Best Graphics Cards April 2022 » Let Me Fulfill

Best Graphics Cards April 2022

Updated on August 14, 2022

The Best Graphics Cards: GeForce RTX 3080 FE

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Everything else on a gaming PC pales in comparison to the power of top-tier graphics cards. If you don’t have a powerful graphics card, even the most powerful CPU won’t be able to do anything. There is no one-size-fits-all graphics card, but we’ll have something for everyone, regardless of budget or perspective. Even if you’re only looking for the most powerful graphics card or the most affordable option, we’ve got you covered.

In contrast to our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, our list of the best graphics cards considers the entire package. When it comes to determining a product’s value, price, availability, performance, features, and efficiency all play an essential role. As of today, the best news is that GPU shortages and high costs are nearing an end. The profitability of cryptocurrency mining has plummeted, and graphics card costs have fallen by an average of 15% in the previous month. It’s currently possible to get all of the major GPUs from internet retailers at or below their MSRPs.

With the addition of Nvidia’s RTX 3090 Ti to our charts, we now include the Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT cards. MSRPs for all four are higher than those for pre-existing cards, hence their worth is debatable. For desktops, we have to wait until at least July or August before Intel Arc Alchemist is released and until at least the end of Q3 before Nvidia Ada is released.

Graphics Card Performance DXR Performance Value — Online (MSRP)
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti(opens in new tab) 2 — 167.4 1 — 96.3 12 — $1,829 ($2,000)
GeForce RTX 3080(opens in new tab) 4 — 148.6 2 — 75.8 6 — $800 ($700)
Radeon RX 6950 XT(opens in new tab) 1 — 169.3 3 — 64.2 10 — $1,070 ($1,100)
Radeon RX 6800 XT(opens in new tab) 3 — 153.7 4 — 53.1 9 — $767 ($650)
Radeon RX 6800(opens in new tab) 5 — 140.5 6 — 45.0 8 — $655 ($580)
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti(opens in new tab) 7 — 116.4 5 — 49.4 3 — $523 ($400)
Radeon RX 6700 XT(opens in new tab) 6 — 121.9 8 — 34.6 5 — $477 ($480)
GeForce RTX 3060(opens in new tab) 9 — 90.2 7 — 36.7 4 — $400 ($330)
Radeon RX 6600 XT(opens in new tab) 8 — 99.9 9 — 26.9 2 — $350 ($380)
Radeon RX 6600(opens in new tab) 10 — 85.3 11 — 22.4 1 — $290 ($330)
GeForce RTX 3050(opens in new tab) 11 — 66.4 10 — 25.8 7 — $315 ($250)
Radeon RX 6500 XT(opens in new tab) 12 — 41.3 12 — 6.6 11 — $175 ($200)

The costs of several of the graphics cards are still above MSRP, but they’ve starting to fall quickly. In the past, we used average eBay costs because it was the only location where you could buy a large number of GPUs. All of the GPUs are now available at an online retailer (Amazon, Newegg, etc.), thus we’ve included the official launch MSRPs in addition to the prices we’ve found.

We now only have cards from the current generation on our list. Prices have dropped to the point that these are the most cost-effective options, barring the option of purchasing used cards off of eBay. The RTX 3080 is ranked higher than the RX 6900 XT since we ranked it in terms of both standard and DXR performance. Price, power, and features are all taken into account, but we’ve also tacked on our own personal preferences to arrive at these rankings. Any of the cards on this list are worth evaluating, regardless of what other people have to say about them.

Best Graphics Cards for Gaming 2022

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Best Graphics Card Overall, for 4K and More

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Ampere (GA102)
GPU Cores: 8704
Boost Clock: 1,710 MHz
Video RAM: 10GB GDDR6X 19 Gbps
TBP: 320 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Excellent performance

+

Good bang for the buck

+

Can do 4K ultra at 60 fps or more

REASONS TO AVOID

Prices remain above MSRP

Requires 320W or more power

Overkill for 1080p displays

displays
With Nvidia’s new Ampere architecture, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 is a powerful graphics card. The new 2080 Ti is purportedly 30 percent quicker than the previous generation, and it’s rumored to be $500 cheaper. In our tests, the new RTX 3080 Ti was unable to displace the incumbent because of its astronomical price. Do keep an eye out, though, for the 12GB version of the RTX 3080, which currently costs $50 more than the 8GB version.

If you’re serious about playing at 4K or 1440p, this is the best graphics card for you. Unless you’re running the latest ray tracing games, in which case DLSS support should also improve performance, it’s overkill for 1080p gaming. The RTX 30-series may finally get you on board the ray tracing train if you bypassed the first generation of RTX GPUs. The RTX 3080 is your best chance for ray traced gaming without breaking the budget, with up to two times the ray tracing performance of Turing.

For DLSS, Ampere also has better tensor cores, which are becoming more common in recent games, Additionally, Nvidia’s RT and DLSS performance is far faster than AMD’s new RX 6000 cards, which is helpful because Nvidia can fall behind AMD when it comes to traditional rasterization. For those who don’t want to use DLSS, AMD has the universal FSR 2.0, but it’s only in a few games for now.

It’s been two years since the RTX 3080’s price dropped to a respectable level after being skyrocketed. Cards with 12GB of memory can be had for as little as $800. However, this remains our top option for a high-performance graphics card at the moment.

Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Review(opens in new tab)

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Best AMD GPU, Forget About DLSS

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 21 XT
GPU Cores: 4608
Boost Clock: 2,250 MHz
Video RAM: 16GB GDDR6 16 Gbps
TBP: 300 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

RDNA2 architecture provides excellent performance

+

Easily handles 4K and 1440p

+

Lots of VRAM for the future

REASONS TO AVOID

FSR 2.0 needs wider adoption

Weaker ray tracing performance

Still overpriced

Team Red’s finest graphics card is the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. The RX 6800 XT is a major improvement over the RX 5700 XT in terms of performance and functionality, as well as the addition of ray tracing capabilities (via DirectX Raytracing or VulkanRT). RX Radeon 6900 XT is technically quicker than the RX Radeon 6900 in our tests, but it costs 54% more. You don’t get any more VRAM or any other perks with this bargain, so it’s not all that amazing. The 6900 costs only approximately $100 more than the 6800, so if you shop around, you just might save some money.

Prior to its release, the Navi 21 GPU was lovingly termed ‘Big Navi’ by the enthusiast community. Compared to Navi 10, it’s twice as large, has twice as many shader cores, and twice as much RAM. The RX 6800 XT has a TBP of 300W, which is somewhat lower than the RTX 3080’s 320W TBP. AMD has also upped clock rates into the 2.1-2.4 GHz region (depending on the card type).

The 128MB Infinity Cache is a major factor in AMD’s performance. According to AMD, the effective bandwidth is increased by 119%. The 6800 XT is in a strong position because we believe that very few games will require more than 16GB in the near future.

What could be better? Performance in terms of ray tracing is only passable. DXR games are more likely to be designed for Nvidia’s RTX GPUs, therefore it’s possible that this is why the 6800 XT falls short of the RTX 3070 in terms of ray tracing performance overall, with some titles seeing a 25 percent performance deficit. Without DLSS, which even in Quality mode can increase the performance of RTX cards by 20% to 40%. (sometimes more). However, AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution may be able to help, although it is not as frequently utilized as DLSS and does not provide the same level of performance. FSR 2.0 aims to remedy this, although thus far the technology has only been implemented in three games.

Although the RX 6800 XT’s price and availability aren’t ideal, the device is currently available online for under $800. That’s just around $30 less expensive than the RTX 3080, which we recommend because of its better feature set.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Review(opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Fastest Graphics Card, Great for Creators

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Ampere (GA102)
GPU Cores: 10752
Boost Clock: 1,860 MHz
Video RAM: 24GB GDDR6X 21 Gbps
TBP: 450 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

The fastest GPU, period

+

4K and maybe even 8K gaming

+

24GB is great for content creation workloads

+

DLSS continues to see good adoption rates

REASONS TO AVOID

Over twice the cost of the 3080 for 20–30% more performance

Extreme power requirements

Titan price without Titan enhancements

Nvidia’s Ada architecture is coming

In the eyes of some, the best graphics card is the one that is the fastest, regardless of price. These people will benefit from Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. The RTX 3080’s performance is only somewhat better (20-30 percent) when purchased for more than double the original starting price of the RTX 3080. RTX 3090 is also just 5–10% faster, and the MSRP is considerably costlier. While the 3090 Ti may cost a few hundred dollars more than a 3090, who cares? Anyone seriously contemplating either of these definitely doesn’t need to worry about a few hundred dollars..

Until the Ada Lovelace GPUs of the next generation come, the RTX 3090 Ti will be Nvidia’s top GPU. It has a full GA102 chip with 84 SMs, thus a new Titan card is out of the question. According to Nvidia, the 3090 Ti adds Titan-class performance and features (particularly 24GB VRAM) to the GeForce brand. If you have to have the fastest graphics card, you’ll have to wait until this fall for the RTX 3090 Ti to be topped.

Of course, it’s not just about video games. The NVLink functionality on the RTX 3090 Ti makes it more suitable for professional applications and GPU computation than SLI. Other multimedia creation programs benefit from the GDDR6X’s 24GB of memory. When comparing the 3080 to the Titan RTX, Blender regularly showed a 35% increase in performance, and more than twice as much performance. It’s possible that the Titan RTX will perform worse than expected in some SPECviewperf apps since the Titan RTX’s drivers enable additional functionalities that aren’t available on GeForce cards. Nvidia RTX A6000 is required to run the entire professional driver set.

In classic rasterization testing, AMD’s RX 6950 XT competes with the RTX 3090 Ti and wins a few SPECviewperf tests. The ultimate fastest graphics card for now, however, goes to Nvidia thanks to its support for ray tracing and DLSS. Expect the 3090 Ti to be a lukewarm gravy when Nvidia’s next-generation extreme GPUs come.

Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Review

Asus Radeon RX 6700 XT ROG Strix (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Excellent Performance at a Reasonable Price

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 22
GPU Cores: 2560
Boost Clock: 2581 MHz
Video RAM: 12GB GDDR6 16 Gbps
TBP: 230 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Great 1080p and 1440p performance

+

Plenty of VRAM

+

Excelling price to performance ratio

REASONS TO AVOID

Weaker RT performance

FSR can’t defeat DLSS

Incoming RDNA2 refresh

AMD’s Navi 22 and the RX 6700 XT are the result of starting with the Navi 21 GPU and reducing the numerous functional parts in order to make a smaller die that can be sold for a lower price. The RX 6750 XT is essentially the same GPU, but with a 5% increase in clock rates, memory speeds, and power consumption – a 10% price increase. RX 6700 XT has the same amount of CUDA cores as the previous generation RX 5700 XT, but it has much higher clock speeds and larger cache, resulting in a 25% increase in performance over the prior iteration (at higher settings and resolutions, at least).

At stock, on the reference card, AMD’s RX 6700 XT clocked in at over 2.5GHz during our gaming sessions. Overclocking to 2.7-2.8GHz was possible without damaging the GPU, thanks to some fine tuning and overclocking. The factory overclocked cards can achieve even higher clock speeds, but they are more expensive.

The RX 6700 XT went head-to-head with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti during our performance testing. Even while it’s not as fast as the latter or as slow as the former, its current selling price of $480 is reasonable. As long as you don’t mind playing some games that use DirectX 12, the 6700 XT comes in behind the 3060 Ti and virtually competes with the 3060.

Due to its exceptional online costs, this card has risen in our overall rankings.. For less than half the price of the most affordable RTX 3060 Ti, you get the same level of performance and the same amount of power. Watch out for the newer RX 6750 XT as well; its price may continue to drop, making it an even more attractive option.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT review(opens in new tab)
AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT review(opens in new tab)

Best Graphics Cards: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC

EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Great Bang for the Buck Without Breaking the Bank

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Ampere (GA106)
GPU Cores: 3840
Boost Clock: 1,777 MHz
Video RAM: 12GB GDDR6 15 Gbps
TBP: 170 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Good 1080p/1440p performance

+

Plenty of VRAM for the future

+

Great value now

REASONS TO AVOID

Tied with the old RTX 2070

12GB of limited benefit

Only 192-bit bus

As we near the bottom of Nvidia’s desktop Ampere series, we may have gone too far with our power reductions. Although it’s an improvement over the RTX 3050 in terms of memory interface and VRAM capacity, it’s still a huge step backwards from the GA104. To put it simply, the 3060 Ti has poorer performance than the RTX 2070 since it has less cores and memory bandwidth.

Two and a half years later, a $500 graphics card can be matched with a $330 alternative. RTX 3060 cards are selling for $400 or more due to a lack of availability due to high demand. The RTX 3060’s ray tracing and DirectX 12 features make it an outstanding value.

Despite the 3060 Ti’s superiority in terms of VRAM over the 3060, the 3060 falls short in a few situations. However, a 3060 Ti is preferable to a 3060 if you can find one at a reasonable price. Though it costs $125 more than the 3060, an AMD product is a better buy at the moment.

On the other hand, removing ray tracing and DLSS, the RTX 3060 delivers performance that is roughly identical to AMD’s RX 5700 XT, which was released 18 months before to the latter. The general public won’t be really enthused, but that’s to be expected in the mainstream. However, the 3060’s DXR and DLSS features allow it to compete with AMD’s RX 6800 head-to-head..

Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review(opens in new tab)

Best Graphics Cards: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming OC (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Good Mainstream Performance, Weak RT

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 23
GPU Cores: 2048
Boost Clock: 2,589MHz
Video RAM: 8GB GDDR6 16 Gbps
TBP: 160 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Faster than 3060 and RX 5700 XT

+

Power efficient design

+

Good 1080p performance

+

Actually available at MSRP

REASONS TO AVOID

Only 8GB VRAM on a 128-bit bus

Poor ray tracing performance

Expensive for 1080p

As RTX 3060, AMD’s solution to the Navi 23 architecture comes via the Navi 23 platform. AMD reduced the number of CUs, the width of the memory interface, and the size of the Infinity Cache in order to provide a smaller, less expensive chip that performs just as well as the RX 6700 non-XT. (Note that the Radeon RX 6700, with 10GB of VRAM, now appears to exist.)

Even with the memory bus halved to only 128 bits, the RX 5700 XT manages to outperform its predecessor in terms of performance. However, the 8GB of VRAM is a legitimate concern, and there will be times when the RTX 3060 is a better option. When you consider the memory bandwidth, it’s still astonishing how much even a 32MB Infinity Cache seems to improve performance. Smaller than Navi 10, but with 10–15 percent greater 1080p frame rates, this is simply a smaller version of the N7 TSMC N7 node.

Although there are some areas where it fails, ray tracing is a huge one. At 1080p, some of the games that we tested didn’t even manage 20 frames per second with DXR (DirectX Raytracing). About twice as fast, and typically more than 50% quicker with DLSS Quality, Nvidia’s RTX 3060. Aside from that, FSR doesn’t truly cure it because it boosts performance on both AMD and Nvidia GPUs — and even Intel’s. The RX 6600 XT feels like a disappointment after giving tremendous levels of VRAM on other Big Navi CPUs.

For a GPU that’s supposed to be a replacement for the RX 5600 XT from the previous generation ($279 at launch), the $379 beginning price isn’t exactly a selling factor. However, in these days of pricey graphics cards, the Radeon RX 6600 XT may currently be found for $350! Because the new Radeon RX 6650 XT is only 5 percent faster and 14 percent more expensive, we’d give it a pass for now.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Review

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Good for 1440p Gaming

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Ampere (GA104)
GPU Cores: 4864
Boost Clock: 1,665 MHz
Video RAM: 8GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
TBP: 200 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Beats the 2080 Super for $300 less

+

Good overall value (fps/$)

+

Great for RT at 1440p with DLSS

REASONS TO AVOID

Still overpriced at present

4K is a a stretch even with DLSS

8GB might not be enough VRAM long term

As RTX 3060, AMD’s solution to the Navi 23 architecture comes via the Navi 23 platform. AMD reduced the number of CUs, the width of the memory interface, and the size of the Infinity Cache in order to provide a smaller, less expensive chip that performs just as well as the RX 6700 non-XT. (Note that the Radeon RX 6700, with 10GB of VRAM, now appears to exist.)

Even with the memory bus halved to only 128 bits, the RX 5700 XT manages to outperform its predecessor in terms of performance. However, the 8GB of VRAM is a legitimate concern, and there will be times when the RTX 3060 is a better option. When you consider the memory bandwidth, it’s still astonishing how much even a 32MB Infinity Cache seems to improve performance. Smaller than Navi 10, but with 10–15 percent greater 1080p frame rates, this is simply a smaller version of the N7 TSMC N7 node.

Although there are some areas where it fails, ray tracing is a huge one. At 1080p, some of the games that we tested didn’t even manage 20 frames per second with DXR (DirectX Raytracing). About twice as fast, and typically more than 50% quicker with DLSS Quality, Nvidia’s RTX 3060. Aside from that, FSR doesn’t truly cure it because it boosts performance on both AMD and Nvidia GPUs — and even Intel’s. The RX 6600 XT feels like a disappointment after giving tremendous levels of VRAM on other Big Navi CPUs.

For a GPU that’s supposed to be a replacement for the RX 5600 XT from the previous generation ($279 at launch), the $379 beginning price isn’t exactly a selling factor. However, in these days of pricey graphics cards, the Radeon RX 6600 XT may currently be found for $350! Because the new Radeon RX 6650 XT is only 5 percent faster and 14 percent more expensive, we’d give it a pass for now.

Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Review(opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Best Overall Value

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 23
GPU Cores: 1792
Boost Clock: 2,491 MHz
Video RAM: 8GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
TBP: 132 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Power efficient

+

Runs 1080p max settings and 60fps

+

Typically costs less than MSRP

REASONS TO AVOID

Not good for ray tracing

Can’t match the RTX 3060

Only 8GB VRAM

With the Radeon RX 6600, everything that was great about the 6600 XT is reduced just a little bit more. In terms of performance, it’s around 15% slower than the RTX 3060 and 30% faster than the RTX 3050 in our tests. The Sapphire RX 6600 Pulse (opens in new tab) starts at $290 with a $20 rebate, and is now in stock and available for purchase.

When it first launched, AMD’s $329 MSRP was seen as a bit of an overpriced entry point for a high-end desktop processor. However, with cards shipping at or below MSRP, this is the finest overall deal on the market.

As a budget to midrange graphics card, the RX 6600 faces competition from both the RTX 30-series and the RTX 20-series from the previous generation. In non-ray tracing conditions, it was able to match the RTX 2070’s performance. In our DXR test suite at 1080p medium, it averaged only 30 frames per second when ray tracing was enabled.

When it comes to gaming, the RX 6600 is definitely worth a look. Although the card appears to be underpowered, AMD’s Infinity Cache does wonders and the card only consumes roughly 130W, significantly less than rival GPUs.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6600 Review

Sapphire Radeon RX 6950 XT Nitro+ Pure (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
AMD’s Fastest GPU, Still Expensive

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 21 XTX
GPU Cores: 5120
Boost Clock: 2310 MHz
Video RAM: 16GB GDDR6 18 Gbps
TBP: 335 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Excellent overall performance

+

Lots of VRAM and Infinity Cache

+

Fastest in non-RT workloads

+

Good SPECviewperf results

REASONS TO AVOID

High starting MSRP

Slower than Nvidia in RT performance

RDNA 3 coming later this year

In terms of raw performance, the RX 6950 XT currently outperforms the previous RX 6900 XT by around 9 percent. At launch, AMD set the MSRP at $1,099, but we’ve already seen cards selling for less than that amount. There are only a few differences between the two GPUs: The 6950 has faster 18Gbps GDDR6 memory, a higher power limit, and slightly higher GPU clocks.

In terms of total performance, the RX 6950 XT has around 15% more GPU cores than the RX 6800 XT, thanks to the difference in clock speeds. AMD’s last GPU, the 6900 XT, costs around $200 cheaper than the 6950 XT, so going with the 6900 XT over the top card isn’t such a bad option after all.

At 1080p and 1440p, the RX 6950 XT is the fastest graphics card on the market, but it falls behind at 4K. Even while FSR 2.0 appears to be an improvement, it isn’t widely supported by games, unlike DLSS, which has been accepted by more than 200 games and applications thus far. However, Nvidia still has the finest DXR/RT experience right now, not because you need ray-tracing to play games.

The AMD Radeon HD 6950 XT is an excellent choice for gamers who just want the quickest graphics card available. The RX 6900 XT isn’t revolutionary, but neither were we expecting it to be. The RDNA 3 GPU launch, expected before the end of 2022, is the major issue. Though some of the early speculation may be unfounded, we should expect a 40–50 percent boost in performance over current GPUs. This late in RDNA 2 lifecycle, waiting another six months (or fewer) to watch how things develop makes a lot more sense than moving up to the 6950 XT.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT review(opens in new tab)
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT review(opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Great 1440p Graphics Card, Okay Ray Tracing

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 21 XL
GPU Cores: 3840
Boost Clock: 2105 MHz
Video RAM: 16GB GDDR6 16 Gbps
TBP: 250 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Excellent overall performance

+

Lots of VRAM and Infinity Cache

+

Easily beats the 3070 in non-RT

REASONS TO AVOID

Middling RT performance

FSR 2.0 support lags behind DLSS

Not much cheaper than 6800 XT

The Navi 21 GPU that powers the 6800 XT can be trimmed by roughly 10% to 15% and you get the vanilla RX 6800. Infinity Cache still has 128MB, however only 96 ROPs and lower clock speeds are available. However, we believe the 6800 XT is a better choice overall.

For $655, you can get the RX 6800 on the internet. That’s around $120 less than the 6800 XT and somewhat more than the RTX 3070 Ti. In our tests, the RX 6800 beat out the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti by a wide margin in the non-ray tracing benchmark set. However, our ray tracing benchmarks show that the Nvidia GPU is 35 percent faster than the AMD GPU, even if the additional 20–50 percent DLSS Quality option is taken into account.

However, while AMD’s FSR 2.0 may be an excellent long-term solution, the current FSR 1.0 is more focused on boosting performance than image quality. Even if you run at a reduced resolution, Nvidia Image Scaling or AMD RIS will provide you the same performance and quality advantages. Over 50 games have employed FSR 1.0, although FSR 2.0 is still in its early stages.

We’d rather buy an RX 6800 for its rasterization abilities than its ray tracing capabilities. However, we’d rather wait till the price of this particular card drops to a more manageable $600 or so. As soon as the next month or two, hopefully, but the RDNA 3 and Ada architectures will follow soon after.

Read: AMD Radeon RX 6800 review(opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Nvidia)
Good 1080p Graphics With DXR and DLSS

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Turing (TU116)
GPU Cores: 2560
Boost Clock: 1,777 MHz
Video RAM: 8GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
TBP: 130 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Available at decent prices

+

Nearly “Budget” RT and DLSS

+

Still provides 8GB VRAM

REASONS TO AVOID

Slower than the RTX 2060

Not much cheaper than RX 6600

20% or more markup right now

Despite Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050’s $250 suggested retail price, the company attempted to build a “affordable” RTX 30-series card. It’s currently selling for $300 or more, which is better than its launch pricing but not as cheap as we’d want to see, given that our testing found it to be 7% slower than the previous generation RTX 2060. In the end, though, we’d rather spend the money on an RTX card than a GeForce GTX 1660 Super(opens in new tab) or RX 5500 XT 8GB(opens in new tab), even though the latter two GPUs are cheaper on eBay.

The RTX 3050 was roughly 15% faster than a GTX 1660 Super in our tests (see the results below), and it also supports ray tracing and DLSS. More than AMD’s RX 6500 XT, which should have skipped RT support in favor of more VRAM and bandwidth, we can say about this card’s performance. When it comes to conventional games, AMD’s RX 6600 (above) outperformed the lowest 3050 by 30 percent and was only 13 percent behind in DXR games.

Even at $300 or more, we wouldn’t be surprised if prices dropped another 20% by the end of summer (assuming supply doesn’t get derailed) because mainstream levels of performance are still a lot to pay for. People who don’t need ray tracing or DLSS have better options from AMD, therefore this is only for those who want to continue with Nvidia despite the lackluster performance.

Read: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050(opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Budget Gaming for Under $200

SPECIFICATIONS

GPU: Navi 24
GPU Cores: 1024
Boost Clock: 2,815 MHz
Video RAM: 4GB GDDR6 18 Gbps
TBP: 107 watts

REASONS TO BUY

+

Handles 1080p medium

+

Actually affordable

+

Current generation architecture

REASONS TO AVOID

4GB VRAM is limiting

Only two video ports

x4 PCIe link

Still needs a 6-pin power connector

Terrible RT performance

Outdated video codec hardware

The Radeon RX 6500 XT features AMD’s RDNA 2 GPU, which is a step higher from AMD’s previous generation of GPUs. Because of this, the Navi 24 chips are now limited to just having a 64-bit memory interface, 16MB Infinity Cache, an x4 PCIe link, support for obsolete video codecs, and only two display outputs instead of the previously offered four or eight. That’s a lot of interesting features that were omitted.

The RX 6500 XT starts at $175, so it’s less expensive than most other options if that’s an issue for you. As a general rule of thumb, we recommend that most gamers save up to get either the RTX 3050 or RX-6600, which are both far better than the 6500 XT. However, eBay is the only site where you can get a 1650 Super at a reasonable price right now.

The RX 6500 XT is a safe bet for those on a tight budget due to the lack of supply on older GPUs. Our preference is to acquire new graphics cards rather than old ones, as many miners are likely to be selling cards that have been used hard for the past two years, making used graphics cards a risk.

Read: AMD Radeon RTX 6500 XT Review

How We Test the Best Graphics Cards

TOM’S HARDWARE 2022 GPU TESTBED

Intel Core i9-12900K(opens in new tab)
MSI Pro Z690-A WiFi DDR4(opens in new tab)
Corsair 2x16GB DDR4-3600 CL16(opens in new tab)
Crucial P5 Plus 2TB(opens in new tab)
Cooler Master MWE 1250 V2 Gold(opens in new tab)
Cooler Master PL360 Flux(opens in new tab)
Cooler Master HAF500
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

To get an accurate picture of a graphics card’s raw performance, it’s best to remove any and all other potential bottlenecks. CPU, motherboard, RAM, and storage are all provided by Cooler Master, as is the power supply, case, and CPU cooler, all of which are used in conjunction with our 2022 graphics card testbed.

For the three most common gaming resolutions, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, we used “medium” and “extreme” settings to assess the performance. In most of these tests, we use’reference’ cards, such as Nvidia Founders Edition models and AMD’s reference designs. However, most midrange and lower GPUs do not have reference models, and in some situations we only have factory overclocked cards for testing purposes. In these situations, we try everything we can to pick cards that are as close to the reference specs as possible.

We use the same set of tests for every graphics card we evaluate. In order to “warm up” the GPU, we conduct at least two passes of each benchmark at each setting/resolution combination. In this case, the quicker of the two runs will be used if they are nearly similar (within a margin of error of less than 0.5 percent). We run the test at least twice more to ascertain what “normal” performance is meant to be if there is a significant discrepancy.

This means that RTX 3070 Ti is around 5% faster than 3070 Ti, which is about 5% faster than RTX 3060 Ti. However, we also look at all the data and look for abnormalities, so these three cards will all normally perform within a small performance band. A noticeable outlier (i.e. performance is more than 10% higher for the cards just described) will prompt us to retest and determine the “proper” outcome for any cards that reveal anomalies.

Inevitably, because of the time it takes to thoroughly evaluate each GPU, new drivers and game updates will be released that affect performance. In order to ensure that our results are still accurate, we retest a few sample cards on a regular basis, and if necessary, we retest the affected games and GPUs (s). Additionally, if a well-liked and useful game is released in the next year, we’ll consider including it in our test database. We’ll examine what constitutes a good game benchmark for our requirements.

Choosing Among the Best Graphics Cards

Recognizing the high likelihood of overlap, we’ve supplied a dozen graphics card possibilities. Nvidia’s Ampere architecture cards, AMD’s RDNA2 architecture offers, and Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs are all part of the newest generation of graphics processing units (GPUs). Since all three cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (as well as ray tracing) and contain tensor core hardware on the Arc and RTX cards, they’re a no-brainer.

We’ve compiled a list of the finest graphics cards currently on the market, as well as their current costs, which you can see in our GPU price guide. There are a lot of individuals ready to upgrade, and supply appears to be improving, since several cards are currently only 25% more expensive than their MSRPs. It’s unclear if this trend will continue till the release of the next generation of graphics processing units.

Our recommendation: Don’t overpay for hardware that you can get for less now. When it comes to the RTX 30-series and the RX 6000-series graphics cards, you may expect to pay close to the official MSRP if you’re patient enough. Wait for Ada and RDNA3 before you give Ampere and RDNA2 a miss.

You can’t ignore the CPU if gaming is your primary objective. There’s no use in buying the best gaming GPU if your CPU is underpowered or outdated. So check out our Best CPUs for Gameplay page, as well as our CPU Benchmark hierarchy, to make sure you have the correct CPU for the level of gaming you’re aiming for.

All of these factors have been taken into account while developing our current GPU recommendations. In order to rate the GPUs, we take into account the card’s speed and efficiency as well as other factors such as its price, features, and other specifications.

Additional Shopping Tips

Consider the following when purchasing a graphics card:

There is a direct correlation between resolution and performance. To play at 1080p, you don’t need the latest and greatest graphics card.
Please double-check that you have the correct 6- or 8-pin connector on your power supply (PSU) (s). At least an 8-pin PEG connector and potentially an additional 6-pin connector are required for the RTX 3060, according to Nvidia’s recommendations.
Currently, a 4GB video card is the minimum need, however 6GB and 8GB ones are preferable. There are a few games that can now take advantage of the additional 12GB of VRAM, but these are the exception.
• G-Sync or FreeSync? • It is possible to synchronize your GPU’s frame rate with your screen’s refresh rate using either variable-refresh rate technology. AMD’s FreeSync works with Radeon cards, whereas Nvidia’s G-Sync works with G-Sync Compatible displays (for recommendations, see our Best Gaming Monitors list).
DLSS and FSR are new features available on some graphics cards. Ray tracing is also supported by some of these cards’ newest graphics cards. It’s only available on Nvidia RTX GPUs, but DLSS enables intelligent upscaling and anti-aliasing that boosts performance while maintaining the same quality of the image. AMD’s FSR, on the other hand, works with a different set of games and is compatible with almost any GPU, as well as upscaling and improvement.

Graphics Cards Performance Results

Currently, we’re running eight different games in our lab for testing purposes. Several months of testing have yielded the results shown in the accompanying graphs. In 1440p and 4K, we only test the fastest cards, although we try our best in 1080p medium and ultra to test everything.

It has been a year since AMD’s FSR was first released, and FSR 2.0 has just been released. DLSS from Nvidia, on the other hand, has been around for a while and has seen some adoption. Because none of the games in our main set of benchmarks support FSR, all of these tests are being performed at their native resolution. In a separate paper, we compare FSR with DLSS, and the basic conclusion is that DLSS improves performance while making less sacrifices to image quality. Even while the more recent FSR 2.0 makes significant strides toward bridging the gap, DLSS continues to hold a significant advantage in terms of game support.

There are currently no non-RT cards that are capable of running our DXR tests in the charts below, thus we’ve included all current generation RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series GPUs. Our GPU benchmarks hierarchy includes extra results for those who want to see them, as well as performance tests from our 2020-2021 suite on a Core i9-9900K.. To make things easier to follow, the graphs have been color coded with AMD in red/grey and Nvidia in blue/black.

Charts are current as of the first day of June in 2022. All current and previous generation graphics processing units are included in the package.

Best Graphics Cards — 1080p Medium

Best Graphics Cards — 1080p Ultra

Best Graphics Cards — 1440p Ultra

Best Graphics Cards — 4K Ultra

Best Graphics Cards — Power Consumption

Besides performance, we also test graphics card power consumption, clock speeds, fan speeds, and temperatures. We tested all current GPUs using Powenetics equipment and software, and while Nvidia generally had an efficiency lead on previous generation parts, AMD’s RDNA2 GPUs now rate as the most efficient options in most cases. Here are the charts from our testing.

With all the GPU shortages these days, you’re unlikely to see huge sales on a graphics card, but you may find some savings by checking out the latest Newegg promo codesBest Buy promo codes and Micro Center coupon codes.

Want to comment on our best graphics picks for gaming? Let us know what you think in the Tom’s Hardware Forums.

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