Best graphics card for the money: Best Graphics Cards 2022 — Top Gaming GPUs for the Money

The best graphics cards in 2022: top performers for today’s PC games

(Image credit: Future / Aleksha McLoughlin)

The best graphics cards are experiencing a serious shake-up. After the chip-shortage years brought on by the pandemic, we now finally have an ample supply of GPUs at their most affordable prices. More than that, the 40 Series cards are currently releasing, and with AMD’s Radeon RX 79000 cards out as well, it’s an exciting time to be shopping around.

The latest releases from AMD and NVIDIA feature A.I. upscaling technology, ray tracing support, and can handle high frame rates in 4K. They also might require you to make some serious space in your PC case, especially if you’re keen to get an RTX 4090, which is genuinely enormous.

We’re currently in the process of testing out some of the 40 Series cards. While we haven’t included them in the list below quite yet, we surely will do in a future update. It’s worth noting that the newest GPUs are the least affordable, and hardest to get a hold of, so in our list below, we’ve tried to cater to a wide range of budgets and requirements. That way, you can find the latest and greatest option without blowing a hole in your pocket.

GPU prices have finally started to recover after the drought of the past few years. This means you can pick up a readily available 30 Series card at daresay — normal prices. To that end, finding the right GPU for you may not cost as much as you think — especially with successor ranges from both companies hitting the shelves. Whether it’s a (strong) entry level RTX 3050, or a high-end AMD RX 6900, you’ll boost your rig into the realms of the best gaming PCs imaginable with the best graphics cards we’ve detailed below.

The best graphics cards in 2022

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1. Nvidia RTX 3080

The best graphics card (for now)

Specifications

GPU cores: 8,704

Graphics processor: GA102

Base clock: 1440 MHz

Boost clock: 1710 MHz

Memory: 10GB GDDR6X (FE)

Memory clock: 1188 MHz

Memory bandwidth: 19 Gbps

Memory bus: 320-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Built with 4K firmly in mind

Far more affordable than RTX 3080 Ti

Now available in 10GB and 12GB versions

Reasons to avoid

—

Harder to find since RTX 3080 Ti launch

Until we’re done testing the new 40 Series cards, and until they become a bit more affordable, the RTX 3080 is the one to beat. Having said that, it’s getting harder to recommend with every minute that passes given that the RTX 4080 has released. As long as you’re aware of that, we can proceed.

This Ampere GPU proved super-fast 4K gaming on PC, and gives the best performance for your money against the 3090. With the 4080 now on the shelves you may find it start to get cheaper, and more discount-prone, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

Even in 2022, there’s nothing that the RTX 3080 can’t achieve in 4K, especially when factoring in the benefits of DLSS for the less-well optimized titles on the platform. The numbers are suitably self-evident too. If the RTX 3070 base model could outperform the RTX 2080 Ti (at least in many conditions) then the RTX 3080 absolutely decimates those figures.

A truly fantastic video card, and one that’s built to last you through the next few years at the very least

Zotac Gaming RTX 3080 review

However, for most circumstances, the RTX 3080 isn’t just a flagship GPU, it’s a once-in-a-decade performance boost. Also worth considering, is the improved thermal design of the Founders Edition model, and comparatively low temperatures when stacked up against some other RTX 30 series models, meaning it’ll tick over like a watch for many years to come.

Read more: RTX 3080 review

(Image credit: AMD)

2. AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

The best AMD graphics card

Specifications

GPU cores: 4,608

Graphics processor: Navi 21

Base clock: 1825 MHz

Boost clock: 2250 MHz

Memory: 16GB GDDR6

Memory clock: 16 Gbps

Memory bandwidth: 512.0 GB/s

Memory bus: 256-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Built on RDNA 2 architecture

Fast performance in 1440p and 4K

16GB VRAM for futureproofing

Reasons to avoid

—

Doesn’t quite rival the RTX 3080

At release, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was poised to take on Nvidia’s RTX 3080, and while this card doesn’t quite take that GPU’s crown, it does position itself as one of the best graphics cards from AMD. In 1440p, there are definitely instances where the RX 6800 XT is neck and neck with the RTX 3080, such as in Watch Dogs: Legion at Ultra settings, though 4K is where the divide starts to show the most.

The ray tracing capabilities of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT may be admittedly disappointing when stacked up with the higher-end Nvidia GPUs, though, it’s in that extra VRAM where the speed of Team Red’s video card starts to shine. We’re starting to see more Radeon-optimized games demand upwards of 11GB of VRAM, which only the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 are capable of at the time of writing, in titles such as Far Cry 6 with HD textures. This is a big jump, and it’s likely that we’ll see more developers in the near future wanting to utilize upwards of 12GB in this current PC gaming generation we’re in.

(Image credit: Future)

3. Nvidia RTX 3050

The best budget graphics card

Specifications

Graphics processor: GA106

GPU cores: 2560

Memory type: GDDR6

Memory: 8GB

Memory bus width: 128-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

8GB memory

Decent 1080p and 1440p performance

Ray tracing support

Reasons to avoid

—

Reliant on DLSS for 60 FPS

The RTX 3050 is the newest budget Ampere video card designed with 1080p60 in mind, making it perfect for those budget-minded PC gamers in 2022. Armed with the same 8GB GDDR6 memory that you’ll find in pricier RTX 30-series GPUs in our roundup, the RTX 3050 is the best budget graphics card that you can get right now.

The RTX 3050 gets a lot right and accurately achieves its 1080p60 goal while pushing Nvidia’s latest technologies in full force.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 Eagle OC revie

In our testing, we found that even more demanding titles such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Control, and Metro Exodus ran at a rock-solid 60 FPS with ray tracing and DLSS enabled in Full HD. 1440p is also decent in many games, though it’s usually going to be a toss-up between having visual fidelity and performance, as a 60 FPS average normally means disabling ray tracing and going heavier on the DLSS upscaling options. Regardless of how you push to that that smooth frame rate, this video card can keep up well under most circumstances.

You need to keep your expectations in check, of course, as the RTX 3050 is a wallet-friendly GPU designed to replace the likes of the perennially popular GTX 1650 and 1660 lines. 4K is on the cards here, it will just mean your frame rate isn’t as high as you may want. If you need a budget GPU that still gives you ray tracing, then you really can’t go wrong. The RTX 3050 launched with an MSRP of $250, and at the time of writing, you can find RTX 3050 stock for around the $300 mark if you know where to look.

Read more: RTX 3050 review

(Image credit: Nvidia)

4. Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti

The best mid-range graphics card

Specifications

GPU cores: 6,144

Graphics processor: GA104

Base clock: 1575 MHz

Boost clock: 1770 MHz

Memory: 8GB GDDR6X

Memory clock: 19 Gbps

Memory bandwith: 608.30 GB/s

Memory bus: 256-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Stellar price-to-performance ratio

Great for Full HD, 1440p and 4K gaming

Bumped up to GDDR6x memory

Reasons to avoid

—

Still using 8GB VRAM

The RTX 3070 Ti may appear on the surface to be an only slightly upgraded version of the original model, but the reinforced edition features one major difference that tips it over the edge — a bump up to GDDR6X RAM as used by the high-end RTX 3080 line and the RTX 3090.

We’re also seeing an extra 256 CUDA cores for slightly better ray tracing support, but this difference is very minor overall. The upgraded memory type and faster clock speed over the original RTX 3070 provides a solid 10-15% performance boost whilst meaning it will be able to be pushed further by more intensive games in the future through an allowance for higher bandwidths.

The gaming performance of the RTX 3070 Ti is something to be commended, as it’s frequently been able to maintain a solid 60 FPS in 4K in some of the latest titles such as Halo Infinite and Deathloop in high settings. We’ve been consistently impressed with what this GPU can do, and if you’re aiming for 4K60, or 1440p in higher frame rates, then you’re going to be very happy with what this video card can do.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

5. Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti

The best graphics card for 1440p

Specifications

GPU Cores: 4,864

Graphics processor: GA104

Base Clock: 1,410 MHz

Boost Clock: 1,665 MHz

Memory: 8GB GDDR6

Memory clock: 14 Gbps

Memory bandwidth: 448. 0 GB/s

Memory bus: 256-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Takes advantage of 8GB memory

Outperforms the RTX 2080 models

Makes the most of ray tracing

Reasons to avoid

—

Don’t expect top-performance in 4K

The RTX 3060 Ti offers performance that was previously thought impossible from an entry-level graphics card only three years ago. The benchmarks don’t lie; this video card runs circles around the RTX 2080 Super (the previous high-end GPU to beat) while costing half as much. It really is that simple. If you want to marry price to performance up and down this list, this is honestly one of the best options to go for. the 3050 is solid for budget buyers, but if you can stretch to the 3060 or 3060 Ti, we’d recommend doing so, since it will give you a bit more futureproofing.

Now, 4K is more than possible, but won’t be the RTX 3060’s strong suit. While achieving UHD visuals is doable, it’s geared more towards higher frame rates in 1440p and steamrolling through Full HD games pushed to their absolute limit. Again, that’s not to say that the GPU can’t benefit from Ultra HD, especially with the benefits of DLSS, but it’s not a card built with it this resolution in mind.

If you can find the RTX 3060 Ti for a fair price online, then it’s going to be ideal for the vast majority of PC gamers.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

6. Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti

The best high-end graphics card for gaming

Specifications

GPU cores: 10,240

Graphics processor: GA102

Base clock: 1365 MHz

Boost clock: 1665 MHz

Memory: 12GB GDDR6X

Memory clock: 19 Gbps

Memory bandwidth: 912.4 GB/s

Memory bus: 384-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Phenomenal 4K performance

Incredible for ray tracing

Comparable to RTX 3090 in-game

Reasons to avoid

—

Significantly pricier than original model

For as powerful as the RTX 3080 Ti is, especially given its upgrade to 12GB GDDR6X VRAM as opposed to the original model’s 10GB, that boost in power comes at a steep price of an additional $500 above the stock RTX 3080, pricing it comparatively closer to the RTX 3090’s $1,499 MSRP — which has double the available memory.

Price aside, however, there’s little debate that the RTX 3080 Ti is a formidable GPU for high-end 4K gaming as the benchmarks can indicate. We’re essentially seeing a noticeable improvement on the stock RTX 3080, but that power difference comes into its own when looking at games such as Cyberpunk 2077 which, at the time of writing, cannot yet hit native 4K60 on anything right now.

Make no mistake, you’re getting an incredibly capable and futureproofed GPU that’s going to be able to burn through the vast majority of demanding games in 1440p and 4K with no compromises for many years to come.

(Image credit: AMD)

7. AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

The best budget AMD graphics card

Specifications

GPU cores: 2,048

Graphics processor: Navi 23

Base clock: 1968 MHz

Boost clock: 2589 MHz

Memory: 8GB GDDR6

Memory clock: 16 Gbps

Memory bandwidth: 256.0 GB/s

Memory bus: 128-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Holds its own against RTX 3060

Seriously fast clock speeds

Built for high FPS in 1080p

Reasons to avoid

—

Still using 8GB VRAM

—

Its ray tracing isn’t great

The RX 6600 XT is built first and foremost with being one of the best graphics cards for PC gamers aiming for fast frame rates in 1080p. It’s been geared in the marketing primarily towards the Esports crowd, as the competitive games in the circuit may not be too visually demanding, but require super-high FPS to compensate. The RX 6600 XT is a decent rival to Nvidia’s base RTX 3060 model, however, if you’re thinking of picking this GPU up for 1440p performance then you may need to cast a wider net in the field of AMD.

While the RTX 3060 Ti generally does ray tracing in Full HD better, the benchmarks for the RX 6600 XT really do speak for themselves. AMD published the full list online, where the GPU managed well above 70 FPS in the likes of Far Cry 6, Hitman 3, Resident Evil Village, Deathloop, and more. If you’ve wanted to max out the latest titles in Full HD, then this video card will serve you well.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

8. Nvidia RTX 3090

The best graphics card for futureproofing (for now)

Specifications

GPU cores: 10,496

Graphics processor: GA102

Base clock: 1395 MHz

Boost clock: 1695 MHz

Memory: 24GB GDDR6X

Memory clock: 19. 5 Gbps

Memory bandwith: 936.2 GB/s

Memory bus: 384-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

24GB VRAM

A behemoth for 4K and even 8K

Huge bandwidth

Reasons to avoid

—

Very expensive

—

It’s massive

The RTX 3090 can easily be considered one of the most powerful video cards, and best graphics cards, ever made, even with the 4090 now on the shelves. The BFGPU utilizes 24GB of GDDR6X memory for unparalleled 4K, and even 8K, performance later down the line. While we test some of the 40 Series cards, we’d still recommend this with the same caveats we provided for the RTX 3080. There is a newer version of this card out, and while it’s pricier and harder to get a hold of, it is the newly crowned monarch of the NVIDIA cards. With that out of the way, we can proceed.

When it comes to getting value for money, this GPU sure seemed steep when it was originally released in September 2020. However, considering the sheer power at your disposal here, the RTX 3090 more than justifies its original MSRP. All of that power could honestly be deemed as overkill, since this graphics card is built with the future in mind. This is evidenced by the fact that you’re getting a roughly 10% performance increase in 4K over the RTX 3080. With that said, there’s nothing else on the market that can compare to what it can do.

(Image credit: Future)

9. Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti

The most powerful graphics card for gamers and creators (excusing the 4090)

Specifications

GPU cores: 10,752

Graphics processor: GA102

Base clock: 1560 MHz

Boost clock: 1860 MHz

Memory: 24GB GDDR6X

Memory clock: 1313 MHz (21 Gbps Effective)

Memory bandwidth: 1,008 GB/s

Memory bus: 384-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

The most powerful GeForce GPU yet

Achieves almost 1TB/s bandwidth

Futureproofed for many years

Reasons to avoid

—

Massive 450W TDP

—

It’s huge

—

Iterative on the original

While the RTX 3090 Ti is likely to be complete overkill for the vast majority of PC gamers, there’s no denying the kind of performance that the new BFGPU refresh is able to deliver as the most powerful GeForce GPU ever released to date.

In terms of what makes the new Ti variant different from the original model which was released nearly two years ago, you’re looking at a bump up to 21 Gbps effective memory and 1,008 GB/s bandwidth alongside 256 more CUDA cores and eight more Tensor cores, and two more RT cores. This extra power gives the RTX 3090 Ti even more frames to work with in the latest games, not to mention effectively futureproofing this model for many years with the 24GB GDDR6X VRAM.

In our testing, we found that there was very little that could rival the RTX 3090 Ti in terms of both our suite of benchmarking software and demanding ray traced games. This hulking video card delivers frame rates far exceeding 4K60 in all but one of the games we tested it in, and easily well above 100 FPS in 1440p with all the slides dialed up to their absolute maximum. There’s some serious power under the hood for those who want the best of the best when pushing Ampere GA102 to its absolute limits in 2022.

RTX 3090 Ti is the fastest and most powerful graphics card aimed at gamers

Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti review

Keep in mind that the added performance of this newest flagship Nvidia graphics card doesn’t exactly come cheap, as the RTX 3090 Ti carries a starting MSRP of $1,999. Make no mistake, it’s one hell of an investment, and likely only to primarily appeal to enthusiasts who want to stay on the bleeding edge of PC gaming hardware. But for those who can afford it and value its merits not just in terms of gaming performance but as a productivity video card as well, then the RTX 3090 Ti is sure to find its niche.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

10. Nvidia RTX 3070

Still a great graphics card you shouldn’t overlook

Specifications

GPU cores: 5,888

Graphics processor: GA104

Base clock: 1,500 MHz

Boost clock: 1,725 MHz

Memory: 8GB GDDR6

Memory clock: 14 Gbps

Memory bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s

Memory bus: 256-bit

Today’s Best Deals

Reasons to buy

Incredible ray tracing performance

A 1440p powerhouse

Cost-effective for 4K gaming

Reasons to avoid

—

The RTX 3070 Ti is faster

—

Harder to find since launch

While it has since been overshadowed by the newer and more powerful RTX 3070 Ti, the RTX 3070 GPU is still very much worth considering if you haven’t yet been able to make the jump to Ampere GPU hardware.

How we test graphics cards

At GamesRadar, we take an encompassing approach to testing the best graphics cards with a strict set of benchmarking tools before the GPUs end up on our list. First and foremost, we use the likes of 3DMark for quantified and comparable figures in our extensive write-ups. Secondly, and arguably most importantly, we use demanding games with ray tracing enabled, if applicable, to see how the graphics cards hold up in real-world performance.

You can find out how we test graphics cards in our full GamesRadar Hardware Policy.

Best graphics cards: Frequently asked questions

What graphics card is best to buy?

The newly crowned best graphics card on the market is the RTX 4090. It’s a behemoth that’s capable of incredible performance at 4K, and if you’re looking to pin the #1GPU in the world medal on something, the 4090 is tough to beat. It is undoubtedly the most expensive, though, so that’s worth keeping in mind. For mere mortals, the RTX 3080 will do the trick. For budget buyers, an RTX 3060 Ti is the one to look for, with the 3050 being a strong fall-back.

How many gigabytes of RAM do graphics cards need in 2022?

Our advice is that 4GB GDDR6 memory should be considered the absolute minimum for graphics card gaming performance in 2022. This is because many modern games are pushing the VRAM to new limits due to increased texture sizes, game worlds, and reliance on the speeds afforded by newer storage drives. A good average to look out would be 8GB GDDR6/GDDR6X VRAM, which you can find in some of the best graphics cards from both AMD and Nvidia. This would give you enough overhead for high-FPS 1440p gaming as well as 4K60 in most instances.

How many types of graphics cards are there?

There are two types of best graphics cards when you consider gaming PCs, integrated graphics and dedicated graphics cards. The former is weaker, and usually baked onto the processor chip in the form of an APU or SOC. Dedicated graphics cards, like all of those models listed above, as discrete models that are slotted into your computer’s PCIe Express port, most being two-slot, but some taking up three-slots depending on size, to deliver far greater visual prowess.

Is RTX better than GTX?

If you’ve followed Nvidia’s graphics cards for some time then you may not that the company’s GeForce lines have rebranded from GTX to RTX. The latter delegation refers to the ray tracing potential of the video cards, which was first seen in the RTX 20-series (Turing) in 2018. Now, since late 2020, with the RTX 30-series (Ampere), the ray tracing performance has been vastly improved. It’s currently unknown as to what the successor generation will be known as.

Make sure your rig is up to scratch with the best CPU for gaming, best RAM for gaming, and best PC cases.

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Round up of today’s best deals

EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming

£1,589.65

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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

£706.90

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Geforce RTX 3050

£371.99

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Reduced Price

RTX 3060 Ti

£569. 99

£496.98

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

£1,502.36

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AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

£582.90

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Reduced Price

Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

£2,120.50

£1,699

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PNY GeForce RTX 3070 8GB XLR8 Gaming

£719. 86

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Reduced Price

EVGA GeForce RTX 3070

£850.35

£729.95

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Ever since playing Journey at the age of 15, I’ve been desperate to cover video games for a living. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship over at Expert Reviews. Besides that, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel and Podcast for the last 7 years. It’s been a long road, but all that experience somehow landed me a dream job covering gaming hardware. I’m a self-confessing PlayStation fanboy, but my experience covering the larger business and developer side of the whole industry has given me a strong knowledge of all platforms. When I’m not testing out every peripheral I can get my hands on, I’m probably either playing tennis or dissecting game design for an upcoming video essay. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.
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Best graphics cards for gaming in 2023

he vexed question of which graphics card is the best is a debate that will not die in PC gaming circles. Is it power at all costs that makes a graphics card the best, even though it may cost thousands of pounds to buy and will increase your power bill by the same amount?

Or should you choose something at the other end of the market? After all, the Steam Deck seems to do very nicely with what is, essentially, an integrated AMD graphics chip broadly similar in pixel-pushing power to an Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics card from 2016. Can it play The Witcher 3? Of course it can.

Or should you go for the middle ground, looking for the ideal balance of price and performance? This is fertile territory, with all graphics card manufacturers releasing multiple cards to try to capture the cash from those looking for an upgrade or building their first gaming PC.

So what even is a graphics card? Essentially, a computer processor’s central processing unit and graphics processing unit are separate, and you’ll need a GPU, or graphics card, to display an image on a monitor. If you want to play 3D games, or even run multiple monitors at high resolutions, you’ll need a more powerful GPU. Many, but not all, CPUs from both Intel and AMD come with little graphics chips attached, but an add-in board is often necessary for serious gaming or 3D rendering work, and it can even help with video editing, especially transcoding. GPUs have cores just like CPUs, but they tend to be smaller, more numerous, and more specialised.

Their performance is limited by the resolution you want to play games at, with 4K using the most power; the kind of effects you want to see, with ray-tracing adding a big performance hit when enabled; and their temperature, which is why most of a large card’s bulk is made up of fans.

Three companies make PC GPUs: Nvidia, AMD, and Intel — with the last a relative newcomer to the market despite dominating the world of CPUs for decades. These chips are then integrated into add-in boards by the manufacturers and other companies, who sell them to the public. This means you can often find multiple graphics cards from various manufacturers at different price-points, even though they may have the same processing chip on-board.

Shop the best below

PNY Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB XLR8 VERTO

Press image

The flagship card from Nvidia’s latest graphics architecture, the RTX 4090 is so powerful it’s possible to argue nobody really needs it. There are always those, however, for whom only the very best is ever good enough, and if you’re prepared to drop £2,000 on a graphics card, then this is the one to get.

If you can find one. At the time of writing, the RTX 4090 Founders Edition — a card sold by Nvidia itself instead of one of the thirdparty manufacturers that tends to be more reasonably priced — is completely out of stock, while many other boards remain available only for pre-order. The PNY card we’ve selected here is in stock as we write, and at ‘just’ £1,799.99 hasn’t undergone the drastic price inflation seen elsewhere, with some cards breaking the £2,000 barrier.

RTX cards offer ray-tracing for more realistic lighting effects in games, and the RTX 4090 has more of the specialised RT cores that enable this than any other Nvidia card, as well as more of the processing cores that allow it to render realistic computer graphics extremely quickly. The 40-series graphics cards also introduce DLSS 3 (that’s Deep Learning Super Sampling) which uses an AI system to increase resolutions and framerates.

The RTX 4090 is a big, heavy, expensive card that’s thirsty for power — it requires a special feed from your PC’s power supply through a particular connector — but you won’t get anything better right now.

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Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB

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We literally got the email announcing the availability of these cards while writing this article, which means stock is starting to trickle out, but many cards remain on pre-order status.

The RX 7900 XT and its slightly more expensive sibling the XTX (which is more powerful but not available yet) see AMD launch a new architecture generation — celled RDNA 3 — with ray-tracing and its own AI cores to increase game resolutions (known as FidelityFX Super Resolution) to supply the features demanded by the latest games.

At around half the price of the RTX 4090, you might expect it to be about half as good, and when gaming at 4K that’s pretty much what you get, but as you’re also getting perfectly playable framerates, surely that’s good enough.

That still puts it ahead of every other board from the previous generation, and so it becomes a case of actually getting hold of a card, which is a game in itself.

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Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING PRO 10GB V1

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And speaking of that previous generation, this was the first graphics card launched as part of Nvidia’s 30-series in 2020, and still holds its own very well today. There are cards on top of it in the series, with a 12GB version of this card as well as the 3080Ti, 3090, and 3090Ti, but this one is still good for 4K at 60FPS in many games, and we’ve yet to see the 10GB of RAM on-board become a problem.

That may change — and more is always better — but as you can pick one up right now, such as the Palit card we’ve linked to here, for under £800, you still get a lot of performance for your money. And they’re actually in stock too.

The 30-series cards use older versions of the ray-tracing and AI hardware seen on the 40-series, but DLSS 2 and its ray-tracing capabilities are still capable of providing all the resolution and speed you need.

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ASUS GeForce RTX 3060Ti 8GB DUAL MINI OC V2

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Stepping down into the mid-range, the incredibly popular Nvidia RTX 3060Ti GPU has been just everywhere since its launch in 2020, and as an RTX 4060 has yet to be announced at the time of writing, this utter workhorse is the place to go if you want the benefits of ray-tracing but don’t want to completely destroy your bank account.

Keep your resolutions modest — it’s not a card for 4K gaming — and the RTX 3060Ti can give you a great experience from frenetic firstperson shooters to more considered strategy games. While it will almost certainly be supplanted by a new-generation graphics card sometime in 2023, it remains one of the best upgrades you can buy for an ageing games PC. The only limiting factor may be that 8GB of RAM, as games are starting to push past this.

The ASUS card we’re linked to here is a twin-fan card that’s smaller than triple-fan designs, which means it can fit in smaller spaces, making it ideal for PCs built into compact cases.

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Intel Arc A770 16GB

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Intel made its debut in the discrete graphics card market this year, having been making integrated graphics chips in its processors for a very long time. They haven’t troubled the top of the GPU charts, but the A770 is competitive with the RTX 3060 and AMD’s RX 6650 XT, and shares the £400-ish price bracket too. This means its 16GB of RAM is a key selling point against the 8GB cards.

The A770 supports ray-tracing and a DLSS/FidelityFX competitor called XeSS, though it’s not quite as good and, being new, isn’t as widely used in games as Nvidia and AMD’s solutions.

Still, it’s good to see a third player in the market, and really the only way is up for Intel from here, and it’s not a bad start.

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MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT MECH 2X 8GB OC

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AMD’s final mid-ranger from its previous RDNA 2 generation of cards, released in autumn 2022, is still a decent value proposition as prices are dropping even though a replacement RDNA 3 card hasn’t been launched yet.

It’s not a 4K card, and if you want ray-tracing you’ll be playing at 1080p in order to get a decent framerate. Having 8GB of RAM on-board is enough for now, and the RX 6650 benefits from using faster memory than the RX 6600 it replaced, which you might still see on sale, but should avoid.

Many cards featuring this GPU, such as the MSI example we’ve linked to, are reasonably cool, quiet, and not too power-hungry, making them good choices for smaller PC builds. The fact they’re quite reasonably priced helps too, but the market is crowded at this level.

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ASUS GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB TUF OC EVO GAMING

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A recently discontinued GPU, so while stocks may dry up fast, bargains may also be spotted. The ASUS card we’ve linked to is selling for £45 off at the time of writing, but things change fast and similar cards from other manufacturers may become even cheaper.

Nvidia’s 16-series is built on an architecture similar to its 20-series, from 2018, but with the then-new ray-tracing capabilities removed. This allows it to be cheaper, cooler, and smaller. Single-fan cards using the 1660Ti aren’t uncommon.

Performance-wise, you’ll be fine at 1080p, with the card’s 6GB of memory just about right for its purpose but limiting how far you can push it as games become more complex and require larger amounts of data storage.

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ASRock Arc A380 6GB OC Challenger ITX

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The market for graphics cards targeted specifically at very small PCs is a thriving one, and given the engineering challenges involved in building a thin, short card and keeping it cool in a tight case interior, it’s amazing there are as many as there are. This ASRock card has a single fan, and stops it entirely when the card’s idling to reduce noise.

This budget GPU from Intel is intriguing, as it’s relatively weak for gaming but shines at applications such as accelerated video encoding, and has 50 per cent more RAM than similarly-specced cards from Nvidia and AMD. This makes it a great choice for someone who needs a powerful PC with multiple monitors (it has four output ports) for professional creative applications.

However, people in that kind of situation often have more money to spend, and adding just a little to the price brings you into range of much better chips. While it’s fine for what it is, the A380 has not been the greatest part of Intel’s entry into the GPU market. It should be much cheaper.

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Verdict

Graphics card prices are still inflated at the end of 2022 following a year of electronics shortages and the impact of crypto mining that saw hundreds of graphics cards bought up and used in mining farms that were then abandoned, rather than finding their way into gamers’ hands.

Both issues are clearing up, and the outlook for 2023 looks much sunnier. New architectures from Nvidia and AMD have launched, and we look forward to seeing how Intel can build on the launch of its Arc cards with a second generation that addresses their shortcomings.

The message you can draw from all this is the same as it’s always been. There are no shortcuts, if you want the best graphics card, you’re going to have to pay for it, and if you want Nvidia’s RTX 4090 you’ll have to pay a lot. We should soon see mid-range cards appear at more reasonable prices, however, and strong competition should see them fall.

The good news is that graphics cards, and PC games themselves, are better than they’ve ever been, and with one of the newer cards in your PC you can look forward to some phenomenal experiences.

NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti Best Graphics Card for $399

So far, we’ve rated NVIDIA’s 3000-series cards as excellent: the RTX 3080 offers huge performance for anyone willing to pay $699 for a graphics card, while the 3070 is the best choice at $499. But as usual, NVIDIA doesn’t stop there. Earlier, in December 2020, she introduced the RTX 3060 Ti to the world, the cheapest card of the new lineup. Overview microphone online check. nine0003

Given how successful the new Ampere architecture has been, we expected the 3060 Ti to be a significant upgrade from its predecessor, the RTX 2060 Super. After weeks of testing, we can say that the new card has surpassed even the wildest expectations.

nine0011 Starting price

nine0011 24GB GDDR6

nine0011 250W

	GPU	Frequency / Boost	Memory	Power
RTX 3090	GA102	1400/1695 MHz	24GB GDDR6X	350W	$1499
RTX 3080	GA102	1440/1710 MHz	10GB GDDR6X	320W	$699
Titan RTX	TU102	1350/1770 MHz	280W	$2499
RTX 2080 Ti	TU102	1350/1635 MHz	11GB GDDR6	260W	$999
RTX 3070	GA104	1500/1730MHz	8GB GDDR6	220W	$499
RTX 3060 Ti	GA104	1410/1665 MHz	8GB GDDR6	200W	$399
Titan V	GV100	1200/1455 MHz	12GB HBM2	250W	$2999
RTX 2080 Super	TU104	1650/1815 MHz	8GB GDDR6	$699

Nvidia graphics cards in descending order of performance

Despite the low $399 price tag, the RTX 3060 Ti was even faster than the $700 RTX 2080 Super at launch a year earlier. For most gamers, this will be more than enough to play today’s titles at 1080p and 1440p, and that’s a few years in the future. At least until they demand higher resolutions and higher FPS for high refresh rate gaming monitors. nine0003

Relatively low price;

Decent performance in 1080p and 1440p;

Ray tracing is faster than 2060;

Quiet operation.

Hard to find;

Cannot handle 4K.

We end up with good performance for $399, especially at 1080p or 1440p. The RTX 3060 Ti is faster than the $699 2080 Super. As with all NVIDIA cards, ray tracing takes FPS, but not as much as it did in the 2060 Super. nine0003

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GeForce RTX 4080 is so expensive that you can build a PC for the money. Perhaps even cheaper than

The modern GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card is impressive in price and size, but not everyone needs such performance. You can invest in a budget PC build

nine0002 GeForce RTX 4080 was criticized by many for its inadequate price. The author of the Bitwit YouTube channel creatively approached the issue and looked at what was enough money that they offered to pay for a video card.

The recommended price of a modern GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card is $1199. The buyer will receive a powerful GPU, but this amount does not include other components (if the PC is assembled from scratch).

Bitwit has unveiled the next PC build priced at the GeForce RTX 4080, all packed into a Phanteks Eclipse P300A case. The assembly cost even a little cheaper, at 1198 dollars.

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X.
GPU: Asus TUF Radeon RX 6800 XT.
Motherboard: MSI B550-A Pro.
RAM: G.Skill DDR4-3600 (32 GB RAM).
Power Supply: EVGA 600BQ.
Drive: TeamGroup MS30 M. 2 (1 TB).

Bitwit has found through experience that the game works much better on a full PC than on a single video card. Published the corresponding schedule.

nine0208 2022-11-24 19:52:04

Boris Piletsky

Epic Games Store left Russians without a free game this week

Geralt will no longer be glassy in The Witcher 3 Remaster. Developer confirmed fall damage fix

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nine0218

Our Need for Speed. Review CarX Street

It was impossible to imagine a full-fledged racing game on smartphones. What appeared to be racing games in the app stores could only be called a racing game at a stretch. Against this background, CarX Street, a project of the Russian studio CarX Technologies, looks attractive. Can it be the same kind of breakthrough in the genre as Need for Speed Most Wanted, which he is trying to emulate? nine0003

Results of 2022. RTX 40 prices, the death of mining, indie games are better than AAA

Results

January 10 20:27

We are finalizing 2022 with the last final material. How new Nvidia video cards turned out to be unnecessary after the death of cryptocurrencies, next-gen consoles became budget machines for games, and projects from indie studios became better and more popular. All this in our article. nine0003

Results of 2022

Results

January 09 21:42

The game industry, supplying us with new products, has been extremely active this year.