADEON RX 5600 XT
There are so many low-cost 1080p graphics cards on the market that it will be difficult for gamers to pick the right card for their systems and budgets..
Because of this, the AMD Radeon 5600 XT stands out as one of the greatest low-cost gaming graphics cards available today, and it can even match the raw performance of some of the more expensive midrange cards in its price category.
If you’re looking for a high-end graphics card that’s less than $700, you may want to consider the Nvidia GeForce 2060 instead, which has ray tracing built in and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Even without ray-tracing, AMD claims that its Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card is the finest value for money gaming PC graphics card available. Amazon has it for $699.
GIGABYTE GEFORCE GTX 1660 OC 6G
In terms of performance-to-price, Nvidia GeForce graphics cards are better than AMD’s, but this isn’t always true.
Thanks to Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660OC 6G, Nvidia’s Turing architecture is available to gamers on a tighter price than other GeForce cards.
If you’re on a tight budget but still want to get the most out of your graphics card, the GeForce GTX 1660 OC is an excellent option.
Gaming at 1080p and 1440p can both be done quite well with appropriate settings on this graphics card at a reasonable price.
Currently, it costs $219, but that price could rise due to market volatility and great demand. It’s referred to as the greatest graphics card under $300 by a few people.
AMD RADEON RX 5500 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT is the best option if you want to play 1080p games without breaking the bank. In terms of 1080p performance, it doesn’t stray too far from its comfort zone; it beats out the GeForce GTX 1660 when the pricing is taken into consideration.
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT can play AAA titles like Metro Exodus at 60 fps on medium settings, but it will stutter to a halt on high settings, much alone ultra. However, because of its low cost, it is still often regarded as the greatest budget gaming PC graphics card. Right now, it’s going for $166.
RADEON RX 6800 XT
Team Red’s best GPU is AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT. Even though the RX Radeon 6900 XT is 5-7 percent quicker, it costs 54 percent more. You don’t get any additional VRAM or other advantages for that price, so it’s not a fantastic value.
In terms of performance and capability, the RX 6800 XT blows the RX 5700 XT out of the water. 70 to 90 percent of your test suite is improved by adding ray tracing capabilities (DirectX Ray tracing or VULKAN RT).
Before it was introduced, the GPU was called ‘Big NAVI’ by the enthusiast community, and we got exactly what we wanted. NAVI 21 has twice as many shady cores and RAM than NAVI 10, making it twice as massive.
AMD’s 128MB Infinity Cache is a major factor in the company’s performance. There has been a 119 percent increase in effective bandwidth (according to AMD). The 6800 XT is well-positioned because we expect that few games will require more than 16GB of RAM in the near future.
That’s a wonderful thing to have. On the other hand, the ray-tracing performance is a touch underwhelming.
Ray tracing performance on the 6800 XT is just marginally better than that of Nvidia’s RTX 3070, and there are some titles where it lags by as much as a quarter of a percentage point.
That’s without enabling DLSS, which can increase RTX card performance by 20-40 percent even in “Quality” mode. DLSS (sometimes more). AMD is working on Fidelity FX Super Resolution to compete with DLSS, however it isn’t finished yet and is urgently needed. AMD
The price of the Radeon RX 6800 XT is $649 at the moment.
GEFORCE RTX 3060 TI
There is a good chance that Nvidia’s Ampere march will continue with this. RTX 30 series GPUs include the $399 GeForce RTX 3060 TI, which also has the same specs.
It’s true in theory, but it’s already sold out, just like the rest of the new cards. If it hadn’t recently risen in price by 30 percent, it would have been the finest graphics card under $300.
Each and every one of our benchmark tests showed that the 3060 TI performed better than either the 2080 Super or 2080. Additionally, it’s only 9% slower and 20% less expensive than the 3070.
Up to two times faster than a GTX 1070 or RX Vega 56, the 3060 TI can outperform those cards in select games.
Only the lack of VRAM is a serious concern. Eight gigabytes should be plenty for now. The problem is that a number of games are now exceeding this restriction.
Naturally, lowering texture quality will not make you see the difference, but you’ll regret it afterwards.
Nobody else can compete at $399 with the 3060 TI’s performance. Compared to the 2060 Super, it’s 35-45 percent faster while the RX 5700 XT is 25-30 percent faster for the same asking price.
The most important concern right now is finding one of these cards on the market. The 3070 (at least for non-LHR variants) and AMD’s latest generation GPUs have roughly comparable mining capabilities, resulting in prices that are frequently three times the original launch price.
Also, knowing that the 1070 had that much RAM over four years ago, 8GB feels a little scant now.. It is still one of the best graphics cards for gaming laptops available today, despite this.
GEFORCE RTX 3070
The GeForce RTX 3070 is the latest addition to the Ampere and next-generation architectural revolution. AMD’s RX 6800 series cards only have half the VRAM of the 3080, which is a substantial drop from the 3080.
DLSS and ray tracing performance are still superior on the 3070 when compared to AMD’s latest GPUs. It’s a bummer that all 3070 cards are expected to sell out in a few of weeks.
Our recommendation is to remain with the older non-TI cards until RTX 3070 TI is available for $100 less, as the TI version consumes 30% more power than the non-TI version.
The 3060 TI’s $400 price tag diminishes the 3070’s appeal. It’s about 10%-12% faster, but it’s 25% more expensive as a result. When you take into account the rest of your gaming PC, the extra $100 isn’t that much of an issue.
New gaming PC builds should not include any extras like these. It’s hardly worth spending more than $300 on a new gaming PC unless it contains an Ampere or Big NAVI GPU. This is especially true given the present scarcity-driven price tag.
While 1440p and 4K gaming are both possible, 4K at its maximum quality typically falls below 60 fps at its highest quality. DLSS can help if a game supports it, however even with DLSS, ray tracing at 4K often reaches 40-50 frames per second.
There is also concern about the 8GB of GDDR6 memory on the card itself. For one thing, it has less memory and a lower clock speed than the 3080.
A few games have already shown 8GB to be an issue at high resolution, and this is just going to get worse in the future.
In comparison, AMD’s NAVI 21 GPUs now have 16GB of memory, making Nvidia’s 8GB look even worse.
The 3060 TI is an excellent choice if you’re on a budget yet still want a fast Nvidia GPU. To acquire the 3070 TI, you’ll need an extra $100, which means you’ll have to spend another $100 on the 3080.
It is, after all, the “best” card in the world. Here follows the law of decreasing returns, which applies to expensive cards. It’s going to be a while until you can get your hands on an RTX 2080 T.
OUR REVIEW PROCESS HERE AT STRAFE.COM
The simplest way to measure pure graphics card performance at Strafe.com is to remove any and all barriers.
Our current graphics card testbed includes an Intel Core i9-9900K CPU, an MSI MEG Z390 Ace motherboard, 32GB of Corsair DDR4-3600 CL16 memory, and a 2TB XPG SX8200 Pro SSD.
At 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, the three most common gaming resolutions, we ran our tests at medium to ultra settings to see how they performed. The Core i9-9900K is still the best CPU available, and we’ll continue with it for the time being, despite the fact that there are faster CPUs on the market.
Whenever possible, we use’reference’ cards, such as Nvidia’s Founders Edition and AMD’s reference designs.
As a result, we can only evaluate factory overclocked cards for mid-range and lower-end GPUs because they don’t have any reference models. We strive to choose cards that are as close to the reference specifications as possible in these situations.
WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR IN AN AFFORDABLE GRAPHICS CARD?
See what makes the finest graphics cards for gaming on a budget stand out in the categories below.
PROCESSING POWER / STREAM PROCESSORS
Most modern video cards include a stream processor as part of their graphics processing unit. Alternatively, the GPU could be included into the motherboard or the processor.
Simultaneous hardware and software processing is simplified by the use of a programming paradigm known as “stream processing.” Graphics rendering is handled by the GPU’s stream processors, which can also be used for more general-purpose number crunching.
Stream processors are critical to consider when purchasing a graphics card for a gaming PC on a budget.
COOLING SYSTEMS
A gaming graphics card wouldn’t be complete without a cooling system. They keep your computer from overheating, allowing you to play for extended periods of time without getting too hot. The vast majority of today’s top low-cost graphics cards are based on this technology.
VIDEO RAM POWER CONSUMPTION
VRAM refers to any random access memory (RAM) that is used to store picture data on a computer’s monitor (video RAM). In order to get more time playing your favourite games, be cautious when selecting graphics cards and look for those with low power consumption VRAMs. Even the most powerful graphics card available for less than $300 uses less than one gramme of electricity every second.
GREAT BUILD QUALITY
Graphics cards are quite important, and it’s critical that you get one that matches your current degree of visual sophistication.
VALUE FOR MONEY
Graphic cards aren’t an exception to the proverb “buy cheap, buy twice. It’s always important to keep your budget in mind when picking out a graphics card, even if it’s the greatest one under $300.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD CHEAP GRAPHICS CARD?
PRICE
Whether or not a graphics card is suitable for your gaming needs is heavily influenced by its pricing. Fortunately for you, the graphics cards on the preceding list are some of the most reasonably priced on the market. On this list, keep an eye out for the top graphics cards around $300.
GPU QUALITY
The quality of your graphics card GPU is critical to your gaming experience. Although even the finest graphics card for under $300 on this list has a high-quality GPU, your intended use and budget will dictate which series and model of GPU you choose.
BANDWIDTH OVER MEMORY
The more RAM you have, the better, but the more bandwidth you get, the better. The amount of data the GPU can access on the memory bus is determined by the graphics card’s memory bit rate. The most common bit rates are 64-bit and 128-bit. Greater-end cards, on the other hand, have far higher bit rates.
There is a correlation between the amount of graphics card memory and the type (GDDR3 or GDDR5), speed of the memory clock, and the memory bit rate of the memory (bandwidth – the higher, the better).
COOLER TDP VALUES
TDP measures how much heat the GPU creates as a result of all the computing it does. These values show how much electricity is needed to maintain a safe temperature for the GPU. As a result, a larger value indicates that the GPU is producing more heat.
Be on the lookout for graphics cards with low TDP values, which not only saves money but also makes your computer noisier, which is why most of the graphics cards in this list have low TDP numbers.
CONCLUSION
RX 550 or GT 1030 graphics cards can save you even more money if you simply plan to play games like Rocket League, League of Legends, or Dota 2 on your computer.
Even if they aren’t the greatest budget graphics cards for gaming, you won’t be sacrificing much in terms of performance.
As a result, whether you’re upgrading an outdated desktop or building a gaming PC on a budget, there are a number of affordable graphics card solutions that will give you a great gaming experience.
BEST BUDGET GAMING GRAPHICS CARDS FAQ
