If you're piecing together or giving a facelift to your gaming PC, the first shiny bit most people think about is the graphics card. It's no mystery why. Out of all the parts stuffed in a rig, the GPU usually has the loudest say in how smooth your frame rates look. In plain terms, the stronger your graphics card, the better your games will run - though there is a ceiling where more muscle doesn't always mean more speed.
TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards
GPUs have slid firmly into the luxury lane these days. Case in point: Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5090 will set you back a pretty penny, which is a hefty price tag for bragging rights. Compared to the good old days when the GTX 970 knocked my socks off in 2014, today's cards are eye-wateringly expensive - even once you factor in inflation. That said, you don't need to sell a kidney to get decent frames. Stick to 1440p or 1080p and you can nab a card that delivers plenty of fun without emptying your wallet.
This guide contains contributions by Jacqueline Thomas
It'd be easy to say "just grab the beefiest GPU you can afford" and call it a day, but that'd be lazy advice. Picking the right graphics card actually takes a bit of thought. Not all PCI-E bricks are cut from the same silicon, and what works for one gamer might be overkill or undercooked for another.
Step one: pick your resolution. A card that screams at 4K might trip over itself at 1080p thanks to CPU bottlenecks. Take the RTX 5090 - it's a rocket ship in 4K, but not always the best bang for buck in full HD. At that level, something like Intel's Arc B580 makes way more sense, leaving you cash left over for, you know, actual games.
Next, budget. Prices have climbed sky-high, but you can still snag a capable 1080p card for a reasonable amount of monies. If you've got deeper pockets, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT will let you crank up the bells and whistles. Go north of $1,000 and you unlock monsters like the RX 7900 XTX or RTX 5080, which will happily chew through 4K. Between the two, it's really about how much you care for ray tracing. For raw grunt, AMD's RX 9070 XT is the sleeper pick, and with FSR 4 in the mix, it's finally giving Nvidia's DLSS a proper run.
The good news? 4K gaming is becoming more reachable. I had no trouble breaking 60fps in Black Myth Wukong with the RTX 5070 Ti, but pricier beasts like the 5080 or 5090 give you extra headroom for the next wave of demanding titles. Just remember: big cards need big power. A lightweight like the Arc B580 is fine with a 450W PSU, but beefier units such as the RX 7800 XT demand more muscle. You don't need to splurge on a PSU that's double the recommended wattage - just make sure your rig has the juice to keep your GPU fed.
The Best Graphics Card for Most People
The Best Mainstream Graphics Card If You Want to Spend a Bit More
The Best Nvidia Graphics Card
The Best AMD Graphics Card
The Best GPU for 1080p
AMD or Nvidia? Or Intel?
Choosing a graphics card brand is mostly about what you value most. Intel’s cards are the cheapest of the lot, but they can’t keep up in raw horsepower. Nvidia sits at the opposite end, making the fastest GPUs money can buy, but the price tags can make your wallet wince. AMD usually lands somewhere in the middle, delivering strong performance at fairer prices. The trade-off is missing out on some exclusive Nvidia tricks like DLSS 4. AMD has its own equivalents for most of them, but they don’t always match up in quality..
What power supply should I get?
Another factor worth thinking about is power. Modern graphics cards are becoming serious energy hogs, with some drawing more than 450W on their own. If you’re planning a new build or a big upgrade, a 1,000W power supply is a smart investment.
GTX vs. RTX
And then there’s the GTX vs RTX question. GTX cards belong to Nvidia’s older, simpler line-up, while RTX models bring extra hardware in the form of Tensor and RT cores alongside CUDA cores. That means AI features like DLSS for sharper upscaling, and ray tracing for lifelike lighting and shadows. GTX cards still work fine for budget systems, but they’re living on borrowed time as RTX becomes the standard.
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