Best Gaming Graphics Cards on the Market

The Graphics Processing Unit, or more commonly known as the graphics or video card, is a computer and workstation component used to render displayed graphics. It is one of the core factors deciding how detailed or smooth a game will render at. Currently, there are two main manufacturers and researchers in this segment of computing. These two companies are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia. In the general consumer space, AMD offers their “Radeon” lineup of video cards. On the other hand, Nvidia has its “GeForce” series to compete with AMD. As of late 2019, Nvidia controls the majority of the GPU market with about 68%. This is followed by AMD’s 22% percent share. With recent releases from both companies, consumers may be unsure of which graphics card model to purchase. After all, GPU shopping can be confusing for the novice PC builder. No worries though, Esports Mention is here to help.

High Performing Graphics Cards Under $300

Not all gamers will have hundreds of dollars to put into a graphics card. Let’s be honest, the majority of people will only allocate a couple of hundred dollars for their earnings to build or purchase a computer. Many beginning gamers will be looking at purchasing a GPU at around $100 to $150 USD. In this price segment, the AMD Radeon RX 570 and the RX580 are the best choices. The AMD Radeon RX 570 (4GB Variant) can be found normally at $120 USD, with seasonal promotional pricing at around $100 USD. The RX 570 is a great choice for a beginner GPU. This video card can be used to play virtually any popular esport titles (Fortnite, TC:R6S, CS:GO, Overwatch, etc…) at over 100FPS on medium to high settings. For AAA gaming, consumers can expect a smooth 60FPS on the majority of recent titles with medium settings. If $150 can be spent on a GPU, then the AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB Variant) is the best choice. The RX 580 is about 15% faster compared to the RX 570. This improvement will allow gamers to tune the settings on AAA games up to high settings. In esports titles, the RX 580 will generally yield 10-20 more FPS than the RX 570 with the same settings.

The next common price segment among GPU shoppers is $200 to $300 USD. This is where things get really interesting. Gamers looking to purchase video cards in this price range generally aim to play esports competitively at 144 FPS or more on average, and AAA titles at 2K 60FPS. There are mainly three GPUs in this range; the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super, 1660-Ti, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 (not to be confused with the RX 570). Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 series holds the most market share in this price segment.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super

The 1660 Super is usually found at $200 to $260 USD. It is a great video card for 1080p gaming as the 1660 Super will be able to run almost every AAA title at 60FPS on high or ultra settings. The 1660 Super is also a great GPU for 144FPS esport gameplay. As a bonus, all Nvidia 16 and 20 series GPUs (with the exception of the GTX 1650) includes a built-in NvEnc hardware encoder. This will allow for gamers to stream their gameplay sites to Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer smoothly without the need for a separate capture card.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660-Ti

For $20 to $50 more compared to the 1660 Super, consumers can purchase the GTX 1660-Ti. The 1660-Ti is around 5-10% faster than the 1660 Super. In most games, this would not be noticeable. However, it is still a slight increase and may be worth the few extra dollars.

AMD Radeon RX 5700

In this price segment, some AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPUs can be found. Most models of the RX 5700 tends to be around $320 to $340 USD, but models such as the XFX DD Ultra and MSI Mech OC are available for around $300 USD. The RX 5700 is 10-20% faster than the 1660-Ti and 1660 Super. The RX 5700 can handle AAA gaming at 1440p 60FPS on high settings as well as 1080p 144FPS esport gaming. Streamers on a budget may consider the GTX 1660 series over the RX 5700 as AMD does not offer a built-in hardware encoder like Nvidia’s new GPU series.

High Quality Gaming Graphics Cards under $500

Gamers with a PC budget of $1000 to $1200 USD will most likely reserve around $400 to $500 of their overall budget to purchasing a GPU. The three video cards that stand out at this price range are the AMD Radeon RX 5700XT, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super, and 2070 Super. Nvidia’s RTX series supports real-time Ray Tracing (Minecraft RTX anyone?) and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Ray Tracing is a technical feature that allows developers to create detailed scenes and environments that contain reflections and realistic textures. DLSS allows games to be rendered at a low resolution and then scaled to a higher resolution with Nvidia’s supercomputers. This combination of scaling and cloud rendering allows gamers with less powerful hardware to render games at higher resolutions more smoothly and easily.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super

Currently, both the RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super can easily handle AAA games at 1080p or 2K resolutions on high settings with 75-100+ FPS frame rates. These GPUs are also perfect for people looking forward to playing esport titles competitively at 144 or 240Hz. Generally the 2070 Super is around 15% faster than the RTX 2060 Super while costing $100 USD more. At this price range, AMD offers its Radeon RX 5700XT at $370 to $450 USD. The 5700XT is also a great 2K gaming and competitive esports GPU. It performs in between the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super. The RX 5700XT does lack DLSS and hardware Ray-Tracing support, but it comes with its own set of features. The 5700XT is built on the 7NM Navi RDNA GPU die, which has a much better power efficiency and thermal output over AMD’s previous generation Polaris GCN architecture. The 5700XT also comes with the Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS) feature to enhance graphical detail by using GPU scaling and algorithm-based calculations. In this price segment, the PC market has seen several great releases and innovations from both AMD and Nvidia in terms of value and performance in 2019.

Top of the Line Graphics Cards Over $600

Now, to gamers with deep pockets, are the highest performing GPUs on the market. At this $600+ price point, nearly all of the market goes to Nvidia. They offer the RTX 2080 series GPUs, which are meant for 4K60FPS, 2K120FPS, and 1080p240FPS gaming. These are the video cards that popular streamers tend to use to get the most out of current computers.

Nvidia RTX 2080 GPU

At $600 to $700 USD, Nvidia offers the RTX 2080 GPU. This is the weakest member of the RTX 2080 family. However, it is still a beast. This video card can easily handle 1080p, 100+ FPS AAA gaming as well as 1080p, 144+ FPS esport gaming. In terms of 4K gaming, the RTX 2080 can handle AAA titles at around 60FPS with medium-high settings. The RTX 2080 Super is a “refresh” of the RTX 2080, with a 10% improvement in overall performance. The 2080 Super is a solid 4K60FPS AAA gaming GPU as well as a great choice for competitive players looking to hit 240FPS on competitive settings in esport titles. It is usually found at around $100 USD more compared to a similar RTX 2080 model.

Nvidia RTX 2080-Ti

At the top of Nvidia’s RTX consumer GPUs is the RTX 2080-Ti. This is a monster of a GPU, as it is able to hit 1440p 120+ FPS on AAA titles at medium to high settings and 4K60+FPS on high to ultra settings. It is also a great choice for competitive players as it is able to easily achieve 1080p 240+ FPS on the majority of esport titles (although more intensive ones may require the settings to be lowered by a bit). The 2080-Ti is ready for the Valve Index, which is the most demanding VR headset on the market right now. It should be mentioned that the RTX Titan is slightly faster than the 2080-Ti is games, but it is not a consumer-oriented GPU. The Titan RTX is double the price of the 2080-Ti and not a gaming GPU. It is supposed to be used for workstations and applications that use a lot of VRAM. A similar statement can be made for AMD’s Radeon VII. It has gaming performance similar to an RTX 2080, but it is a better workstation and Hackintosh GPU than it is for gaming. Although still suitable for gaming, it is much more appealing to workstation users that can make good use of the Radeon VII’s 16GB of HBM2 VRAM and high bandwidth.

That is all for today. If you are interested in buying used, we have an article coming up for that, so stay tuned.