In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the best graphics cards for gaming you can buy in 2023.
A graphics card is one of the most important components of a gaming PC, if not the most. But just like most PC components, there’s no single GPU that works for everyone. While some users may want the absolute ultimate gaming experience on PC, others may want something that offers the best value, albeit less powerful. Many are even looking for the best budget graphics cards for a casual 1080p gaming experience.
Although the market is certainly in a better state than it was in 2020 or 2021, things aren’t really great especially for gamers on a budget. The cheapest cards from AMD only perform well in PCs with the latest version of PCIe (which kinda defeats the purpose of trying to build on a budget), Nvidia doesn’t even sell new cards below $250, and Intel’s brand-new GPUs are actually pretty good but are held back by buggy drivers. Even people who normally buy high-end cards might have qualms about the latest GPUs from AMD and Nvidia, which start at $800 at the time of writing.
Still, some GPUs are better than others, and a few are even just good in their own right. Here are our current recommendations for what graphics cards are worth your money in 2023.
We’re not exactly happy about it, but Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Ti is the best overall gaming GPU you can buy right now. This position originally belonged to the RTX 3080 10GB, and if you could still find it for $700 we’d still be recommending it since the 4070 Ti goes for at least $800. Sadly, RTX 30 is getting phased out and even though you can find them pretty easily, they’re all being sold for hundreds of dollars above MSRP. It’s just not worth buying the 3080 (or almost any 30 series card for that matter) anymore.
You may recall that Nvidia tried to launch an RTX 4080 12GB but the backlash about the specifications and pricing forced Nvidia to cancel it. Well, the 4070 Ti is the 4080 12GB but with a new name and a $100 discount. That makes it a little easier to swallow its fairly unimpressive specs: 7680 Cuda cores, a boost clock speed of 2,610MHz, 12GB of GDDR6X, and a memory bandwidth of 504.2GB/s. That means the RTX 4070 Ti is less than half of an RTX 4090, so it’s not outstanding value, but no GPU is right now.
At least the 4070 Ti performs well. According to reviews, the 4070 Ti is roughly comparable to the RTX 3090 Ti at both 1440p and 4K. Ray tracing performance is also about the same as the 3090 Ti. The 4070 Ti’s single distinct performance advantage over the 3090 Ti is support for DLSS 3, and although this new version of DLSS is prone to visual artifacts, Nvidia is very likely to spend lots of effort trying to patch those issues up.
The bottom line with the RTX 4070 Ti is that it’s the best overall because you can’t really buy many last-generation GPUs for a good price anymore. The only obvious alternative is AMD’s RX 7900 XT, which has equal performance in most games under normal conditions but has slightly worse ray tracing performance and lacks a bit in the features department. At least the 4070 Ti costs $800 instead of $900.
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is AMD’s brand-new flagship GPU, with a level of performance somewhere between the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4090 while being cheaper than both of them thanks to its $999 MSRP. Compared to the last generation flagship RX 6900 XT, it has 8GB more GDDR6 VRAM, more cores, more memory bandwidth, and also features AMD’s brand-new chiplet design for GPUs.
The 7900 XTX also improves significantly on one of AMD’s weakest points in the past few years: ray tracing. The 7900 XTX has significantly more performance in ray tracing than the old RX 6900 XT and nips on the heels of Nvidia’s RTX 40 series. The 7900 XTX doesn’t support DLSS, but it does support FSR, which is an open-source alternative with a similar level of visual quality. FSR 3 is slated to launch in 2023, and it looks like it’ll be very similar to DLSS 3 with similar strengths and weaknesses.
Among high-end GPUs, the RX 7900 XTX has carved out a good spot for itself thanks to its high performance but relatively low price compared to the new RTX 40 series. That being said, older high-end RX 6000 GPUs are also good choices if you think spending a grand on a graphics card isn’t a great use of your money.
At around $300, the RX 6600 XT is perhaps the best GPU for those concerned primarily with value but still want a fast graphics card.
