The Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2022: Top GPUs for Every Budget

Buying a graphics card is one of the most important aspects of building or upgrading your personal computer. This is also the most common component of the PC that consumers regularly upgrade and spend their money on. Picking the right graphics card for playing games can be a challenging task for many people, as there are many different models on the market and most of them share similar characteristics. Even for those who have a clear understanding of technology, staying in touch with the latest trends in GPU industry can be an exhausting job, as new models of cards are being released each year.

Read more: How To Choose The Right Graphics Card – Ultimate Guide

Lucky for you, we’ve written this guide to help you decide which GPU will best suit your needs. You see, getting the right graphics card can turn your computer into a powerful gaming machine and entertainment center that no modern gaming console will be able to match. Although most users buy GPUs to achieve better gaming experience, they can also be used for other purposes, such as computer-aided designing (CAD), 3D modelling, and photo and video editing.

Choosing the right graphics card for your PC largely depends on your gaming preferences and budget. If you plan to game on 4K or QHD resolutions, then you should get NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU. If, however, gaming at 1080p resolution is all that matters to you, then certain budget models, such as the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER or the Radeon RX 5500 XT, will suffice. There is also the question whether you want to play your games with ray-tracing features enabled or not? If so, then you should get the latest NVIDIA RTX Series GPU, or AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series GPU.

To achieve the best gaming experience possible, you’ll also need a FreeSync or G-Sync compatible monitor. Special thing about these types of monitors is that they allow you to experience extremely smooth gameplay, without experiencing any image stuttering, tearing, or low input lag. Most adaptive sync monitors feature screen refresh rates of up to 144 Hz, so getting a card that is capable of delivering the same amount of FPS is mandatory. Here is a list of the best graphics cards you can get in 2021:

Maximum Performance: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Stream Processors: 10,496 | Boost clock: 1,695 MHz | TFLOPs: 35.68 | Memory: 24GB GDDR6X | Memory bandwidth: 936 GB/s | Suggested PSU: 750 W

When it comes to ultimate performance, nothing can beat the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. This monster of a graphics card features 28,300 million transistors, and 10,496 stream processors. It also has a whooping 24 GB of ultra-fast GDDR6X memory that communicates with the CPU via 384-bit memory bus. This GPU is so powerful that it can even deliver stable 60 FPS at 8K resolution in some PC games.

However, the RTX 3090 wasn’t originally designed for gaming in mind, but for content creation and productivity. Being a spiritual successor to the NVIDIA RTX Titan, the RTX 3090 is a perfect workstation GPU that can easily tackle heavy-duty tasks such as 3D modelling and video rendering. It is also worth saying that this card also supports NVLink interface, meaning it is the only RTX 30 Series card that can run in an SLI mode. Unfortunately, the GeForce RTX 3090 is a stupendously expensive card, so if you have a kidney to spare, don’t hesitate to buy it.

Best for 4K Gaming: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

Stream Processors: 10,240 | Boost clock: 1,665 MHz | TFLOPs: 34.10 | Memory: 12GB GDDR6X | Memory bandwidth: 912 GB/s | Suggested PSU: 750 W

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is only around 2% slower than the GeForce RTX 3090, but is also around $1,000 cheaper. You may ask yourself why is that the case? Well, the answer is simple. The RTX 3080 Ti was specifically designed for gaming in mind, whereas the RTX 3090 is more optimized for workloads such as AI computing and 3D rendering. As such, the RTX 3080 Ti is by far the best graphics card for 4K gaming on ultra settings, although it’s incredible performance hardly justifies its very high retail price.

Performance-wise, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a beast of graphics card. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, has plenty of stream processors and ray-tracing cores, and its 4K gaming performance is truly amazing. The card is a whooping 36% faster than the previous-gen GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and is 6% faster than AMD’s current flagship GPU, the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Featuring support for the latest version of the DLSS tech, great thermal output, and major architectural improvements that are able to deliver outstanding gaming performance, the RTX 3080 Ti is the best high-performance 4K gaming GPU around, provided that you are actually able to buy one.

Best for 1440p Gaming: AMD Radeon RX 6800

Stream Processors: 3,840 | Boost clock: 2,105 MHz | TFLOPs: 16.17 | Memory: 16GB GDDR6 | Memory bandwidth: 512 GB/s | Suggested PSU: 600 W

Despite the fact that NVIDIA historically always offered better solutions for high-end gaming, in 2021 AMD succeeded in making a great high-end GPU, and thus made the competition between the two old rivals more fiercer than ever. The Radeon RX 6800 represents the latest addition to the next-gen AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series of GPUs. The card can boast with a whooping 16 GB of VRAM, extremely high core clocks, improved power consumption, and support for ray-tracing.

Although this card is quite capable for 4K gaming, it really shines in 1440p gaming. In most cases, the Radeon RX 6800 is either on par, or slightly faster than the new GeForce RTX 3070. It is also able to deliver satisfactory ray-tracing performance that is on par with the NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 2080. These are some impressive results, especially when given the fact that the RX 6800 belongs to the first generation of AMD GPUs that feature full ray-tracing support. Overall, this is a fine GPU, especially for 1440p gaming, and with further driver updates we expect it to perform even better in the future.

Best for 1080p Gaming: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

Stream Processors: 2,048 | Boost clock: 2,589 MHz | TFLOPs: 10,60 | Memory: 8GB GDDR6 | Memory bandwidth: 256 GB/s | Suggested PSU: 450 W

Although quite often overlooked, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is a fantastic graphics card for 1080p gaming. With a TDP of only 160 W, this Navi 23 GPU is able to deliver fantastic gaming performance, and it also features support for raytraced rendering, which is a big plus. Performance-wise, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is around 11% faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 and is only 3% slower than the GeForce RTX 2080, which was NVIDIA’s flagship GPU in 2018.

Despite the fact that it supports raytracing, the Radeon RX 6600 XT falls short of expectations in this department, as it’s significantly slower than the RTX 3060, or even the RTX 2060, when it runs games with raytracing enabled.

Fortunately, the card can boast with great raw shading performance, and it also supports AMD’s FSR upscaling technology, which allows it run games at lower display resolution and with higher framerates without any significant loss in image fidelity. Overall, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is a great graphics card for 1080p gaming, especially if you don’t care too much for playing games with raytracing enabled.

Conclusion

Choosing the right graphics card for your next or existing PC build will largely depend on your preferences, budget, and games you would like to play. There are many different custom variants of the same GPU that come with some unique features, so this is also something worth considering before making a final purchase. Overall, here a few things to bear in mind:

• Budget – if you are on a budget, and you are unable to buy new tech often, you should focus on getting the best value GPU, instead of going for the cheapest one you can find. If budget isn’t an issue, then we recommend going for the latest generation of GPUs, as they feature the most advanced tech, and are more future-proof.
• Resolution – the higher the resolution you will game on, the more powerful GPU you’ll need. Right now, most gamers tend to play games at 1440p and 1080p resolutions, while 4K gaming is still reserved for enthusiasts.
• Video Memory – cards with 4 GB of VRAM are the bare minimum right now. Models with 6 GB are better, while cards with 8 GB or more are strongly recommended.
• Refresh Rate – most conventional monitors feature 60 Hz refresh rates, while gaming monitors support refresh rates of up to 240 Hz. Having a high refresh rate monitor will enable you to avoid input lag and screen tearing, so we recommend getting a capable graphics card in order to deliver required FPS to match the refresh rate of a such monitor.
• Cooling and Noise – more expensive graphics cards feature better cooling solutions that also ensure quiet working operation. If you plan to overclock your graphics card, then having a GPU with good heatsink and fast-spinning fans is a must.
• Ray-tracing – most of the latest graphics cards feature support for ray-tracing tech which enables you to enhance the visuals. Some cards still don’t offer support for this kind of technology, but cost significantly less.

Read more

• GeForce RTX 3060 vs. Radeon RX 6600 XT: Which one should you buy?
• AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: Which Flagship GPU is Better?
• GTX 1650 SUPER vs. GTX 1060 6GB: Which one should you get?