A graphics card is the beating heart of your PC that ensures the smooth running of games. For a PC gamer, having the best graphics card on your PC is a must. It makes sure running of the latest game releases. The best graphics cards are the ones that deliver high frame rates even at 4K. However, for now, the best graphics cards are the ones that you can afford.
The GPUs prices have come down so much in the last couple of months. So, if you’re buying a new graphics card, we suggest you not skip any part of this article. We have looked into a couple of different performance tiers and budgets. Thus, you can choose which ones make the most sense for you. Let’s start with a low to high budget.
Table of Contents
BEST BUDGET 1080p GPUs:
The RTX 3050:
The graphics cards that have been released during the last couple of years are extremely expensive. Being expensive is the only common thing in them. The shortage of graphics cards is the main reason for high prices. However, the RTX 3050 is finally here and this card is much more affordable than anything else in the current generation.
The RTX 3050 market price is somewhere between 300 and 330 dollars, while its MSRP is 250 USD. You can occasionally buy one for 250 USD only if you saw it in stock. However, before buying RTX 3050 for 300 dollars, we would like to show you two better options (RX 6600 and RTX 2060).
The RTX 3050 Versus the RX 6600:
The AMD’s RX 6600 is only 15 – 20 USD up in price than RTX 3050. It provides better baseline performance when you are not using DLSS or ray tracing. It is just better and significantly faster. You can play most of the games at their maximum settings with a 60 FPS average at 1080p. We suggest you turn it down to the high settings rather than ultra settings to get your minimums closer to that 60 FPS mark. Even in more graphically demanding scenes its average is above 60 FPS. If you are playing less demanding titles, then this is a high refresh rate 1080p experience.
However, with the RTX 3050, there are certain games where you have to turn down to medium or use DLSS. Although DLSS is a fantastic technology, at 1080p the image does not look identical to native. It will look worse and you will see more aliasing. Furthermore, the DLSS also introduces a little bit of ghosting.
Generally, DLSS at resolutions like 4K, the quality setting is an almost free performance with a few minor ghosting issues. But that is not the case at 1080p. Although you can use DLSS to boost performance, we would suggest you rather not.
The RTX 2060 Versus the RX 6600:
Let’s consider you do some professional work where AMD may not perform well enough. Some of you might be working with certain professional programs and they work better with NVIDIA. In that case, we suggest you opt for the RTX 2060.
The RTX 2060 is available in the market at 340 dollars. In case you are thinking about which one to choose between the RX 6600 or the RTX 2060 at this price, we suggest you choose the RX 6600. Most of the reviews suggest that it is slightly faster (about 10 %) than the RTX 2060. However, keep in mind that the GPU performance is greatly affected by the type of game you are playing.
Another difference is the 6 gigabytes of memory versus the 8 gigabytes. The RX 6600 has 8 gigabytes while the RTX 2060 has only 6 gigabytes of memory. Thus, for a little bit better straight-up rasterize performance and 2 gigabytes more memory, we suggest you go with the RX 6600.
Conversely, if you prefer NVIDIA or do something that requires NVIDIA then the RTX 2060 is the best choice at this price than the RTX 3050. The RTX 2060 performance is way above the RTX 3050. The 2 gigabytes of extra VRAM and slightly more mature ray tracing are the only things that make the RTX 3050 superior to the RTX 2060.
We suggest you buy the RX 6600 for solid 1080p 60 FPS performance with pretty good settings. However, if you need NVIDIA, the RTX 2060 is the best choice at this price.
BEST BUDGET 1440p GPUs:
Now, what if someone wants either an extremely high refresh rate at 1080p or solid 1440p performance? Well, in that case, let’s look at some of the best graphics cards.
The RTX 3060 Ti Versus the RX 6700 XT:
The RTX 3060 Ti is one of the best graphics cards you can get at a reasonable price. This GPU delivers a solid 1440p experience. You can get a fresh RTX 3060 Ti card at around 600 USD. Sometimes you can find these GPUs available for less than 600 USD but they usually sell out very quickly. Bear in mind that the RTX 3060 Ti is only about 9 % slower than the RTX 3070 but costs 20 % less.
Let’s talk about the AMD RX 6700 XT. It is now dropping in price.It is available on the market at 469.99 USD. You can also get a few different stylish design models if you’re willing to spend a little bit more.
The RX 6700 XT has the same performance as an RTX 3060 Ti. On one hand, if it wins in tons of games, then on the other hand it also loses in tons of games. However, if you do not count ray tracing, the RX 6700 XT is a better option. The RX 6700 XT has 4 gigabytes of extra VRAM compared to the eight gigabytes VRAM of the RTX 3060 Ti.
Thus, if the RX 6700 XT and RTX 3060 Ti cost the same then things like the better ray-tracing performance and DLSS at 1440p the quality setting are extremely usable. However, as we just mentioned that the RTX 3060 Ti is available in stock for about six hundred dollars. While the RX 6700 XT comes in about a hundred dollars less which gives you the same performance if you’re not counting DLSS and ray tracing. So it is better to buy the RX 6700 XT unless you need specific NVIDIA features for work.
BEST BUDGET 4k GPUs:
The RTX 3080:
If you want 4k gaming, you really should step up higher. Here you can look into different options. The RTX 3080 delivers good performance at 4k. The prices of RTX 3080 have come down to about 860 dollars, which is way lower than the 1400 to 1500 USD that used to be a couple of months ago. The RTX 3080s are the 10-gigabyte models. Although the 12-gigabyte models perform slightly better, they will cost you an extra 110 dollars.
The RTX 3080 Versus The RX 6800 XT:
The RX 6800 XT is also one of the best cards which cost less than the RTX 3080. This card provides a huge boost in performance and features compared to the old generation. However, at 4k, the RTX 3080 has a little edge, especially the DLSS being extremely good at 4k. So if the price gap between RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT is not huge, then opting for the RTX 3080 is a better choice.
The RX 6900 XT:
Another graphics card you might want to consider is the 6900 XT. The current price of this card is 950 dollars. It is of course an extremely expensive graphics card. The price of 6900 XT is about a hundred dollars more than the price of RTX 3080. Thus, we suggest you not spend that extra hundred dollars on 6900 XT if you are playing 4k. Instead, you should rely on DLSS quality.
The RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti:
In case you choose the 3080 Ti, it means you are spending a lot more for very little extra performance. We also suggest you not go with the 3070 Ti for the 4k gaming experience. The reason is that buying 3070 Ti will not save you that money compared to 3080. Furthermore, you will only have 8 gigabytes of memory which is not enough if you are planning a 4k build.
CONCLUSIONS:
So, these are the GPUs you can buy in 2022. You can choose any based on your budget and gaming choice.
At 1080p 60 FPS, you can enjoy an awesome gaming experience. Thus, if you are buying a new card, the RX 6600 or the RTX 2060 should be your top priority.
At 1440p, the RX 6700 XT is the best choice considering its cost-performance ratio. At 4k, no graphics card offers the best cost-performance ratio. However, the RTX 3080 for 850 dollars seems to be the sweet spot if you are targeting 4k.