“Which is the best Graphics Card that will fit my budget?”
This is the most common question asked by global professional and amateur gamers, after all, everyone’s looking for the best ways to save their hard-earned money. But gamers also keep one thing in mind-never compromise on quality, especially when they plan to buy Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for their gaming machine.
Now, the critical part here is that the technology behind each new GPU can be interesting on their own, but it’s always good to crank up the details about their configuration to make gaming a better experience.
Over the past few years, there has been noticed a great change in the technology of graphics cards. Earlier in the past, Graphic cards were designed with normal technology and not for heavy gaming, but the technology has changed a lot. And with the leaders like AMD and Nvidia launching most advanced graphics cards at 1080p and 1440p and 4K buying a very good GPU has become a very essential decision for professional as well as beginner gamers.
The best GPU you buy for your gaming machine will make your gaming PC the only device where you’d want to enjoy your game. And to help you make a better decision, we’re undergone rigorous research for many weeks. During the research, we identified the top GPUs available on the marker, explored their configurations, identified the technologies used and also tested these GPUs on our gaming PCs.
So, before we jump to the list of best GPUs available on the market, let’s explore the Guide to Buy best GPUs.
How Much You Can Spend?
One of the most important considerations of buying GPUs is the price. The cost of GPUs varies according to the performance and technology used, with super low-end cards starting under $100 and high-end models going for more than $1,200. When buying a very good GPU, you shall be ready to spend at least a couple hundred dollars for a mainstream card that come with mid-level performance.
AMD or Nvidia?
Search for the best GPUs available online and you’ll have virtually hundreds of graphics cards from dozens of manufacturers. However, when it comes to choosing the best GPUs for gaming, there are only two brands that make the GPUs that power these components: Nvidia and AMD.
Intel is also preparing itself to be in the list of top GPU manufacturers by 2020, but it can’t be added in this list for now.
If compared between the two top GPU manufacturers, AMD has the competitive upper-mid-range and budget GPUs available, but these chips tend to be less power-efficient if compared with Nvidia’s latest offerings.
However, on the other hands, Nvidia seems to have lost the race as AMD can outperform the company’s top-end RTX cards today.
So, before going to make the last decision, it is very important to analyze the features and specifications of the GPUs online, unless you have a preference for a particular company. One more thing, make sure to keep in mind whether your monitor supports AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync. If your desktop doesn’t support any of these technologies, then go with either GPU brand.
GPU Specs – Which Matter & Which Don’t?
- Graphics card memory amount – If you are an avid gamer and play quite often, then go with the card that comes with 3-4GB at 1080p. If you plan to play with all the settings turned up or, you must be ready to shed some extra money. And if you’re gaming at very high resolutions such as 4K, 8GB or more is ideal.
- TDP – This is very important while buying GPUs online, but the sad part here is that not many people know about the importance of TDP. TDP (or Thermal Design Power) is a measurement of heat dissipation. It will give you an idea about how many watts you’ll need to run your card at stock settings.
- Power Connectors – If you are a serious gamer, then you’d like to draw more than the standard maximum of 75 watts that the PCIe slot provides. Some GPUs have one of these connectors, while some come with two or six. You can either upgrade to the adapter that draws power from a couple of SATA or Molex connectors to save your money.
- CUDA Cores / Stream Processors – This is the number of processing units in the GPU. It is similar to the number of core in a processor of your desktop.
Best Gaming GPUs Online:
This is one of the AMD’s best GPUs available online that comes with two 95 mm fans with advanced airflow section blades, designed to deliver more powerful yet quieter cooling versus smaller standard fans. Sapphire 11265-01-20G Radeon Nitro+ RX 580 comes with intelligent fan controlling III with zero DB cooling and precise fan control ability.
This is the upgraded version of AMD’s NITRO+ models as it has upped the stakes with its new Fan Check system that allows the professional gamers to check the cooler’s status via Sapphire TriXX 3.0 software.
And if you enjoy playing with VR box, then it’s the right choice as it is VR ready GPU so you can embark on virtual adventures for the assured smoother and wonderfully immersive gaming experience.
Apart from this, the Sapphire version comes with some really cool benefits like 8GB memory, 1750 MHz memory speed, AMD Radeon RX 480 co processor, etc. Its dust-repelling dual ball bearings offer exceptional reliability.
This is another very competitively advanced GPU available by AMD. It comes with whopping 8GB GDDR5 memory RAM and VR ready technology for the better-personalized gaming experience. It is also equipped with XFX Double Dissipation Cooling Technology for optimal cooling and performance without using much of the power as it has a power requirement of only 500 watts. The XFX RX 580 series graphics comes with the latest Polaris architecture which means you get 4th Gen GCN graphics cores and the revolutionary Next FinFET 14 process technology for enhanced performance and efficiency.
XFX True Clock Technology by AMD in this GPU lets you control clock speeds which may otherwise hinder overall computer performance. Unlike other GPUs, XFX True Clock Technology is software controlled, which means you get better clock speed performance optimization, so your card is always running at an optimized performance level.
Please note that XFX RX 580 series graphics come with an OC+ rating and each of them is tested at the factory to go even beyond XFX’s True Clock. It also features all new Unibody VRM Heatsink construction that is prepared to enable direct transfer to the primary heatsink and heat pipes, which means it has more than 40% better thermal efficiency.
The Radeon Pro Duo is a VR Ready GPU, designed specifically for the VR gaming professionals, experience designers, and developers. If VT is something you love and it can be an important aspect of making the final choice, then XFX AMD Radeon Pro Duo is the right choice you can make. It comes with the latest AMD LiquidVR technology that enabled rich and immersive VR experiences with the ability to optimize VR content creation.
AMD launched this GPU based on the Polaris GPU architecture, which is the same technology in Apple’s new MacBook Pro 13 and 15-inch notebooks. The Radeon Pro Duo may be called as a dual Radeon Nanos on a single PCB, with a self-contained water cooling solution. No matter how heavy games you play on your desktop, this GPU is likely to never break a sweat and operates extremely quiet and well-behaved.
This one comes from the house of Nvidia and is loaded with innovative new gaming technologies, which make it the perfect choice for the professional gaming experience, especially if you have a love for the high-definition games. EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC GAMING GPU is powered by Nvidia Pascal, the most advanced and latest GPU architecture ever created, designed to deliver brilliant performance even with the heaviest games available.
On the configuration side, the EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC Gaming GPU comes with 1607 MHz real Base clock and 6144MB GDDR5 memory. It comes with a revolutionary latest 360-degree image capture EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC technology and it runs only with 400 Watt power supply.
Easily connect this GPU to your desktop PC using 6-pin PCIe power connector so no more hassles of dealing with multiple connectors. Since we are talking about the latest technology, it is good to mention here that this GPU is fully VR Ready and comes with HDMI USB 3 ATX Motherboard (B350 GAMING PLUS).
Its double ball bearing technology offer 4x longer lifespan to your advanced GPU even with rigorous gaming experience.
Hold your breath for here comes the most competitive and most powerful GPU available on the market. It features the latest Pascal gaming GPU architecture and 8GB GDDR5 for the maximum performance level.
Why Pascal GPU architecture? It gives your desktop the maximum performance ability as it is designed to deliver up to 3X the performance of previous-generation graphics cards and you get the opportunity to enjoy the personalized gaming experience with VT technology.
This GPU has been tested on the most advanced and heavy games like Witcher 3, Deus Ex {DX12} and Tomb Raider {DX12}. And the performance has been above the satisfactory level always. Its metal fan shroud helps convey this card’s exceptional build quality but this doesn’t mean it’s too heavy to handle. It’s very similar to GeForce GTX 1080 FE, though.
There are a dual-link DVI-D port, three DisplayPort 1.4-capable connectors and an HDMI 2.0 interface. With Nvidia’s other Founders Edition cards, you get access to five display outputs, four of which can be used simultaneously.
Nvidia has launched four versions of its Tesla GPUs, out of which the NVIDIA Tesla K40 is most advanced and reliable one. Similar to the other fully enabled GK110 cards available online, Tesla K40 is a moderate spec bump that sees NVIDIA enabling the 15th SMX already present on GK110, but it offers better and stronger clock speeds.
It comes with a whopping 12 GB GDDR5 memory for better and smoother professional gaming. Its 8 pin power cable and 6 pin PCIe power cable make it compatible for almost every gaming desktop available out there.
We have compared its performance with the old generation of K20-family supercomputers, and the K40 was able to deliver 25- to 40-percent boost in performance with 2x memory.
Besides the 745MHz default clockspeed, K40 cards also come with 3000 MHz memory speed, that would have equally significant performance impacts.
Conclusion
Of course, there are many other brands and models available on the market, but AMD and Nvidia are the top names among the global leaders of gaming GPU manufactures. These brands not just design appealing GPUs, but also their components have been tested and approved by the expert gamers in various gaming championships around the world.
And your choice of buying the best suitable gaming GPU depends upon many factors like the price, the size, the performance and of course its cooling capacity.
For the professional and avid gamers, buying from any of these above-mentioned GPU may be the right pick and if you are a beginner or just enjoying your journey of a professional gamer but don’t want to spend too much on the gaming graphics card, then there’s a wide range of options available online that start from $100.
Just look for the best Gaming GPUs online and you’ll have a wide range of them available that would match your budget and specifications, but for the better and unbeatable performance, there’s nothing you can choose apart from Nvidia and AMD as their products come with latest GPU architecture and Pascal by Nvidia is really cool and offers better performance.