Best Graphic Card For Gaming. Gamer Corner

The ongoing battle between AMD and Nvidia to create the best graphics card rages on. From extreme performance GPUs capable of pushing 4K resolutions and maximum quality settings to budget models fit for 1080p and modest settings, we've tested and selected the best graphics cards for your gaming pleasure.

Last year, AMD was the first to release a 7nm GPU with it's Radeon VII, RX 5700 series, and RX 5500 XT cards. Nvidia countered with updated 'Super' models of its RTX series, along with its GTX 16-series. This year, things should be even more interesting. AMD will have its first ray-tracing capable GPUs, Nvidia will launch 7nm GPUs, and Intel will be joining the fray. But all of those are future developments; we're looking at the here and now.  

1. Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti   

GPU Cores: 4,352 | Base Clock: 1,350MHz | Boost Clock: 1,545MHz | GFLOPS: 13,448 | Memory: 11GB GDDR6 | Memory Clock: 14 GT/s | Memory Bandwidth: 616GB/s  

Fastest graphics card around ray tracing and deep learning techMore developers moving to embrace ray tracingExtravagantly priced2080 Super has closed the power gap

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the latest and most potent GPU around, and it's also one of the largest consumer GPUs ever produced. The Turing TU102 is 60 percent larger than the Pascal GP102 in the 1080 Ti, with 55 percent more transistors. Those extra transistors went into more CUDA cores, but Nvidia didn't stop there, adding in Tensor cores to help accelerate deep learning algorithms like DLSS, plus RT cores to accelerate ray tracing.

 There are plenty of other enhancements in the Turing architecture as well, but if you want the best, be prepared to shell out: the cheapest 2080 Ti cards start at $999, with many selling for $1,199 and up. Technically there's also the Titan RTX, which more than doubles the price of the 2080 Ti, but it's more of a prosumer card that anything we'd recommend for pure gaming purposes.  

2. AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB 

GPU Cores: 2,048 | Base Clock: 1,168MHz | Boost Clock: 1,244MHz | GFLOPS: 5,095 | Memory: 4GB GDDR5 | Memory Clock: 7 GT/s | Memory Bandwidth: 224GB/s  

Good for 1080p gaming often faster in DX12'Budget' pricing uses more power than GTX 1660/1060Only 4GB VRAM While nowhere near the top of our list for performance, this is a great value pick if you're looking to game on a budget. AMD's Polaris architecture has been around a few years, and while it's beginning to show its age, it's also significantly cheaper now than when it launched. It's an excellent card to tackle the current 1080p era of gaming, and if you're still leaning on integrated graphics or an older card, it's a cheap upgrade. 

Overall, the RX 570 4GB is a close match with Nvidia's GTX 1650 but falls behind the GTX 1650 Super. Game choice and settings are a factor, as well as current prices. Depending on where you live, it's a tossup between this and the 1650 Super. It draws more power than Nvidia's Turing-in-a-GTX-shell 16-series of cards and the 1060, but it can also regularly be had for $30-40 less than Nvidia's closer competitors. 

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super  

GPU Cores: 3,072 | Base Clock: 1,650MHz | Boost Clock: 1,815MHz | GFLOPS: 11,151 | Memory: 8GB GDDR6 | Memory Clock: 15.5 GT/s | Memory Bandwidth: 496GB/s  

Performance close to a 2080Same starting price as the base 2070 (no FE premium)Handles 4K at high/medium settings admirablyAs with the 2060, a very iterative release

The ray tracing future may sound great, but what if you can't afford $700 or more on a graphics card? That's where Nvidia's RTX 2070 Super enters the picture, the middle option of the new lineup. The 2070 Super retails at $499, the same price as the vanilla 2070 at launch, and offers a substantial performance improvement. That's still a lot of money for a graphics card, and the old 2070 is only slightly faster than the previous generation 1080 Ti (see below), at least in games that don't support DLSS—which is still most games.

The RTX 2070 Super moves to the TU104 chip from the base version's TU106, enables more cores, and increases clockspeeds. The performance bump is pretty predictable but also very welcome when it doesn't come with an increase in price. As a play to stay ahead of AMD's RX 5700 and 5700 XT launch, it's very convincing, though as a new product stack it's not earth-shaking.  

4. Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super 

GPU Cores: 2,560 | Base Clock: 1,605MHz | Boost Clock: 1,770MHz | GFLOPS: 9,062 | Memory: 8GB GDDR6 | Memory Clock: 14 GT/s | Memory Bandwidth: 448GB/s 

If you want to play games at 1080p or 1440p on a 144Hz display, the 2060 Super has the chops to handle most games at close to high to ultra quality. It's about 10 percent faster than the previous generation GTX 1080, and basically matches AMD's new RX 5700 XT.

For DXR and ray tracing games, 1080p with DLSS often works well, and in a few cases 1440p with DLSS. Don't be shy about turning the ray tracing setting down a notch as well, as in most games so far there's not much visual difference between ultra and high quality DXR modes.  

5. AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT   

GPU Cores: 2,560 | Base Clock: 1,605MHz | Boost Clock: 1,905MHz | GFLOPS: 9,754 | Memory: 8GB GDDR6 | Memory Clock: 14 GT/s | Memory Bandwidth: 448GB/s   

Outperforms the 2060 Super for the same priceEfficient new RDNA architectureOften beats the Radeon VIINo ray tracing hardware or driver supportRuns a bit hot. AMD's Radeon RX 5700 XT uses the Navi 10 GPU and is the first major 7nm GPU to hit the market. The 5700 XT is technically the middle offering, between the base 5700 and the 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition, and takes full advantage of the shiny new RDNA architecture update and a capacious 8GB of GDDR6 to deliver performance just barely ahead of Nvidia's 2060 Super, for a slightly lower price. 

The 5700 XT is a fantastic card if you're looking to push really high frame rates on a high refresh rate display at 1080p, or you crave a stable 60(ish) FPS at QHD. With AMD's last minute price drop (knocking the 5700 XT down to $399), it's an extremely viable alternative to Nvidia's 2060 Super.