Best Graphics Cards of 2024

Overview

Every other component of a gaming PC comes in second to the best graphics cards. Even the fastest CPU won't be able to do much without a powerful GPU pushing pixels. Although there isn't a single graphics card that will work for everyone, we'll list possibilities below for every price range and attitude. We have the fastest graphics card, the best value, and the best card for a specific price, among other options.

Looking for a graphics card with a higher frame rate at your selected resolution and the highest graphical settings would be best. Oh, and it ought to be affordable for you. Fortunately, the GPUs listed below provide the highest performance for the money when used for PC gaming. What's best? The Great GPU Shortage is abruptly ending, and most of these graphics cards are getting more affordable.

 

And even if it's become simpler to get your hands on the Best AMD and Best Nvidia GeForce graphics cards, selecting the most excellent GPU for your system can still be pricey. It's a good time to get a new graphics card right now because costs are starting to drop significantly from their recent highs.

However, knowing where to begin might be difficult. To make your purchasing decision more accessible than ever, we've compiled our top picks, ranging from the most expensive options to the best affordable graphics cards on the market. You've therefore come to the proper place whether you're designing the best gaming PC available or simply looking at component possibilities for a brand-new prebuilt gaming rig.

Top Picks

If you're in a rush, take a look at the fast selection of our favorites, or scroll down to read our whole list with in-depth reviews of the best graphics cards in 2024:

• Best Graphics Card Overall: GeForce RTX 3080

• Best Graphics Card for Mainstream 4K Gaming: Newst GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition

• Best AMD Graphics Card: Radeon RX 6800 XT

• Best Mid-range Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

• Best Graphics Card for Creatives: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GAMING OC 24G

• Best Graphics Card for Budget: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super

• Best Performance Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition

Detail Reviews Of Top 4 Best Graphics Cards

1. GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition

The GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition from Nvidia is undoubtedly one of the most powerful graphics cards on the market. It would be silly to claim that we are unaware that the RTX 3090 Founders Edition will perform flawlessly in our benchmark testing, so there is no use in trying to save our conclusion for the end of the review.

Despite AMD's best attempts, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 continues to lead the hierarchy of the most powerful GPUs. With 24GB of GDDR6X RAM and a massive heatsink, it can handle the most demanding tasks, including 3D rendering and intense gaming.

Because of its superiority over two of the top graphics cards from the previous generation, the Nvidia Titan RTX and the RTX 2080 Ti have replaced them. Their void has been beautifully covered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.

Even if it isn't flawless at that extreme resolution, it can run the newest AAA games in 8K at 60 frames per second and deliver excellent performance in 4K. While this GPU can run the best PC games, it is better suited for users who need to do graphically demanding tasks like video rendering or 3D animation.

The RTX 3090 Ti is a superior choice if you don't mind paying more for the best and need the strongest hardware-accelerated rendering for your projects. But, if you don't want that slight boost in performance, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is most likely the right graphics card for you.

Reasons to buy

• Fastest current graphics card.

• Unstoppable performance.

• 4K ultra at more than 60 fps.

• Effective cooling solution.

• Quiet operation.

• Excellent for content creation tasks.

Reasons to avoid

• Super expensive.

2. AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

The RX 6800 XT is one of the best red team alternatives to Nvidia's top-tier graphics cards. Any PC gamer interested in 4K should give a highly competitive card that comes so close to its rival—with a negligible performance difference to the RTX 3080—some serious thought.

While several additional cards have since entered the market in addition to the RX 6800 XT, which was the first AMD RDNA 2 GPU to do so, this one stands out among the competition and is the most cost-effective. It does, at least when you consider its MSRP, and given that AMD's GPUs are more quickly returning to affordable pricing points than Nvidia's, this might give the red team the advantage in the short term.

The memory front—covering both bandwidth and capacity—has been a primary area of conflict for Nvidia and AMD this generation. A 256-bit bus connects the 16GB of GDDR6 memory on the RX 6800 XT, giving it a 512GB/s maximum bandwidth. Accordingly, AMD has the 10GB RTX 3080 from Nvidia on the ropes in terms of capacity, although it lags slightly in raw bandwidth due to the RTX 3080's 760GB/s.

In terms of throughput, AMD has an advantage because of its Infinity Cache, which significantly increases the card's "effective bandwidth." According to AMD, there is a 3.25x increase in bandwidth over the RX 6800 XT, or about 1,664GB/s. Despite the highly different underlying technology, it means you're looking at identical performance in terms of gaming.

The RX 6800 XT puts AMD in a great position by delivering what is necessary to get the entire industry to take notice and having a compelling offer to make to gamers immediately at launch. It is no surprise that the collaboration between Zen and RDNA engineers also had a role in this.

We have a lot of respect for what AMD has accomplished with the RX 6800 XT, a return to form for the Radeon Technology Group that brings much-needed competition to the GPU market and provides a respectable red team alternative for any high-end gaming PC setup.

Reasons to buy

• Excellent 4K performance.

• Ray tracing for AMD.

• Lots of overclocking headroom.

• Large GDDR6 capacity.

Reasons to avoid

• No DLSS alternative at launch.

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

The RTX 3070 is notable for being able to compete with the top-tier Turing graphics card, the RTX 2080 Ti, for less than half of its price, making it maybe the only high-end Ampere that's even remotely reasonable. Even though the RTX 3070 graphics card isn't exactly inexpensive, it brings enthusiast gaming performance to a much more affordable price range. Additionally, it's bringing high-end ray tracing and 4K gaming to a far wider audience.

We're talking about next-gen console pricing here, so $499 is still a sizeable investment by any standard. Still, it's not outrageously expensive compared to the best graphics hardware available for PC gaming. You receive a 4K graphics card in exchange that doesn't require much tweaking to achieve playable, if not high, framerates. And there is no doubt that it will entirely crush it in 1440p.

The RTX 3070 Founders Edition still uses the 12-pin power connector seen on the RTX 3080. Thus one 8-pin to 12-pin adaptor is included in the packing. But with this FE card from Nvidia, a super-compact PCB has again been produced, making the entire shroud much smaller than the RTX 3080.

Even though the card has two front-loaded fans, the spinner at the back of the card amplifies airflow through the heat pipes, which does seem to improve the cooling performance of this clever little GPU.

That's a lot to boost on top of the RTX 3070's excellent raw performance, but it does matter to many people.

The RTX 3070 is always in the Nvidia xx70 series of cards, frequently the true sweet spot for PC gamers. For the vast majority of us, this Ampere card represents a real performance increase at a price that we can almost afford. The moment has come for everyone who held onto their GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti cards during the RTX 20-series to update.

Reasons to buy

• Excellent performance.

• Very quiet.

• Great cooling.

• Awesome ray tracing performance.

• Great for 1440p gaming.

• Support for HDMI 2.1, AV1 decode.

Reasons to avoid

• 750W PSU requirement.

4. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

At first, and in many respects still, it seemed weird to pack 12GB of GDDR6 memory into the RTX 3060. After all, it has more RAM than the RTX 3080, albeit at a slower rate, surpassing the RTX 3060 Ti. However, the RTX 3060 effectively uses it, outperforming the RTX 2060 in most games by a significant margin and a sufficient margin in the rest to make it worthwhile.

And even though 6GB of VRAM would probably be the better option, we won't be sneering at 12GB of it.

Perhaps the most significant change for the Nvidia RTX 3060 was the introduction of a hash rate limiter, which was intended to prevent the card from mining Ethereum, the graphics cards for mining cryptocurrencies, to the fullest extent possible. To keep more GeForce cards available for gamers, Nvidia thought miners would gravitate toward its new CMP line-up, which was constructed from off-cut GPUs unsuitable for gaming consumption. Of course, that didn't stop the card from selling out.

The RTX 3060 12GB is a graphics card that may be well argued for because it has a respectable generation-on-generation improvement and speed at 1080p and 1440p.

Although it's hard to find the RTX 2060 as a specific number these days, it's marginally less expensive than the RTX 2060 was on launch day. However, this card frequently appears in pre-built gaming PCs and at an excellent all-in price.

The mid-range king is still the RTX 3060 Ti. For the Nvidia RTX 3060 to have the same effect from generation to generation, it veers a little too far from the group of high-end Ampere. However, it must also be acknowledged that the RTX 3060 is an excellent upgrade for a 10-series or older card, especially if it is purchased for close to the MSRP. It will likely carry you through several years' worth of significant game releases.

Reasons to buy

• Amazing 60fps at 1440p or greater.

• Great 1080p performance.

• Affordable.

• Low power consumption.

• Efficient and compact designs.

Reasons to avoid

• Unnecessary VRAM.

What to consider when buying the best graphics cards?

Let me now give you a few essential bits of advice you must remember. And if you're a customer with no prior experience with PC hardware, I'll try to make each factor as simple to understand as possible so you won't feel overwhelmed.

1. The GPU necessitates a powerful CPU

Make sure you have a powerful CPU to pair with the GPU before bringing it home. The Central Processing Unit, also called the processor, is abbreviated as CPU. This is the PC hub and where everything comes together to make a computer function properly. The CPU is, in essence, the brain. Your PC will be all muscle and no brains without a good one. It is where the calculations take place and keep track of what the GPU, RAM, and other peripherals perform.

Here's what will happen if you don't have a strong CPU: Your graphics may be able to run at maximum speed, but everything else, including physics, post-rendering, anti-aliasing, shadows, and lighting, will all be very slow to respond.

These days, your major options are AMD Ryzen or Intel. Since then, Intel has earned a reputation for producing high-quality CPUs, including versions specifically designed for gaming, such as the 7th to 9th generation i5 and i7. The AMD Ryzen, on the other hand, is a less expensive option that nevertheless offers good optimization and respectable performance, making it a need for gamers on a tight budget.

The performance of the overclock is where the two differ most. If you're unfamiliar with the term, overclocking refers to modifying your processor beyond its default settings to maximize performance. This is extremely risky and uses more electricity than usual, which could compromise the PC's safety and raise your utility bill. With Intel processors, this is by far the most prevalent, but not as much with AMD Ryzen.

2. RAM means more power

Along with the CPU, your GPU also requires powerful RAM. I'll keep it simple and brief for lay people because it's complicated to explain. You'll need enough RAM to meet the requirements of a particular game if you want a reliable gaming PC that can consistently deliver the performance of up to 120 frames per second.

While 4 GB of RAM is adequate, 8 GB is recommended for best results to avoid lag and frame rate problems.

This is because most modern video games contain numerous details and sporadic textures. Open-world games like The Witcher 3, GTA V, and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 are where RAM is put to the actual test. You need at least 8 GB of RAM to achieve quick rendering and minimal loading times. But don't aspire for 16 GB of RAM, at least not for the next five years. 16 GB of RAM is excessive for the games of today.

3. A robust Motherboard to preserve everything

The CPU and RAM are only the beginning, though. To keep everything functioning at its best, you need a motherboard to latch onto these tiny components. The motherboard serves as the framework and foundation for your three main peripherals. A good motherboard ensures that the RAM, GPU, and CPU won't burn and that there won't be any overheating. Consider including Gigabyte and ASUS ROG on your list since they provide some of the best gaming motherboards.

4. Ti is always the better version

Always choose the NVidia GTX series. The AMD is undoubtedly respectable but will never surpass what an NVidia can offer. And forget about playing on PC if you're thinking about Intel Integrated Graphics. Returning to the main topic, the NVidia GTX has proven effective at bringing out the finest in a game and all of its features.

Ti is an upgrade to the GPU's original model. You have the GTX 1070 and 1070 Ti, for instance. The latter is similar to 1070 2.0.

A GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060 Ti is currently affordable. Both continue to be adequate for high gaming performance on current-generation games. However, the GTX 2080 Ti is the king among GPUs. It's enough to set you up with an online dating partner you met through Discord.

5. HDD or SSD

This one is up for debate, but if you're seeking inexpensive gaming, opt for an HDD with at least 1 TB. However, choose an SSD if you want to make the most of your PC's features. The latter may be more expensive, but the loading and booting times are far faster

FAQs

What is GPU?

Many people wonder what a GPU is. GPU is one of the parts of the computer's hardware, playing a significant role because it determines the graphics processing power and image display of the laptop, or PC.

The more powerful the GPU, the better, the faster the processing speed, and the more detailed and beautiful the image. In most of today's gaming computers, people often look at the GPU before looking at other issues, simply because it is the most popular and usually the highest price in a computer set, especially the card's effect. The screen is essential for image-heavy tasks and graphics.

For gaming, do I need a GPU?

You need a graphics card and a good one to play the newest games. More recent games need a graphics card that can keep up because they are more extensive and graphically sophisticated. Today's games typically feature minimum and recommended graphics card specifications.

How many graphic cards can the computer support?

On a typical PC, you may connect up to four graphics cards utilizing SLI or Crossfire, depending on the manufacturer, to combine their power into one powerful GPU. Adding more than one graphics card is also possible without a bridge.

Final Thought

I sincerely hope that reading this post will make you think twice before investing all of your hard-earned money in a single GPU.

The top 14 Best Graphics Cards has just been introduced to you which is loved and trusted by many people. These are recommendations taken from the expertise of our professionals. Numerous factors, including budgets, wants, and other considerations, influence which product is best for your family. Therefore, think carefully before making a purchase and seek guidance from your loved ones if you are unsure.