🎮 The list in brief
1. Best overall
2. Best AMD
3. Best $800 - $600
4. Best $500 - $600
5. Best $350 - $500
6. Best $250 - $350
7. Best budget
8. Also tested
9. GPU hierarchy
10. Price list
11. Where to buy
12. GPU FAQ
The best graphics card is objectively Nvidia's RTX 4090. Subjectively, however, you're going to want to weigh up the pros and cons of spending $1,600 or more on a single GPU. It's not for everyone. That's why we've tested every new GPU out of the Nvidia, AMD, and now Intel stables to find the best card across multiple price points.
For the high-end gamer, you've plenty of cards to choose from. The RTX 4080 Super is pretty much the same as the old RTX 4080 it's replacing, just with a $200 price cut. It's also now offering just enough to tip the scales against the best AMD GPU, the AMD RX 7900 XTX. The RTX 4070 Ti Super and RTX 4070 Super are both great mid-range to high-end GPUs, although there's also the RX 7900 GRE and RX 7800 XT to consider, both of which provide heavy competition to Nvidia's current crop at relatively reasonable prices.
For our money the best budget graphics card is the AMD Radeon RX 7600, which offers good 1080p gaming performance for less than the competition. Intel still has a dog in the budget game: the Arc A750. When this card drops down to around $200, it's a steal, though the drivers aren't always up to scratch. The only last-gen card we still really rate is the RX 6700 XT, which still offers a decent spec and performance. I've listed the specific graphics cards we recommend in different categories below, but I've also lined up the most relevant GPUs, all in order of gaming performance.
Jacob has loads of experience with the latest and greatest graphics cards, reviewing many generations of Nvidia and AMD GPU over the years. He's au fait with the latest architectures, even Intel's Arc, and makes sure to rotate through the latest cards from all three major manufacturers to get first-hand experience of what they're like to game with. Not just of their performance, but also which offer the most useful features and have the most reliable drivers.
The quick list
The best overall GPU
The RTX 4090 is where it's at. This is the graphics card that truly represents a genuinely next-generation experience, but it's also very expensive. However, if you're looking for the best graphics card in terms of performance, look no further.
The best AMD GPU
AMD has managed a supremely impressive feat with the RX 7900 XTX: it has managed to make the first generation of chiplet GPU actually work, and work at the high end. Sometimes it beats the RTX 4080, and for a good chunk less cash, too.
The best $600 - $800 GPU
While we had the odd issue with our MSI review unit, the RTX 4070 Ti Super is fantastic at high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming, and thanks to that 16GB of VRAM and a little bit of help from DLSS 3, makes for a great 4K card, too.
The best $500 - $600 GPU
The first of Nvidia's refreshed Ada GPUs is also the one which has had the biggest core count boost, which makes it superior to the original RTX 4070 for the same money. It's faster than both the cheaper 40-series card and the AMD RX 7900 GRE, though they remain tempting alternatives.
The best $350 - $500 GPU
A very good graphics card for non ray-traced gaming and 1440p performance, and the best performing sub-$500 card. But with a multi-chip GPU that isn't moving the game forward, all it really has over its last-gen stablemate is that lower price.
The best $250 - $350 GPU
The RX 6700 XT has transformed into a great value card, making things rather tough for the RTX 4060 Ti. It's RDNA 2 design lacks the panache of Nvidia's DLSS 3 and Frame Gen tech, but there's a lot of graphics card here for its sub-$350 price-point.
The best budget GPU
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 offers good 1080p performance, and it represents excellent value for money for long suffering gamers. However, it's not the most exciting card, and it faces tough competition in the form of the more expensive RTX 4060.
Recent updates
Updated April 10 to check over our recommendations, update the review copy, and to add the RTX 4070 Ti Super as our best $600 - $800 recommendation.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
✅ You want the best: The RTX 4090 is simply the most powerful GPU you can buy for your gaming PC today. The silicon inside it is monstrously powerful, and along with DLSS3 and Frame Generation it provides a truly next-gen experience.
✅ You want to nail 4K gaming: This is the card that makes 4K gaming buttery smooth. That 24GB frame buffer means you're not going to run out of VRAM any time soon.
✅ You're a creator as well as gamer: Time is money if you do any sort of professional GPU work, and the RTX 4090 could start to pay for itself right away given its incredible rendering and compute power.
❌ You need to ask the price: It's fair to say that it's one of the best value Ada GPUs given its relative price performance ratio, but it's still $1,600 at best. Still, it's far cheaper than the RTX 3090 Ti was, and the RTX 3090 if you take inflation into account.
❌ You have a compact rig: This thing is BIG. Like, comically big. You'll struggle to fit it in some cases, so make sure you measure first.
🪛 The RTX 4090 is the true next-gen experience that we simply haven't seen from any of the other AMD or Nvidia cards from this new generation. And that almost makes it worth that exorbitant price tag.
The best graphics card right now is the Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4090, and there's nothing subtle about this ultimate gaming performance monster. It's a hulking great lump of a pixel pusher, and while there are some extra curves added to what could otherwise look like a respin of the RTX 3090 shroud, it still has that novelty graphics card aesthetic.
It looks like some semi-satirical plastic model made up to skewer GPU makers for the ever-increasing size of their cards. But it's no model, and it's no moon, this is the vanguard for the entire RTX 40-series GPU generation, a complete beast of a gaming component that leaves all others in the dust.
On the one hand, it served as a hell of an introduction to the sort of extreme performance Ada can deliver when given a long leash, and on the other, made for a slightly tone-deaf release in light of a global economic crisis that makes launching a graphics card for a small, very loaded minority of gamers feel a bit off.
But we can't ignore it for this guide to the best GPUs simply because, as it stands today, there's no alternative to the RTX 4090 that can get anywhere close to its performance. It's unstoppable, and will stay ahead of the pack given that AMD's highest performance graphics card, the RX 7900 XTX, is more of an RTX 4080 competitor.
This is a vast GPU that packs in 170% more transistors than even the impossibly chonk GA102 chip that powered the RTX 3090 Ti. And, for the most part, it makes the previous flagship card of the Ampere generation look well off the pace. And that's even before you get into the equal mix of majesty and black magic that lies behind DLSS 3 and all its upscaling and Frame Generation trickery, boosting its performance further into the stratosphere.
Look, it's quick, okay. With everything turned on, and especially with DLSS 3 and Frame Generation joining the party, the RTX 4090 is monumentally faster than the RTX 3090 that came before it. The straight 3DMark Time Spy Extreme score is twice that of the big Ampere core, and before ray tracing or DLSS come into it, the raw silicon offers twice the 4K frame rate in Cyberpunk 2077, too.
There's no denying it is an ultra-niche ultra-enthusiast card, and that almost makes the RTX 4090 little more than a reference point for most of us PC gamers. We're then left counting the days until Ada descends to the pricing realm of us mere mortals, which looks unlikely to happen until we see what the next generation of cards brings.
In itself, however, the RTX 4090 is an excellent graphics card and will satisfy the performance cravings of every person who could ever justify spending $1,600 on a new GPU. And it will deservedly sell to those who can afford it, because there's no other GPU that can come even close to it right now.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 review.
