When it involves graphics playing cards, we go in-depth. Year out and in we check dozens of GPUs from Nvidia and AMD (hopefully quickly from Intel, too) to see which of them are value your cash, and that are useless on arrival.
Needless to be mentioned, it isn’t been a standard marketplace for GPUs for almost two years, however the excellent news is that pricing has been going again to regular as of late. To guarantee our info is at all times related, we proceed to judge graphics playing cards as new video games, drivers, and card-specific options are launched.
To make the method of selecting a brand new graphics card a bit simpler, TechSpot’s Best GPUs information is meant to reply one easy query: Given a selected finances, which is the graphics card you can purchase? Loads has modified since our final instalment, particularly on pricing, however there are a couple of new fashions as properly. So right here we go.
Entry-level: Spend as Little as Possible
Radeon RX 6400 or GeForce GTX 1650 Super (used)
In months prior, we had tentatively really useful the Radeon RX 6500 XT for this class… by not likely recommending it. We recognized this was the most cost effective new graphics card you should purchase, however most likely should not. Looking to the second hand market will lead to much better choices for a similar value such because the Radeon RX 570, 5500 XT or GeForce GTX 1650 Super.
As of writing, the 6500 XT nonetheless retails for ~$175, an terrible value given the efficiency and lack of options. The typical promoting value of a used GTX 1650 Super is $150, in order that’s nonetheless the strategy we advocate you are taking to this section.
But if it’s important to purchase new, the RX 6400 is a bit cheaper and whereas it is nonetheless fairly terrible and is slower than the 6500 XT (whereas sharing virtually all of its drawbacks), there are some redeeming qualities. First of all, the 6400 could be very energy environment friendly and as such there are a selection of single-slot / low profile fashions that do not require exterior energy. Therefore you may throw them in something with a PCIe slot, making them very versatile.
Bottom line, for anybody after an LP single-slot graphics card, the RX 6400 is a godsend. For everybody else although, the second hand market is your greatest guess.
The Ideal Entry Point
AMD Radeon RX 6600
You’re not getting a lot for $175 with the 6500 XT as we simply established, so what do you must spend as a way to actually get pleasure from at the moment’s video games at respectable high quality settings, whereas additionally having sufficient headroom to be helpful for years to come back?
For that, the Radeon RX 6600 is presently the go-to choice with a number of fashions down at $280, which is beneath the $330 MSRP.
There’s no viable different from Nvidia at this value level both. Embarrassingly, the RTX 3050 prices extra at $330 but we discovered the Radeon to be almost 30% sooner in a latest 51 recreation benchmark.
While we weren’t thrilled with the Radeon 6600 upon launch, within the present promote it has formed as much as be a strong cope with good availability. It’s additionally worlds higher than the 6500 XT given it helps greater than two show outputs, twice the PCIe bandwidth, twice the VRAM capability, {hardware} encoding and AV1 decoding. Basically, it is a correct graphics card.
It additionally wreaks the RTX 3050 for rasterization efficiency, so until the GeForce GPU is at the very least 20% cheaper than the RX 6600, there is no level shopping for it.
I Want Moar Performance
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or Radeon RX 6700 XT
If you are hell bent on shopping for an Ampere or RDNA2 graphics card and need extra efficiency than what the wonderful worth the Radeon 6600 presents, what’s your best choice? In our opinion, there are two viable selections: Nvidia’s RTX 3060 Ti and AMD’s Radeon 6700 XT.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT was fairly an excellent product at its unique MSRP, which used to offer the RTX 3070 a run for its cash. Today it may be had discovered slightly below that previous MSRP at $450.
The Radeon 6700 XT delivers ~40% extra efficiency than the 6600, helps the complete PCIe x16 bandwidth, and will increase the VRAM capability to 12GB. You’re successfully paying a 60% value premium for round 40% extra efficiency, which is why we advocate to go together with the RX 6600 should you can, particularly with next-gen playing cards anticipated later this 12 months.
Our second alternative, for about the identical value and really comparable efficiency, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is available throughout retailers beginning at $470. The solely benefit the Radeon RX 6700 XT has over the RTX 3060 Ti is the bigger VRAM buffer, leaping from 8GB to 12GB. This is a bonus that can serve the 6700 XT sooner or later, however proper now there are few situations the place VRAM turns into related when it comes to uncooked efficiency output. The RTX 3060 Ti, however, helps DLSS and higher ray tracing efficiency, which can be a key benefit relying on the video games you play.
Going past these two, you will be paying considerably extra for an RTX 3070 or 3070 Ti.
Best Value High-end Graphics Card
GeForce RTX 3080 12GB or Radeon 6900 XT
It’s a tricky resolution to spend huge bucks on a brand new high-end GPU. For months we have been recommending patrons keep away from high-end GPUs and maintain out as we have witnessed GPU pricing proceed to fall for a number of months now. For instance, on May the bottom value for the RTX 3080 Ti was $1,200, at the moment it is right down to $930. That means the 3080 Ti has dropped by 23% within the final 3 months, and we have noticed one thing comparable for all high-end GeForce GPUs. We’ve additionally seen high-end Radeon GPUs fall in value, the 6900 XT by simply over 10% and the 6800 XT by 14%.
We anticipate pricing to fall even additional, possibly not massively, however mix that with the truth that we’re anticipating new GeForce RTX 40 and Radeon 7000 collection GPUs to land later this 12 months.
Nvidia GPU Pricing Trends (eBay Average Sale Price)
We imagine high-end subsequent gen GPUs can be right here earlier than 12 months’s finish, providing vital efficiency positive aspects and because of this, that can push down pricing of present stock even additional. Spending $1,300 on an RTX 3090 is a tricky promote even when it is properly beneath MSRP. The Radeon RX 6900 XT is not that tempting at $850 both, although it does supply probably the most worth of the present era high-end choices.
The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB can be an excellent choice as surprisingly it is a bit cheaper than the unique 10GB mannequin. For about $800, it is even cheaper than the 6900 XT whereas providing an identical stage of efficiency.
Closing Notes
Whether you can purchase or not proper now will finally rely in your distinctive scenario. What we do know is that the Radeon RX 6600 is unlikely to get less expensive over the following few months, and it is already reasonably priced for what it presents. It’s a strong 1440p graphics card that may play all the newest video games utilizing modest high quality settings.
If you might be set on shopping for now to attend for next-gen playing cards, you stand to lose not more than ~$100 on the mid-range Radeon, as proper now they’re promoting second hand for at most $50 beneath retail on eBay. Buy high-end although and you would simply lose $200+ earlier than 12 months’s finish, making it a costlier quick time period funding. In that sense, the RTX 3080 12GB and 6900 XT are extra wise choices that ought to see much less of a value drop from this level ahead.
Speaking of next-gen GPUs, there’s virtually no likelihood AMD RDNA3 and Nvidia RTX 40 Lovelace will not promote out virtually immediately. This has been the norm for many years now. What can be attention-grabbing is what demand appears to be like like two or three months after launch and we suspect those that train a bit constraint will find yourself with a greater deal, somewhat than lacking out fully, which is what occurred for the present era.
