This article is compiled by Semiconductor Industry (ID: ICVIEWS) from techspot

Which graphics card should you buy for a specific budget?

Speaking of GPU When it comes to graphics cards, TechSpot does the in-depth research. Year after year, I test dozens of GPUs from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel to determine which ones are worth buying.

Unfortunately, the PC graphics card market is currently in a state of stagnation, something that has not often been the case over the past few decades. While current GPU technology is impressive, the pace of new chip releases has slowed, and prices are not great from a value perspective, with little change over the past 6 to 12 months. However, if you are building a new gaming PC, venturing into PC gaming for the first time, or your existing graphics card is starting to feel a little old, it's still worth discussing the best GPU options currently available.

To simplify the process of choosing a new graphics card, TechSpot's guide to the best GPUs is designed to answer a simple question: Which graphics card should you buy for a given budget?

Should you buy a GPU now?

But before we get into that, the first question that needs to be answered is whether you should even consider buying a graphics card. The classic question is “should you buy or should you wait?” Of course, this depends on your situation and the performance of your existing GPU, or if you have one at all. But generally speaking, the higher-end the GPU you’re considering buying, the more you should consider waiting.

This is because the next generation of GPUs is expected to be released within the next six months. The market is currently at the end of the current generation product cycle. Nvidia's RTX 50 series is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, although recent rumors have suggested that this may be delayed until January 2025. Similarly, AMD's RDNA 4 generation will be unveiled at CES 2025 in January, and actual availability remains uncertain, ranging from a week to several months after launch.

As is typical with a new generation of GPUs, the high-end products will hit the shelves first, with the lower-end models following in the months that follow. This means you'll have a shorter wait for a new high-end GPU, and a longer wait for the cheaper ones. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the best GPU for RDNA 4 is expected to be a mid-range product. With all this background information in mind, my recommendations are as follows.

For high-end buyers, consider waiting for new GPUs, as the RTX 50 series (starting with the RTX 5080 and 5090) is expected to be available in the next six months. Mid-range and high-end buyers should also consider waiting, as AMD's RDNA 4 series is set to launch in January. Even if you generally prefer one GPU brand over another, it's worth waiting in these product areas to see how competition and pricing will be affected before and after the launch.

At the lower end of the midrange, it can be more than nine months before a new model is available, which is a long time to wait, so it's easier to buy at this level. The same goes for the budget and mainstream markets, as we're unlikely to see new GPUs until mid-2025. We're not saying you should definitely buy a new graphics card right now - it's okay to wait - but if you're building a new budget PC, you probably won't be tempted to give up buying one right away just because of a new GPU.

Finally, if you decide to buy, what are the best options? This article organizes this guide from top to bottom, presenting the recommended GPU choices at each price point, from the most expensive to the most affordable options and working down from there.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090

The best-performing graphics card on the market remains the GeForce RTX 4090, which is currently selling for more than its MSRP of $1,700.

That's a lot of money for a GPU, but it's the best one around. The RTX 4090 doesn't have to face competition from AMD, as it offers about 25% more performance than the Radeon 7900 XTX, and while it may retail for 100% more, select gamers who want the best performance seem more than happy to pay the premium. It's also about 32% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 Super, which makes the 4090 more expensive by more than 80%. This isn't a huge deal if you have the money to spend on a premium gaming graphics card, but generally, the 4080 Super is a smarter choice.

This means the RTX 4090 was a huge success for Nvidia, so don't expect the next-generation extreme GPU to be cheaper.

GeForce RTX 4080 Super

There are two main options in this price range: the GeForce RTX 4080 Super, which starts at $960, and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which starts at $910. For rasterization, the Radeon model is the better buy, as it's about 10% faster and costs slightly less. However, if ray tracing is your priority, the RTX 4080 Super was more than 30% faster on average in our testing. The GeForce GPUs also offer an excellent set of features, with DLSS being the best upscaling of them all.

Ray tracing is more important for higher-end GPU models than for budget GPU models, and generally, features like DLSS and frame rate scaling run better on higher-tier parts, too. With that in mind, we think the RTX 4080 Super is the better choice overall, but if you don't care about ray tracing or Nvidia's features, the 7900 XTX is a solid value for money.

Radeon RX 7900 XT或GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super

The next tier up is the $700 range, which includes the $780 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, the $730 RTX 4070 Ti, and the $690 Radeon RX 7900 XT. We can immediately rule out one of these GPUs from the competition: the 4070 Ti is about 10% slower than the Ti Super, but is only 6% cheaper, and has less VRAM at 12GB than 16GB. So, given current prices, the 4070 Ti is a poor choice.

There's a reasonable price gap between the remaining GeForce and Radeon models: the 4070 Ti Super is 13% more expensive than the 7900 XT, but is 6% slower at rasterization at 4K. On the other hand, the Ti Super is much faster at ray tracing, with a 30% advantage. However, in terms of price/performance, the GeForce model is only 15% better.

In this price range, the choice isn't as clear as in the previous tier, as there's a wider price gap between the Nvidia and AMD models. In many gaming configurations, the Radeon 7900 XT is faster than the 4070 Ti Super and nearly $100 cheaper, so it's a better value and we're leaning towards it here. However, if you value features like ray tracing or DLSS, then the GeForce model is clearly better, which is understandable when you're spending at least $700. Your preferences and gaming style will be a big factor in deciding which one you choose.

GeForce RTX 4070 Super或Radeon RX 7800 XT

Between about $500 and $600, there are four models to consider: the $580 GeForce RTX 4070 Super, the $540 RTX 4070, the $550 Radeon RX 7900 GRE, and the $480 RX 7800 XT.

Under this pricing structure, the RTX 4070 is a poor value for money. The GeForce RTX 4070 Super only costs $40 more and performs nearly 20% better. The opposite is true for the Radeon models, where the pricier cards offer a poor value for money. The RX 7900 GRE costs 15% more than the 7800 XT, but only performs 6% to 8% better, making the Radeon 7800 XT the better buy.

We came to a similar conclusion when comparing GeForce and Radeon. The 7900 GRE has similar rasterization performance to the 4070 Super, but that makes no sense at $550, when the GeForce card is only $30 more and ray tracing is much faster. If you have a $600 budget and want the best value for your money, the GeForce card is the way to go.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is in an interesting position. It's $100, or 17%, cheaper than the RTX 4070 Super and 11% cheaper than the 4070, while it sits right in the middle of these models when it comes to rasterization performance. If you don't care too much about ray tracing, then the Radeon is the choice for most people. However, if you do care about ray tracing, the 4070 Super is clearly the better value, costing 20% ​​less per frame than the 7800 XT, simply because it's 50% faster in that regard.

Extending this comparison to $450 GPUs gives us the choice between the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB and the Radeon RX 6800 XT (which is still on sale). The 6800 XT is basically a slightly slower, slightly cheaper 7800 XT. At $450, though, the 4060 Ti 16GB isn't as good a value proposition, offering the same amount of VRAM as the 7800 XT but with much lower rasterization performance: the 7800 XT is 40% faster and costs 24% less per frame. Even with ray tracing, the two models perform about the same, making the Radeon the better choice overall.

Overall, if you have a budget of around $500 and can't stretch it to include models like the RTX 4070 Super, the Radeon RX 7800 XT is a good choice; it's better than the competition at this price. If your budget reaches $580, the RTX 4070 Super is also a good mid-range option, especially if you plan to use its ray tracing and DLSS features.

Radeon RX 7700 XT或Radeon RX 6800

There are several options in the low- to mid-range GPU market. There’s the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB for $365, as well as the Radeon RX 7700 XT for $390 and the Radeon RX 6800 for $350.

The 4060 Ti 8GB can be immediately ruled out of the competition due to its underwhelming 8GB VRAM buffer, which we feel is insufficient at this price point. The 7700 XT offers 12GB and the RX 6800 offers 16GB, which is more appropriate when spending over $300.

As for which Radeon model you should buy, that will depend on availability. The RX 6800 is still available, but not everywhere. If it's available in your area, the RX 6800 is slightly faster than the RX 7700 XT, while also packing more VRAM, and is also $40 cheaper right now - at just $350, it's a great value. If it's not available, the RX 7700 XT is still a good buy, as it's generally faster than the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB and offers similar ray tracing performance. It also offers a more than adequate amount of VRAM at 12GB.

Radeon 6750 XT或GeForce RTX 4060或Radeon 7600

There's a lot of competition in the $300 price range. All of them are priced within $60, which makes the discussion of which one to choose a little complicated... There's the $290 GeForce RTX 4060, the $280 RTX 3060, the $320 Radeon RX 7600 XT, the $260 RX 7600, the $300 RX 6750 XT, and the $270 Intel Arc A770 16GB.

The RTX 4060 is just 7% faster and 4% more expensive than the RTX 3060, and has 8GB of VRAM instead of 12GB, but it does support DLSS frame generation. We prefer the extra VRAM to DLSS frame generation, so GeForce buyers should choose the RTX 3060 over the newer model while it's still available.

The best contender right now seems to be the older RX 6750 XT or 6700 XT (as long as it's still available). It's 13% faster than the RX 7600 XT for $20 less, and while you have to sacrifice 4GB of VRAM, going from 16GB to 12GB, that's still plenty at this performance tier and price point. It's also 20% faster than the RX 7600 for 15% more, and it has more VRAM since the RX 7600 is the 8GB model.

Meanwhile, the Intel Arc A770 16GB isn't particularly great value for money, offering similar performance to the Radeon RX 7600, but with some of the issues we discussed recently regarding game compatibility.

The bottom line is that the main competition in the $300 price range is between the Radeon RX 6750 XT and the GeForce RTX 3060, or if only the new cards are available, between the Radeon RX 7600 series and the GeForce RTX 4060.

The Radeon 6750 XT is over 30% faster than the RTX 3060, but it only costs $20 more, which is a no-brainer. Radeon wins.

The Radeon 7600 is a weaker competitor, as it's only slightly faster and slightly cheaper than the RTX 4060, while the 7600 XT offers a modest performance increase, a higher price, and double the VRAM, so it's still OK. The last-gen 6750 XT is way ahead, but if it wasn't, then the new Radeon and GeForce cards are neck and neck. The most future-proof option is the 7600 XT with 16GB of VRAM.

AMD Radeon RX 6600

Finally, in the budget GPU tier, we have the $180 GeForce RTX 3050, the $230 Radeon RX 6600 XT (though they're becoming increasingly harder to find), the $190 Radeon RX 6600, and the $200 Intel Arc A750.

First, let’s eliminate the RTX 3050 from the competition, as it performs significantly worse than every other GPU in this price range. Seriously, it’s 25% slower than a similarly priced RX 6600.

The Radeon RX 6600 remains the leader in this category, offering the best bang for the buck per frame. The RX 6600 XT is a little more expensive, but it's also a good choice if you have an extra $40 to spare and want a faster GPU. The Arc A750 is a decent performer; it was slightly faster than the RX 6600 in our benchmarks at $10 more, but we don't think the bang for the buck is enough to mitigate any game compatibility issues; the Radeon card is more likely to excel in a wide range of games.

At $190, the Radeon RX 6600 is also our cheapest GPU recommendation. Below that price are the RX 6500 XT and RX 6400, but both of those GPUs underperform in many ways. The same goes for the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB, which is too slow to justify its $175 price tag, while the Arc A580 suffers a similar fate to other Intel GPUs, and at $170 it's not cheap enough.

*Disclaimer: This article is written by the original author. The content of the article is his personal opinion. We reprint it only for sharing and discussion, and it does not mean that we agree or agree. If you have any objection, please contact the backstage.