Best GPU 2025: Pick the Best Graphics Card for Your Gaming PC

When you’re mounting retired to physique oregon upgrade your gaming PC, the champion graphics cards are often the archetypal happening that comes to mind. There’s a elemental crushed for that: When it comes to PC games, GPUs are the astir impactful constituent successful determining your rig's earthy framework rates. Quite simply, astir of the time, a amended graphics paper straight results successful amended show – astatine slightest up to a point. With Nvidia's RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 cards retired present (though it's astir intolerable to really get one), present are the champion graphics cards connected the market.

TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards:

These days, GPUs person legitimately go a luxury good. With graphics cards similar the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 costing upwards of $1,999, you tin expect to wage apical dollar for apical performance. Prices are inactive mode higher than they were erstwhile the GTX 970 blew my caput successful 2014 – adjacent erstwhile adjusted for inflation. However, if you temper your expectations, you tin inactive get a coagulated gaming acquisition for a fraction of that price, particularly if you're good with gaming astatine 1440p oregon 1080p.

I’ve been reviewing graphics cards for the past 4 generations, and I’ve personally benchmarked, built with, and played games utilizing each GPU connected this list. However, if nary of these onslaught your fancy, consciousness escaped to remark beneath what benignant of gaming acquisition you’re looking for, and I’d beryllium blessed to assistance you find the cleanable paper for your build.

What to Look for successful a Graphics Card

While it would beryllium casual to conscionable archer you to get the astir almighty graphics paper connected the marketplace for the champion gaming experience, the information is that picking a GPU is thing you request to enactment a spot much thought into. not each graphics cards are created equal, you see, and everyone is going to request thing a small antithetic retired of their PCI-E brick.

The solution you play games astatine is going to beryllium the archetypal happening you privation to fig out. Whether you already person a gaming show you emotion oregon you're looking to physique up an full gaming battlestation, determine connected your solution first. This is due to the fact that a graphics paper that's large astatine 4K isn't precisely going to construe to an astonishing 1080p graphics card. Just instrumentality a look astatine the Nvidia RTX 5090. While the caller flagship flies astatine 4K, it tin really beryllium slower than overmuch cheaper graphics cards astatine 1080p, owed to CPU bottlenecking. Instead, if you're playing astatine 1080p, thing similar the Intel Arc B580 is going to beryllium a overmuch amended fit. You're inactive going to get coagulated gaming performance, but astatine a overmuch little price, which you tin usage to, well, bargain much games. Likewise, 1440p gamers are astir apt champion disconnected buying thing similar the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT oregon the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super.

Budget is besides a immense concern, and graphics cards are lone getting much costly these days. It would beryllium awesome if everyone could spend an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, but that's conscionable not the satellite we unrecorded in. These days, the level sits astir $200-$250. For that terms you tin get a coagulated 1080p graphics card, without having to spell backmost to a erstwhile generation. If you person a spot much cash, thing similar the Nvidia RTX 4060 volition unlock each of Nvidia's exclusive bells and whistles – though they're overmuch little important connected a lower-end GPU.

If you truly privation to spell all-out, you tin get an astonishing graphics paper for astir $1,000. Both the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 volition supply an awesome 4K gaming experience, and the 1 you take should yet beryllium connected however overmuch you attraction astir ray tracing. For astir radical that conscionable privation earthy gaming performance, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is astir apt going to beryllium a amended option, but you're going to privation to hold a infinitesimal for AMD's next-generation offering. I don't cognize however good the Radeon RX 9070 XT is going to execute until I benchmark it, but it should beryllium to beryllium large for 4K gaming, particularly with the upcoming FSR 4.

Luckily, it looks similar this procreation of graphics cards is going to marque 4K gaming overmuch much accessible. When I reviewed the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, I recovered that it had nary occupation breaking 60 fps successful adjacent demanding games similar Black Myth Wukong. However, much costly and almighty cards similar the RTX 5080 and 5090 are going to springiness you much breathing country for aboriginal PC games.

With much costly graphics cards, however, powerfulness is going to beryllium a large concern. You're going to privation to marque definite you cheque which powerfulness proviso you have, and cheque it against the powerfulness requirements for the graphics paper you're looking at. Something similar the Intel Arc B580 tin get distant with a 450W PSU, but you're going to privation to marque definite you person thing overmuch much almighty for the Radeon RX 7800 XT, for instance. You don't request to spell overboard and fork implicit the currency for a powerfulness proviso that offers doubly the recommended power, conscionable marque definite you person capable foodstuff to support your GPU going.

1. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The Best Graphics Card for Most People

2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Best Mainstream Graphics Card If You Want to Spend a Bit More

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The Best Nvidia Graphics Card

4. AMD Radeon RX 9070

The Best AMD Graphics Card

5. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060

The Best GPU for 1080p

Upcoming GPUs

The caller procreation of graphics cards has astir wholly landed. With the astir caller launches, the full marketplace is covered from the high-end with the RTX 5090 to the fund marketplace with the Intel Arc B580. While determination are immoderate caller cards that volition trickle retired implicit the coming months – looking astatine you RTX 5060, wherever you are – we astir apt won't spot the marketplace shingle up again until astatine slightest 2027.

Still, present mightiness not beryllium the champion clip to leap successful and bargain a graphics card, particularly if you already person a passable gaming PC. Most of the champion graphics cards are sold retired close now, and request is making the ones that stay overmuch much costly than they should be. My proposal is to hold until you tin find 1 of these graphics cards reasonably adjacent to their motorboat price, adjacent if it means waiting a mates of months. It'll beryllium worthy it.

Best Graphics Cards FAQ

AMD oregon Nvidia? Or Intel?

When it comes to which marque of graphics paper you should get, it yet comes down to your idiosyncratic penchant – adjacent if each marque has its ain unsocial advantages. Intel graphics cards are the astir affordable enactment connected the marketplace close now, but its graphics cards aren’t precisely the fastest successful the land. On the different hand, Nvidia makes the astir almighty GPUs around, but you’re going to person to wage retired the chemoreceptor for that performance.

AMD graphics cards onslaught a beauteous bully equilibrium betwixt the two, but portion the institution loves to usage open-source graphics APIs, it means you don’t get entree to immoderate of the exclusive features that Nvidia owners bask – features similar DLSS (and the caller DLSS 4). AMD has alternatives for virtually each Nvidia bundle feature, but immoderate of them simply aren’t arsenic good. See our usher to AMD vs. Nvidia GPUs for much info.

What powerfulness proviso should I get?

Graphics cards, particularly high-end ones, are sucking up much energy with each passing year. If you’re looking to physique a caller gaming PC, oregon adjacent upgrade from an older graphics card, you should truly see upgrading to 1 of the champion powerfulness supplies.

Some of the graphics cards retired determination close present tin instrumentality upwards of 450W of powerfulness by themselves, truthful you whitethorn privation to see a 1,000W powerfulness proviso – particularly if you’re going for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090.

GTX vs. RTX

Nvidia has some an RTX, oregon Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme, and GTX, Giga Texel Shader eXtreme graphics cards series, with the RTX offerings being newer, much powerful, and much expensive.

That boosted show is acknowledgment to the architecture of RTX cards, which connection some Tensor and RT cores alongside CUDA cores for amended graphics and rendering. Tensor cores alteration AI and high-performance computing tasks bringing enactment for DLSS tech to assistance with upscaling and sharpening. RT cores are dedicated to ray tracing, allowing for much realistic lighting and shadows successful scenes. Nvidia’s GTX graphics cards person a overmuch simpler architecture and don’t connection Tensor oregon RT cores. Though they inactive enactment for fund builds, GTX cards volition soon beryllium obsolete.

Where to Get the Best Graphics Cards successful the UK

There aren't excessively galore differences erstwhile it comes to the graphics cards you tin prime up successful the UK, but the main takeaway is wherever you tin acquisition them. All of the pursuing links person been updated with UK vendors, redeeming you immoderate clip and wealth if you're funny successful picking up immoderate of the graphics cards we've mentioned.

Jacqueline Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN. When she's not helping her friends and household bargain computers, you tin usually find her tinkering with her ain PC.