Jump To:

Best graphics cards in 2026: These are the GPUs worth spending money in right now

Buying Guides
By Contributions by ,
last updated

I've made a career out of prodding graphics cards and this has been the toughest set of recommendations I can remember.

Jump To:

Urgh. Graphics cards. Can't game without 'em, can't actually afford to buy them. It's tough right now because the best graphics card is, arguably, the one you can afford. The memory crisis has really done a number on this key component and our recommendations, too.

You might be swayed to upgrade by the VRAM debate, but our own testing shows that gaming with an 8 GB GPU is absolutely fine in most cases. To be clear, we prefer absolutely prefer more VRAM if possible, but cards with 16 GB of VRAM are preposterously expensive right now. Second-hand RTX 40-series or RX 7000-series cards are an option; providing you can find one.

I've tested pretty much every new graphics card that's been released in the past 10 years, and I believe that makes me well placed to talk you through what I think today's best graphics card is. That would be the Radeon RX 9070. But before we get to all the details, let me make it abundantly clear that the prices we're seeing today are nothing short of absurd. From the top to the bottom, they are inflated beyond belief. But if you need a card, you need a card; so here's what we recommend.

Our recommended GPU right now - YouTube Our recommended GPU right now - YouTube
Watch On
Curated by...
Dave James - Human
Curated by...
Dave James

Dave first started as a PC hardware journalist, after years of freelance games journalism, way back in 2005 when he started with PC Format magazine. In that role, and many others since, he's tested pretty much every single graphics card generation and architecture released in the intervening years. He's the person best placed around PC Gamer to tell you which graphics card is the best right now, because he's used them all.

Recent updates

November 5, 2026: Everything hurts and I've had to make some tough decisions with our latest graphics card recommendations.

October 2, 2026: I've dropped in the latest best GPU pricing for the current generation, and it does not look pretty out there, folks 😢

August 21, 2026: I've added in a new review search box, so you can look back through the 100+ graphics card reviews my team and I have done over the years on PC Gamer. I have also added in the latest pricing information after the recent surge.

GPU price tracking

🕹️ RTX 5090: Unavailable from reputable sellers
🕹️ RTX 5080: $2,350 @ Walmart
🕹️ RTX 5070 Ti: $1,250 @ Best Buy
🕹️ RTX 5070: $890 @ Walmart
🕹️ RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB: $766 @ Best Buy
🕹️ RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB: $499 @ Walmart
🕹️ RTX 5060: $439 @ Walmart
🕹️ RTX 5050: $399 @ Walmart

🕹️ RX 9070 XT: $920 @ Amazon
🕹️ RX 9070: $747 @ Best Buy
🕹️ RX 9070 GRE: $650 @ Best Buy
🕹️ RX 9060 XT 16 GB: $650 @ Best Buy
🕹️ RX 9060 XT 8 GB: $460 @ Best Buy

🕹️ Arc B580: $350 @ Newegg
🕹️ Arc B570: $290 @ Newegg

Lowest price per GPU

We've been measuring the lowest available price of each current-gen GPU since August 14, 2025.

Lowest pricing (Price, $)
Week
Lowest pricing Data
Timestamp (Week)AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (Price, $)AMD RX 9060 XT 16 GB (Price, $)AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB (Price, $)AMD RX 9070 (Price, $)AMD RX 9070 XT (Price, $)Intel Arc B570 (Price, $)Intel Arc B580 (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5050 (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5060 (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5070 (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti (Price, $)Nvidia RTX 5080 (Price, $)
1N/A3702806007002302602503004303685507801100
2N/A3702706007002302602503004303405507501099
3N/A3702805507002302502502914303705247501000
4N/A3702805506952302502502964303455467501000
5N/A3502706006702302502503004303404817491000
6N/A350270600670230250240289379340499749929
7N/A350270550650230250240299430350520750999
8N/A350270550650200250250299430342500749980
9N/A350270560650220250250299430323500750999
10N/A360270550600210250250299430340480730989
11N/A340250550600200250230280400320489699990
12N/A350275530600200250220279400320500730989
13N/A3502805306002002502202794203425277501000
14N/A3702805306002022502202794203135407501000
15N/A3802885306002022402002794303504997491000
16N/A3802885306202022402002704303504997501100
17N/A3903105806602002502352604303305497501230
18N/A3903105807002002502402904503305408291268
19N/A4003105807202002602402994503305498991380
20N/A44031060072020029024029952033062010001350
21N/A4403505907302502902602995203516209501365
22N/A4003466307302503002602995203606209501365
23N/A4403466307302503002603405203606309501290
24N/A4403466207302503002603405203606259501290
25N/A4403466107302503002603495503606309501250
26N/A4403406107302503002903495503606049501260
27N/A4403406307302503002903495703606409501290
28N/A4403466207202502902903495153906309001250
29N/A4493506207102502902903495003906369901290
30N/A4403506207102602902903305003906309901290
31N/A4403506206702602902903305003805999901290
32N/A4303606207102602902903105153805999901290
33N/A4303606007102602902903494904005999801290
34N/A4403606207102602902903495503805999801270
35N/A4303606007002603042903505503805999001290
365504403606007002603002903405503705999801250
375504403506007002503042903405703705999801250
385504403506007002503042903405703705999801250
395004003606007002502982903405703305999201250
405004303606007002602912903405653305999551250
415004303606007002502902903395603305609001250
425504503606356902602902903505703805509501250
4350047037065072026031029935965042075510301290
44500470400650720260310299N/A78042076310881479
4553046036063073026031029935977338980011501550
4653047040065074026031029935957038975911501550
4752047040965074026031029935957038972511501450
48500470430650760260330N/A35978038977911501450
4957050045066776026033031038078048877911501653
5055052040070080029033031043978947077911501654
51570520400700830290330400N/A78947078912001800

1. Best overall graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070

1. AMD Radeon RX 9070

The best graphics card of 2026

Specifications

Shaders: 3584
Boost clock: 2520 MHz
TFLOPs: 36.12
Memory: 16 GB GDDR6
Memory clock: 20 GT/s
Memory bandwidth: 640 GB/s
TGP: 220 W
MSRP: $549 | £529

Reasons to buy

+
Not far off the performance of the XT version
+
Comfortably beats RTX 5070
+
Especially when overclocked
+
Healthy VRAM capacity

Reasons to avoid

-
Prices are wild right now

RX 9070 - 1440p gaming performance

Comparative testing of the RX 9070, RX 9070 XT, RTX 5070, and RTX 5070 Ti

Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
RX 9070
73
64
RX 9070 XT
82
73
RTX 5070
68
60
RTX 5070 Ti
79
69
0255075100
Black Myth Wukong (1440p High) Data
ProductValue
RX 9070 73 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS
RX 9070 XT 82 Avg FPS, 73 1% Low FPS
RTX 5070 68 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS
RTX 5070 Ti 79 Avg FPS, 69 1% Low FPS
Our benchmarking shows how close the RX 9070 gets to its bigger sibling, the RX 9070 XT, and with a little overclocking it can basically match it.
Buy if...

✅ You want a good 1440p GPU, and a great 1080p one: The RX 9070 is now a fantastic all-round graphics card. It can nail 1440p and 1080p resolutions at top settings, and can call on FSR and AMD's frame generation feature to give you a boost if you need it.

✅ You're happy to undervolt/overclock: With some easy tweaks in the AMD drivers you can boost the performance of the GPU to within a couple of percentage points of the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 Ti.

Don't buy if...

❌ You can find an RX 9070 XT for anything close to the same price: While you can overclock the non-XT card to get within 2% of the performance, prices being equal the XT card is a no-brainer.

The bottom line

🪛 The Radeon RX 9070 is an excellent graphics card if you're looking for high 1440p performance without the almost $1,000 price points of the competing Nvidia cards. With the market as it is, the AMD card is the best GPU for most PC gamers.

The RX 9070 is a rather agonising pick as the best graphics card around right now. This second-tier RDNA 4 GPU is not the most powerful GPU you can buy. Nor is it anywhere near MSRP right now—but that's true of any card right now. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 does, however, still earn my recommendation as an all-round excellent performer.

It's the one that I would suggest to my PC gaming friends if they come looking for a recommendation. The RX 9070 offers close to the performance of AMD's most powerful RDNA 4 GPU, packs in 16 GB of GDDR6, can be easily overclocked without demanding much more cooling or power, and handily outperforms Nvidia's RTX 5070.

I was relatively cool on the card in my initial review of the GPU, mainly because our first taste of it was a card that XFX hiked the price of out the gate, which made it more than a reference RX 9070 XT. As things have evened out, there are reliably cheaper RX 9070 cards around.

Yet I still haven't come to that conclusion lightly. My first thought was going to be recommending the cheaper RX 9060 XT, because it performs well, and pretty much offers performance parity with the more expensive Nvidia option. But it doesn't feel like a great recommendation for the best graphics card, and moreover the 16 GB version now costs as much as the RX 9070 GRE.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT, though, is a fantastic card and were it not for the ludicrous over-pricing of AMD's finest it would absolutely be my top pick. With an MSRP of $599 it would be an easy choice for its impressive performance out of the box, stunning under-volting frame rate bumps, and the excellent filip of the new FSR4 upscaler. But the cheapest you can get it for these days is veering on four-digits, with the RX 9070 almost a couple hundred less for very similar gaming performance, especially with some judicious undervolting.

In the end, the extra raster performance of the Radeon RX 9070 over the RTX 5070—and how close it can get to the more expensive RTX 5070 Ti and RX 9070 XT GPUs—makes it the best graphics card to buy right now for most PC gamers in dire need of a graphics card. If you don't need one right now, maybe wait for a price drop.

XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 OC graphics card on a grey background with a gradient

Click through to read our full AMD Radeon RX 9070 review.

2. Best budget graphics card: Intel Arc B570

2. Intel Arc B570

The best budget graphics card

Specifications

Shaders: 2304
Boost clock: 2500 MHz
TFLOPs: 11.52
Memory: 10 GB GDDR6
Memory clock: 19 GT/s
Memory bandwidth: 380 GB/s
TGP: 150 W
MSRP: $219 | ~£219

Reasons to buy

+
Reliable performance
+
Decent 1080p frame rates
+
DLSS 4 support

Reasons to avoid

-
Much weaker than RTX 5060, which is only a little more expensive
-
Slower than the RTX 4060

Arc B570 - 1080p gaming performance

Comparative testing of the Arc B570, Arc B580, and RTX 5050.

Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Arc B570
37
28
Arc B580
43
34
RTX 5050
50
38
015304560
Black Myth Wukong (1080p High) Data
ProductValue
Arc B570 37 Avg FPS, 28 1% Low FPS
Arc B580 43 Avg FPS, 34 1% Low FPS
RTX 5050 50 Avg FPS, 38 1% Low FPS
Our benchmarking shows how the Arc B570 compares to the other offerings from Intel and Nvidia, though few other cards are close to the B570 in price.
Buy if...

✅ You are on a restrictive budget: At the moment, the cheapest new graphics card you can buy is the Arc B570. It's the only one currently available sub-$300, but might not be for long.

Don't buy if...

❌ You can find an Arc B580/RTX 5050 for a decent price: If you can stretch your budget, the Arc B580 comes with more VRAM and the RTX 5050 is a faster, more consistent card.

The bottom line

🪛 The Intel Arc B570 is the best budget graphics card at the moment, but only because every other card has been priced out of contention. It's the cheapest current-generation GPU around today by some margin.

Difficult GPU recommendations is kinda the theme for this graphics card tier list, and they don't come much tougher than the budget pick. In a world where GPU pricing has been trending ever higher since the memory crisis bit, and even prior to that with the pandemic and ethereum mining booms, it's hard going trying to find a really cheap graphics card that's still worth the money in 2026.

The Intel Arc B570 is once again our pick for a buyer on a budget. It had briefly been replaced by the RTX 5050, on account of the Nvidia card's faster performance and better stability, but that card is so overpriced these days, fuhgeddaboudit. Nope, we're back to the Arc B570 simply because it's the only card available below $300.

Even so, it's a much harder GPU to recommend. Its occasional driver issues (Cyberpunk 2077, for example, is still a bit of a mess) are pretty tough to justify when the price is far in excess of its MSRP.

You will have to lower graphics settings, use upscaling where possible, and game at 1080p to get the most out of this card. It usually is bottom of the pack in our testing, but it nevertheless kicks the pants off most iGPUs. Intel's XeSS upscaling is pretty great, and AMD's FSR also works on any card for expanded support in a range of games.

You're also getting more than 8 GB of RAM here, even if it is only 10 GB. That's a boon for the B570 that you won't find anywhere else. Any 12 GB and 16 GB card costs a whole lot more than this.

So, the B570. It's not the graphics card we'd like to be recommending, but it is the one we feel we have to in order to keep the spark of budget PC gaming alive. You can absolutely play modern games on this thing at respectable frame rates if you're smart about it, and that's what counts.

3. Best midrange graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB

3. Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB

The best midrange graphics card

Specifications

Shaders: 4608
Boost clock: 2407 MHz
TFLOPs: 23.70
Memory: 8 GB GDDR6
Memory clock: 28 GT/s
Memory bandwidth: 448 GB/s
TGP: 180 W
MSRP: $379 | £349

Reasons to buy

+
Good 1080p and 1440p performance
+
Quiet as a mouse
+
Reasonable value

Reasons to avoid

-
8 GB of VRAM trips it up in certain games
-
Runs warmer than the AMD competition
-
Pricier than I'd like

RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB - 1440p gaming performance

Comparative testing of the RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5060, RTX 5070, and RX 9060 XT

Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB
50
43
RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB
51
45
RTX 5060
44
37
RTX 5070
68
60
RX 9060 XT 8 GB
48
43
020406080
Black Myth Wukong (1440p High) Data
ProductValue
RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB 50 Avg FPS, 43 1% Low FPS
RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB 51 Avg FPS, 45 1% Low FPS
RTX 5060 44 Avg FPS, 37 1% Low FPS
RTX 5070 68 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS
RX 9060 XT 8 GB 48 Avg FPS, 43 1% Low FPS
Our benchmarking shows the RTX 5060 Ti making do with 8 GB of VRAM. It's not quite up to the 16 GB model, but it's roughly half price these days.
Buy if...

✅ You don't have the budget for a card with more VRAM: Everyone wants more VRAM, but when you can't afford more than the standard 8 GB, the RTX 5060 Ti makes better use of that limited amount than AMD's competition in our testing.

Don't buy if...

❌ You could stretch to the RX 9070 GRE: Nvidia's is the best of a bad bunch, but the RX 9070 GRE is actually a good card with 12 GB of VRAM at its disposal. Only thing is, prices have very recently increasing a lot for the Radeon number.

The bottom line

🪛 The Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB is not the card we asked for, but maybe it's the card we need in these dark times. It's a lot cheaper than the 16 GB variant, and it puts its 8 GB of VRAM to better use than the RX 9060 XT.

Here's another recommendation we're making due to the memory crisis, not because we really love this card all that much. Unfortunately, 16 GB versions of any card are beyond extortionate these days, which means we're stuck with the 8 GB options. Like this here RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB.

Up until very recently, I would have recommended the Radeon RX 9070 GRE in place of the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, due to its 12 GB of VRAM and top performance for near-enough its MSRP of $550. Unfortunately, it's at least $650 these days, which means it's $150 more than the current asking price of the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB. That's a real shame, but onto the card at hand.

The RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB seems to do better with limited VRAM than the RX 9060 XT, which also comes in 16 GB and 8 GB variants. It is slower than the 16 GB version, but again, proposterous pricing. Rather, if you're going to stick with 8 GB for money's sake, best go for the 5060 Ti to make better use of it.

The RTX 5060 Ti smashes the RTX 5060 in some games, and usually beats it by a decent margin in others. Considering that card is only about $50-$60 less right now, we prefer the Ti option. It's not the graphics card we wish we were getting for $500 today, but it is better than the alternatives.

The top vents and pwoer connector of a Palit GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB Dual graphics card

Click through to read our full Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB review.

4. Best high-end graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

4. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The best high-end graphics card

Specifications

Shaders: 4096
Boost clock: 2920 MHz
TFLOPs: 48.66
Memory: 16 GB GDDR6
Memory clock: 20 GT/s
Memory bandwidth: 640 GB/s
TGP: 304 W
MSRP: $599 | £569

Reasons to buy

+
RTX 5070 Ti performance for a lower price
+
Capable overclocker
+
Hugely improved RT performance
+
FSR4's ML algo looks good so far

Reasons to avoid

-
Stiff pricing
-
Nvidia still has a ray tracing edge
-
MFG is a potent weapon for RTX 50-series

RX 9070 XT - 1440p gaming performance

Comparative testing of the RX 9070 XT, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and RX 9070.

Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
RX 9070 XT
82
73
RX 9070
73
64
RTX 5070 Ti
79
69
RTX 5080
95
83
0255075100
Black Myth Wukong (1440p High) Data
ProductValue
RX 9070 XT 82 Avg FPS, 73 1% Low FPS
RX 9070 73 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS
RTX 5070 Ti 79 Avg FPS, 69 1% Low FPS
RTX 5080 95 Avg FPS, 83 1% Low FPS
Our benchmarking shows how well the RX 9070 XT performs versus the competition, especially the pricier RTX 5070 Ti.
Buy if...

✅ You are happy to tweak: This generation has seen an impressive level of headroom built into its GPUs. For AMD that means undervolting, but it means you can get some serious extra performance out of the chip without putting any extra strain on either the power demands or cooling solution.

✅ You were considering the RTX 5070 Ti: The RX 9070 XT gets so close to the RTX 5070 Ti's performance, especially when undervolted, that you can easily forget there's a huge price difference between them now.

Don't buy if...

❌ The price goes much higher: At a certain point, the high-end cards are priced out of all contention. Like the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, which are just ludicrous money today. The RTX 5070 Ti is getting there, too, with the RX 9070 XT just behind it.

The bottom line

🪛 The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the best high-end graphics card you can buy right now. I was super keen on the RTX 5070 Ti when it was priced more sensibly. But with a massive price difference between them, and the RX 9070 XT able to deliver almost the same levels of performance, the smart money should be going to AMD.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the best high-end graphics card you can buy today, though obviously we're stretching mightily by a graphics card that is now regularly retailing for just under $1000. But where once it was a straight fight between it and the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti for the title, the current pricing issues have put AMD's option well into the lead.

Nvidia GPUs, for various reasons, have been more noticeably affected by the price hikes than AMD cards. And here that manifests as an almost $300 price difference between the two once-similarly priced GPUs. Honestly, only a fool would pay that sort of premium for the GeForce card unless you really must have Nvidia's features or AI performance.

The actual gaming performance delta really isn't that great. You can look at the benchmark numbers up there 👆 and see just how close they are. Most especially when you take overclocking into account.

Both AMD and Nvidia chips of this generation have an impressive amount of headroom baked into them, accessed in different ways, but both able to deliver a good chunk of extra performance for the eager tweaker. And it's not hard to do either. With the RX 9070 XT it's a case of undervolting the GPU, and thereby giving it some thermal headroom to unlock higher clock speeds and therefore higher frame rates.

And you get all that without increasing the power or thermal demands on the card all that much, either. It really is genuinely and truly worth doing for anyone with an RDNA 4 card in their gaming PC. Free frames, people.

One other thing the RDNA 4 generation of Radeon GPUs brought with it was FSR 4. More than just an iterative improvement of AMD's upscaling tech, FSR 4 represents a fundamental change in how its graphics cards approach the problem, bringing them more in line with how Nvidia does it. That means it's taking a machine learning approach for the first time, and is delivering genuinely impressive levels of image and motion clarity for cards like the RX 9070 XT.

The only slight fly in the ointment is the fact the RX 9070 is a good bit cheaper than the RX 9070 XT and is pretty performant in its own right. It's not quite as quick, but it's impressive enough to be our overall pick as best GPU right now.

Asus Prime RX 9070 XT graphics card

Click through to read our full AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT review.

How we test graphics cards

Various graphics cards set atop a white plinth on a pink gradient background

(Image credit: Future)

I have been benchmarking graphics cards since the 2000s, and have used many different games, applications, and methodologies over the intervening years. And, for the most part, testing GPUs is a largely objective process; you test the silicon in different ways, come out with a set of benchmark figures which you then compare against another set of numbers from a different card, or cards, to be able to objectively tell which is empirically the best.

Our current GPU test suite consists of Black Myth Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, F1 24, Homeworld 3, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, The Talos Principle 2, andTotal War: Warhammer III for our gaming tests. These tests are carried out using the same game and system settings across all the graphics cards we test, and are run at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions.

We measure using both the average frame rate and the 1% Low FPS figure. This gives us a general measure of in-game performance as well as allowing us to see just how consistent that frame rate level is. The 1% Low FPS measure shows the average of the highest 1% of frame times in any given benchmarking run. Translating that into frames per second (1000/x ms) gives us the data to show whether there are regularly large drops in performance or whether it's relatively stable.

We capture this data using the Nvidia Frameview app running over the top of whatever game we are benchmarking, whether the game will give its own data output or not.

We also use the UL suite of benchmark software to get some synthetic testing done against high-end rastererisation performance with 3DMark Time Spy Extreme, and ray tracing performance with 3DMark Port Royal.

Nvidia RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card from different angles

(Image credit: Future)

With the new RTX Blackwell cards, we've also been using a selection of games to help us get a bead on the impact of Multi Frame Generation on both frame rate and PC latency, too. As well as retesting different levels of MFG (at either 1440p for lower end cards or 4K for high-end GPUs) with Cyberpunk 2077, we also use the ultra-demanding Alan Wake 2 and Dragon Age: Veilguard for its implementation via the Nvidia App.

Actual gaming performance isn't the whole story with graphics cards, however, as they are used for different uses outside of gaming. While we are PC Gamer, we know that some people want to be able to use their PC for 3D rendering, editing, or generative AI uses, and so we run the Blender benchmark, PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, and Procyon's image generation benchmark using StableDiffusion.

We also capture a ton of system data, too, using the Nvidia PCAT tool (a riser board which sits between the GPU and PCIe slot) to measure actual graphics card power draw. This means we can track both peak and average power use when gaming, and a given GPU's performance per Watt metrics, too.

For this we use three back-to-back runs of the Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition benchmark, at 1080p and 4K, to give us the power numbers, as well as peak and average temperatures and average GPU clock speed, too.

On top of this we will also test the overclocking capabilities of graphics cards, by pushing them as far as we can using standard overclocking methodologies; ie. the same as you would be able to easily do at home. No LN2 sniffing going on here.

But there are also subjective measures which come into play when actually picking the best graphics card. And that all comes down to a consistent driver experience when using the GPU, how loud the cooling fans can get, whether there is discomforting coil whine or other electrical noise, and just how much damned money manufacturers are charging for these cards.

In short, there's a lot that goes into our testing.

In the PC Gamer office—and sometimes my own satellite office up the hill if I'm testing into the wee hours of the morning—we have a dedicated test rig that we use for testing graphics cards. This is our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D-based system:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E Aorus Master | RAM: G.Skill 32 GB DDR5-6000 CAS 30 | Cooler: Corsair H170i Elite Capellix | SSD: 2 TB Crucial T700 | PSU: Seasonic Prime TX 1600W | Case: DimasTech Mini V2

We also have two other systems, kindly provided by MSI and CyberpowerPC, which we use if another member of the team, such as Jacob, Nick, or Andy, need to benchmark a card. These travel around the UK, and both house the same set of components so we can maintain multiple testing PCs which deliver data we can use to accurate reference other cards.

GPU hierarchy

Below we have listed multiple generations of graphics card based on a simple 3DMark Time Spy Extreme GPU index score. This is only a rough approximation of relative gaming performance between the different graphics cards, as there is more variance than just with a single synthetic benchmark, but it is still a good snap shot of where the cards stack up against each other.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Rank

Graphics card

3DMark Time Spy Extreme score

 Header Cell - Column 3

1

Nvidia RTX 5090

25206

 Row 0 - Cell 3

2

Nvidia RTX 4090

19453

 Row 1 - Cell 3

3

Nvidia RTX 5080

16252

 Row 2 - Cell 3

4

AMD RX 9070 XT

14315

 Row 3 - Cell 3

5

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super

14219

 Row 4 - Cell 3

6

Nvidia RTX 4080

14067

 Row 5 - Cell 3

7

Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti

13534

 Row 6 - Cell 3

8

AMD RX 7900 XTX

12751

 Row 7 - Cell 3

9

AMD RX 9070

12647

 Row 8 - Cell 3

10

AMD RX 7900 XT

12686

 Row 9 - Cell 3

11

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super

11887

 Row 10 - Cell 3

12

Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti

11249

 Row 11 - Cell 3

13

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti

10973

 Row 12 - Cell 3

14

Nvidia RTX 5070

10670

 Row 13 - Cell 3

15

Nvidia RTX 3090

10217

 Row 14 - Cell 3

16

AMD RX 6950 XT

10199

 Row 15 - Cell 3

17

Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti

9946

 Row 16 - Cell 3

18

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super

9890

 Row 17 - Cell 3

19

AMD RX 6900 XT

9003

 Row 18 - Cell 3

20

AMD RX 7800 XT

8953

 Row 19 - Cell 3

21

Nvidia RTX 3080 10GB

8692

 Row 20 - Cell 3

22

Nvidia RTX 4070

8573

 Row 21 - Cell 3

23

AMD RX 6800 XT

8454

 Row 22 - Cell 3

24

AMD RX 9060 XT

7664

 Row 23 - Cell 3

25

AMD RX 7700 XT

7653

 Row 24 - Cell 3

26

Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti

7281

 Row 25 - Cell 3

27

Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti

7261

 Row 26 - Cell 3

28

AMD RX 9060 XT 16 GB

7229

 Row 27 - Cell 3

29

AMD RX 6800

7095

 Row 28 - Cell 3

30

AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB

6944

 Row 29 - Cell 3

31

Intel Arc B580

6849

 Row 30 - Cell 3

32

Nvidia RTX 3070

6803

 Row 31 - Cell 3

33

Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti

6422

 Row 32 - Cell 3

34

Nvidia RTX 5060

6379

 Row 33 - Cell 3

35

AMD RX 6750 XT

6341

 Row 34 - Cell 3

36

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti

6296

 Row 35 - Cell 3

37

AMD RX 6700 XT

5879

 Row 36 - Cell 3

38

Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti

5841

 Row 37 - Cell 3

39

Intel Arc B570

5790

 Row 38 - Cell 3

40

Nvidia RTX 2080 Super

5360

 Row 39 - Cell 3

41

AMD RX 6700

5146

 Row 40 - Cell 3

42

AMD RX 7600

4993

 Row 41 - Cell 3

43

Nvidia RTX 5050

4949

 Row 42 - Cell 3

44

Nvidia RTX 4060

4930

 Row 43 - Cell 3

45

AMD RX 6650 XT

4743

 Row 44 - Cell 3

46

AMD RX 6600 XT

4310

 Row 45 - Cell 3

47

AMD RX 5700 XT

4217

 Row 46 - Cell 3

48

Nvidia RTX 3060

3961

 Row 47 - Cell 3

49

AMD RX 6600

3719

 Row 48 - Cell 3

50

Nvidia RTX 2060

3346

 Row 49 - Cell 3

51

Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti

2887

 Row 50 - Cell 3

52

Nvidia GTX 1660 Super

2812

 Row 51 - Cell 3

53

Nvidia RTX 3050

2743

 Row 52 - Cell 3

54

Nvidia GTX 1660

2466

 Row 53 - Cell 3

55

AMD RX 6500 XT

2287

 Row 54 - Cell 3

56

AMD RX 5500 XT

2267

 Row 55 - Cell 3

57

Nvidia GTX 1650 Super

2071

 Row 56 - Cell 3

58

Nvidia GTX 1650

1594

 Row 57 - Cell 3

Nvidia GPU specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Nvidia RTX 50-series (RTX Blackwell)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

GPU

Lithography

CUDA cores

Memory size (GB)

Die size (mm²)

Transistors (B)

SM count

TMUs

ROPs

Tensor cores

RT cores

L2 cache (MB)

Boost clock (MHz)

Memory type

Memory bus width (bits)

Memory bandwidth (GB/s)

TDP (W)

RTX 5050

$249

Jul 16, 2025

GB207-300

TSMC 4N

2560

8

121

15.1

20

80

32

80

20

32

2572

GDDR6

128

320

130

RTX 5060

$299

May, 19, 2025

GB206-250

TSMC 4N

3840

8

181

21.9

30

120

48

120

30

32

2497

GDDR7

128

448

145

RTX 5060 Ti

$379 / $429

Apr, 16, 2025

GB205-300

TSMC 4N

4608

8 / 16

181

21.9

36

144

48

144

36

32

2572

GDDR7

128

448

180

RTX 5070

$549

Mar 5, 2025

GB205-300

TSMC 4N

6144

12

263

31.1

48

192

80

192

48

48

2512

GDDR7

192

672

250

RTX 5070 Ti

$749

Feb 20, 2025

GB203-300

TSMC 4N

8960

16

378

45.6

70

280

96

280

70

64

2452

GDDR7

256

896

300

RTX 5080

$999

Feb 20, 2025

GB203-400

TSMC 4N

10752

16

378

45.6

84

336

112

336

84

64

2617

GDDR7

256

960

360

RTX 5090

$1999

Jan 30, 2025

GB202-300

TSMC 4N

21760

32

750

92.2

170

680

176

680

170

96

2407

GDDR7

512

1792

575
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Nvidia RTX 40-series (Ada Lovelace)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

GPU

Lithography

CUDA cores

Memory size (GB)

Die size (mm²)

Transistors (B)

SM count

TMUs

ROPs

Tensor cores

RT cores

L2 cache (MB)

Boost clock (MHz)

Memory type

Memory bus width (bits)

Memory bandwidth (GB/s)

TDP (W)

RTX 4060

$299

Jun 29, 2023

AD107-400

TSMC 4N

3072

8

159

18.9

24

96

32

96

24

24

2460

GDDR6

128

272

115

RTX 4060 Ti

$399

May 24, 2023

AD106-350

TSMC 4N

4352

8

188

22.9

34

136

48

136

34

32

2535

GDDR6

128

288

160

RTX 4060 Ti 16GB

$499

Jul 18, 2023

AD106-351

TSMC 4N

4352

16

188

22.9

34

136

48

136

34

32

2535

GDDR6

128

288

165

RTX 4070

$599

Apr 13, 2023

AD104-250

TSMC 4N

5888

12

294.5

35.8

46

184

64

184

46

36

2475

GDDR6X

192

504

200

RTX 4070 Super

$599

Jan 17, 2024

AD104-350

TSMC 4N

7168

12

294.5

35.8

56

224

80

224

56

48

2475

GDDR6X

192

504

220

RTX 4070 Ti

$799

Jan 5, 2023

AD104-400

TSMC 4N

7680

12

294.5

35.8

60

240

80

240

60

48

2610

GDDR6X

192

504

285

RTX 4070 Ti Super

$799

Jan 24, 2024

AD103-275

TSMC 4N

8448

16

379

45.9

66

264

96

264

66

48

2610

GDDR6X

256

672

285

RTX 4080

$1199

Nov 16, 2022

AD103-300

TSMC 4N

9728

16

379

45.9

76

304

112

304

76

64

2505

GDDR6X

256

716.8

320

RTX 4080 Super

$999

Jan 31, 2024

AD103-400

TSMC 4N

10240

16

379

45.9

80

320

112

320

80

64

2550

GDDR6X

256

736

320

RTX 4090

$1599

Oct 12, 2022

AD102-300

TSMC 4N

16384

24

608.5

76.3

128

512

176

512

128

72

2520

GDDR6X

384

1008

450
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Nvidia RTX 30-series (Ampere)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

GPU

Lithography

CUDA cores

Memory size (GB)

Die size (mm²)

Transistors (B)

SM count

TMUs

ROPs

Tensor cores

RT cores

L2 cache (MB)

Boost clock (MHz)

Memory type

Memory bus width (bits)

Memory bandwidth (GB/s)

TDP (W)

RTX 3050

$169 / $249

Jan 27, 2022

GA106-150

Samsung 8nm

2560

6 / 8

276

12

20

80

32

80

20

2

1777

GDDR6

128

168 / 224

130

RTX 3060

$329

Feb 25, 2021

GA106-300

Samsung 8nm

3584

8 / 12

276

12

28

112

48

112

28

3

1777

GDDR6

192

240 / 360

170

RTX 3060 Ti

$399

Dec 1, 2020

GA104-200

Samsung 8nm

4864

8

392

17.4

38

152

80

152

38

4

1665

GDDR6/X

256

448 / 608

200

RTX 3070

$499

Oct 29, 2020

GA104-300

Samsung 8nm

5888

8

392

17.4

46

184

96

184

46

4

1725

GDDR6

256

448

220

RTX 3070 Ti

$599

Jun 10, 2021

GA104-400

Samsung 8nm

6144

8

392

17.4

48

192

96

192

48

4

1770

GDDR6X

256

608.3

290

RTX 3080

$699

Sep 17, 2020

GA102-200

Samsung 8nm

8704

10

628

28.3

68

272

96

272

68

5

1710

GDDR6X

320

760.3

320

RTX 3080 12 GB

$799

Jan 11, 2022

GA102-220

Samsung 8nm

8960

12

628

28.3

70

280

96

280

70

5

1710

GDDR6X

384

912.4

350

RTX 3080 Ti

$1199

Jun 3, 2021

GA102-225

Samsung 8nm

10240

12

628

28.3

80

320

112

320

80

6

1665

GDDR6X

384

912.4

350

RTX 3090

$1499

Sep 24, 2020

GA102-300

Samsung 8nm

10496

24

628

28.3

82

328

112

328

82

6

1695

GDDR6X

384

936.2

350

RTX 3090 Ti

$1999

Mar 29, 2022

GA102-350

Samsung 8nm

10752

24

628

28.3

84

336

112

336

84

6

1860

GDDR6X

384

1008

450
Row 10 - Cell 0 Row 10 - Cell 1 Row 10 - Cell 2 Row 10 - Cell 3 Row 10 - Cell 4 Row 10 - Cell 5 Row 10 - Cell 6 Row 10 - Cell 7 Row 10 - Cell 8 Row 10 - Cell 9 Row 10 - Cell 10 Row 10 - Cell 11 Row 10 - Cell 12 Row 10 - Cell 13 Row 10 - Cell 14 Row 10 - Cell 15 Row 10 - Cell 16 Row 10 - Cell 17 Row 10 - Cell 18 Row 10 - Cell 19
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Nvidia RTX 20-series (Turing)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

GPU

Lithography

CUDA cores

Memory size (GB)

Die size (mm²)

Transistors (B)

SM count

TMUs

ROPs

Tensor cores

RT cores

L2 cache (MB)

Boost clock (MHz)

Memory type

Memory bus width (bits)

Memory bandwidth (GB/s)

TDP (W)

RTX 2060

$299 / $349

Jan 15, 2019

TU106-200 / TU106-300 / TU104-150

TSMC 12 nm

1920 / 2176

6 / 12

445 / 545

10.8 / 13.6

30 / 34

120 / 136

48 / 64

240 / 272

30 / 34

3

1650 / 1680

GDDR6

192

336

160 / 185

RTX 2060 Super

$399

Jul 9, 2019

TU106-410

TSMC 12 nm

2176

8

445

10.8

34

136

64

272

34

4

1650

GDDR6

256

448

175

RTX 2070

$499

Oct 17, 2019

TU106-400

TSMC 12 nm

2304

8

445

10.8

36

144

64

288

36

4

1620

GDDR6

256

448

175

RTX 2070 Super

$499

Jul 9, 2019

TU104-410

TSMC 12 nm

2560

8

545

13.6

40

160

64

320

40

4

1770

GDDR6

256

448

215

RTX 2080

$699

Sep 20, 2018

TU104-400

TSMC 12 nm

2944

8

545

13.6

46

184

64

368

46

4

1710

GDDR6

256

448

215

RTX 2080 Super

$699

Jul 23, 20190

TU104-450

TSMC 12 nm

3072

8

545

13.6

48

192

64

384

48

4

1815

GDDR6

256

499.2

250

RTX 2080 Ti

$999

Sep 20, 2018

TU102-300

TSMC 12 nm

4352

11

754

18.6

68

272

88

544

68

5.5

1545

GDDR6

352

616

250

Titan RTX

$2499

Dec 18, 2018

TU102-400

TSMC 12 nm

4608

24

754

18.6

72

288

96

576

72

6

1770

GDDR6

384

672

280

AMD GPU specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally
AMD Radeon RX 7000-series (RDNA 4)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

GPU

Compute Units (CUs)

Memory Size (GB)

Fab

Transistors (B)

Die Size (mm²)

Shaders

TMUs

ROPs

Ray Accelerators

AI Accelerators

Memory Type

Memory bus

TBP

RX 9060 XT

$269

May 25, 2023

Navi 44

32

8 / 16

TSMC N4P

29.7

199

2048

128

64

32

64

GDDR6

128

150 / 160

RX 9070 GRE

$449

Sep 6, 2023

Navi 48

48

12

TSMC N4P

53.9

356.5

3072

192

96

48

96

GDDR6

192

220

RX 9070

$499

Sep 6, 2023

Navi 48

56

16

TSMC N4P

53.9

356.5

3584

224

128

56

112

GDDR6

256

220

RX 9070 XT

$899

Dec 13, 2022

Navi 48

64

16

TSMC N4P

53.9

356.5

4096

256

128

64

128

GDDR6

256

304
Swipe to scroll horizontally
AMD Radeon RX 7000-series (RDNA 3)

Model

MSRP (US$)

Launch

Code Name

Compute Units (CUs)

Fab

Transistors (B)

Die Size (mm²)

Shaders

TMUs

ROPs

Ray Accelerators

AI Accelerators

Memory Size (GB)

Memory Type

Memory Bus

TBP

RX 7600

$269

May 25, 2023

Navi 33

32

6nm

13.3

204

2048

128

64

32

64

8

GDDR6

128

165

RX 7700 XT

$449

Sep 6, 2023

Navi 32

54

5nm

28.1

346

3456

216

96

54

108

12

GDDR6

192

245

RX 7800 XT

$499

Sep 6, 2023

Navi 32

60

5nm

28.1

346

3840

240

96

60

120

16

GDDR6

256

263

RX 7900 XT

$899

Dec 13, 2022

Navi 31

84

5nm

57.7

529

5376

336

192

84

168

20

GDDR6

320

315

RX 7900 XTX

$999

Dec 13, 2022

Navi 31

96

5nm

57.7

529

6144

384

192

96

192

24

GDDR6

384

355
Swipe to scroll horizontally
AMD Radeon RX 6000-series (RDNA 2)

Model

Launch

Code Name

Fab

Transistors (B)

Die Size (mm²)

Compute Units (CUs)

Shaders

TMUs

ROPs

Memory Size (GB)

Memory Type

MSRP (US$)

RX 6600

Oct 13, 2021

Navi 23

7nm

11.06

237

28

1792

112

64

8

GDDR6

$329

RX 6600 XT

Aug 11, 2021

Navi 23

7nm

11.06

237

32

2048

128

64

8

GDDR6

$379

RX 6700 XT

Mar 18, 2021

Navi 22

7nm

17.2

335

40

2560

160

64

12

GDDR6

$479

RX 6800

Nov 18, 2020

Navi 21

7nm

26.8

520

60

3840

240

96

16

GDDR6

$579

RX 6800 XT

Nov 18, 2020

Navi 21

7nm

26.8

520

72

4608

288

128

16

GDDR6

$649

RX 6900 XT

Dec 8, 2020

Navi 21

7nm

26.8

520

80

5120

320

128

16

GDDR6

$999

RX 6950 XT

May 10, 2022

Navi 21

7nm

26.8

520

80

5120

320

128

16

GDDR6

$1099
Swipe to scroll horizontally
AMD Radeon RX 5000-series (RDNA)

Model

Launch

Code Name

Fab

Transistors (B)

Die Size (mm²)

Compute Units (CUs)

Shaders

TMUs

ROPs

Memory Size (GB)

Memory Type

MSRP (US$)

RX 5500 XT

Dec 12, 2019

Navi 14

7nm

6.4

158

22

1408

88

32

4/8

GDDR6

$169

RX 5600 XT

Jan 21, 2020

Navi 10

7nm

10.3

251

36

2304

144

64

6

GDDR6

$279

RX 5700

Jul 7, 2019

Navi 10

7nm

10.3

251

36

2304

144

64

8

GDDR6

$349

RX 5700 XT

Jul 7, 2019

Navi 10

7nm

10.3

251

40

2560

160

64

8

GDDR6

$399
Dave James
Dave James
Editor-in-Chief, Hardware

Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

With contributions from
Back To Top