The most effective graphics playing cards deliver your gaming PC to life — they’re the center, lungs, and possibly even brains that get the stunningly rendered pixels to your show. No single answer will probably be proper for everybody, so we’re right here to type out the contenders from the pretenders. Whether or not you are after the quickest graphics card, one of the best worth, or one of the best card at a given worth, we’ve got suggestions for each finances. Balancing efficiency, worth, options, and effectivity is necessary as a result of no different element impacts your gaming expertise as a lot because the graphics card.
The place our GPU benchmarks hierarchy ranks all the playing cards primarily based purely on efficiency, our record of one of the best graphics playing cards tries to have a look at the entire bundle. Worth, availability, efficiency, options, and effectivity are all necessary, although the weighting turns into extra subjective. Cryptocurrency mining profitability has trailed off, and whereas we’re not out of the woods simply but, GPU costs on eBay have fallen about 30% for the reason that starting of the yr. Extra importantly, graphics playing cards are literally in inventory at many on-line shops, normally at lower than the going eBay charge, that means general GPU prices have come down 40–50% prior to now 4 months. There’s nonetheless room for additional worth cuts, however fairly priced graphics playing cards at the moment are in sight.
Our newest replace provides the RTX 3090 Ti to our testing outcomes, and whereas the value is obscene, for people who need absolutely the quickest graphics card out there it clearly displaces the RTX 3090. On the finances finish of the spectrum, the Radeon RX 6500 XT ought to fulfill folks searching for an improve that does not value way more than $200, which is way decrease than the going charge of competing playing cards just like the GTX 1650 Tremendous. The GeForce RTX 3050 provides way more efficiency, but additionally prices 50% extra, pushing it firmly into midrange territory. Lastly, we proceed to attend for Intel Arc Alchemist, which is form of out there for laptops now however is not slated to reach on desktop till maybe June.
Graphics Card Offers
In the event you’re searching for an whole lot on a brand new graphics card, test our RTX 3080 offers, RTX 3070 offers, and RTX 3060 offers pages the place we advise some methods to save lots of on a brand new graphics card. Typically talking, one of the best offers will solely value 15–25% greater than the nominal MSRPs. You may additionally take into account shopping for a pre-built PC in case you’re searching for a whole system improve, as usually these have higher costs on the GPU.
Notice: Costs on many of the graphics playing cards are nonetheless above MSRP, however costs have begun to drop quickly. We beforehand used common costs from eBay, since that was about the one place you might purchase many GPUs. We’re now capable of finding each GPU out there for much less cash at a web-based retailer (sometimes Newegg), so we’re displaying these costs, together with the official launch MSRPs.
You will word that the above record now consists totally of present technology playing cards. That is as a result of costs have modified sufficient that they are one of the best offers out there, with many earlier technology playing cards severely overprice. For instance, the GTX 1650 Tremendous $335 on-line, although you will get it off eBay for nearer to $200 if you wish to go that route. The RTX 3050 in the meantime provides much better efficiency and options with a beginning worth of $300 on-line.
We sorted the above record so as of efficiency (contemplating each common and DXR efficiency), however the order of playing cards listed beneath is predicated on different elements as properly. Our subjective view contains efficiency together with worth, energy, and options adjusted by our personal opinions. Others might provide a barely totally different take, however any of the playing cards on this record are price contemplating.
Greatest Graphics Playing cards for Gaming 2022
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 sports activities Nvidia’s newest Ampere structure. It is over 30% quicker than the earlier gen 2080 Ti, and supposedly prices $500 much less. Once we examined the brand new RTX 3080 Ti, it did not handle to supplant the incumbent, because of its considerably increased pricing. Nonetheless, do preserve an eye fixed out for the RTX 3080 12GB playing cards, which at current appear to hold a few $50 worth premium — a premium properly price paying in our ebook.
In the event you’re critical about maxing out all of the graphics settings and also you wish to play at 4K or 1440p, that is the cardboard to get. It is principally overkill for 1080p gaming, except you are working the most recent ray tracing video games, through which case DLSS help must also assist efficiency. In the event you skipped the primary spherical of RTX GPUs, the RTX 30-series would possibly lastly get you you on board the ray tracing prepare. With doubtlessly double the ray tracing efficiency of Turing, and video games like Cyberpunk 2077 utilizing much more ray tracing results, the RTX 3080 is your greatest guess at enjoying video games in all their ray traced glory with out nuking the piggy financial institution.
Ampere additionally brings improved tensor cores for DLSS, a expertise we’re sure to see extra of in future video games now that it does not require per-game coaching by a supercomputer. We’re seeing much more video games with DLSS 2.0 as of late, helped by the truth that it is principally a toggle and UI replace to get it working in Unreal Engine and Unity. Nvidia’s RT and DLSS efficiency are additionally fairly a bit quicker than what you get from AMD’s new RX 6000 playing cards, which is an efficient factor as Nvidia typically falls behind in conventional rasterization efficiency.
The largest drawback with RTX 3080 by far goes to be discovering one in inventory at
affordable worth. We have seen the 3080 go for over $1,500 a lot of the previous yr, so the present sub-$1,000 costs by comparability are nice, but it surely’s nonetheless about 35% over the MSRP. It is nonetheless a significantly better discount than the 3080 Ti and 3090, so this stays our greatest choose for a quick GPU proper now.
Learn: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Assessment (opens in new tab)
AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT is one of the best card for Staff Purple. In our testing, the RX Radeon 6900 XT is technically about 5-7 % quicker, but it surely theoretically prices 54 % extra. That is not a terrific deal, particularly since you aren’t getting extra VRAM or some other extras. Do take note of the present on-line costs, nevertheless, because the 6900 solely prices about $100 additional and is likely to be definitely worth the spend proper now. The RX 6800 XT gives an enormous increase in efficiency and options relative to the earlier technology RX 5700 XT. It provides ray tracing help (by way of DirectX Raytracing or VulkanRT), and is 70-90% quicker throughout our check suite.
The Navi 21 GPU was affectionately dubbed ‘Huge Navi’ previous to launch by the fanatic neighborhood, and we acquired precisely what we wished. It is over twice the scale of the earlier technology Navi 10, with twice the shader cores and twice the RAM. Clock speeds are additionally boosted into the two.1-2.3 GHz vary (relying on the cardboard mannequin), the very best clocks we have ever seen from a reference GPU by about 300 MHz. And AMD did all this with out considerably growing energy necessities: The RX 6800 XT has a 300W TBP, barely decrease than the RTX 3080’s 320W TBP.
An enormous a part of AMD’s efficiency comes because of the large 128MB Infinity Cache. It improves the efficient bandwidth by 119%, in line with AMD. We’re assured that few if any video games within the coming years are going to wish greater than 16GB, so the 6800 XT is in a terrific place in that space.
What’s to not like? Effectively, the ray tracing efficiency is a bit mediocre. Perhaps it is as a result of DXR video games usually tend to be optimized for Nvidia’s RTX GPUs, however general the 6800 XT is available in barely behind the RTX 3070 in ray tracing efficiency, and there are a number of video games the place it falls behind by as much as 25%. And that is with out turning on DLSS, which even in High quality mode can enhance efficiency of RTX playing cards by 20-40% (typically extra). AMD’s FidelityFX Tremendous Decision may also help, but it surely’s not as extensively used and does not match the standard of DLSS. FSR 2.0 would possibly change that, but it surely’s not out but.
Worth and availability, as with all current GPUs, is not nice. Not less than the RX 6800 XT can now be discovered on-line for lower than a grand, but it surely’s solely about $30 lower than the RTX 3080, which we favor because of its improved characteristic set. There’s additionally phrase of an incoming RDNA2 refresh with “6×50 XT” fashions, which is likely to be definitely worth the wait as they will reportedly embrace 18 Gbps GDDR6 reminiscence.
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Assessment (opens in new tab)
For some, one of the best card is the quickest card — pricing be damned! Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti caters to this class of consumer. At almost triple the official worth of the RTX 3080, efficiency is simply reasonably higher (20-30%) in most workloads. It is also solely 5–10% quicker than the earlier RTX 3090, with a fair increased MSRP. However taking a look at on-line costs, the 3090 Ti might solely value a pair hundred greater than a 3090, and who’re we kidding: Anybody critically contemplating both of those in all probability does not want to fret about a number of Benjamins.
The RTX 3090 Ti will reign as Nvidia’s prime GPU till the following technology Ada Lovelace GPUs arrive. It sports activities a whole GA102 chip with 84 SMs, so there isn’t any room or time for a brand new Titan card. Nvidia has stated as a lot as properly, that the 3090 Ti brings Titan-class efficiency and options (particularly the 24GB VRAM) into the GeForce model. In the event you merely should have the quickest graphics card out there, the RTX 3090 Ti is not more likely to be surpassed till this fall.
It isn’t nearly gaming, in fact. The RTX 3090 Ti has NVLink help, which is arguably extra helpful for skilled apps and GPU compute than SLI. The 24GB of GDDR6X reminiscence can also be useful in a wide range of content material creation functions. Blender for instance ceaselessly confirmed 35% increased efficiency in comparison with the 3080, and over twice the efficiency of the Titan RTX. Simply be careful for decrease than anticipated efficiency in a few of the SPECviewperf apps, the place Titan RTX has extra options turned on in its drivers that are not enabled for GeForce playing cards. (You will want the much more costly Nvidia RTX A6000 for the complete skilled driver suite.)
AMD’s RX 6900 XT challenges the RTX 3090 Ti in conventional rasterization efficiency and wins in a number of SPECviewperf assessments. However in order for you absolutely the quickest graphics card proper now, Nvidia wins, particularly in case you run video games with ray tracing and DLSS enabled. Do word that the Ada AD102 GPU destined to interchange GA102 is rumored to have as much as 144 SMs, nevertheless, which implies we may see doubtlessly 70% extra efficiency from Nvidia’s next-generation excessive graphics card.
Learn: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Assessment
Begin with the Navi 21 GPU after which minimize down the assorted useful items to create a smaller die that may promote at decrease costs and you’ve got AMD’s Navi 22 and the RX 6700 XT. It has the identical variety of GPU cores because the earlier technology RX 5700 XT, however considerably increased clock speeds and extra cache give it a few 25% increase to efficiency (at increased settings and resolutions, at the least).
Once we examined AMD’s RX 6700 XT, it hit clock speeds in extra of two.5GHz throughout gaming periods — and that is at inventory, on the reference card. With some tuning and overclocking, we had been capable of hit speeds of two.7-2.8GHz, nonetheless with out cooking the GPU. That is very spectacular, and manufacturing unit overclocked playing cards can push even increased clocks.
In our efficiency testing, the RX 6700 XT traded blows with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti. It is a bit quicker than the latter, and a bit slower than the previous, so the launch worth of $479 is cheap. Nonetheless, if we embrace just about any video games with DLSS or ray tracing, the 6700 XT is available in behind the 3060 Ti and virtually appears like a 3060 competitor.
Even higher, and the explanation this card has moved up in our general rankings, is that the RX 6700 XT is presently out there at costs very near the MSRP. There’s presently an MSI RX 6700 XT Mech 2X (opens in new tab) for simply $515 after a $15 rebate, only a 7% improve over AMD’s advisable beginning worth. That is $75 lower than the most cost effective RTX 3060 Ti and almost $100 lower than the least costly RTX 3070, for comparable efficiency.
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT overview (opens in new tab)
As we method the bottom finish of the value and efficiency ladder with Nvidia’s desktop Ampere lineup, the cuts to processing energy might have gone too far. That is the primary GA106 card, with a 192-bit reminiscence interface and 12GB VRAM, which is sort of a bit higher than the RTX 3050 however nonetheless a giant step down from GA104. With 26% fewer GPU cores in comparison with the 3060 Ti, and fewer reminiscence bandwidth, general efficiency is simply on the extent of the RTX 2070. So, two and a half years later, now you can match a $500 graphics card with a $330 various.
Or that is the speculation. Demand nonetheless surpasses provide, however at the least we’re now seeing RTX 3060 beginning at $390 (opens in new tab). That card reveals as backordered, with an ETA of a number of days in the past, however we have seen the RTX 3060 go out and in of inventory for $400 or much less over the previous couple of weeks. Given the efficiency we noticed in our testing, the RTX 3060 is the general worth, factoring in ray tracing and DLSS efficiency.
VRAM capability is not an issue, and there are a number of cases the place the 3060 begins to shut the hole with the 3060 Ti. It by no means fairly will get there, nevertheless, and the 3060 Ti can be the higher alternative in case you may discover one at an inexpensive worth. At current, it is a $200 soar to the 3060 Ti, making this or certainly one of AMD’s choices a significantly better worth.
Alternatively, discounting ray tracing and DLSS, in our testing the RTX 3060 finally ends up being roughly the identical efficiency as AMD’s RX 5700 XT, 18 months later. Not precisely one thing to set the world on hearth, however then that is typical of mainstream components. With DXR and DLSS, nevertheless, the 3060 may even commerce blows with AMD’s RX 6800.
Learn: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Assessment (opens in new tab)
AMD’s reply to the RTX 3060, form of, comes by way of the Navi 23 structure. Usually, we might anticipate a 32 CU variant of Navi 22, dubbed the RX 6700 non-XT, however AMD trimmed CU counts, reminiscence interface width, and Infinity Cache sizes to get a smaller and cheaper chip that also performs properly.
Efficiency finally ends up barely above the earlier gen RX 5700 XT, which is spectacular contemplating the reminiscence bus has been minimize in half to simply 128 bits. There is a affordable concern with the 8GB of VRAM, nevertheless, and there are definitely circumstances the place the RTX 3060 finally ends up as the higher alternative. Nonetheless, it is stunning how a lot even a 32MB Infinity Cache appears to spice up efficiency, once you have a look at the reminiscence bandwidth. That is principally a chip that is smaller than Navi 10, constructed on the identical TSMC N7 node, and it delivers 10–15% higher framerates at 1080p.
There are cases the place it struggles, nevertheless, ray tracing being a giant one. A number of video games that we examined with DXR (DirectX Raytracing) help could not even do 20 fps at 1080p. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 was about twice as quick, with out utilizing DLSS (the place out there). FSR does not actually repair that, both, because it gives the same increase in efficiency to each AMD and Nvidia — and even Intel — GPUs. After delivering spectacular quantities of VRAM on the opposite Huge Navi chips, the RX 6600 XT seems like a letdown.
The $379 place to begin for a GPU that is ostensibly a substitute to the earlier technology RX 5600 XT ($279 launch worth) does not garner any goodwill. Nonetheless, in as of late of overpriced graphics playing cards, now you can discover the Radeon RX 6600 XT beginning at $390 (opens in new tab) (after rebate). Yeah, that is just about MSRP!
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Assessment
Once we examined the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, we felt it is likely to be one of the best of the bunch for Nvidia’s Ampere GPUs. It has all the identical options as the opposite 30-series GPUs, with a beginning worth of simply $399. In idea, in fact, because it naturally offered out simply as rapidly as all the opposite new graphics playing cards. At the moment, the bottom worth we will discover is that this MSI RTX 3060 Ti Ventus (opens in new tab) for $590, which remains to be almost 50% greater than the nominal MSRP. <Sigh>
The 3060 Ti beat the earlier gen 2080 Tremendous in our testing, successful in each sport we ran. It is also solely about 9 % slower than the RTX 3070 however prices 20 % much less. In the event you’re nonetheless sitting on an older GTX 1070 or RX Vega 56, the 3060 Ti is as much as twice as quick — typically much more, within the newest video games.
The one actual concern is the dearth of VRAM. 8GB is usually sufficient, for now, however some video games are beginning to push past that threshold. After all you possibly can drop the feel high quality a notch, and also you may not even discover the distinction, however deep down inside you will really feel remorse. (Not likely — excessive settings usually look indistinguishable from extremely settings.)
AMD’s RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT give the 3060 Ti some stiff competitors, nevertheless. Nvidia’s half remains to be quicker, notably in ray tracing video games, however the RX 6600 XT presently sells for over $180 lower than the 3060 Ti. That is why it is above this card in our itemizing of one of the best graphics playing cards. Additionally, 8GB feels a bit stingy, contemplating the GTX 1070 had that a lot reminiscence over 5 years in the past, and even Nvidia’s decrease tier RTX 3060 has 12GB now.
Learn: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Assessment (opens in new tab)
The Radeon RX 6600 takes every part good in regards to the 6600 XT after which scales it again barely. It is about 15% slower general, only a bit behind the RTX 3060 as properly, however in our testing it was nonetheless 30% quicker than the RTX 3050. We’re additionally seeing the playing cards in inventory and on sale, beginning at $325 for the MSI RX 6600 Mech 2X (opens in new tab) (after $15 rebate).
That is truly lower than AMD’s official $329 MSRP, which felt a bit excessive at launch — not that we ever noticed these costs in significant portions till now. However with some playing cards transport at or barely beneath MSRP, for now this represents AMD’s greatest bang for the buck, and a few would possibly even put it forward of the RTX 3060.
Funds to midrange graphics playing cards are a aggressive area, and the RX 6600 has to compete in opposition to each the brand new RTX 30-series in addition to the earlier technology RTX 20-series. It ended up delivering near-RTX 2070 efficiency, at the least in non-ray tracing eventualities. With ray tracing enabled, nevertheless, it struggled badly, barely averaging 30 fps in our DXR check suite at 1080p medium.
In the event you’re not apprehensive about ray tracing, although, the RX 6600 positively warrants a glance. AMD’s Infinity Cache does wonders for what in any other case appears like a considerably underpowered GPU, and the cardboard solely wants about 130W, far lower than competing GPUs.
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6600 Assessment
The RX 6900 XT presently represents the last word efficiency from the RDNA2 structure, although we suspect we’ll see an RX 6950 XT within the not too distant future. AMD set the MSRP at a reasonably excessive $999 at launch, which then ended up being a lot decrease than avenue costs for the previous 18 months. However now there are a number of playing cards that solely value barely greater than that, and costs proceed to drop.
The RX 6900 XT boasts barely extra GPU cores than the RX 6800 XT, which ends up in a comparatively small efficiency improve for a reasonably giant soar in worth. Nonetheless, at current the totally different is extra like $100, so you possibly can definitely make the argument for AMD’s prime card over the penultimate Staff Purple providing.
The identical crimson flags are nonetheless current as properly, just like the mediocre ray tracing efficiency and lack of a direct various to DLSS. Principally, FSR works on every part, however DLSS solely runs on Nvidia and has a 3 yr head begin on getting sport builders to make use of it. In brief, in order for you one of the best RT expertise proper now, Nvidia nonetheless wins (not that you simply want RT to take pleasure in video games).
Those that simply need the quickest AMD GPU will nonetheless be proud of the 6900 XT. Once more, we’re anticipating an RX 6000 collection refresh within the subsequent month or so, pairing all the XT variants with 18Gbps GDDR6 reminiscence and boosting clocks a bit, possible on the expense of energy use. If you have not already bought an AMD card, ready to see what the rumored RX 6950 XT prices and the way it efficiency is sensible.
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT overview (opens in new tab)
Take every part nice in regards to the new Navi 21 GPU that powers the 6800 XT (above), then trim it by about 10–15% and also you get the vanilla RX 6800. You continue to get the complete 16GB GDDR6 and 128MB Infinity Cache, however solely 96 ROPs, fewer GPU cores, and decrease clock speeds. It is a affordable compromise, however we predict the 6800 XT is the higher possibility all issues thought-about.
Proper now the RX 6800 begins at $800 on-line, about $120 lower than the 6800 XT and a bit greater than the RTX 3070 Ti. The RX 6800 places up an excellent displaying in opposition to Nvidia’s RTX 3070 Ti, successful the non-ray tracing benchmark suite in our testing. Nonetheless, the Nvidia GPU was 35% quicker in our ray tracing benchmarks, not even accounting for the extra 20–50% DLSS high quality mode can show.
AMD’s FSR 2.0 as a DLSS various may assist long-term, however the present FSR implementation is extra about bettering efficiency than picture high quality. (Trace: Run at a decrease decision, or use Nvidia Picture Scaling, and also you get comparable efficiency positive aspects and high quality.)
We might seize an RX 6800 extra for the rasterization prowess and never fear a lot about ray tracing. However actually, we might await costs to get right down to affordable ranges, like $600 or much less for this specific card. Hopefully that can occur earlier than the tip of 2022, however the future RDNA 3 and Ada architectures will possible arrive by then.
Learn: AMD Radeon RX 6800 overview (opens in new tab)
Nvidia tried to create a “finances” RTX 30-series card with its GeForce RTX 3050, although the $250 advisable worth nonetheless places it firmly within the mainstream class. It is also promoting at $300 or extra proper now, which is best than the launch costs however not as little as we might wish to see, contemplating it ended up being 7% slower than the earlier technology RTX 2060 in our testing. Nonetheless, we might reasonably pay for an RTX card than plunk down the same amount of money for a GeForce GTX 1660 Tremendous (opens in new tab) or RX 5500 XT 8GB (opens in new tab) (word that you’ll find higher costs for these on eBay in case you’re prepared to purchase a used GPU).
We have executed the testing (see beneath) and the RTX 3050 was about 15% quicker than a GTX 1660 Tremendous, plus it may legitimately run ray tracing video games and it additionally helps DLSS. That is greater than we will say for AMD’s RX 6500 XT, which in all probability ought to have skipped RT help in alternate for extra VRAM and bandwidth..
The largest drawback is that $300 or extra remains to be rather a lot to pay for mainstream ranges of efficiency, and we would not be shocked to see costs drop one other 20% or extra by the tip of the summer time (assuming the bettering provide does not get derailed). In the event you do not care a lot about ray tracing, have a look at the RX 6600, which solely prices a bit extra and delivers 30% increased efficiency at 1080p extremely in our customary check suite.
Learn: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050
The finances realm of GPUs usually finally ends up going to older {hardware}, however the Radeon RX 6500 XT at the least makes use of AMD’s RDNA 2 GPU. Besides, the Navi 24 chips actually acquired minimize down on the chopping block, with solely a 64-bit reminiscence interface, 16MB Infinity Cache, an x4 PCIe hyperlink, older video codec help, and solely two show outputs. That is quite a lot of doubtlessly fascinating options that acquired hacked off.
Nonetheless, if worth is your driving concern, the RX 6500 XT begins at $210, which makes it cheaper than most different choices. We might encourage most players to strive saving up for the RTX 3050 or RX 6600, as they’re each considerably higher, and efficiency on the 6500 XT cannot fairly match the GTX 1650 Tremendous. However proper now, the one place to purchase a 1650 Tremendous with out overpaying is on eBay.
With provides and former technology GPUs seemingly not bettering, the RX 6500 XT principally wins our finances advice by default. We might a lot reasonably have a GTX 1660 collection card, and even an RX 5500 XT 8GB, however we might additionally favor shopping for new laborious — shopping for a used graphics card represents a threat, with many miners possible offloading playing cards which were used laborious for the previous two years.
Learn: AMD Radeon RTX 6500 XT Assessment
How We Take a look at the Greatest Graphics Playing cards
Tom’s {Hardware} 2022 GPU Testbed
Figuring out pure graphics card efficiency is greatest executed by eliminating all different bottlenecks — as a lot as attainable, at the least. Our 2022 graphics card testbed consists of a Core i9-12900K CPU, MSI Z690 DDR4 motherboard, 32GB Corsair DDR4-3600 CL16 reminiscence, and Essential P5 Plus 2TB SSD, with a Cooler Grasp PSU, case, and CPU cooler.
We check throughout the three commonest gaming resolutions, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, utilizing ‘medium’ and ‘extremely’ settings. The place attainable, we use ‘reference’ playing cards for all of those assessments, like Nvidia’s Founders Version fashions and AMD’s reference designs. Most midrange and decrease GPUs don’t have reference fashions, nevertheless, and in some circumstances we solely have manufacturing unit overclocked playing cards for testing. We do our greatest to pick out playing cards which are near the reference specs in such circumstances.
For every graphics card, we observe the identical testing process. We run one cross of every benchmark to “heat up” the GPU after launching the sport, then run at the least two passes at every setting/decision mixture. If the 2 runs are principally similar (inside 0.5% or much less distinction), we use the quicker of the 2 runs. If there’s greater than a small distinction, we run the check at the least twice extra to find out what “regular” efficiency is meant to be.
We additionally have a look at all the info and test for anomalies, so for instance RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti all usually going to carry out inside a slender vary — 3070 Ti is about 5% quicker than 3070, which is about 5% quicker than 3060 Ti. If we see video games the place there are clear outliers (i.e. efficiency is greater than 10% increased for the playing cards simply talked about), we’ll return and retest no matter playing cards are displaying the anomaly and determine what the “right” end result can be.
As a result of size of time required for testing every GPU, up to date drivers and sport patches inevitably come out that may influence efficiency. We periodically retest a number of pattern playing cards to confirm our outcomes are nonetheless legitimate, and if not, we undergo and retest the affected sport(s) and GPU(s). We might also add video games to our check suite over the approaching yr, if one comes out that’s common and conducive to testing — see our what makes an excellent sport benchmark for our choice standards.
Selecting Among the many Greatest Graphics Playing cards
We have offered a dozen choices for one of the best graphics playing cards, recognizing that there is loads of potential overlap. The newest technology GPUs encompass Nvidia’s Ampere structure playing cards and AMD’s RDNA2 structure choices, and the Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs ought to arrive within the subsequent couple of months. Conveniently, Arc Alchemist, RDNA2, and Ampere all help the identical basic options (DirectX 12 Final and ray tracing), although Arc and RTX playing cards even have extra tensor core {hardware}.
We have listed one of the best graphics playing cards which are out there proper now, together with their present on-line costs, which we monitor in our GPU costs information. With many playing cards now solely costing 25% greater than MSRP, loads of folks appear able to improve, and provide additionally appears to be bettering. Whether or not that can proceed till the next-gen GPUs arrive stays to be seen.
Our recommendation: Do not pay extra in the present day for yesterday’s {hardware}. If you’d like an RTX 30-series or RX 6000-series graphics card, be affected person and you may ultimately be capable of purchase one at near the official MSRP. At this level, you would possibly simply give Ampere and RDNA2 a cross and await Ada and RDNA3.
In case your important aim is gaming, you possibly can’t overlook in regards to the CPU. Getting the very best gaming GPU will not enable you a lot in case your CPU is underpowered and/or old-fashioned. So make sure you take a look at the Greatest CPUs for Gaming web page, in addition to our CPU Benchmark hierarchy to be sure you have the appropriate CPU for the extent of gaming you are seeking to obtain.
Our present suggestions replicate the altering GPU market, factoring in all the above particulars. The GPUs are ordered utilizing subjective rankings, bearing in mind efficiency, worth, options, and effectivity, so barely slower playing cards might find yourself increased on our record.
When shopping for a graphics card, take into account the next:
• Decision: The extra pixels you are pushing, the extra efficiency you want. You do not want a top-of-the-line GPU to sport at 1080p.
• PSU: Guarantee that your energy provide has sufficient juice and the appropriate 6- and/or 8-pin connector(s). For instance, Nvidia recommends a 550-watt PSU for the RTX 3060, and you may want at the least an 8-pin connector and probably a 6-pin PEG connector as properly.
• Video Reminiscence: A 4GB card is the minimal proper now, 6GB fashions are higher, and 8GB or extra is strongly advisable. A couple of video games can now use 12GB of VRAM, although they’re the exception reasonably than the rule.
• FreeSync or G-Sync? Both variable refresh charge expertise will synchronize your GPU’s body charge along with your display screen’s refresh charge. Nvidia helps G-Sync and G-Sync Suitable shows (for suggestions, see our Greatest Gaming Displays record), whereas AMD’s FreeSync tech works with Radeon playing cards.
• Ray Tracing, DLSS, and FSR: The newest graphics playing cards help ray tracing, which can be utilized to boost the visuals. DLSS gives clever upscaling and anti-aliasing to spice up efficiency with related picture high quality, but it surely’s solely on Nvidia RTX playing cards. AMD’s FSR works on nearly any GPU and likewise gives upscaling and enhancement, however on a unique subset of video games.
Graphics Playing cards Efficiency Outcomes
Our present check suite of video games consists of eight titles. The info within the following charts is from testing performed through the previous a number of months. Solely the quickest playing cards are examined at 1440p and 4K, however we do our greatest to check every part at 1080p medium and extremely.
AMD’s FSR, FidelityFX Tremendous Decision, has now been out for a number of months, and Nvidia’s DLSS has been round for a number of years, however not one of the video games in our core suite of benchmarks help FSR. Meaning we’re working at native decision for all of those assessments. We’ve got a separate article taking a look at FSR and DLSS, and the underside line is that DLSS improves efficiency with much less compromise to picture high quality, however FSR works on any GPU.
The charts beneath comprise all the present technology RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series, plus earlier technology GPUs the place relevant (that means, non-RT playing cards cannot run our DXR benchmarks). Our GPU benchmarks hierarchy accommodates extra outcomes for individuals who have an interest, together with efficiency testing from our 2020-2021 suite working on a Core i9-9900K. The charts are colour coded with AMD in crimson/gray and Nvidia in blue/black to make it simpler to see what is going on on.
The next charts are updated as of April 15, 2022. All present technology and former technology GPUs are included.
Greatest Graphics Playing cards — 1080p Medium
Greatest Graphics Playing cards — 1080p Extremely
Greatest Graphics Playing cards — 1440p Extremely
Greatest Graphics Playing cards — 4K Extremely
Apart from efficiency, we additionally check graphics card energy consumption. We examined all present GPUs utilizing Powenetics gear and software program, and whereas Nvidia usually had an effectivity lead on earlier technology components, AMD’s RDNA2 GPUs now charge as essentially the most environment friendly choices typically. Listed below are the principle energy charts from our testing.
Greatest Graphics Playing cards — Energy Consumption
All GPUs Ranked
Our full GPU Benchmarks hierarchy ranks all present in earlier technology GPUs by efficiency, utilizing combination information from the gaming check suite. Under is the abbreviated hierarchy with all of the playing cards you possibly can nonetheless purchase (plus a number of extras) ranked so as of efficiency, from greatest to worst. The rating represents combination efficiency, scaled relative to the quickest card, the RTX 3090 Ti.
| Graphics Card | 1080p Extremely | 1080p Medium | 1440p Extremely | 4K Extremely | Specs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (opens in new tab) | 100.0% (132.4fps) | 100.0% (180.1fps) | 100.0% (113.9fps) | 100.0% (75.7fps) | GA102, 10752 shaders, 1860MHz, 24GB GDDR6X@21Gbps, 1008GB/s, 450W |
| Radeon RX 6900 XT (opens in new tab) | 98.6% (130.6fps) | 103.4% (186.2fps) | 94.0% (107.0fps) | 83.1% (62.9fps) | Navi 21, 5120 shaders, 2250MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 300W |
| GeForce RTX 3090 (opens in new tab) | 95.6% (126.6fps) | 98.9% (178.1fps) | 93.6% (106.5fps) | 90.9% (68.8fps) | GA102, 10496 shaders, 1695MHz, 24GB GDDR6X@19.5Gbps, 936GB/s, 350W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 12GB (opens in new tab) | 94.0% (124.5fps) | 99.0% (178.2fps) | 91.3% (104.0fps) | 87.6% (66.3fps) | GA102, 8960 shaders, 1845MHz, 12GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 912GB/s, 400W |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT (opens in new tab) | 94.0% (124.5fps) | 100.3% (180.7fps) | 88.9% (101.2fps) | 77.3% (58.5fps) | Navi 21, 4608 shaders, 2250MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 300W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (opens in new tab) | 93.2% (123.4fps) | 97.1% (174.9fps) | 90.8% (103.4fps) | 87.8% (66.5fps) | GA102, 10240 shaders, 1665MHz, 12GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 912GB/s, 350W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 (opens in new tab) | 87.8% (116.3fps) | 96.3% (173.4fps) | 83.9% (95.5fps) | 80.1% (60.6fps) | GA102, 8704 shaders, 1710MHz, 10GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 760GB/s, 320W |
| Radeon RX 6800 (opens in new tab) | 84.3% (111.7fps) | 96.8% (174.3fps) | 76.9% (87.5fps) | 66.7% (50.5fps) | Navi 21, 3840 shaders, 2105MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 250W |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (opens in new tab) | 78.6% (104.1fps) | 90.2% (162.4fps) | 72.5% (82.6fps) | 61.9% (46.8fps) | GA104, 6144 shaders, 1770MHz, 8GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 608GB/s, 290W |
| Titan RTX (opens in new tab) | 75.6% (100.1fps) | 87.9% (158.2fps) | 70.7% (80.5fps) | 63.8% (48.3fps) | TU102, 4608 shaders, 1770MHz, 24GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 672GB/s, 280W |
| GeForce RTX 3070 (opens in new tab) | 75.3% (99.8fps) | 87.5% (157.7fps) | 68.0% (77.5fps) | 57.0% (43.2fps) | GA104, 5888 shaders, 1725MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 220W |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT (opens in new tab) | 72.5% (96.0fps) | 88.7% (159.8fps) | 61.9% (70.4fps) | 50.9% (38.5fps) | Navi 22, 2560 shaders, 2581MHz, 12GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 384GB/s, 230W |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (opens in new tab) | 72.5% (96.0fps) | 84.2% (151.6fps) | 66.1% (75.3fps) | 58.9% (44.6fps) | TU102, 4352 shaders, 1545MHz, 11GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 616GB/s, 250W |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (opens in new tab) | 69.1% (91.5fps) | 83.1% (149.7fps) | 61.2% (69.7fps) | GA104, 4864 shaders, 1665MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 200W | |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 64.1% (84.9fps) | 76.5% (137.8fps) | 57.0% (64.9fps) | 45.6% (34.5fps) | TU104, 3072 shaders, 1815MHz, 8GB GDDR6@15.5Gbps, 496GB/s, 250W |
| GeForce RTX 2080 (opens in new tab) | 62.1% (82.2fps) | 73.9% (133.1fps) | 54.8% (62.4fps) | TU104, 2944 shaders, 1710MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 215W | |
| Radeon RX 6600 XT (opens in new tab) | 59.1% (78.2fps) | 76.0% (136.8fps) | 48.2% (54.9fps) | Navi 23, 2048 shaders, 2589MHz, 8GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 256GB/s, 160W | |
| GeForce RTX 2070 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 57.7% (76.4fps) | 68.9% (124.1fps) | 50.4% (57.4fps) | TU104, 2560 shaders, 1770MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 215W | |
| Radeon RX 5700 XT (opens in new tab) | 55.7% (73.7fps) | 69.9% (125.8fps) | 46.8% (53.3fps) | 38.6% (29.3fps) | Navi 10, 2560 shaders, 1905MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 225W |
| GeForce RTX 3060 (opens in new tab) | 53.0% (70.2fps) | 66.0% (118.8fps) | 46.2% (52.6fps) | GA106, 3584 shaders, 1777MHz, 12GB GDDR6@15Gbps, 360GB/s, 170W | |
| GeForce RTX 2070 (opens in new tab) | 51.3% (67.9fps) | 61.5% (110.7fps) | 44.8% (51.0fps) | TU106, 2304 shaders, 1620MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 175W | |
| Radeon RX 6600 (opens in new tab) | 50.4% (66.7fps) | 65.4% (117.8fps) | 40.5% (46.1fps) | Navi 23, 1792 shaders, 2491MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 132W | |
| GeForce RTX 2060 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 49.1% (65.1fps) | 58.8% (105.9fps) | 42.4% (48.2fps) | TU106, 2176 shaders, 1650MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 175W | |
| GeForce RTX 2060 (opens in new tab) | 41.7% (55.2fps) | 53.8% (96.8fps) | 34.0% (38.7fps) | TU106, 1920 shaders, 1680MHz, 6GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 336GB/s, 160W | |
| GeForce RTX 3050 (opens in new tab) | 38.8% (51.4fps) | 49.6% (89.4fps) | 33.0% (37.6fps) | GA106, 2560 shaders, 1777MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 130W | |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 33.6% (44.4fps) | 46.0% (82.8fps) | 27.6% (31.5fps) | TU116, 1408 shaders, 1785MHz, 6GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 336GB/s, 125W | |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (opens in new tab) | 33.1% (43.9fps) | 45.4% (81.9fps) | 27.7% (31.6fps) | TU116, 1536 shaders, 1770MHz, 6GB GDDR6@12Gbps, 288GB/s, 120W | |
| GeForce GTX 1660 (opens in new tab) | 30.1% (39.9fps) | 41.7% (75.1fps) | 25.0% (28.5fps) | TU116, 1408 shaders, 1785MHz, 6GB GDDR5@8Gbps, 192GB/s, 120W | |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB (opens in new tab) | 30.1% (39.8fps) | 40.3% (72.6fps) | 25.0% (28.5fps) | Navi 14, 1408 shaders, 1845MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 130W | |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB (opens in new tab) | 25.3% (33.5fps) | 37.2% (66.9fps) | Navi 14, 1408 shaders, 1845MHz, 4GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 130W | ||
| GeForce GTX 1650 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 25.1% (33.2fps) | 37.7% (67.9fps) | 20.2% (23.0fps) | TU116, 1280 shaders, 1725MHz, 4GB GDDR6@12Gbps, 192GB/s, 100W | |
| Radeon RX 6500 XT (opens in new tab) | 23.0% (30.4fps) | 36.3% (65.4fps) | 15.8% (18.0fps) | Navi 24, 1024 shaders, 2815MHz, 4GB GDDR6@18Gbps, 144GB/s, 107W | |
| GeForce GTX 1650 (opens in new tab) | 20.1% (26.6fps) | 28.4% (51.1fps) | TU117, 896 shaders, 1665MHz, 4GB GDDR5@8Gbps, 128GB/s, 75W |
| Graphics Card | 1080p Medium | 1080p Extremely | 1440p Extremely | 4K Extremely | Specs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (opens in new tab) | 100.0% (118.2fps) | 100.0% (84.4fps) | 100.0% (57.2fps) | 100.0% (29.1fps) | GA102, 10752 shaders, 1860MHz, 24GB GDDR6X@21Gbps, 1008GB/s, 450W |
| GeForce RTX 3090 (opens in new tab) | 91.7% (108.4fps) | 89.7% (75.7fps) | 88.7% (50.8fps) | 87.2% (25.4fps) | GA102, 10496 shaders, 1695MHz, 24GB GDDR6X@19.5Gbps, 936GB/s, 350W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (opens in new tab) | 89.3% (105.6fps) | 87.6% (73.9fps) | 86.0% (49.2fps) | 84.6% (24.7fps) | GA102, 10240 shaders, 1665MHz, 12GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 912GB/s, 350W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 12GB (opens in new tab) | 88.5% (104.7fps) | 85.8% (72.4fps) | 83.7% (47.9fps) | 81.4% (23.7fps) | GA102, 8960 shaders, 1845MHz, 12GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 912GB/s, 400W |
| GeForce RTX 3080 (opens in new tab) | 81.5% (96.3fps) | 78.5% (66.3fps) | 76.3% (43.7fps) | 72.2% (21.0fps) | GA102, 8704 shaders, 1710MHz, 10GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 760GB/s, 320W |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (opens in new tab) | 66.3% (78.4fps) | 63.0% (53.1fps) | 59.2% (33.9fps) | GA104, 6144 shaders, 1770MHz, 8GB GDDR6X@19Gbps, 608GB/s, 290W | |
| Radeon RX 6900 XT (opens in new tab) | 63.0% (74.5fps) | 59.0% (49.8fps) | 55.2% (31.6fps) | 51.7% (15.1fps) | Navi 21, 5120 shaders, 2250MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 300W |
| Titan RTX (opens in new tab) | 62.5% (73.9fps) | 58.2% (49.1fps) | 55.4% (31.7fps) | 52.5% (15.3fps) | TU102, 4608 shaders, 1770MHz, 24GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 672GB/s, 280W |
| GeForce RTX 3070 (opens in new tab) | 62.1% (73.4fps) | 58.7% (49.6fps) | 54.9% (31.4fps) | GA104, 5888 shaders, 1725MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 220W | |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (opens in new tab) | 59.2% (70.0fps) | 55.1% (46.5fps) | 52.0% (29.7fps) | TU102, 4352 shaders, 1545MHz, 11GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 616GB/s, 250W | |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT (opens in new tab) | 59.0% (69.7fps) | 54.6% (46.1fps) | 51.3% (29.4fps) | 48.2% (14.0fps) | Navi 21, 4608 shaders, 2250MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 300W |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (opens in new tab) | 55.2% (65.3fps) | 51.3% (43.3fps) | 47.8% (27.4fps) | GA104, 4864 shaders, 1665MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 200W | |
| Radeon RX 6800 (opens in new tab) | 50.4% (59.6fps) | 46.6% (39.3fps) | 43.6% (24.9fps) | Navi 21, 3840 shaders, 2105MHz, 16GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 512GB/s, 250W | |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 49.6% (58.6fps) | 45.0% (37.9fps) | 41.6% (23.8fps) | TU104, 3072 shaders, 1815MHz, 8GB GDDR6@15.5Gbps, 496GB/s, 250W | |
| GeForce RTX 2080 (opens in new tab) | 47.5% (56.2fps) | 42.5% (35.9fps) | 39.1% (22.4fps) | TU104, 2944 shaders, 1710MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 215W | |
| GeForce RTX 2070 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 43.6% (51.5fps) | 39.2% (33.1fps) | 35.5% (20.3fps) | TU104, 2560 shaders, 1770MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 215W | |
| GeForce RTX 3060 (opens in new tab) | 41.2% (48.7fps) | 38.3% (32.3fps) | 35.1% (20.1fps) | GA106, 3584 shaders, 1777MHz, 12GB GDDR6@15Gbps, 360GB/s, 170W | |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT (opens in new tab) | 38.8% (45.9fps) | 36.1% (30.5fps) | 32.6% (18.7fps) | Navi 22, 2560 shaders, 2581MHz, 12GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 384GB/s, 230W | |
| GeForce RTX 2070 (opens in new tab) | 38.5% (45.5fps) | 34.9% (29.4fps) | 31.6% (18.1fps) | TU106, 2304 shaders, 1620MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 175W | |
| GeForce RTX 2060 Tremendous (opens in new tab) | 36.9% (43.6fps) | 33.0% (27.9fps) | 29.9% (17.1fps) | TU106, 2176 shaders, 1650MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 448GB/s, 175W | |
| GeForce RTX 2060 (opens in new tab) | 31.8% (37.6fps) | 26.7% (22.5fps) | TU106, 1920 shaders, 1680MHz, 6GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 336GB/s, 160W | ||
| Radeon RX 6600 XT (opens in new tab) | 30.8% (36.4fps) | 28.0% (23.6fps) | Navi 23, 2048 shaders, 2589MHz, 8GB GDDR6@16Gbps, 256GB/s, 160W | ||
| GeForce RTX 3050 (opens in new tab) | 29.4% (34.8fps) | 27.0% (22.8fps) | GA106, 2560 shaders, 1777MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 130W | ||
| Radeon RX 6600 (opens in new tab) | 25.8% (30.5fps) | 23.3% (19.6fps) | Navi 23, 1792 shaders, 2491MHz, 8GB GDDR6@14Gbps, 224GB/s, 132W | ||
| Radeon RX 6500 XT (opens in new tab) | 7.9% (9.4fps) | Navi 24, 1024 shaders, 2815MHz, 4GB GDDR6@18Gbps, 144GB/s, 107W |
Discovering Reductions on the Greatest Graphics Playing cards
With all of the GPU shortages as of late, you are unlikely to see enormous gross sales on a graphics card, however chances are you’ll discover some financial savings by trying out the most recent Newegg promo codes, Greatest Purchase promo codes and Micro Heart coupon codes.
Need to touch upon our greatest graphics picks for gaming? Tell us what you assume within the Tom’s {Hardware} Boards.
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