Best graphics cards for PC gaming in 2022

Many people are searching for the best graphics card for their budget. Your budget will obviously affect the answer. Beyond that, there are a number of factors to consider: Raw performance is important, but so are things like noise, the driver experience, and supplemental software. Do you want to pay more to be able to use real-time ray tracer?

Let us make it easy. We’ve tested nearly every major GPU that’s hit the streets over the past couple of years, from $100 budget cards to $1,800 luxury models. Our knowledge has been distilled into this article—a buying guide with recommendations on which graphics card to buy, no matter what sort of experience you’re looking for.

Yes, you can finally buy a GPU again. After more than two years of an insane crunch in graphics cards caused by chip shortages and an insane cryptocurrency boom, the dam has finally burst. What is the end result? End result? While there are many ways to save money on your GPUs, you can still enjoy the benefits of a lower price. can buy a used GPUWith prices approaching sanity, it is much more affordable to buy a new model that comes with a full warranty.

We’re also just starting to see a new breed of graphics cards arrive. Nvidia’s ferocious GeForce RTX 4090 is here, unlocking new 4K high-refresh gaming experiences like we’ve never seen before—but AMD’s rival “RDNA 3” graphics cardsWith lower prices and a new GPU design, they are just around the corner. And Intel’s debut Arc A7 graphics cards FinallyIt arrived this fall, but with a lot of rough edges that obfuscate some of its promise. If you do need a new graphics card, TodayHere are your top choices. Street pricing for these cards still fluctuates wildly, and these rankings take real-world costs into account—which currently give AMD’s Radeon GPUs an edge.

Note:Every graphics card can be customized by a variety vendors. You can purchase different GeForce GTX 3080 models, including those from EVGA and Asus, MSI, Zotac, and others.

We’ve linked to our complete review for each recommendation, but the buying links lead to models that hew closely to each graphics card’s MSRP. Extra money can get you more powerful cooling systems and out-of the-box overclocks. Check out our “What to look for in a custom card” section below for tips on how to choose a customized card that’s right for you.

The best graphics cards for PC gaming

AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT – Best budget graphics card

Although prices are down, the Radeon RX6500 XT, which is often criticized, is still the most affordable sub-$250 option. If you can get it for a fair price, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050This is a more powerful modern graphics card but its price is usually higher at $300. You can find the Radeon RX 6500 XT for $200, although it is less appealing because of its nerfed memory, PCIe lane lanes and limited ports. Those hardware limitations mean you’ll need to stick to Medium or High graphics settings at 1080p resolution in modern games in order to achieve playable frame rates, but if you do that, you’ll enjoy the experience.

Check out our complete article
Radeon RX 6500 XT review

AMD Radeon RX 6600 – Best 1080p graphics card

AMD’s Radeon RX 6600 and Nvidia’s rival GeForce RTX 3060 both ostensibly carry the same $329 MSRP, but on the streets, there’s a much wider gap. The 6600 is available for $300, while the cheapest RTX3060 starts at $400. Those are both steep entry costs for 1080p gaming—at least compared to the GPUs of yesteryear—but with 8GB of fast GDDR6 memory, insanely good power efficiency, and AMD’s Radeon Super ResolutionThe Radeon RX6600 graphics card is a great choice if you want to play 1080p resolution games at 60 frames per second or higher. (Or breaking your bank.

Check out our complete article
Radeon RX 6600 Swft 210 review

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 – Best 1080p graphics card for ray tracing

Nvidia has just released its second-generation dedicated ray tracing hardware. Its killer DLSS upsampling function is found in hundreds of games to recover the performance lost when turning on ray tracing (which carries a severe performance penalty). At $330-plus, it ain’t cheap, but if enabling those cutting-edge lighting effects is a priority, you’ll want to go with GeForce. The RTX 3060 is another solid option, but it’s $400 on the streets and delivers performance on par with the $300 Radeon RX 6600 in games that don’t use ray tracing.

If you are a frequent player of newer games using DirectX 12 or Vulkan, Intel’s Arc A770Excellent performance, as well as ray tracing abilities comparable to the RTX 30-series, is what you can expect. It does not work well with older DirectX 11 titles. This first-generation product also has some bugs.

Check out our complete article
GeForce RTX 3050 review

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT – Best 1440p graphics card

In a sane world, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti would dominate 1440p gaming at its $400 MSRP. It’s that good, and it offers superior ray tracing performance to AMD’s Radeon rivals. But we still aren’t living in a sane world, and the RTX 3060 Ti is going for $500+ on the streets, and often $550 to $600. Nvidia’s RTX 3070The price range for this item, which is supposed to be $500, is $650-$700 online. Get AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 XT instead. It’s plenty fast for 1440p gaming at 60fps+ without compromise, while its beefy 12GB of GDDR6 memory provides plenty of headroom for flipping on all the most intense graphical features. The only problem? AMD’s card is only capable of playing ray-traced games at 1080p resolution unless you activate Radeon Super Resolution, or FSR 1 or 2 in games that support it. One the flip side, the Radeon RX 6700 XT can take advantage of AMD’s awesome performance-boosting Smart Access Memory feature if you’re running a modern Ryzen system that supports it.

Check out our complete article
Radeon RX 6700 XT review

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti – Best 1440p graphics card for ray tracing

Yes, the RTX 3060 Ti remains overpriced compared to its MSRP, going for $500+ rather than the expected $400—but that’s because it’s that good. This card is the best option for anyone looking for a great 1440p gaming experience with top-notch Ray Tracing. The step-down GeForce RTX 3060It is worth considering. However, you might need to adjust some graphics settings if you enable ray-tracing. RTX 3070 doesn’t deliver enough of a performance boost to justify spending yet more.

Check out our complete article
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti review

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 – Best high-end 4K graphics card

Graphics cards that cost $1,000 didn’t used to exist, but now they’re commonplace. All offer 4K gaming experiences. But if you want peak performance no matter the price, you’ll be spectacularly pleased with the GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. This is the first graphics card capable of maxing out a 120Hz 4K monitor in many modern games—a monumental achievement. It can feed a 60Hz 4K monitor, but not a high-resolution display. The GeForce RTX 4090 embarrasses all previous GPU contenders in all games, full stop—it’s so fast that games can become CPU This GPU can be bottlenecked even at 4K/Ultra. You’ll want a new Radeon 9 7950X or Intel Core i9-13900K to truly take advantage of it.

Beyond its raw speed, the RTX4090 has ample 24GB of GDDR6 storage for content creators. It also boasts the best-in class ray tracing chops and new DLSS 3 technology, which uses AI in order to improve frame rates. Considerably—think twofold or even more, though responsiveness can take a hit in some games. It remains to see if it will be. AMD’s $999 Radeon RX 7900 XTX will be able to dethrone Nvidia’s new champion, but either way, the RTX 4090 is an absolutely sublime GPU for peak-performance gaming.

Check out our complete article
GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition review

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition – Best 4K graphics card

If you’ve got a 4K/60Hz monitor want to put all those pixels to work, the RTX 3070, 3070 Ti and AMD’s Radeon RX 6750 XT and RX 6800All of these options are decently cheaper. If you want the best possible experience with no visual compromises, then spend $800 to get the 10GB version. (The $1,000 12GB model isn’t worth the upcharge despite being slightly more future-proof.) The GeForce RTX 3080 packs enough power to blow through games even at 4K resolution with eye candy cranked, including ray traced games thanks to Nvidia’s killer combo of second-gen ray tracing hardware and DLSS.

The problem is? This is an insanely popular GPU, and it can still be difficult to find models around the 3080’s $800 MSRP (though they’re definitely popping up). AMD’s rival Radeon RX 6800 XT is easier to find, just as fast, and packs a whopping 16GB of GDDR6 memory, but Nvidia’s superior ray tracing and DLSS chops earn it the nod for this price point if you’re able to find one around MSRP.

Nvidia and AMD will be launching new GPU generations in the final months of 2022. You may want to check out the Radeon RX7900 XT and RTX 4080 before you spend on a flagship. But if you see an RTX 3080 on a hot deal, don’t hesitate to pick it up.

Check out our complete article
GeForce RTX 3080 review

How do we test graphics cards?

With minimal software, we test graphics cards using a dedicated test system. This ensures that any performance improvements we see are caused solely by the graphics cards being tested and new GPU driver versions. Other hardware and software changes are not affected. Here is the configuration for our current testbed.

• AMD Ryzen 5900X, stock settings
• AMD Wraith Max cooler
• MSI Godlike motherboard MSI X570
• 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo 3800 memory
• EVGA 1200W SuperNova 2 power supply
• 2x 1TB SK Hynix S31 SSD

When testing graphics cards, we use a predetermined set of games. We update the suite whenever a new generation is released. We test many games that cover most major game types (tactics and racing, FPS, etc.).), engines (Unreal Engine, Unity, Anvil, etc.) and the underlying graphics APIs (DirectX 11, DX12 and Vulkan). We use the built in benchmarks for each game after verifying the accuracy of the results. The benchmarks are then run and compared to third-party GPU measurement software like OCAT. Each game is tested at minimum three times per resolution. If there are any issues, additional tests are run. If performance anomalies are found, we may perform additional testing using tools like OCAT. The power draw is measured across the entire system. It is measured using a Watts up meter that is connected to the system.

What to look out for in a custom-made graphics card

If you’re looking for something beyond what is listed here, it may be more difficult to find the right card. Different vendors offer customized versions for each GPU. You can purchase different Radeon RX6700 XT models from Sapphire or XFXX, Asus, MSI and PowerColor.

The following are important things to remember when researching cards.

Overclocks:Higher-priced custom models can be overclocked to varying degrees. This can lead to better performance. Modern custom cards offer the same level of performance.

Cooling solutions Many graphics cards can be fitted with custom coolers to reduce fan noise and temperature. The vast majority of these cards perform well. Liquid-cooled cards run cooler but require more space for the radiator and tubing. Avoid single-fan, blower-style cooling system graphics cards if possible, unless you have a small form-factor PC or plan to use water-cooling block designs.

Size:Many graphics cards have the same size, but there are shorter and longer versions of different GPUs. To cool their enthusiast-class GPUs, high-end graphics cards now have large custom cooling solutions. Before you buy, make sure that the chosen graphics card fits in your case.

Compatibility:Not all hardware supports all connectivity options. DisplayPorts may not be available on higher-end graphics cards. Only the most current Radeon or GeForce graphics cards can support HDMI 2.1 outputs. Make sure your monitor and graphics card can be connected to one another. Also, ensure that your power supply is rated for the graphics card you have chosen.

Real-time ray trace, FSR, DLSS and FSR: AMD’s Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards and all of Nvidia’s RTX offerings can play games with real-time ray tracing effects active. Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs hold a massive advantage over everything else though, propelled even further by dedicated tensor cores for processing machine learning tasks such as Deep Learning Super Sampling, which uses AI to speed up the performance of your games with minimal hit to visual fidelity. GeForce RTX 20-series GPUs also support DLSS, while AMD’s rival FSR 2.0 and Radeon Super ResolutionTechnology is gaining momentum every day.