I’m going to be honest with you here. Whether you want one of thebest graphics cardsor justanyGPU whatsoever, it’s not going to be easy. The GPU market is, frankly, a bit of a mess right now.
It’s not as bad as it was back in 2021, but that doesn’t mean it’s any good — so much so that I’ve spent the better part of this year trying to convince peoplenotto buy a GPU. But, assuming you really want to buy a new GPU, the good news is that you do have a few options. Let’s check them out.
Intel Arc B580
This isthe one GPU I keep recommending to friendsand whoever else cares to listen, and shockingly, it’s not from AMD or Nvidia. It’s Intel’s Arc B580. I dare say that this is the best GPU for most people right now, but there are a couple of caveats.
The best thing about the Arc B580 is, of course, its memory interface. This GPU sports 12GB of VRAM, where other Nvidia and AMD alternatives are stuck with 8GB. The Arc B580 also enjoys a wider memory bus (192-bit versus 128-bit), which helps with bandwidth.
Before we go over the benchmarks, keep in mind that the Arc B580 launched last year, and is firmly a last-gen GPU. With that said, the B580 can still keep up in the performance bracket that it belongs to.
In our own benchmarks of theArc B580, the GPU outpaced the RTX 4060 and the RX 7600 XT at 1080p. It fell behind the RTX 4060 Ti, and no wonder — that’s a much pricier GPU.
Considering its specs, the B580 is inherently a 1080p graphics card. Remember how I said it’s the best GPU for most people? Well, that’s not wrong — most people still play at 1080p.
However, when compared to Nvidia and AMD alternatives, the Arc B580 handles 1440p relatively well, and that’s largely thanks to the more robust VRAM interface. It beats the RTX 4060 by a solid margin, and it almost keeps up with the RTX 4060 Ti. It also beats Intel’s last-gen flagship card, the Arc A770.
Two caveats, though. One: This isn’t a GPU that’ll breeze through the likes ofIndiana Jones and the Great Circleat max settings without breaking a sweat. It’s a budget GPU, so keep your expectations in check.
Two: Much like most GPUs, it’s currently overpriced, but not terribly so. If you’re able to score it near the $249 MSRP, snap it up. The good news is that I just found one for you.
Check out theASRock Steel Legend Arc B580 for $269 at Newegg.
Nvidia RTX 5060
Nvidia’s part of the mainstream market is kind of all over the place right now — so much so that I often get asked which GPU to buy. There’s nothing wrong — we’re just spoiled for choice here, although not every GPU is equally good.
The RTX 5060 and the RTX 4060 are both selling at MSRP, which is a miracle in and of itself. This means that you can pick either one when shopping, and although many people had a lot to say about the RTX 5060 not being that great, there’s little reason to pick the RTX 4060 apart from wanting to make a point.
What, exactly, is the problem with the RTX 5060? It all comes down to the 8GB VRAM. Modern GPUs often require more than that, which makes the RTX 5060 a poor choice if you want future-proofing. To that, I say: If you don’t mind playing at lower settings, you’ll get by just fine with 8GB VRAM for a while yet.
Gen-on-gen improvements are solid here, with the RTX 5060 beating the RTX 4060 by anywhere between 10% and 20%. Seeing as both are priced the same, you might as well get the objectively better option — but there are a few GPUs in that similar price bracket, including the RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 5060 Ti, and AMD’s RX 9060 XT, not to mention last-gen AMD options.
If you want something from Nvidia and you’re worried about the low VRAM, check out theRTX 5060 Ti with 16GB of memory. But if you just want a GPU that does the job, you canbuy the RTX 5060 right nowon Amazon.
AMD RX 9060 XT
AMD’s Radeon RX 9060 XT repeats past mistakes, and yet, it’s a solid GPU. Compared to the(brilliant, but overpriced) RX 9070 XT, this one gives you a more affordable graphics card.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll tell you that the RX 9060 XT has a similar VRAM thing going on as many other GPUs in this price range. It comes with either 8GB or 16GB, but both with a 128-bit memory bus, which affects the bandwidth in a big way. It also doesn’t have GDDR7 memory like Nvidia equivalents do; AMD chose to use slower, older GDDR6 VRAM here.
Fortunately, reviewers still have good things to say about the RX 9060 XT — provided you buy the 16GB version.
The AMD card trades blows with Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti — yes, even the 16GB model — while being significantly cheaper. It also outpaces both versions of the RTX 4060 Ti. This is at 1080p; scaling up to 1440p allows the RX 9060 XT 16GB to pull ahead of the 8GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti. Again, it’s all about video memory. Having more VRAM helps the GPU handle higher resolutions, and this shows up in benchmarks time and time again.
The RX 9060 XT launched with a $349 price tag for the 16GB version, but it’s a little pricier now.You can buy it for $380 on Amazon, and at that price, it’s still absolutely worth it.
Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
In our in-depthreview of the RTX 5070 Ti, we dubbed it “the right GPU at the wrong time.” This is still very true, and yet, I now feel comfortable recommending this card to you as an option, but only — and I really do meanonly— if you need something to play games at 1440p and above. If you’re fine with 1080p, steer clear, because this one is still overpriced in more ways than one.
The RTX 5070 Ti addresses a lot of the issues I’ve discussed that the other GPUs didn’t manage to avoid. It has plenty of VRAM (16GB) and a more robust 256-bit memory interface, which makes it better suited to run games at higher resolutions. It’s also a pretty powerful GPU in its own right.
Compared to its predecessors, the RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4070 Ti Super (that name will never stop being a mouthful), the 5070 Ti does a surprisingly good job. In our benchmarks, it showed a marked lead.
InCyberpunk 2077, the RTX 5070 Ti beat its predecessor by 26%. Those are impressive gains, especially at 4K, but they vary from game to game — for example, inForza Horizon 5,the RTX 5070 Ti was 20% faster. What’s more important, though, is that all games were super playable, with onlyCyberpunk 2077dipping below 60 frames per second (fps).
The downside of the RTX 5070 Ti is, of course, its price. Not only is its MSRP fairly high ($750), but it also sells above that price most of the time. Still, it’s the best way to get a high-end GPU right now without massively overspending, which is why I recommend it for enthusiast gamers.
The RTX 5070 Ti sells for as little as $790 on Amazon, and that’s a better price than I’ve seen in a while, so check it out.
