Cost Per Frame: Finding the Best Value Graphics Cards in Today’s Market

For those that missed it, we just lately printed our GPU pricing replace for April 2022, which noticed costs for graphics playing cards proceed to pattern in the fitting course… downward. We’ve been monitoring GPU costs for properly over a 12 months now and it is nice to see costs getting nearer and nearer to the MSRP.

But as we talked about in that function, it is laborious to say simply how thrilling that’s for potential patrons contemplating most of those merchandise at the moment are 18 months previous and can possible be outdated by the top of this 12 months by way more highly effective next-gen {hardware}. Then once more, we do imagine that if players had the chance of shopping for an RTX 3070 for $730 or an RX 6700 XT for $570 earlier this 12 months, they might have jumped at it. So whereas pricing nonetheless sucks in comparison with 2019, it might be worse, lots worse. If you want proof of that, simply return and test our GPU pricing replace for May 2021 when the 3070 was nearer to $1,600(!).

Anyway, for these of you who at the moment are prepared to purchase, and are not prepared to carry out for subsequent gen merchandise to reach — as a result of let’s be trustworthy, pricing will nearly definitely be inflated and availability will probably be poor round launch day — what must you purchase now? For that, we have give you some recent knowledge and created a value per body evaluation.

The purpose at this time is to check all present technology AMD and Nvidia GPUs to ascertain FPS efficiency and utilizing that knowledge, create some value per body comparisons. In whole, there’s 17 present technology GPUs (or as much as 18 in the event you embrace the RX 6400, however we do not have a type of but) and we do not assume we’re lacking out on something of true worth there.

Because that is a ton of GPUs to cowl, we have solely examined them in 6 video games, however we have chosen the titles fastidiously based mostly on current 50 sport benchmarks. The titles embrace Red Dead Redemption 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Far Cry 6, Hitman 3, Dying Light 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Instead of going by means of the person sport knowledge, we have calculated the geomean for the six video games and will probably be utilizing that to report value per body. The purpose for utilizing medium high quality settings in nearly all of the video games was to permit the entry-level fashions to attain affordable ranges of efficiency, after which on the high-end we will have a look at the 4K knowledge.

We examined at 1080p 1440p and 4K resolutions utilizing the Ryzen 7 5800X3D with DDR4-3600 CL16 reminiscence and resizable BAR enabled. We used pricing info gathered on April 20, which implies that some worth motion is to be anticipated, although the majority of the info must be good.

With that mentioned, essentially the most worthwhile info right here is the body fee knowledge. Simply choose a efficiency tier you are enthusiastic about, take the present pricing you are and divide that by the body fee to get your value per body. Even in case you are not within the United States, as we normally make suggestions based mostly on pricing from that market, you may test pricing of the related merchandise in your area and utilizing the method above you may simply give you the choice that makes essentially the most sense for you.

Best Value at 1080p

The greatest worth 1080p GPU proper now could be the Radeon RX 6600, coming in at a value of $2.98 per body in our testing. That makes it 16% cheaper than the 6500 XT per body. What’s stunning about this knowledge is that the 6500 XT would should be priced at ~$170 simply match the price per body of the RX 6600, and it will be doing so with half the VRAM, half the PCIe bandwidth, no {hardware} encoding, and full absence of AV1 decoding.

In different phrases, even because the Radeon 6500 XT approaches its MSRP, it continues to be a horrible product that ought to have by no means bought for a greenback over $150 — actually, $100 or much less is way extra becoming for this class of product. It’s loopy to assume this GPU was promoting for $270+ simply months in the past and a few reviewers have been recommending it just because it was the most cost effective new GPU you possibly can purchase.

The Radeon RX 6600 additionally makes a mockery of the RTX 3050 because the GeForce GPU prices 26% extra per body. It is perhaps $10 cheaper, in line with our pricing knowledge, however as a result of it is 20% slower, it is not an amazing deal.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti stacks up higher regardless of costing extra per body. It’s $10 greater than the 6700 XT and is just ~5% slower, so you possibly can argue options reminiscent of DLSS assist to offset that margin. For evaluating extra higher-end graphics playing cards let’s transfer to 1440p.

Best Value at 1440p

The margin between the Radeon 6700 XT and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti stays about the identical at 1440p with the GeForce GPU costing roughly 7% extra per body. As we transfer past the mid-range although in direction of the higher-end fashions, AMD stacks up properly.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT is providing 5% extra efficiency than the 12GB RTX 3080, suggesting that the 6 sport pattern is barely extra favorable in direction of AMD when in comparison with our 50 sport testing, however we’re solely speaking a few 5% discrepancy, although do hold that in thoughts.

In phrases of total FPS efficiency, the 6800 XT, RTX 3080, 3080 12GB, 3080 Ti and even the 3090 are all fairly related. The 3080 Ti and 6800 XT are an excellent match up right here as they each averaged 157 fps in our testing, however the Radeon GPU is at the moment 24% cheaper within the US, making it extra interesting when it comes to value per body.

Best Value at 4K

As we have come to anticipate, Nvidia RTX Ampere GPUs stack up higher on the increased 4K decision and now the 6800 XT is on par with the 12GB 3080. With a wider vary of video games the RTX 3080 would pull forward by round a 5-7% margin, and we all know that as a result of we just lately examined them, however for the aim of this function it was not possible to check 17 graphics playing cards throughout 50 video games.

The knowledge for the mid-range to decrease finish GPU fashions was spot on with what we noticed throughout our 50 sport testing, so we suspect the decrease high quality settings is what’s favoring AMD’s high-end fashions a little bit extra on this situation.

Here we’re seeing half a dozen AMD and Nvidia GPUs in that 90-105 FPS vary, which incorporates the Radeon RX 6800 XT, 6900 XT, GeForce RTX 3080, 3080 12GB, 3080 Ti and 3090. The most inexpensive GeForce choice is the unique RTX 3080 for $1,000, whereas the 6800 XT is down at $920. That’s not an enormous saving, in order regular it’ll come all the way down to the significance you placed on additional options, specifically ray tracing efficiency and DLSS.

Where the GeForce vary turns into ridiculous is with the RTX 3090 sequence. The 3090 at $1,700 is dumb and the 3090 Ti at $2,000 is equally foolish. The high-end battle is fought out between the 6900 XT and RTX 3080 Ti, each provide the same degree of efficiency whereas the GeForce GPU prices 21% extra.

Back in February we in contrast the 6900 XT and 3080 12GB face to face in 50 video games and on the time the GeForce GPU was priced between $1600 – $1800, whereas the 6900 XT was nearer to $1500 – $1600. The 3080 12GB was between $100 to $200 dearer, which continues to be the case at this time. We assume ray tracing and DLSS permit the GeForce GPU to command a ten% premium, however 20% is getting a bit too steep for us.

Best Value at 1440p (Australia)

Although an enormous portion of our viewers is US based mostly, we thought it might be fascinating to take a look at pricing developments in just a few different areas, so let’s begin with Australia. The greatest worth choice right here is the 6600 XT, narrowly beating out the RX 6600, principally each Radeon 6600 sequence GPUs signify the same degree of worth. Then we now have the 6700 XT which simply beat the 6500 XT when it comes to worth, however you understand we take the 6500 XT’s value per body with a grain of salt given all the problems with that product. We’re additionally testing it with PCIe 4.0, that means it will stack up far had use used PCIe 3.0.

The greatest worth GeForce GPU in Australia is the RTX 3060 Ti or 3060. The 3060 Ti prices simply 2% greater than the 6700 XT per body, so relying on the options you are within the GeForce GPU might be a greater worth alternative.

For these after a high-end GPU in Australia, the Radeon 6800 XT seems to be the way in which to go at $1350 AUD because it’s 23% cheaper than the RTX 3080 Ti for a similar degree of efficiency. Even in the event you go off our 50 sport knowledge the place the 3080 12GB and 6800 XT delivered the identical degree of efficiency, the 6800 XT would quantity to $9 per body, making it 16% cheaper per body than the 3080 12GB. That’s a big premium for superior ray tracing efficiency and DLSS assist, however after all, it is as much as you to resolve if these options are value it.

Best Value at 1440p (Europe)

We even have some Euro pricing knowledge, and right here we see some vital adjustments in pricing developments. Using costs from Mindfactory, we see that the 6500 XT provides the bottom value per body at €210, however after all, the RX 6600 is considerably higher worth regardless of costing 86% extra.

Interestingly, the RTX 3060 Ti ranks very properly right here and is the perfect worth mid tier product, providing 6700 XT-like efficiency at a ten% low cost. The RTX 3060 can also be aggressive with the 6600 XT.

As we get to the high-end components, AMD does stack up properly. The 6800 XT might be had for €950, whereas the unique RTX 3080 prices €1140, making it a whopping 36% dearer. Then when in comparison with the RTX 3080 12GB, we see that the GeForce GPU is fetching nearly 50% extra per body and if we go off the 50 sport knowledge and say that these two GPUs are a match when it comes to efficiency, the 12GB 3080 nonetheless comes out costing 41% extra per body.

Based on Mindfactory’s pricing, with out query you’d buy the 6800 XT over any of the 3080 or 3090 sequence GPUs from Nvidia.

Closing Notes

That’s the place issues stand on the GPU entrance as of April 2022. Of course, pricing is extremely unstable in the intervening time and should have modified for some fashions by the point you learn this. Our recommendation is to work out which efficiency tier you are after after which evaluate present pricing for these merchandise.

The numbers right here function a tough information, however if you wish to get extremely correct knowledge for sure match ups then make sure that to take a look at 50 sport benchmarks. We’ve up to date the info for many GPUs at this level. The solely graphics card we strongly suggest you to keep away from is the Radeon RX 6500 XT — and probably the brand new 6400 XT which we’d have a look at quickly.

The Radeon RX 6600 is among the many greatest worth you will get proper now for a price range graphics card, we would not go together with something beneath it. On the opposite facet of the spectrum, the RTX 3090 and 3090 Ti must also be prevented, however not as a result of they’re dangerous merchandise, however as a result of their worth continues to be inflated and don’t provide nice worth. We hope this information is useful to these of you shopping for a brand new graphics card proper now.