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Reviews ethics statement
Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I’ve been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I’m currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I’ve also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
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Sq. Feet of Lab Space $100 at Amazon
Upgrade from an integrated GPU ($100 or less)
Nvidia GeForce GT 1030
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$296 at Amazon
Inexpensive option for entry gaming and photo editing ($100-$300)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050
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$350 at Amazon
Top choice for 1080p and midrange photo editing ($300-$500)
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
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$330 at Amazon
Most powerful option for low-power upgrades ($350-$600)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
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$649 at Amazon
Best option for good 1440p, top quality 1080p, entry video editing ($500-$700)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
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$780 at Newegg
Entry 4K and good 1440p gaming, compute-intensive pro graphics ($700-$900)
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
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$830 at Amazon
Good 4K gaming, pro video editing, 3D graphics ($700-$900)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
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$2,500 at Newegg
Fastest overall ($1,600 or more)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
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Most people use graphics cards that are several years old, which is a shame because there have been some big leaps in tech over the last couple of years. Whether you’re a PC gamer or streamer, a creator, or you just want a better everyday Windows experience, even a small upgrade can make your system feel like new.
Optimization technologies that help boost frame rates like Nvidia’s DLSS, AMD’s FidelityFX and Intel’s XeSS tend to only run on the current or sometimes last generation of cards — those that use Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace, AMD’s RDNA 3 or Intel’s Xe architectures. And prettifying technologies like ray tracing can run substantially better on recent GPUs. Plus, the newer cards have much better video encoding chops for smoother streaming.
While you can make initial choices based on specs like the manufacturer, GPU chip, amount and type of video memory, clock speeds, power requirements and other factors, they’re imperfect predictors of how any particular model will perform in your games or creative applications. So we’ve put together some suggestions based on our experience testing and using a big crop of GPUs.
In some cases, the card we tested was produced by the GPU company — Nvidia’s Founders Edition models, AMD’s reference models and Intel’s Limited Edition — but in those cases we’ve still made recommendations of third-party cards from add-in board companies like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and Zotac. Frequently, the “editions” go out of stock and never come back, while the AIB models can hang around for years.
It can’t be stressed enough that unlike a lot of products you shop for, GPUs require research based on your particular configuration because there can be real consequences for a bad fit, like system crashes and fried motherboards. And there are some blanket caveats for each chipset: Nvidia’s newest GPUs require an adapter to work with most power supplies (they’re usually bundled), AMD cards have frequent reports of high-pitched whining and Intel’s still working out the kinks with its first generation of discrete GPUs.
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If you’ve got an old desktop with integrated graphics that don’t support the current versions of graphics programming interfaces such as DirectX 12 or Vulkan, or you have a game that won’t run unless it detects dedicated graphics memory (these have 2GB), or if you just want to make your Windows experience feel a little more snappy or smooth, a GT 1030-based card can help. It’s designed with lower power requirements than most other discrete GPUs, so it can fit in systems with small power supplies and compact designs. Unlike most gaming graphics cards, 1030-based cards can be low-profile and take up just a single slot for connectivity, and are quieter because they only require a single fan.
Don’t expect to game with the GeForce GT at 1080p — 720p at best, unless a game is very lightweight. But Fortnite, CS:GO, League of Legends and other popular multiplayer games generally fall under the “can play on a potato” umbrella, so casual players don’t need to worry as much if they’re your go-tos. In some cases, games may simply go from unplayable to a little less unplayable. If you do want to play games, though, spring for versions with DDR5 memory, not DDR4; it can make a noticeable difference. That’s why you’ll see some price variations. For a simple speedup, the cheapest decent one I’ve seen was $100, though prices can fluctuate.
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For gaming, the RTX 3050 is a fine gets-you-in-the-door GPU, providing good 720p and decent 1080p performance. Since much basic photo editing still isn’t very GPU-intensive, a fast, high-core-count CPU still gives you a lot more performance value for the money than a higher-powered graphics card. But the GPU does matter for the experience and smooth display rendering, but for smallish images and single-screen editing you shouldn’t have any issues. The GPU is being used increasingly to accelerate AI-based features, like automagic object selection, so it’s worth getting a more recent card — especially since many of the older GTX models have left the “older so it’s cheaper” phase and entered that “going out of stock so let’s jack up the prices because scarcity” phase.
For a little less, at $250 there’s also the better-performing Intel Arc A750. Despite Intel’s frequent updates to the drivers, though, I’m hesitant to make a blanket recommendation; Intel’s new to the discrete GPU market, and its cards seem to be experiencing first-generation growing pains. Also, you really want resizable BAR support on your system and it has higher power requirements than a typical entry-level card, which means it’s not necessarily suited to older or entry-level PC upgrades. But if you’re feeling adventurous, at least there aren’t a raft of third-party options to choose from — just ASRock and Intel’s own Limited Edition model.
The RTX 3050 card I tested was an EVGA model, and EVGA has since left the GPU biz.
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This one’s a bit difficult to call at the moment, since the current generation of technologies from AMD and Nvidia for this class of card hasn’t been announced yet — though I think both are imminent. You can get last-gen cards that will perform perfectly well for these uses, and possibly older, but I hate making those recommendations without knowing what the prices will be on the newer cards, especially since the newer Nvidia Ada and AMD RDNA 3 architectures add quite a bit over their predecessors.
Still the AMD RX 6700 XT is a good meat-and-potatoes card if you need to buy something now, pretty much outperforming the rest in its price class. The AMD cards tend to get complaints about audible whining, and I admit I hear it myself periodically, so if that’s a potential issue then the more expensive RTX 3060 Ti is probably a good bet as well.
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A lot of old or low-end gaming PCs, as well as compact systems, can’t handle the size or power requirements of many of the newer GPUs. The RTX 3060 is the highest-end GPU that can fit usually into dual-slot systems which only have room for short (one- or two-fan) cards and with power supplies of 500 w or less. That doesn’t necessarily account for overclocking, so if you’re planning on pushing it to the limit, make sure the card you get — when overclocked — combined with your CPU’s power draw won’t exceed the cooling or power limits of your PC.
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The RTX 4070 is one of the most flexible performers on the market, with gaming performance that spans 1080p through entry 4K — though for decent 4K performance you (and your games) need to take advantage of Nvidia’s DLSS 3 optimization technology. DLSS 3 performs much better than the previous generation, and support for it is one of the things that makes the RTX 40- series notably better than its predecessor.
While it’s not cheap, the price is also not at the top of the range for its competitive class either.
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The RX 7900 XT isn’t always faster than competitor RTX 4070 Ti, but it has more memory for the same money (20GB vs. 12GB), which gives it a leg up for games and applications that can take advantage of it. AMD’s RX 7000 series of GPUs also have DisplayPort 2.1 connections, while Nvidia’s are still using DP 1.4. While there aren’t a lot of DP 2.x monitors yet, the standard supports higher refresh rates at 4K than earlier specifications.
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The RTX 4070 Ti isn’t excessively more expensive than the 4070 and it provides noticeably better performance. But it’s a lot bigger and draws a lot more power as well — unsurprising, since it began life as a stripped-down RTX 4080 — which makes it a little less flexible than the RTX 4070 as a card that I’d consider a general recommendation. But it’s also a lot smaller, cheaper and less power hungry than the RTX 4080 and 4090. That combination makes it my favorite overall, even though the 4070 is my top recommendation.
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For just about everything, the RTX 4090 is the fastest consumer GPU on the market, with a big enough 24GB frame buffer to handle high-res games and video editing as well as streaming.
The RTX 4080 is a cheaper alternative in the $1,200-$1,600 range, though it’s roughly the second fastest currently on the market and it’s tempting to drop to the much less expensive 4070 Ti. And the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a better choice than the 4080 for compute-intensive pro graphics and can outpace the RTX 4080 on some games, plus it supports higher-bandwidth DisplayPort 2.1 — though it still lags a lot of Nvidia cards for ray tracing. It can be found for as low as $1,000, though, which may be worth the tradeoff.
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If you’re sensitive to screen artifacts caused by a disconnect between the rate at which your monitor updates and the frame rate at which you’re playing, or you’re interested in proprietary technologies like Nvidia’s Latency Analyzer to help improve your gameplay by reducing lag, then you should definitely at least look into what each of them offers. Otherwise, get the appropriate GPU for your needs and work with what you get.
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Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (1440p)
A750 LE 80RTX 3060 82RTX 4070 163RTX 3080 Ti 167RX 7900 XT 182RTX 4070 Ti 195RX 7900 XTX 209RTX 4080 220RTX 4090 235
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (4K)
RTX 4070 84RTX 3080 Ti 97RX 7900 XT 99RTX 4070 Ti 103RX 7900 XTX 125RTX 4080 134RTX 4090 181
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Guardians of the Galaxy (1440p at maximum quality with ray tracing)
RTX 3060 45A750 LE 69RX 7900 XT 83RTX 4070 89RX 7900 XTX 93RTX 3080 Ti 102RTX 4070 Ti 109RTX 4080 136
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
3DMark Time Spy
RTX 3060 8,628A750 LE 13,018RTX 4070 18,013RX 7900 XTX 19,760RTX 4070 Ti 22,731RX 7900 XT 24,814RTX 4080 28,275RX 7900 XTX 29,413RTX 4090 35,467
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
RTX 3060 5,269A750 LE 6,984RTX 4070 10,413RTX 3080 Ti 12,635RTX 4070 Ti 13,707RX 7900 XT 16,879RTX 4080 17,619RX 7900 XTX 19,760RTX 4090 24,407
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate)
RTX 3060 2,157A750 LE 2,366RTX 4070 4,479RX 7900 XT 4,534RTX 4070 Ti 5,429RX 7900 XTX 5,891RTX 4080 7,168RTX 4090 9,813
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
3DMark DXR (DirectX ray tracing)
RTX 3060 19.47A750 LE 29.57RX 7900 XT 42.06RX 7900 XTX 49.16RTX 4070 51.82RTX 3080 Ti 54.96RTX 4070 Ti 67.95RTX 4080 85.01RTX 4090 136.05
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Procyon Video
A750 LE 7,242RTX 3060 7,342RX 7900 XT 8,259RTX 4070 8,383RTX 4070 Ti 8,479RX 7900 XTX 8,494RTX 3080 Ti 8,792RTX 4080 9,250RTX 4090 9,678
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
SpecViewPerf 2020 SolidWorks (4K)
A750 LE 50.64RTX 4070 154.28RX 7900 XT 165.46RX 7900 XTX 184.8RTX 4070 Ti 189.64RTX 3080 Ti 191.52RTX 4080 233.84RTX 4090 304.66
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Configurations
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Custom PC Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (22H2); 3.2GHz Intel Core i9-12900K; 32GB DDR5-4800; 2x Corsair MP600 Pro SSD; Corsair HX1200 80 Plus Platinum PSU, MSI MPG Z690 Force Wi-Fi motherboard, Corsair 4000D Airflow midtower case