Best Graphics Card 2024: Highest rated GPUs for every build and budget

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the best graphics card we’ve reviewed, striking a sweet balance between price and performance for those who want to play in 4K. 

Our benchmark results with this card were highly impressive. With the highest graphics preset setting and resolution cranked up to 4K, the RX 7900 XT was able to hit 99fps in Horizon Zero Dawn, 90fps in Borderlands 3 and 56fps in CyberPunk 2077. What’s more, the card supports ray tracing for high fidelity visuals, and the use of FSR 2 provides a welcome boost to performance. 

Nvidia clearly still has the edge when it comes to AI performance boosting however, with DLSS 3.5 able to provide a far greater uplift, while also seeing improvements made to the ray tracing quality. But since such technology is limited to a modest selection of games, we still feel that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the more appealing option for the vast majority of gamers. 

If you want an even better 4K performance, then it’s worth checking out the slightly more expensive AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX too, which also saw a glowing review. Otherwise, we feel that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT offers up the best balance of price and power. 

Reviewer: Gemma Ryles
Full Review: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT review

Halfway through a graphics card cycle, Nvidia has a habit of launching the Super series, which offer boosted specs on existing cards to eke out every single drop of performance. This approach can be hit and miss, but the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super has been a resounding success. 

At a very reasonable price, the Nvidia RTX 4070 Super is capable of an entry-level 4K performance, achieving 84fps on Horizon Zero Dawn and 62fps on Borderlands 3. Activating ray tracing for CyberPunk 2077 does highlight the card’s limitations though, mustering just 16fps on average. That said, making use of the excellent DLSS technology does boost the performance to make ray tracing possible at such high resolutions. 

While 4K is absolutely possible here, the RTX 4070 Super truly shines at 1440p resolutions, as it frequently surpassed the 100fps mark in our tests for a variety of games. What’s more, the card is impressively power efficient, with a similar power draw to the less powerful RTX 4070 card of which it’s based on. 

For those happy to spend a little bit more for extra power, then the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super is worth checking out. Nevertheless, we feel that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super remains the best value graphics card you can currently buy.

Reviewer: Zak Storey
Full Review: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super review

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 was the very first graphics card to launch from the new RTX 4000 Series, and it’s also the most powerful GPU we’ve ever tested.

In the vast majority of games we tested, it was capable of hitting over 100fps at a 4K resolution. It’s even more impressive for eSports games such as Overwatch 2, as it nearly reached a 500fps performance. You can’t get these kinds of speeds anywhere else.

We also found that the DLSS 3 software helps to boost frame rates even further for compatible games, allowing for a smoother performance in Cyberpunk 2077 when set to a 4K resolution with ray tracing activated. And while the RTX 4090 is arguably overkill for most gamers, it’s a fantastic option for content creators that need to render 3D models at a lightning pace.

The RTX 4090 won’t be for everyone since it costs an absolute fortune and also has a high power consumption to boot. But if you’re craving the fastest performance possible from a graphics card, then this is your very best option.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 review

If you’re not that bothered about 4K or have a 1440p monitor instead, then the Nvidia RTX 3070 is among the best graphics cards we’d recommend to gamers. The card may be a generation behind the latest graphics cards, but it still provides an impressive performance for QHD gaming.

During testing, we could not reliably get demanding games (like CyberPunk 2077) running in 4K with ray tracing on and the graphics settings maxed. But with ray tracing off, the card generally performed excellently and proved fantastic value for money. Elden Ring ran smoothly in 1080p, 1440p and 4K with zero issue, as did Cyberpunk 2077 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.

Putting the RTX 3070 head to head with the slightly cheaper AMD RX 6700XT, the Nvidia card was constantly 10fps ahead in our in-game benchmark tests. This adds up to make it our recommended card for a 1440p resolution, and anyone who doesn’t care about ray tracing in 4K.

This card is admittedly a generation old now, but it’s still plenty powerful enough for 1440p gaming, and offers better value than the likes of the newer Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

Reviewer: Alastair Stevenson 
Full review: Nvidia RTX 3070 review

If you still use an 1080p gaming monitor, then most of the RTX 4000 cards are overkill options based on our experience, or simply don’t offer great value. Instead, we recommend opting for last generation’s RTX 3060 Ti. This is the cheapest card we’ve benchmarked to offer reliable post-60fps performance with ray tracing on in 1080p.

The graphics card ran every game in our tests, even with ray tracing activated and their graphics settings maxed out. At 1080p, Control zoomed along at 84fps and Borderlands 3 never dipped below 60fps. As a result, we’d say this is the card to get if you care about ray tracing at a 1080p resolution.

Nvidia has since launched the RTX 4060 Ti graphics card, which packs upgraded ray tracing and DLSS performance. However, its raw performance is almost identical to the more affordable RTX 3060 Ti card, making the latter a better value proposition.

Reviewer: Alastair Stevenson
Full review: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti review

The AMD RX 6600 XT is our current top recommended card for those on a strict budget. It’s the cheapest option in AMD’s previous generation and is built on the same RDNA 2 architecture as its more expensive siblings.

During our tests, we found the card can’t match the performance of Nvidia’s more expensive RTX 3060 Ti, especially when it comes to ray tracing. But for the price, it’s still a very capable card for 1080p gaming.

Modern games, including Doom Eternal, Destiny 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 all ran over 60fps in our 1080p benchmarks, while FSR compatible titles (like Godfall) can see the performance boosted even further due to some upscaling smarts. 

If you don’t care about sky-high frame rates or ray tracing when playing games in 1080p, the budget-friendly price makes the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT a solid choice.