At the time of purchase, PC gamers need to know what the best GPU for the money is. And if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, fear not, we've compiled a simple up-to-date list of the best GPUs for gaming at the most popular resolutions, virtual reality, and eSports.
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October 2016 Updates
After a flood of summertime graphics launches, AMD and Nvidia remained relatively quiet over the past month. But that doesn’t mean your two favorite purveyors of discrete GPUs sat idle.
No doubt, both companies strove to satisfy demand for their creations built using 14 and 16 nm manufacturing technology. The last time we took stock of the market, back in August, prices on Pascal- and Polaris-based cards were through the roof compared to where AMD and Nvidia told us we’d find them. We don’t have an official explanation from AMD as to why its Radeon RX cards are out of whack, but an Nvidia rep did suggest that GeForce add-in board partners are playing a game of chicken. Everyone is selling at a premium. Everyone is making more money. And nobody wants to be first to go lower because cards continue moving at the higher prices. Really, the only way to stop that train is easing demand.
About Our Picks
- These cards are for hardcore PC gamers. If you don’t game (or only play casual games), the cards on this list are likely more than you need.
- The list is based on typical U.S. prices from online Etailers in a given month - your mileage will vary in other regions or at retail.
- These are new card prices. No used, refurbished, or open-box cards are in the list.
- Recommendations for multiple video cards require a motherboard which supports CrossFire/SLI, a case with plenty of space, and a higher-output power supply than a single card, and will almost certainly produce more heat.
Fortunately, Nvidia’s Pascal-based cards are coming down slowly. Its 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060s really do start at $200 now, and the 6 GB version shows up on our radar at $250—right where the company originally told us it’d appear three months ago. GeForce GTX 1070 was supposed to start at $380, one model is listed at $390, and more of the cards sell for $400. But that’s definitely better than last month’s $430 price tag. The same goes for GeForce GTX 1080. We originally expected partner cards to go for $600. You can finally find them around $630. And again, that’s an improvement from the $650 we reported a few weeks ago.
We’re still waiting on a little more relief from AMD. While 2 GB Radeon RX 460s do start at $110, that’s where 4 GB models are supposed to be. In turn, 4 GB cards command at least $130, similar to last month.
Moving up the hierarchy, there’s one Radeon RX 470 selling for $185. It’s only a bummer the 470 never really piqued our interest. It’s a little slower than the RX 480 4 GB and supposedly a little less expensive, though lately the 470 has taken over the 480 4 GB’s $200 price point. Perhaps the announcement of Asynchronous SpaceWarp and reduced Oculus Rift minimum specs are encouraging sales of the middle Polaris offering. Right now, if you want the quicker 480, you have to pay $230 or more. We don’t really think 8 GB of GDDR5 is necessary on the RX 480, but if that’s more your style, expect to find it starting at $260 rather than AMD’s $240 launch price.
Because this was a relatively calm month, our recommendations are mostly the same. Barring a price drop on the RX 460, we still like the Radeon R7 360 at $90. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 950 remains a strong contender for as little as $130. It’s quite a bit slower than the Radeon RX 470, but mostly faster than the 4 GB RX 460 selling around the same price.
With the GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB dropping from $290 to $250, it’s harder to shrug off. If you still play a lot of older DirectX 11 games, the 1060 is quite a bit faster than AMD’s 8 GB RX 480. Newer games like Hitman go the Radeon’s way. You’ll have to make a judgement call there for great frame rates at 1920x1080 and playable performance at 2560x1440. Both cards satisfy this category.
Best Graphics Cards
- AMD Radeon R7 360Best HD & eSports
No Review$99.99 Newegg-
- GPU
- Tobago (GCN 1.1)
-
- Process
- 28 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 768
-
- Texture Units
- 48
-
- ROPs
- 16
-
- Core Clock
- 1050 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 1625 MHz GDDR5
-
- Memory Bus
- 128-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 104 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 2 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 100 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 6-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 500 W
-
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 950Good FHD
No Review$179.99 Amazon-
- GPU
- Maxwell (GM206)
-
- Process
- 28 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 768
-
- Texture Units
- 48
-
- ROPs
- 32
-
- Core Clock
- 1024 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 1653 MHz GDDR5
-
- Memory Bus
- 128-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 106 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 2 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 90 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 6-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 350 W
-
- AMD Radeon RX 480Best FHD | Good QHD
No Review$250.00 Amazon-
- GPU
- Polaris 10 (GCN 4.0)
-
- Process
- 14 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 2304
-
- Texture Units
- 144
-
- ROPs
- 32
-
- Core Clock
- 1120 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 2000 MHz GDDR5
-
- Memory Bus
- 256-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 256 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 4/8 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 150 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 6-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 500 W
-
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060Best FHD/Good QHD
No Review$299.00 GeForce-
- GPU
- Pascal (GP106)
-
- Process
- 16 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 1280
-
- Texture Units
- 80
-
- ROPs
- 48
-
- Core Clock
- 1506 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 2000 MHz GDDR5
-
- Memory Bus
- 192-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 192 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 6 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 120 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 6-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 400 W
-
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070Best QHD | Good VR
No Review$434.99 Amazon-
- GPU
- Pascal (GP104)
-
- Process
- 16 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 1920
-
- Texture Units
- 160
-
- ROPs
- 64
-
- Core Clock
- 1506 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 2000 MHz GDDR5
-
- Memory Bus
- 256-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 256 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 8 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 150 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 8-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 500 W
-
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Good 4K | Best VR
No Review$669.99 Newegg-
- GPU
- Pascal (GP104)
-
- Process
- 16 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 2560
-
- Texture Units
- 160
-
- ROPs
- 64
-
- Core Clock
- 1607 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 2500 MHz GDDR5X
-
- Memory Bus
- 256-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 256 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 8 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 180 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 8-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 500 W
-
- Nvidia Titan XBest 4K
No Review$1200.00 GeForce-
- GPU
- Pascal (GP104)
-
- Process
- 16 nm
-
- Shader Units
- 3584
-
- Texture Units
- 224
-
- ROPs
- 96
-
- Core Clock
- 1417 MHz
-
- Memory Clock
- 2500 MHz GDDR5X
-
- Memory Bus
- 384-bit
-
- Memory Bandwidth
- 480 GB/s
-
- Memory Capacity
- 12 GB
-
- 3D APIs
- DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan
-
- TDP
- 250 W
-
- Power Connections
- 1x 8-pin & 1x 6-pin PCIe
-
- Power Supply
- 600 W
-
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Best @ 720p & eSports
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Good @ 1080p
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Best @ 1080p | Good @ 1440p
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Best @ 1440p & SLI | Good @ VR
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Good @ 4K | Best @ VR
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Best @ 4K
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