We’ll assist you in selecting the Best GPU For 4k Gaming that fits your needs.
Most people looking for a new graphics card have one primary concern: which card will offer me the best bang for my buck? The answer will differ depending on your financial situation. Aside from that, there are a few things to think about: Noise, the driver experience, and additional software are all key factors to consider. And are you willing to pay a premium to be among the first to use real-time ray tracing?
Allow us to make things simple for you. We’ve put practically every major GPU on the market in the last several years to the test, ranging from $100 budget cards to $1,800 high-end versions. Regardless of the type of experience you desire, we distilled our knowledge into this post, which acts as a shopping guide with recommendations on which graphics card to purchase.
We’ve added a link to our full review for each recommendation, but the buying links will take you to models that are priced similarly to the graphics card’s MSRP. Spending more money can offer you robust out-of-the-box overclocks, more powerful cooling systems, and other benefits. See the “What to Look for in a Custom Card” section for tips to select the best-customized card for you.
News about graphics cards
- Graphics cards are nearly impossible to come by right now, especially at reasonable costs. You can find the reason for this in our GPU storm explanation.
- The Radeon RX 6000-series and GeForce RTX 30-series both sold out almost immediately and are currently in low supply due to high demand, with scalpers and bots picking them up just as eagerly as enthusiasts. In most cases, demand is so strong that even older-generation graphics cards sell more than they cost new years ago.
- If you don’t have a graphics card, try Nvidia’s free GeForce Now cloud streaming or a next-generation gaming console to pass the time.
- Nvidia has recently released a new GeForce Now RTX 3080 tier that not only offers you exclusive access to the hardware but also adds neat features like extended 8-hour play sessions, 1440p, 120Hz streams, and 4K HDR streams on Nvidia’s Shield TV device. It’ll set you back $100 for six months, which is a lot less than the $1,500 to $2,000 you’d pay for a new RTX 3080 on eBay these days.
- Shortly, more cheap graphics cards may begin to fill out this generation. The GeForce RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti were just introduced by Nvidia for mainstream laptops, marking the very first time in recent memory that Nvidia offered a new GeForce GPU for laptops rather than desktops. However, they may not make it to desktops, as Nvidia just revived the RTX 2060, albeit with 12GB of RAM instead. Huh. There was no official announcement, but with double, the memory and still-profitable mining hash rates, don’t expect the 12GB RTX 2060 to be dirt cheap. AMD has also just released the non-XT Radeon RX 6600, the first genuine 1080p graphics card of this generation, albeit it’s not cheap at $329.
- In the form of a third competitor, more relief will be on the way shortly (albeit not too soon). Intel has unveiled its much-anticipated “Arc Alchemist” GPUs based on its Xe architecture. Intel plans to release these gamer-focused graphics cards in the first quarter of 2022, replete with hardware-based ray tracing capability and XeSS, an AI-based image upsampling tool designed to compete with Nvidia’s DLSS technology.
- AMD now includes a free month of Xbox Game Pass for PC with purchasing a moderately priced Radeon graphics card.
- Wanna learn more about your computer’s hardware? We’ve recently released guides on how to benchmark your graphics card and enable AMD’s Smart Access Memory for improved gaming performance, as well as an explanation of Nvidia’s anti-mining “Lite Hash Rate” technology.
The best graphics card in Budget
The next-generation Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series and AMD Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards are yet to reach affordable markets, which is unsurprising given how expensive graphics cards are now. And, with even old used graphics cards fetching hundreds of dollars, getting a graphics card on a budget is nearly difficult right now. Consider Nvidia’s free GeForce Now cloud streaming or a next-generation gaming console to pass the time. If your Internet connection can keep up, the new RTX 3080 tier of GeForce Now gives a top-notch gaming experience, but it costs $100 for six months, so it may not be the most excellent budget choice. Thankfully, the Priority tier, which offers RTX 2080-class performance at half the price, and there’s also a free tier that works on roughly RTX 2060-grade hardware, are both available.
It will not suffice if you want a local PC gaming solution. Your best chance is to go with one of AMD’s game-ready Ryzen 5000G APUs, which are still available in both DIY and prebuilt Pcs. In our evaluation, we stated, “You can build a Ryzen 5 5700G computer today and obtain great CPU performance as well as OK gaming performance.”
Yes, you’ll have to turn down certain graphical choices for the optimum performance, but at 720p or 1080p resolution, you’ll be able to play esports games and even triple-A titles with a reasonable frame rate.
They aren’t cheap, at $259 for the Ryzen 5 5600G and $369 for the Ryzen 7 5700G, especially considering you’ll also need a motherboard to put them on, but keep in mind that you’re getting a CPU plus a workable GPU stand-in for the money. And, hey, they’re available right now.
The best 1080p graphics card
Radeon RX 6600 Swft 210
Rating: 3.5
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 EVGA XC Black Gaming
Rating: 3.0
Radeon RX 6600 XT
Rating: 3.0
The next-generation Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series and AMD Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards are yet to reach more popular pricing points, which is unsurprising given how expensive graphics cards are today.
However, provided you’re ready to pay $330 or more for 1080p Gaming, a price that would have been regarded insane before the epidemic, the Radeon RX 6600 is a decent choice for great 1080p Gaming at 60 frames per second or higher. (You might be better off purchasing a console or switching to cloud gaming.) AMD’s GPU is the first genuine 1080p/60 graphics card of this generation, with remarkable power efficiency that keeps it cool and quiet in your system, albeit it isn’t the ideal option if you want to enable ray tracing.
If you can find one, the (ostensibly) $330 GeForce RTX 3060 is a good option for high-refresh-rate 1080p Gaming, while the $379 Radeon RX 6600 XT is even faster. If you’re gaming on a standard 60Hz monitor, they’re overkill, and they sell for $500 to $800 on the street, so if you don’t have a high refresh rate display, you might be able to get a Radeon RX 6600 or an earlier, less powerful GPU. Both would be uninteresting due to their high sticker costs if the GPU market weren’t now in a state of chaos. If you can locate an RTX 3060 for less than MSRP, it’s a better deal than the Radeon RX 6600—it’s faster, has 4GB more VRAM, and performs ray tracing better—but in the real world, you’ll probably have to pay $675 or more. Gross.
If you can find one, the (ostensibly) $330 GeForce RTX 3060 is a good option for high-refresh-rate 1080p Gaming, while the $379 Radeon RX 6600 XT is even faster. If you’re gaming on a standard 60Hz monitor, they’re overkill, and they sell for $500 to $800 on the street, so if you don’t have a high refresh rate display, you might be able to get a Radeon RX 6600 or an earlier, less powerful GPU. Both would be uninteresting due to their high sticker costs if the GPU market weren’t now in a state of chaos. If you can locate an RTX 3060 for less than MSRP, it’s a better deal than the Radeon RX 6600—it’s faster, has 4GB more VRAM, and performs ray tracing better—but in the real world, you’ll probably have to pay $675 or more.
For 60Hz monitors, Nvidia GeForce RTX 1660, 1660 Super, and 1660 Ti and AMD’s older Radeon, RX 5600 XT, and 5700 are good 1080p gaming options. If you desire ray tracing and DLSS, the GeForce RTX 2060 is also worth considering. Even older graphics cards like the Radeon RX 580 and 590 or Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 will suffice in a pinch, though you’ll have to make some aesthetic concessions due to their age.
The best 1440p graphics card
Nvidia’s $400 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a “nearly faultless” choice for driving a 1440p monitor at 60-plus frames per second (and sometimes considerably more) with no graphical sacrifices. It’s quicker than the $800 RTX 2080 Super from the previous generation, the world’s second most powerful GPU, until a few months ago. “The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a great 1440p gaming option with 8GB of GDDR6 RAM and that performance,” we stated in our review. “Even with the most demanding graphic settings enabled, it exceeds the venerable 60 fps per second threshold in every game tested at that resolution.” It exceeds that mark in numerous games, and it should be able to maintain 90 fps+ at 1440p in most titles if you don’t mind tweaking the graphics settings.”
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti outperforms AMD’s most costly GPUs for ray tracing, owing to Nvidia’s outstanding DLSS 2.0 technology. It’s also capable of 4K gaming, albeit the 8GB of RAM may limit future 4K games.
The $500 GeForce RTX 3070 is also worth considering if you have a 120Hz+ 1440p display, although it’s only 9% to 15% quicker at 1440p than the RTX 3060 Ti for 25% more money, depending on the game. The RTX 3060 Ti is a better pick for most users, while the RTX 3070’s performance improvement may be helpful if you keep your graphics cards for an extended period before upgrading.
Although it comes with substantially faster GDDR6X memory, the $600 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is just marginally quicker. If they can get one at a fair price, most folks should acquire the 3060 Ti.
The GDDR6 memory of the GeForce RTX 3070 (and 3060 Ti) is 8GB. That may not be enough for future 4K gaming, but it’ll suffice for 1440p in most cases—but not all. If you switch on real-time ray tracing and ramp up the graphical settings in Watch Dogs Legion, it utilizes more than 8GB of VRAM at 1440p. The $580 Radeon RX 6800 could be a better option if you’re still on the fence. You pay a little extra for a little more speed, but AMD packed the Radeon RX 6800 with a whopping 16GB of GDDR6 memory. However, Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs are far superior in ray tracing—and $80 less expensive.
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT has 12GB of VRAM, a step down from the RX 6700 XT. It gives excellent 1440p gaming performance that’s somewhat faster than the RTX 3060 Ti, but at $479 and above, it’s priced more in line with the RTX 3070, which doesn’t help it.
Returning to Nvidia, the $330 GeForce RTX 3060 features a generous 12GB of RAM (thanks for the market pressure, AMD!) as well as a solid 1440p experience. In really intensive games, you may need to lower the graphics settings a little to get 60 frames per second, but this should easily surpass that holy goal in any game.
If you want to drive a 34401440 ultrawide monitor or max out a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor, Nvidia’s $700 GeForce RTX 3080 and AMD’s $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT are excellent alternatives that trade blows in raw performance. Across the 10+ titles we tested, these enormous GPUs deliver above 100fps at 1440p resolution and frequently above, even with all graphic settings pushed to Ultra. Across the board, the RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6800 XT outperform the RTX 2080 and even the RTX 2080 Ti by a significant amount.
All of these cards are also fast enough to play ray traced games at 1440p at a steady frame rate, something that prior RTX 20-series cards couldn’t claim. When activating ray tracing on AMD’s GPUs, you may need to adjust specific visual options back, but faster RT cores and DLSS technology mean you won’t have to make the same concessions with Nvidia’s GPU. However, AMD has the advantage in memory capacity once again, with 16GB of GDDR6 vs. 10GB of GDDR6X in the RTX 3080, although at 1440p resolution, this shouldn’t be a big deal.
If you only have a 60Hz 1440p display, don’t get the RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 6800. Unless you have a 120Hz-plus 1440p display that can handle the insane rates, they’re overkill. However, they’re an excellent match for a 60Hz 3440 x 1440 ultrawide monitor, as the greater resolution is more demanding.
Best GPU For 4k Gaming
Concerns raised in our 1440p section about last-gen GPUs apply here as well. The launch of the new generation of Radeon and GeForce GPUs instantly converted most high-end cards into terrible deals, and prices for all graphics cards are now insane. Still, if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on one, you have more alternatives than premium GPUs.
What are the most significant differences between AMD and Nvidia up here on the high end? Memory capacity and ray tracing AMD’s Radeon 6000-series GPUs have large 16GB memory pools that can handle anything games throw at them shortly. On the other hand, Nvidia wasn’t as generous with memory in its RTX roster, and certain rare, very demanding games are already testing GeForce VRAM limitations. The RTX 30-series, on the other hand, provides much-improved ray tracing performance, both in terms of raw horsepower and the massive uplift afforded by DLSS 2.0 super sampling, which AMD presently lacks. Ray tracing is gaining popularity now that it’s included in next-generation consoles, although it’s still uncommon in today’s games.
Choose your preference; all of these graphics cards are excellent.
The $500 GeForce RTX 3070 is worth considering if you’re on a $500 budget and want to power a 60Hz 4K display. It’s just as fast as the previous $1,200 RTX 2080 Ti flagship, and in most—but not all—games at 4K resolution with graphical settings maxed up, it reaches or flirts with 60 frames per second. However, certain games may require you to lower the graphic settings to get 60 frames per second, and the card may struggle if you enable ray tracing in titles that support it.
The RTX 3070’s low 8GB memory buffer isn’t likely to be extremely future-proof because some games presently surpass that capacity at 4K. Therefore we recommend Nvidia’s $500 card for 1440p Gaming with a high refresh rate or 4K gaming with some minor quality concessions. The RTX 3070 looks impressive at 4K with high graphics settings, yet the 8GB of VRAM makes me hesitant to buy it as a long-term 4K gaming option.
The $600 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti boasts quicker GDDR6X memory and somewhat more horsepower than its non-Ti counterpart, so it handles 4K slightly better, though all of the same drawbacks apply.
Consider AMD’s $580 Radeon RX 6800 instead if you don’t want to fiddle with graphics quality settings or worry about whether 8GB of RAM will be adequate for 4K gaming in a year or two. It’s a little speedier than the RTX 3070 and has a whopping 16GB of GDDR6 RAM. When combined with a Ryzen 5000 CPU with an X570 motherboard, AMD’s Smart Access Memory technology provides Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards an extra speed increase.
If you want even speedier performance or have a 4K monitor with a high refresh rate, upgrade to the $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT or $700 GeForce RTX 3080. They tread on one other’s asses, call each other names, and trade blows throughout performances. There are no games in our testing phase that do not achieve a 60-frames-per-second average at 4K resolution with all possible visual effects enabled on these GPUs, and they frequently exceed that mark by a significant margin.
In certain 4K games, the GeForce RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6800 XT produced frames up to 80% quicker than the RTX 2080 and 60% higher in others. They’re around 30% quicker than the $1,200 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the previous-gen flagship, and 100 to 160 percent speedier than the older GeForce GTX 1080. These are also excellent options for 34401440 ultrawide gaming due to their massive horsepower.
The distinctions in features are significant in this case. The Radeon RX 6800 XT comes with 16GB of future-proof GDDR6 memory, compared to 10GB of faster GDDR6X memory in the RTX 3080. However, Nvidia’s ray tracing advantage shines even brighter on the high end, as its second-gen RT cores and DLSS technology enable ray tracing-enabled 4K gaming. AMD’s cards can’t play ray traced games at resolutions higher than 1440p without frame rates stuttering.
The even more monster GeForce RTX 3090 “BFGPU” features 10,496 CUDA cores, SLI connectors, and a gigantic 24GB of high-speed GDDR6X memory. It’s a fantastic deal for producers who can use all that VRAM and achieve 60fps gameplay at a ridiculous 8K resolution in a few titles. Still, it’s only approximately 10% to 15% quicker at 4K than the RTX 3080, which costs more than twice as much. Most people should choose the RTX 3080 instead for a still-amazing 4K experience, but there’s no doubting that the GeForce RTX 3090 is the world’s fastest gaming card—though AMD’s $999 Radeon RX 6900 XT aims to dispute that claim when it launches on December 8.
In an unexpected twist, Nvidia’s own Founders Edition cooler is fantastic, making it a better deal than custom cards because the FE model sells for the same $1,499 MSRP as the card, rather than charging a premium. We also have benchmarks for the RTX 3090 that are 34401440 ultrawide.
The $1200 GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is your best choice if you’re ready to spend four figures on a graphics card. It’s essentially as fast as the 3090, but it saves $300 by reducing the GDDR6X memory capacity from a ridiculous 24GB to a still-great-for-4K 12GB.
For the very first time in a long time, AMD has a competitor to Nvidia’s top GeForce GPU, but despite its significant discount over the RTX 3090, the $1,000 Radeon RX 6900 XT is difficult to recommend. It’s only 2% lower than the RTX 3090 at 1440p Gaming, so it’s worth considering for a 1440p panel with a fast refresh rate or for powering a 34401440 ultrawide experience, where it shines. It might also be a good choice for Linux users because AMD drivers work much better. If you’re into extreme tuning, this card also has a lot more overclocking headroom than comparable GeForce GPUs.
However, in 4K gaming, the Radeon RX 6900 XT behind the RTX 3090 by more than 9%, and ray-traced games are limited to 1440p resolution due to AMD’s lack of a DLSS equivalent, which is a shame for a graphics card that costs four figures. The $650 Radeon RX 6800 XT is nearly as fast but costs $350 less, while the $700 RTX 3080 is almost as quick at 4K with significantly superior ray-tracing capabilities. The Radeon RX 6900 XT is a brilliant graphics card, and it’s great to see AMD fighting with Nvidia at the top end after such a long time, but it doesn’t carve out a solid niche for itself. When hot-rodded bespoke versions of this GPU reach the streets, though, they might have a lot of potentials.
Things to look for in a Custom Card
If you wish to go beyond our recommendations, keep in mind that choosing the correct graphics card can be tricky. Every GPU is available in customized versions from a variety of manufacturers. For example, different Radeon RX 6700 XT variants are available from Sapphire, XFX, Asus, MSI, and PowerColor.
When conducting your research, keep the following things in mind to help you limit down your options and choose the appropriate card for you:
- Overclocking: Higher-priced custom versions are frequently overclocked to varying degrees out of the box, resulting in improved performance. However, most recent custom cards provide the same basic level of performance.
- Cooling solutions: Custom coolers are available for many graphics cards, lowering temperatures and fan noise. The great majority of them perform admirably. Liquid-cooled graphics cards are more excellent, but they take up more space in your case due to the tubing and radiator. If at all possible, stay away from graphics cards with single-fan, blower-style cooling systems unless you have a small-form-factor PC or plan to use bespoke water-cooling blocks.
- Size: Although many graphics cards are the same size, various GPUs have longer and shorter variants. High-end graphics cards are starting to need massive specialized cooling systems to cool their enthusiast-class GPUs. Before you buy, double-check that the graphics card you choose will fit in your case.
- Compatibility: Not all hardware supports all types of connections. On higher-end graphics cards, DVI connections may be absent, whereas Display Ports may be absent on lower-end displays. Only the most latest Radeon and GeForce graphics cards support HDMI 2.1 outputs. Check that your graphics card and display can communicate with one another. Similarly, check sure your power supply matches the graphics card’s suggested wattage.
- DLSS and real-time ray tracing: AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards and all of Nvidia’s RTX products support real-time ray tracing effects. On the other hand, Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs have a massive edge over everything else. Thanks to specialized tensor cores for machine learning tasks like Deep Learning Super Sampling, AI boosts gaming performance with minimal visual quality loss. GeForce RTX 20-series GPUs also support DLSS. However, AMD has yet to respond, though the firm is promising a more open “Fidelity FX Super Resolution” feature to compete in the coming months.
Check our most recent reviews.
The following is a collection of our most recent graphics card reviews. We’ve limited ourselves to the most recent GPUs.
