Most Effective Visual Processing Units For Under $800

Updated on May 28, 2023

The Best Graphics Cards: GeForce RTX 3080 FE

Like the heart of your computer, the greatest graphics cards deliver brilliantly rendered images to your monitor. We’ll help you sort out the must-haves from the nice-to-haves here on the site. The fastest graphics card isn’t necessarily the best option for everyone. The graphics card is the single most important gaming component, therefore striking the perfect balance is essential.

When deciding which cards to include in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy for the best graphics cards, we take into account more than just performance. It doesn’t matter how much weight any aspect has in evaluating a product’s worth, because they all have a part. As long as cryptocurrency and Ethereum miners keep snatching GPUs, it will be difficult to get graphics cards at a price that is competitive.

As an alternative, you could look into the Radeon R6500 XT, the GeForce RTX 3050, or perhaps Intel’s upcoming Arc Alchemist. Nvidia, on the other hand, has set its theoretical MSRPs at $199 and AMD at $249, while the first two are already on sale (and all sold out). As bitcoin mining income has declined, GPU costs have continued to fall, but there is still a long way to go before they revert to pre-pandemic prices. Even though we haven’t reached our destination yet, we are moving in the right way.

Graphics Card Deals

It’s been more than a year since supply shortages, price gouging, and scalping influenced GPU pricing. You can save money on a new graphics card by checking out our pages for RTX 3080 deals, RTX 3070 discounts, and pre-built systems that include the graphics card, which can save you money. Best discounts usually only cost 25–50% more than the nominal MSRPs, on average. To get the best deal on your graphics card, look at pre-built computers, which are often cheaper than building a new system from scratch.

Shortlist of Highest-Performing Graphics Cards

value ranking on eBay for the DXR (MSRP)
One of the most powerful graphics cards on the market, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 3090, can deliver up to 124.6 frames per second (fps).
– $1,499 – $2,341
This card has a maximum frame rate of 128.4 fps.
4 – 49.5 frames per second
The eleventh one is worth $1,421 ($999).
122.9 fps on AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 3
In the range of five to forty-eight frames per second.
$ 649 (tenth) – $1,176
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 4
2 – 66.6 fps per second
It costs $1,440 ($699) for a dozen.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 5 – 110.1 frames per second
7 – 39.1 fps.
The 9th – $1,033
The GeForce RTX 3070 delivers 98.4 frames per second.
In the range of 3–49.7 fps
$ 499 for each of the following: 8
95.0 fps on AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 7
9 – 30.5 frames per second
The 6th one is worth $783 ($489).
90.3 fps on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 3060 Ti 8
36.33 fps – 6
There are seven payments of $847 each ($399)
RX 6600 XT 9 from AMD achieves an average frame rate of 84.0 frames per second
10 to 24.1 fps
$468 (or $379)
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB from Nvidia
10 to 69.4 fps
In the range of 8 to 31.9 fps
5 – $ 636 ($ 329 ) $
GeForce GTX 1660 Super 11 – N/A 3 – $422 (229)
It costs $265 ($159) for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super 12 graphics card with 33.1 frames per second.
Graphics card with four gigabytes of GDDR5 memory.
Thirteen – 36.2 fps, N/A 2 – $277
The prices of most graphics cards are still messed up, so keep that in mind. You give you an idea of what to anticipate to pay upon launch, we compared eBay’s most recent average prices with the official MSRPs. It’s not uncommon for these cards to sell for prices that are more than twice what they’re advertised to be.

To make things a little more interesting, we’ve sorted the cards in the table below by both performance and our own personal rankings in addition to the order in which they appeared on our top list. As a result, we take into account our personal preferences in terms of performance, pricing, power, and other aspects. Aside from that, the current price fluctuations make it difficult to assign a numerical value to any specific item.

Best Graphics Cards for Gaming 2022

As a rule of thumb, the GeForce RTX 3080 is by far the best graphics card for 4K and beyond.
SPECIFICATIONS
Ampere: GPU (GA102)
8704 CUDA cores on the GPU
1,710 MHz Boost Clock
10 GB GDDR6X 19 Gbps of video RAM
Power dissipation: 320W
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Good price compared to 3090 +Excellent performance +Can genuinely run 4K ultra at 60 fps or higher +Substantial improvement over previous-generation graphics cards
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND
An extremely limited supply is available; -Requires 320W of electricity; -Overkill for 1080p monitors; -usually cost significantly higher
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1.The GeForce RTX 3080

from Nvidia has the company’s latest Ampere architecture. The new 2080 Ti is purportedly 30 percent quicker than the previous generation, and it’s rumored to be $500 cheaper. Due to its much higher price, the new RTX 3080 Ti was unable to displace the previous model. As long as you want to play in 4K or 1440p resolutions, this is the graphics card for you. It’s a bit much for 1080p gameplay, but it’s still playable at that resolution when you enable all of the game’s ray-tracing effects.

The RTX 30-series GPUs may be your ticket to ray tracing if you missed the first generation of RTX GPUs. The RTX 3080 is your best bet if you want to experience ray tracing in all its glory without breaking the budget, thanks to titles like Cyberpunk 2077, which use even more ray-tracing effects.

We should expect to see more use of DLSS in future games now that it doesn’t require a supercomputer to be trained per game. These days, we’re seeing a growing number of games featuring DLSS 2.0 thanks to the fact that it’s just a simple toggle and UI update in Unreal Engine and Unity to enable it. Additionally, Nvidia’s RT and DLSS performance is far faster than AMD’s new RX 6000 cards, which is a good thing because Nvidia can lag behind in traditional rasterization speed (which is what our raw numbers are based on).

In terms of RTX 3080, finding one in stock at a reasonable price is going to be the biggest challenge. During the last month, the average price on eBay was more than $1,440. Although the 3080 Ti and 3090 are more expensive, this is still our top option for a fast GPU right now.

Check out our review of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 to learn more.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card Tom’s Hardware has provided this image of a computer motherboard.

2. Radeon RX 6800 XT

The Radeon RX 6800 XT Navi 21 XTGPU’s Display Link Suppression specifications are not a cause for concern. Turbo speed of 2,250 MHz for 4608 CPU cores Memory: 16GB GDDR6 with a maximum power consumption of 300 watts and a bandwidth of 16 Gbps
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If you’re in the market for a new graphics card, the RDNA2 architecture has many advantages, including excellent performance and the ability to handle 4K and 1440p resolutions with ease.
REASONS NOT TO ATTEND FSR needs to be used more widely, and Nvidia’s supply may be poorer than Nvidia’s.
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AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT is Team Red’s best GPU. There is a 5-7 percent difference in performance between the RX Radeon 6900 and 6900 XT, while the price difference is 54 percent. That’s a bad deal, given that you won’t get any extra VRAM or other incentives. While the RX 5700 XT of the previous generation was an excellent card, it has been outperformed by the RX 6800 XT. Ray tracing is supported by DirectX Raytracing or VulkanRT, making it up to 70-90 percent quicker than its predecessor.

We’ve been referring to the GPU as “Big Navi” since it was announced, and we got exactly what we were hoping for. Navi 21 has twice the number of shader cores and twice the amount of RAM. The 2.1-2.3 GHz range currently represents the fastest conventional GPU clock speeds we’ve ever measured (by about 300 MHz) (depending on the card model). But AMD has kept the RX 6800 XT’s thermal design power (TDP) under 300W, which is just shy of the RTX 3080’s 320W TDP.

AMD’s performance relies heavily on the 128MB Infinity Cache. Incredibly, it increases bandwidth by a massive 119%. (according to AMD). In the foreseeable future, just a few games will require more than 16GB of RAM, which puts the 6800 XT in a good position.

What’s the worst that might happen? Only adequate ray-tracing results can be expected. In terms of ray-tracing performance, the 6800 XT trails the RTX 3070 by as much as 25% in some games, which is to be expected given that current games are more likely to benefit from Nvidia’s RTX GPUs than older games. Furthermore, none of these makes use of DLSS, which can enhance RTX card performance by 20–40 percent even in Quality mode. A few times a week Even if FidelityFX Super Resolution hasn’t yet been ready to compete with DLSS, AMD is developing it.

Poor pricing and limited supply have plagued all current graphics cards. It sold for an average of almost $1,200 on eBay last month. In terms of performance, it’s better than the RTX 3080, although it still costs more than AMD’s recommended retail price

To learn more about the AMD RX 6800 XT graphics card, check out our in-depth review here.

Founders Edition Nvidia RTX 3090 is the greatest graphics card on the market today.

This image of a computer motherboard was supplied by Tom’s Hardware.

3. GeForce RTX 3090

Extremely Powerful Graphics Card
SPECIFICATIONS
Ampere: GPU (GA102)
There are 10496 cores in the graphics processing unit
boost frequency is 1,695 MHz
24 GB GDDR6X 19.5 Gbps of video RAM
TDP: 350 watts.
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Reasons for purchasing: +4K and perhaps 8k gaming – 24GB is fantastic for content creation – Up to 30% faster than 3080 in professional applications
More than twice as expensive as 3080 for 10-15% more performance -Extremely limited availability at this time -High power consumption
The price of Titan without Titan’s additional features
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The quickest card is the best card for some people, regardless of price. It’s Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 that caters to this group. Performance is only somewhat better (10-15 percent) than the RTX 3080, which costs more than twice as much. It’s essentially a Titan RTX replacement, albeit at a much higher price. That’s good if you’re looking for a deal, because the 12GB RTX 3080 Ti doesn’t make a significant dent in pricing.

Until (or unless?) the RTX 3090 Ti arrives, the RTX 3090 is set to be the top GPU from Nvidia. There isn’t much place for a new Titan card because it has a practically complete GA102 chip based on the Ampere architecture. As Nvidia has stated, the 3090 delivers Titan-class performance and features (particularly the 24GB VRAM) into the GeForce brand. The RTX 3090 is your only option if you must have the fastest graphics card on the market. As of this writing, the average price on eBay last month was over $2,300, so expect to pay a lot for the privilege of owning one.

Of course, it’s not just about games. This is the only GeForce Ampere with NVLink capability, which is potentially more helpful for professional applications and GPU computation than SLI. RTX 3090.” Other multimedia creation programmes benefit from the GDDR6X’s 24GB of memory. In comparison to the 3080, Blender regularly showed a 30 percent increase in performance, and the Titan RTX exhibited a performance increase of nearly two times that. Some of the SPECviewperf 13 apps may perform worse than expected if you use a GPU powered by Titan RTX since the driver has additional functionality enabled that aren’t available to GPUs powered by GeForce.

RX 6900 XT from AMD is a direct competitor to the RTX 3090 in classic rasterization. In several SPECviewperf tests, it also comes out on top. But if you’re looking for the fastest graphics card on the market right now, Nvidia is the clear winner. As of late this month, though, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is expected to take the performance crown, thanks to faster clock speeds and more GPU cores.

RTX 3090 Review: Nvidia’s Newest Graphics Card

a look at the RTX 3060 Ti’s visuals

4. GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK GAME CODE
Ampere: GPU (GA104)
GPU Cores: 4864 Boost Clock: 1,665 MHz
Graphics RAM: GDDR6 8 GB, 14 Gbps
The maximum wattage draw is 200 watts.
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There are several reasons to buy this card, including the fact that it beats the 2080 Super by $300 and is an excellent value for the money.
BEWARE: Out of stock and currently priced too high; 4K is out of reach even with hardware deinterlacing; 8GB of VRAM may be insufficient for long-term use;

It looks like Nvidia’s Ampere march just got a lot better. With a starting price of $399, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti has all the same features as the other GPUs in the 30-series. As a matter of fact, as all the other new graphics cards sold out rapidly. The typical eBay price is currently $850, which is more than twice the nominal MSRP. <Sigh>

The 3060 Ti outperforms the previous generation 2080 Super in every test we conducted. It’s only 9% slower than the 3070, but it’s 20% less expensive. With the 3060 Ti, you may expect performance gains of up to two times, and occasionally even three times, over a GTX 1070 or RX Vega 56.

That VRAM isn’t there is the only major problem. For the time being, 8GB is enough, although some games are starting to test the limit. You can, of course, lower the quality of the texture, but deep down you’ll feel remorse for doing so. It’s hard to tell the difference between a high and hyper setting.

However, Nvidia’s 3060 Ti remains faster than AMD’s RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT, especially in ray-tracing games. For what it’s worth, you can get an RX 6600 XT for over $250 less than an RX 3060 Ti right now. Other than the 3060 Ti, nothing else comes close to matching the 3060 Ti’s $399 price tag. Compared to the 2060 Super, it’s 35-45 percent faster, while the RX 5700 XT is 25-30 percent faster.

The most pressing issue right now is locating a copy of this card. The 3070 (at least for non-LHR variants) and AMD’s newest gen cards are comparable in terms of mining performance, which means pricing are still outrageous. Considering that the GTX 1070 had that much memory over five years ago, 8GB seems stingy.

Read our review of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

RTX 3070 FE from Nvidia is the best graphics card currently available.

Tom’s Hardware has provided this image of a computer motherboard.

5. GeForce RTX 3070

Exceptional 1440p Quality
SPECIFICATIONS
Ampere: GPU (GA104)
There are 5888 GPU cores in total.
At 1,730 Mhz, the boost clock
Graphics RAM: GDDR6 8 GB, 14 Gbps
Two hundred and twenty watts
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WHY BUY IT? +2080 Ti performance for half the price +All the Ampere improvements +Not as power-hungry as a 30-nanowatt equivalent
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND
Completely sold out and/or prohibitively high
Some games don’t support 4K UHD at 60 fps with 8GB of VRAM, which feels stingy.
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Next-generation architectures and Ampere’s ambush continue with GeForce’s RTX 3070. With half the VRAM of AMD’s RX 6800 series cards, this is a significant step down from the 3080. AMD’s new cards, on the other hand, are significantly more expensive than the 3070, but the 3070 still boasts greater ray-tracing performance, as well as DirectX 12 support. It’s a shame that none of the 3070 cards are available at the indicated retail price. However, as the new RTX 3070 Ti consumes 30 percent more power than the non-Ti model, we don’t advocate upgrading just yet.

The $400 price tag of the 3060 Ti makes it less appealing than the 3070. In principle, it’s 10-12 percent faster, but it costs 25% more. On eBay, the 3070 Ti was selling for roughly $150 more than the 3060 Ti last month. With the rest of your gaming PC, the extra $100–$175 shouldn’t be an issue, but that much money would generally be spent on the fastest non-Titan GPU. If you’re building a new gaming PC, don’t spend more than $300 unless it has an Ampere or Big Navi GPU. However, we do have some concerns.

While gaming in 1440p and 4K resolutions is achievable, the maximum quality of 4K sometimes slips below 60 frames per second (fps). If a game supports DLSS, it can be fixed, but ray tracing even with DLSS often results in a frame rate of 40 to 50 fps at 4K. 8GB of GDDR6 is also on our minds. Because of the smaller bus and lower clock speed, the 3080 has less memory and runs at a slower speed. In some games, 8GB is already a bit of a stumbling block, and this problem is only likely to worsen in the future. To make things even worse for Nvidia, AMD has decided to put 16GB on its Navi 21 GPUs while RTX 3060 has a whopping 12GB of RAM.

The 3060 Ti is your best bet if you’re on a tight budget and need a powerful Nvidia GPU. After spending an additional $100 on the 3070 (and another $100 on the 3070 Ti), upgrading to the 3080 seems like a no-brainer. After all, it’s the ‘greatest’ overall card. Looking at expensive cards and the law of diminishing returns is an issue. It’s now possible to get into an RTX 2080 Ti for a fraction of the price you’d previously had to pay.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Review: A Solid Performer

6700 XT AMD Radeon graphics

Reference model AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT via Tom’s Hardware

6. Radeon RX 6700 XT

Exceptional 1440p Graphics Card at a More Affordable Price
SPECIFICATIONS
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU): Boost Clock: 2581 MHz (2560 cores) 12 GB GDDR6 16 GB/s video memory 230 watts is the maximum rated power
There are several reasons to buy this card, like its good 1440p performance and its abundance of VRAM. However, there are also some reasons not to.
Like everything else, it’s out of stock.
– Poor RT performance- FSR can’t compete with DLSS
AMD’s Navi 22 and the RX 6700 XT are the result of cutting down the various functional parts of the Navi 21 GPU to make a smaller die that can be sold at a lower price. With the same number of GPU cores, but slightly higher clock rates and additional cache, it improves performance by around 25% over the previous generation RX 5700 XT (at higher settings and resolutions, at least).

During gaming sessions, AMD’s RX 6700 XT reaches a maximum clock speed of 2.5GHz, which is the fastest we’ve ever observed on a GPU at stock, on the reference card. We were able to get speeds of 2.7-2.8GHz with a little tweaking and overclocking without damaging the GPU. We’re a little disappointed that it only has 2,560 GPU cores, though.

The RX 6700 XT competes with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti in our performance testing. The launch price of $479 seems reasonable given that it’s a touch quicker than the latter and a bit slower than the former. DLSS and ray tracing games, on the other hand, elevate the 6700 XT to the status of a serious 3060 Ti rival in comparison.

The real problem is the same as it has always been. Even at astronomically inflated rates, the RX 6700 XT quickly sells out. The card’s current eBay price is roughly $775. Compared to both the 3060 Ti and 3070, it’s a step up, but not enough for us to recommend paying for a $500 high-end option.

Review of the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

Radeon RX 6800 base model from AMD

An image of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 reference model.

7. Radeon RX 6800

Graphics Card with 1440p resolution and decent Ray Tracing.
SPECIFICATIONS
Navi 21 XLGPU is the GPU. 2105 MHz Turbo Clock for 3840 Cores Memory: 16GB GDDR6 with a bandwidth of 16 Gbps Maximum Power Consumption: 250 W
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If you’re looking for a good all-around performer, this is the card for you. It has a lot of VRAM and Infinity Cache, and it easily tops the 3070 in non-RT benchmarks.
Fewer expensive than the 6800 XT
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The new Navi 21 GPU that powers the 6800 XT (above) is excellent, but if you cut it by around 10%, you get the vanilla RX 6800. Only 96 ROPs and somewhat lower clock speeds are available, but 16GB GDDR6 and 128MB Infinity Cache remain. This is a good compromise, but we think the 6800 XT is the best choice overall (unless pricing eventually drops a bit more on the vanilla cards).

There is currently a 6-800 on eBay for $1,033, roughly $140 cheaper than the XT version and somewhat more expensive than the 3070 Ti. It’s not even necessary to point out the absurdity of the costs. In terms of total performance, the RX 6800 topped Nvidia’s RTX 3070 by 12 percent, and it also beat the 3070 Ti by 5 percent, excluding ray tracing and DLSS, which are not included in this comparison.

Nvidia’s previous-generation RTX 2080 Super has the same ray-tracing performance as Nvidia’s RTX 2080. As a DLSS substitute, AMD’s FSR could help in the long term, but it isn’t used in nearly enough games and cannot match DLSS image quality. DLSS Quality setting raises the margin to more than 50% when comparing ray tracing performance between the 3070 and the 6800. The 3070 already outperforms the 6800 by 12 percent in native rendering.

Even though AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is now available, FSR works on Nvidia GPUs. We’d rather have the rasterization power of the RX 6800 than the ray tracing of the RTX 2080 Ti. However, we’d rather wait till the price of this particular card drops to a more manageable $600 or so. RDNA 3 and Lovelace are more likely to come first, hopefully by the end of 2022.

Read the review of the AMD Radeon RX 6800.

A 12GB GeForce RTX 3060

12GB XC RTX 3060 Graphics Card from EVGA Tom’s Hardware has provided this image of a computer motherboard.

8. GeForce RTX 3060

A Superb Graphics Card for the Mass Market
SPECIFICATIONS
Ampere: GPU (GA106)
a total of 3840 graphics processing units
1,777 MHz Boost Clock
15 Gbps of video RAM: 12 GB GDR6
Wattage Consumption
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Reasons to buy: +Lowest cost latest generation GPU +Great overall value for 1080p/1440p +Plenty of VRAM for mainstream applications. +
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND
Excessively high-priced and sold out
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We may have gone too far with Nvidia’s desktop Ampere line as we near the bottom of the price and performance scale. It has a 192-bit memory interface and 12GB of VRAM, which is a significant improvement over the RTX 3050 but a significant step down from the GA106. Overall performance is barely on par with the RTX 2070 due to the GPU’s reduced core count of 26% and decreased memory bandwidth. Basically, a $500 graphics card can now be matched with a $330 equivalent, two and a half years later.

Theoretically at least. We’re seeing RTX 3060 12GB cards selling on eBay for over $625 because demand has once again outstripped availability. Nvidia’s attempts to reduce Ethereum mining performance by 50% were rendered ineffective when the company’s own drivers were hacked (on accident). Even though the mining lock has been supposedly fixed with new firmware, it is evident that miners are still using the cards.

While VRAM capacity isn’t an issue, the 3060 12GB does start to closing in on the 3060 Ti in a few situations. Until then, if you can get your hands on a 3060 Ti for a fair price, it’s the superior option.

Despite having the same amount of VRAM, AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 XT performs significantly better thanks to its 96MB Infinity Cache. If you’re looking for a better offer right now, AMD’s RX 6600 XT with slightly better non-ray tracing performance and a $5 price cut (on eBay) might be a better option.

AMD’s RX 5700 XT and Nvidia’s RTX 3060 are nearly the same performance 18 months after the RX 3060 was released. Typical of mainstream parts, this isn’t going to set the world on fire. There is little we can do but hope that supply and pricing return to their normal levels sooner rather than later.

Please check out our review of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card.

RX 6600 xT from AMD

Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming OC from ASUS Tom’s Hardware has provided this image of a computer motherboard.

9. Radeon RX 6600 XT

Performance in the mainstream is excellent; nevertheless, the specifications for the RT specifications are lacking
Input/Output Devices: The number of cores is 2048. 2,589 MHz Boost Clock 8 GB of GDDR6 16 Gbps video RAM is used. Max. Power Consumption: 160 W
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WHY BUY IT +Faster than RX 5700 XT and 3060 +Efficient design +Good 1080p performance +32MB Infinity Cache still functions
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND
There is just 8GB of VRAM on a 128-bit bus, which means it isn’t very good at ray tracing.
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The Navi 23 architecture is AMD’s (kind of) response to the RTX 3060. 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.

The RX 5700 XT performs marginally better than the previous generation, which is impressive given that the memory bus has been reduced to 128 bits. Even though 8GB of VRAM is an issue, the RTX 3060 is still a superior option in some circumstances because to its lower price. Even still, when you consider the memory bandwidth, it’s astonishing how much a 32MB Infinity Cache seems to improve performance. As the name suggests, this is a smaller version of Navi 10 that utilises the same TSMC N7 node to produce 10–15% higher frames per second in 1080p.

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). Without DLSS, Nvidia’s RTX 3060 was approximately twice as fast (where available). Neither AMD nor Nvidia — or even Intel — GPUs benefit from FSR’s performance improvement, so it doesn’t fix the problem. The RX 6600 XT feels like a disappointment after giving tremendous levels of VRAM on the previous Big Navi chips.

It’s also disappointing to see a $379 price point for an RX 5600 XT replacement that was launched for $279 in the first place. Even while retail retailers initially had plenty of stock, the RX 6600 XT is now sold out and selling for at least 50% more on sites like eBay, where it is presently listed for $570.

Read our review of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT.

Radeon 6900XT from AMD

Images courtesy of Tom’s Hardware show the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT.

10. Radeon RX 6900 XT

AMD’s Fastest and Most Expensive Graphics Card Yet
SPECIFICATIONS
A 5120-core GPU, the Navi 21 XTXGPU.
Maximum Overdrive Frequency: 2250 Megahertz
Memory: 16GB GDDR6 with a bandwidth of 16 Gbps
300-watt maximum power consumption
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If you’re looking for a high-performance graphics card, go no further than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060.
Not much quicker than the 6800 XT -Poor value overall Advertisement -Impossible to find at decent costs

On the other end of the Navi 21 spectrum, this is what we have. The RX 6900 XT raises performance a bit and increases the (theoretical) price by more than 50% compared to the standard 6800. To put it another way, you’re paying a lot of money for very little return (the one saving grace of the RTX 3090). For the time being, it’s hard to come by one for less than $1,400.

The RX 6900 XT was AMD’s best effort yet. A fully functional Navi 21 GPU is a major factor in its scarcity. As a result, AMD would be better suited producing more Zen 3 CPUs or console processors rather than trying to mass-produce Big Navi. Even as a mining solution, it falls short of the RX 6800’s hashing performance on Ethereum.

Red flags such as poor raytracing performance and lack of an immediate replacement for DLSS are still present. For the most part, FSR runs on any GPU, whereas DLSS is limited to Nvidia and has a three-year head start on gaining traction among game developers. Nvidia is still the best option if you’re looking for the finest current RT experience (not that you need RT to enjoy games).

If you merely want the fastest AMD GPU, the 6900 XT will do fine. No matter how quickly you define “fastest,” Radeon VII comes out more than 30% ahead of its successor in mining performance. This item is likewise being sold at exorbitant costs right now.)

Check out our full evaluation of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT to learn more.

GPU of the Year: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 TI

GeForce GTX 1660 TI OC (Image credit: Nvidia)

11. GTX 1660 Super

What is the best graphics card for mainstream esports at 1080p?
Turing machine (TU116)
1408 graphics processing units
1,785 MHz Boost Clock Speed:
6 GB GDDR6 14 Gbps of video RAM
Power dissipation (TDP):
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Plus, it’s reasonably priced and has GDDR6 memory, which boosts performance significantly above the 1660’s standard GDDR4 memory.
Even at 12nm, Turing is extremely power-efficient.
CAUSES FOR DISCONTINUED USE -Pricing is currently increasing.
–
DLSS and last-generation hardware don’t support ray tracing.
The RX 5500 XT 8GB, the RX 6500 XT, and the GeForce GTX 1660 Super are all available for less than $200 (again, sort of). However, in our tests, the GTX 1660 Super is 15% quicker than the ordinary 1660 and 20% faster than the RX 5500 XT 8GB, which in turn is 20% faster than the 6500 XT (see results below). Our recommendation is to fork up the extra cash to increase your computer’s speed. As long as you can find a 1660 Super for less than $230, we’ll buy it for you. While this may be true, shelling out more than $400 on a GTX 1660 Super is not a fantastic deal.

While we’ve compared the Nvidia GTX 1660 vs. AMD RX 5500 XT and determined that the Nvidia card came out on top, we also believe that the GTX 1660 Super is a step above the GTX 1660. The RTX 2060 and RX 5600 XT used to be even better in our opinion, but the rising pricing of both cards have made them less desirable recently. In addition, the RX 6500 XT and RTX 3050 are on the way, and they are expected to outperform the 1660 Super. Maybe. To discover out, tune in at the end of the month.

AMD’s Navi 14 chips built with TSMC’s 7nm FinFET are nearly identical in power consumption to TSMC’s new 12nm FinFET Navi 14 chips. Using an older manufacturing node, Nvidia is still quicker and draws the same amount of electricity. The GTX 1660 Super is essentially the same performance as the GTX 1070, but in a more efficient design, for $230. It also features Turing NVENC, which makes it an excellent candidate for streaming video.

Since Ampere and RDNA 2 cards are currently under $250, the GTX 1660 Super has a significant price disadvantage. Depending on how long the shortages persist, they at least make an effort to do so. The GTX 1660 Super is as quick as a GTX 1070 while consuming less power, and it handles 1080p nicely, but given the current market conditions, buying any card is risky at this point..

Review of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660

GTX 1650 Super Twin is the best graphics card currently available.

GeForce GTX 1650 Super from Zotac (Image credit: Future)
NVIDIA GeForce 1650X

12. GTX 1650 Super

The Best Low-Cost Gaming Card That Isn’t Old Technology
SPECIFICATIONS
TU116GPU is the graphics processing unit. Boost clock: 1,725 MHz, 1280 cores 4 GB of GDDR6 12 Gbps video memory. TDP: 100 watts.
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AMAZON PRIME VIEW Prime View on Amazon
Running every game at a respectable framerate is just one of the many reasons to buy.
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND
-4 GB of VRAM is constrained.
A 6-pin power connector is still required despite the rise in prices.
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We’re now a generation behind the latest and greatest in graphics cards because of the arrival of Ampere and RDNA 2. There was a long period of time when the RX 570 4GB was retailing for about $120-$130, but now the GTX 1650 Super has taken its place. The 1650 Super improves performance by roughly 30% while utilising less power. Moreover, it’s more expensive than the 570, or at least it used to be, as AMD’s old card supplies have all but dried up.

If you’re looking for a low-cost option, you’ll have to settle with a more expensive model. The 1650 Super used to sell for $150-$160, but today it’s nearly impossible to locate one for less than $250. There has been a price increase in the RX 5500 XT 8GB and other GPUs (such as the GTX 1660 Super) that are now threatening the GTX 1660. For the time being, we’d steer clear of buying a secondhand RX 570 4GB card on eBay.

Nvidia’s inclusion of the latest NVENC hardware on the 1650 Super is much appreciated. So, if you’re looking for a low-cost PC that can stream games like CSGO or League of Legends, this is a good option. Video conferencing apps, which are growing increasingly popular in our COVID-pandemic environment, can also benefit from this technology. Just keep in mind that the 1650 Super requires a 6-pin power adapter, as opposed to the 4-pin one found on the GTX 1050 Ti.

Take a look at our review of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650.

If the RX 5500 XT 4GB wasn’t so expensive right now, it would be ideal.

AMD RX 5500 XT from ASRock (Image credit: ASRock)

13. RX 5500 XT 4GB

SPECIFICATIONS of the Best AMD “Budget” Gaming Card
Navi 14GPU is the graphics card. Fourteen hundred eighty-eight boost frequency: 1,845 MHz GDR6 14 Gbps video memory: 4 GB TDP: 100 watts.
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For further information, see Amazon’s list of reasons to buy: +Quick enough for any current game +Efficient 7nm tech +
Priced less outrageously than 8GB versions
Why you shouldn’t buy it: 4GB VRAM is still quite limited.
Costs are also rising, and you’ll need a 6-pin power connector for this device
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Between the GTX 1650 Super and the RX 5500 XT 4GB, it’s a close call. Price is just as out of control as it is everywhere else. They’re virtually identical in terms of performance and power. There’s a case to be made for buying a used GTX 970 for less money, but you’ll be receiving a very old GPU and who knows what it’s gone through. In terms of budget, the RX 6500 XT is also available, however the Navi 14 GPU actually performs better at high quality settings than the newer RX 6500.

Any game at 1080p and a medium to high resolution can be played on this card, but not necessarily at 60 frames per second. We believe that this graphics card should be $150, so if you can hold off on upgrading for the time being, we suggest waiting for the price to drop. There is plenty of room to explore with visual quality on the 5500 XT, which averaged over 60 frames per second in our testing at 1080p medium resolution.

For $450 and $270, we’re still not seeing anything that truly qualifies as a “affordable” solution for RTX 3050 and RX 6500 XT, which should have made prior generation cards redundant.

Review of AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB

Test Procedures for Graphics Cards
For a few months now, AMD’s FSR, FidelityFX Super Resolution, and Nvidia’s DLSS have been available, but none of the titles in our benchmark suite support FSR. For these tests, we’ll be running at full resolution. If you’re interested in learning more about how DLSS and FSR differ in terms of performance and image quality, you can check out our dedicated article on the subject.

With their minimal pricing, we’re going to compile a list of the greatest graphics cards that are currently available theoretically. RTX 3060 12GB cards sell for over $700 on eBay, while the Radeon RX 6700 XT sells for about $900, more than double the suggested retail price. These are just two examples of the dilemma we confront (SEP). If you need a new GPU urgently, you might be able to get away with paying 25% more than the launch price, but paying twice or three times the MSRP is simply unreasonable. Our recommendation is to check into pre-built gaming PCs instead if you’re in the market for a new system. Wait it out, but prices may not return to “normal” until as late as 2022. (if then).

We’ve done comprehensive testing of graphics card power consumption using correct hardware, and we’ve tested all of the major GPUs. We’ve also taken a look at the overall AMD vs. Nvidia GPUs comparison. ‘ While the Core i9-9900K PC was used to test all of these GPUs, the Core i9-10900K and Ryzen 9 5900X were also used in previous testing. However, in the near future, we want to improve our testbed and begin testing with a new set of games. You can check out our list of the greatest graphics cards currently in production if you’re lucky enough to find one for sale.

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In order to avoid any confusion, we’ve put up a dozen different graphics card options. As of now, the most recent GPUs are those based on either the Nvidia Ampere architecture or the AMD RDNA2 architecture, both from AMD. If you’d want to see our reviews of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 and AMD’s Radeon RX 6900, RX 6800, RX 6700, and 6600 XT cards, you may do so here. Team Red was able to use ray tracing for the first time thanks to RDNA2’s superior performance over the previous generation of GPUs.

New graphics cards have been released in the last few months, and we can now look forward to the RX 6500, RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 3050, and Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs in the near future. Most of them will go live in the next month, with the exception of Arc, which has a launch date of “Q1-2022” and may arrive later.

In theory, GPUs like the RTX 3070 and RX 6800 cost half as much as the RTX 2080 Ti of the previous generation while offering performance that is on par with or better than that of the previous generation. When it comes to graphics cards, there are two options that are significantly quicker than the 2080 Ti at a fraction of the price: the 6800XT and the 3080. The RTX 3090, on the other hand, costs twice as much as the 3080. Another interesting aspect to note is that this GPU performs well with CPUs of varying speeds. To get the best performance, you’ll need a computer with at least six cores and at least 12 threads, and the higher the number of cores, the better.

Unfortunately, this is only true in theory, as cryptocurrency mining has driven up the price of graphics cards due to a tight supply – see our GPU price index for more information. If you want to save money, don’t pay extra for old technology. 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. Stay with your current graphics card, or sell it for a profit and put the money away until the price drops (assuming you have a spare you can live with in the interim). Or, you could just wait for Lovelace and RDNA3, which are expected to come in late 2022 and have better availability (but don’t bank on it just yet!).

You can’t ignore the CPU if gaming is your primary objective. The finest gaming GPU will do you little good if your CPU is weak or outdated. It’s important to check both our Best CPUs for Gaming page and our CPU Benchmark hierarchy before you buy a new processor to be sure it’s up to the task.

Our current recommendations are based on all of the above factors, including the present state of the GPU market. Most of the time, the GPUs are ranked according to performance, but price, features, and efficiency are also taken into consideration, thus a slower card may be placed higher on the list. There’s been a lot of movement at the top of the performance rankings, and these are the greatest graphics cards available right now, assuming you can find them.

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While shopping for a graphics card, keep these things in mind:

A higher resolution means you’ll require more processing power. 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.
In terms of video memory, a 4GB card is the very least; 6GB cards are better, while 8GB or more cards are strongly suggested. While 12GB of VRAM is now an option for some games, it’s still a rarity rather than the norm.
Is G-Sync better than FreeSync? Your graphics card’s frame rate will be in sync with your screen’s refresh rate if you use either variable refresh technology. G-Sync and G-Sync Compatible displays are supported by Nvidia and can be found in our list of the Best Gaming Monitors, while AMD’s FreeSync technology is compatible with Radeon graphics cards.
Graphics cards with the most recent generation support ray tracing, DLSS, and FSR, which can be utilised to enhance the looks of a game. Only Nvidia RTX cards have DLSS, which delivers intelligent upscaling and anti-aliasing to enhance performance while maintaining similar image quality. A different selection of games benefit from AMD’s FSR, which works on any GPU and provides upscaling and improvement.

Results of Graphics Cards’ Performance

By eliminating all other obstacles, it’s ideal to measure pure graphics card performance. As of this writing, our graphics card testbed consists of a Core i9-9900K CPU, MSI MEG Z390 Ace motherboard and 32GB Corsair DDR4-3600 CL16 memory. At medium and high settings, we test across the three most prevalent gaming resolutions, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Because we’ve done testing and found that performance gains of 1–3 percent are the best-case scenario, we’ve decided to stick with the Core i9-9900K for the time being.

For all of these tests, we try to use reference cards like Nvidia’s Founders Edition versions or AMD’s reference designs wherever possible. In some circumstances, we only have factory overclocked cards available for testing for mid-range and lower GPUs. In these situations, we try everything we can to pick cards that are as close to the reference specs as possible.

There are nine games in our library that are now being tested by our team. The following graphs show the results of the testing carried out during the last few months. In order to keep the charts constant, we’ve used interpolated data for Red Dead Redemption 2’s total score because it doesn’t operate on all GPUs at all settings. For 4K ultra, you’ll need at least 6GB of RAM, although leaving that out will cause the average performance to be slightly skewed. In order to keep things useful, we interpolate using a negative bias (meaning lower scores than we’d normally expect).

Here are the most popular graphics cards in the last three years. From the RTX 3090 all the way down to the GTX 1650, and from the RX 6800 all the way down to the RX 5500 XT, we’ve included practically everything. It was necessary for us to remove some of the older GPUs and Titan cards from the charts in order to keep things in order. Despite this, we have all the test data, which is used to build the scores and ordering for the table at the top of our GPU benchmark hierarchy. As a visual aid, the charts are color-coded to show AMD in red/grey and Nvidia in blue/black.

Due to the time, it takes to thoroughly test each card, some of the findings may be out of date. This means that they were obtained using older drivers, versions of the game, and potentially Windows 10. A single set of drivers will be used to retest all current and prior generation graphics cards in the near future after Windows 11 is released. After that, the charts should be clear of any oddities (e.g., Red Dead Redemption 2 for example has several instances where the 6800 outperformed the faster 6800 XT and even 6900 XT).

As of March 4, 2022, the following graphs were accurate. Additionally, we’ll be updating older GPU generations over the next several weeks as well.

Best 1080p Graphics Cards Image 1 of 16 GPU benchmarks hierarchy typical gaming performance charts