What is the best graphics card for gaming? Shopping for a new GPU can mean wading through an often baffling set of numbers in specs lists, as well as weighing up the pros and cons of the different feature sets from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. That’s where we can help, as we’re not only genuine PC hardware enthusiasts who know our stream processors from our stream decks, but we’re also gamers.
Your choice of GPU will have a bigger impact on your gaming experience than any other PC component and by a long, long way. Yes, it’s always worth making sure you have the best gaming CPU in your system, as well as the best gaming RAM you can afford, but it’s the mighty graphics card that really sits on the throne in your gaming rig, so you need to make sure you nail this choice.
Your GPU is the primary driving force behind the frame rate in your games, and it also determines the resolution and graphics settings you’ll be able to use, including ray tracing and some GPUs are much better at handling these settings than others. There are also features that are exclusive to Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon GPUs, such as Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR, which also need to be considered.
We’ve tested all the graphics cards listed in this guide in a number of different games ourselves, so we can say authoritatively which GPU you should buy for your needs, and why. The situation has quickly changed with the release of Nvidia’s new RTX 5000 GPUs in January 2025 as well, with the new RTX 5090 now the undisputed king of the graphics card world, if you can afford (or find) it, and the new RTX 5080 offering decent 4K gaming performance for a much cheaper price, thanks to is support for DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Gen..
The new AMD RDNA 4 GPU lineup is also scheduled to launch in March 2025, with the new Radeon RX 9070 XT bringing support for AMD FSR 4, which finally brings hardware AI to the company’s upscaling tech. The Radeon RX 9070 is also due to launch in this timeframe, with both GPUs expected to chase the RTX 5070 for the mid-range crown.
In the meantime, these graphics cards are the very best ones you can buy for gaming right now, with prices starting at just $249.99 for a great 1080p card, and going all the way up to the mammoth Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 if you want to play games at 4K with all the eye candy enabled.
Why you can trust our advice ✔ At PCGamesN, our experts spend hours testing hardware and reviewing games and VPNs. We share honest, unbiased opinions to help you buy the best. Find out how we test.
Best graphics card in 2025:
Best graphics card for most
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super specifications:
| GPU die |
AD104 |
| CUDA cores |
7,168 |
| Tensor cores |
224 |
| RT cores |
56 |
| Base clock |
1,980MHz (1.98GHz) |
| Boost clock |
2,475MHz (2.48GHz) |
| VRAM |
12GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bandwidth |
504GB/s |
| TDP |
220W |
Reasons to buy
- RTX 4070 Ti-like performance for $600
- Better value than RTX 4070
- DLSS 3 support
Reasons to avoid
- Rasterization performance could be better
- Can’t quite cope with 4K gaming
The GeForce RTX 4070 Super is a remarkable midrange graphics card. It gives you unparalleled ray tracing performance for its price and isn’t bad at rasterization either. Naturally, frame rates for both types of rendering get significantly boosted thanks to Nvidia DLSS 3, to say nothing of its unbeaten image quality via upscaling.
The non-super GeForce RTX 4070 is still available to buy for less, but going for the GeForce RTX 4070 Super will ultimately provide more bang for your buck. You’re getting GeForce RTX 4070 Ti-like performance, which is hard to argue with.
The main pitfall of the GeForce RTX 4070 Super is its VRAM capacity, topping out at just 12GB. This is more often than not enough for both 1080p and 1440p, but it can sadly present problems at higher resolutions, such as 4K.
Read our GeForce RTX 4070 Super review.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 specifications:
| CUDA cores |
21,760 |
| Tensor cores |
170 (4th-gen) |
| RT cores |
680 (5th-gen) |
| Boost clock |
2,407MHz |
| Base clock |
2,017MHz |
| VRAM |
32GB 28Gbps GDDR7 |
| Memory bandwidth |
1,792GB/s |
| TGP |
575W |
Reasons to buy
- Multi Frame Gen is amazing
- Fastest gaming GPU ever
- Great two-slot cooler
Reasons to avoid
- Astronomical price
- Scarce supply
- Not all games support Multi Frame Gen
Nvidia has gone all out with its latest flagship, which brings the full magic of DLSS 4 to 4K gaming with Multi Frame Gen. This clever new tech uses AI to insert up to three extra frames between each pair of rendered frames, and it massively increases the frame rate.
In fact, in our tests, this card can even run Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with full path tracing enabled and get an average of 207fps, a phenomenal result at these settings. Comparatively, the RTX 4090 can only average 82fps in this game at its maximum frame gen settings. What’s more, thanks to the new transformer model Nvidia has introduced with DLSS 4, your games look much sharper if you enable the Super Resolution upscaling tech.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has also managed to cram a load more CUDA cores into this card’s colossal GPU, giving it a decent step up in performance over the 4090 across the board. This performance benefit is smaller than we’ve seen in previous generational shifts. For example, the RTX 5090 averages 146fps in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 at 4K, compared to 120fps on the RTX 4090, but that’s still a performance boost.
It’s not all plain sailing, which is why the RTX 5090’s review score is only a 6 right now. The $1,999 MSRP is already sky-high, and the actual prices of board partner cards are much higher. Plus it can be hard to find RTX 5090 stock right now, unless you want to pay scalper prices. The power draw is also extreme, and you’ll need at least a 1,000W PSU to feed this beast of a graphics card.
If you want the absolute fastest GPU you can buy, though, and you’re prepared to pay the price, make no mistake – this is the card you want.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review.
Best graphics card under $1,000
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 specifications:
| CUDA cores |
10,752 |
| RT cores |
336 (5th-gen) |
| Tensor cores |
84 (4th-gen) |
| Base clock |
2,300MHz |
| Boost clock |
2,620MHz |
| VRAM |
16GB 32Gbps GDDR7 |
| Memory bandwidth |
960GB/s |
| TBP |
360W |
Reasons to buy
- Much cheaper than RTX 5090
- Decent 4K gaming performance
- DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Gen is awesome
Reasons to avoid
- Hard to find in stock at MSRP
- Not much faster than 4080 Super without DLSS 4
- Not all games support Multi Frame Gen
If you can’t afford the two grand for the RTX 5090 (and that’s quite understandable), but you want to play games at 4K with decent settings, then this $999 GPU from Nvidia is the best in its class. Like the 5090, it also supports Nvidia’s latest Multi Frame Gen tech, meaning it can use AI to insert two or three or more frames between each pair that your GPU renders, enabling you to max out the eye candy in your games and still get smooth frame rates.
We tested the new tech with Cyberpunk 2077, maxed out with path tracing so it looks incredible, and the RTX 5080 averaged 128fps. Drop down to 1440p and you’re looking at 228fps, which is amazing in a game that’s this demanding. As a point of comparison, even the RTX 4090 only averages 148fps in this game at 1440p with its maximum level of frame gen enabled.
Not all games support this new tech, of course, but Nvidia has announced 75 Multi Frame Gen games at launch, and if your game already supports standard frame gen, you can force it to use Multi Frame Gen using the DLSS Override feature in the Nvidia App.
Without Multi Frame Gen, the RTX 5080 is only a little bit faster than the RTX 4080 and 4080 Super, which is a little disappointing, but at least the new GPU maintains the $999 price of the latter, rather than the obscene $1,199 launch price of the original RTX 4080.
Of course, that latter point is largely moot if you can’t find a card at MSRP, and the current short supply of the RTX 5080 means it’s hard to buy one right now. You can check out our where to buy 5080 page for the latest stock updates in your area, but if you can get this GPU for $999, it’s absolutely worth it.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review.
Best graphics card under $500
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT specifications:
| GPU die |
Navi 32 XT |
| Stream processors |
3,840 |
| RT cores |
60 (Second Gen.) |
| Base clock |
1,624MHz (1.62GHz) |
| Game clock |
2,124MHz (2.12GHz) |
| Boost clock |
2,430MHz (2.43GHz) |
| VRAM |
16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bandwidth |
624GB/s |
| TBP |
263W |
Reasons to buy
- Unparalleled memory bandwidth for $500
- Smashes the GeForce RTX 4070 in rasterized scenarios
- Better value than the Radeon RX 7700 XT
Reasons to avoid
- Large ray tracing performance gaps vs the RTX 4070
- Still no sign of FSR 3 frame generation
- Some generational downgrades
The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT may have been a long time coming, but it was certainly worth the wait. For those who aren’t too fussed about ray tracing, this is the graphics card to get.
With 16GB of VRAM attached to a 256-bit memory interface, you get a decent memory configuration for the money. This uniquely positions the 7800 XT as the only card at the $500 mark that’s capable of 1080p, 1440p, and even some 4K gaming.
It’s the more sensible buy vs the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, given that there’s only $50 separating the two. In our testing, the RX 7800 XT actually beat the more expensive RTX 4070 at every resolution up to 4K with ray tracing disabled, sometimes by as much as 17% on average. However, as soon as ray tracing effects enter the frame, it falls behind and has no answer for DLSS 3 either.
Read our AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT review.
Best mid-range graphics card
AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE specifications:
| GPU die |
Navi 31XL |
| Stream processors |
5,120 |
| RT cores |
80 |
| Game clock |
1,880MHz |
| Boost clock |
2,245MHz |
| VRAM |
16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bandwidth |
256-bit |
| TBP |
260W |
Reasons to buy
- Amazing price for the spec
- Beats RTX 4070, even in ray tracing
- 16GB of memory
Reasons to avoid
- Not hugely quicker than RX 7800 XT
- FSR can’t compete with quality of DLSS
- Super is faster at ray tracing
Previously exclusive to the Chinese market, the sudden international launch of the Radeon RX 7900 GRE (the GRE stands for Golden Rabbit Edition) has shaken up the mid-range GPU arena. This graphics card is based on the same Navi 31 GPU used in AMD’s top-end Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX, but with some of the parts disabled, and it’s an immensely powerful GPU for the price, even if it has much lower clock speeds than AMD’s two front runners.
At $550, it has the same MSRP as the Nvidia RTX 4070, but the 7900 GRE eats the RTX 4070 for breakfast in every way, even including ray tracing in most of our game tests. If you don’t turn on ray tracing, the RX 7900 GRE is even faster than the more expensive RTX 4070 Super. AMD has priced this GPU aggressively, and the outcome is a $550 GPU that nails all our game tests at 2,560 x 1,440 and can also cope with some 4K gaming, thanks to its 16GB of VRAM.
The only downer is that AMD’s FSR upscaling technology can’t compete with Nvidia’s DLSS Super Resolution when it comes to image quality, and AMD’s FSR 3 frame generation tech isn’t supported by nearly as many games as Nvidia’s DLSS 3 frame generation. Plus, the market is now very crowded in this price segment. If you can’t go higher than $550, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE is the card to buy right now.
Read our AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE review.
AMD Radeon RX 7600 specifications:
| Stream processors |
2,048 |
| RT cores |
32 (Second Gen.) |
| Base clock |
1,720MHz (1.72GHz) |
| Game clock |
2,250MHz (2.25GHz) |
| Boost clock |
2,655MHz (2.66GHz) |
| VRAM |
8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bandwidth |
288GB/s |
| TBP |
165W |
Reasons to buy
- Less than $300
- Surprisingly good rasterization performance
- Decent TBP
Reasons to avoid
- 8GB of VRAM
- Subpar ray tracing performance
- No answer to DLSS Frame Generation
If your budget can’t stretch to a midrange graphics card, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the way to go. There isn’t a perfect GPU in the budget space right now, but the Radeon RX 7600 is the least compromised option for the money.
Both the RX 7600 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 come with just 8GB of VRAM. This capacity is fine for esports titles at 1080p but can create problems when higher-resolution textures are enabled. Naturally, 1440p and 4K are off the table for this GPU.
Given its low price, we’re surprised how perky this pixel pusher is in the right circumstances. Frame rates are impressive at 1080p with ray tracing disabled, largely beating the GeForce RTX 4060, although we don’t recommend turning on ray tracing effects in demanding games with this graphics card.
Read our AMD Radeon RX 7600 review.
How to choose a graphics card
The first step to figuring out which graphics card is right for you is the same as every other component: budget. The RTX 4090 is only the fastest option for your system if you can afford it, and knowing how much you can spend on a pixel pusher will help greatly narrow down your options.
Your target resolution, frame rates, and rendering priorities should also guide you. While Nvidia GeForce graphics cards will offer superior ray tracing performance, AMD Radeon GPUs may provide greater value in standard rasterization.
You can get a general sense of what frame rates you can expect from each graphics card performing at different resolutions by reading our reviews. Here are some guiding principles though, to get you started:
- 1080p: 60 and 600 class graphics cards (e.g. RTX 4060 and RX 7600).
- 1440p: 70 and 700/800 class graphics cards (e.g. RTX 4070 and RX 7800 XT)
- 4K: 80/90 and 900 class graphics cards (e.g. RTX 5090 and RX 7900 XTX)
FAQs
What does a graphics card do?
Graphics cards are an essential component of any PC, especially gaming PCs. It’s your graphics card that enables your PC to render and display images. They play a huge role in a PC’s ability to play any specific game.
The more powerful graphics cards use ray tracing technology and AI to process information as quickly as possible and make your games visually stunning.
What is VRAM?
VRAM is an acronym for ‘video random access memory’ and refers to the built-in memory used by graphics cards. Its purpose is to provide your GPU with a separate, high-speed pool of memory that it can use to store data.
More VRAM at your disposal is always a positive as it makes your system less reliant on standard RAM to plug any gaps should your graphics card’s capacity become saturated, thereby reducing the chance of stutters. However, capacity is only part of the story, with the speed of your GPU’s memory and its bus width influencing memory bandwidth.
Most modern graphics cards now come with at least 8GB of VRAM which is usually enough for 1080p gaming, with some exceptions. Higher-quality effects and textures demand higher pools of video memory, though, so we’d suggest opting for a 12GB option if you can afford it.
For those of you gaming at 1440p, 16GB is ideal but 12GB will suit you for the most part. Likewise, 20GB is recommended for 4K, but 16GB will serve.
What is ray tracing?
Ray tracing refers to real-time light tracing to produce more realistic and higher-quality lighting effects than typical rasterized techniques. It has several use cases, including improved shadows, ambient occlusion, reflections, and global illumination.
The first ray-tracing-capable graphics cards arrived in 2018, with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 20 series. AMD joined in on the fun with its Radeon RX 6000 series in 2020, with Intel following with its Arc discrete GPUs in 2022.
Toggling on ray tracing options greatly increases GPU load and can dramatically impact frame rates. As such, it’s typically wise to use them in conjunction with performance-enhancing tools such as Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS.
What is rasterization?
Rasterization is the process through which 3D models are converted into the pixels you see on the screens of the best gaming monitors. The better a graphics card is at doing this, the smoother your experience of playing your favorite games – when done well, games will look fantastic, when done poorly, games can look blurry and washed out.
Is a GTX or RTX graphics card better?
GeForce RTX graphics cards offer a more feature-rich experience than those sporting a GTX badge and provide superior performance. Comparing GPUs of the same class (e.g. a GTX 1080 against an RTX 2080) will always favor the newer RTX model.
The main distinctions between GTX and RTX graphics cards are ray tracing and DLSS support. Every RTX GPU is capable of using DLSS Super Resolution to boost frame rates via upscaling, in addition to improving visuals through ray-traced effects. Meanwhile, GTX pixel pushers don’t have access to either.
As such, we don’t recommend picking up a GTX graphics card if it can be helped as RTX options provide better value.
Does ray tracing work on all games?
Real-time ray tracing has only been a part of games since 2018, meaning that every game released before then won’t feature the technology unless it’s been patched in since then. However, it’s not a given that every game release after that time will feature ray-traced effects.
Many big games, such as Fortnite and Cyberpunk 2077 offer ray-tracing options, and the number of examples continues to grow. With the advent of RTX Remix, it won’t be long before many classics join newer releases in basking in the light of ray tracing.
Umair
