The Best Video Card Buyer’s Guide – Spring 2025
Get Your Game On!
If you’re a PC gamer or HTPC enthusiast looking for the best graphics cards on the market at every price point, you’ve come to the right place! Our list profiles the best video cards on the market, starting at $100 and going up well over $1000!
The GPU Market is Full of Surprises!
For Spring 2025, we honestly thought we’d have more recommendations, but the market has proven to be pretty difficult to navigate. First off, the top-end RTX 5090 from Nvidia, while impressive, is vaporware, and we won’t even list it at this point. If you have $5000 to burn on a GPU, you can find yourself a scalper to sell you one! For everyone else, we have decent deals from both AMD and Nvidia, with AMD more or less owning the budget and mid-range market, and Nvidia steamrolling the high-end and premium segments of the market with the RTX 5070, 5070 Ti, and 5080.
We had hoped that AMD would be a knight in shining armor, restoring hope in the high-end, but its much-touted RX 9070 XT came in far too expensive (and by that we mean actual prices, not MSRP), so we’re giving up on AMD’s next-gen options at this point. To keep this simple, if you need a GPU under $500 for gaming, go AMD, if you need a GPU over $500 for gaming, go Nvidia, and if you need a GPU for content creation, go Nvidia. But read on for all of our specific picks at every pricepoint!
Parting Thoughts
Products shown in this guide will link to Amazon or Newegg in the US, and our Amazon links will auto-convert for our readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of the EU. If you decide to purchase one of the cards we profile, please use the links we provide, which helps support continued development of this guide.
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Video Card –Zotac GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5
$116The Guru’s TipThis efficient, low-profile card will be supported by nearly every PC, and provides an HDMI 2.0 output that supports anything up to a 4K monitor or TV. That means the sky’s the limit in terms of what you connect to it. And this GDDR5 version is far faster than the weaker DDR4 versions that Nvidia snuck in after the fact. Translation: not all GT 1030 cards are the same!While not a gaming card, this still has plenty of uses! It's perfect for older systems without support for ultra-high resolution monitors (i.e., above 1080p), as well as any system without built-in graphics.
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Video Card –Asrock Radeon RX 6600 8GB @Newegg
$220The Guru’s TipJump into serious PC gaming today with the Radeon RX 6600 8GB. It has plenty of power to tackle any modern game, easily beating any Nvidia GeForce GPU anywhere near its pricepoint. And this model offers a compact yet effective cooler at a great price.This is a seriously-fast budget gaming card, blowing by the GeForce RTX 3050, which costs far more!
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Video Card –XFX Radeon RX 7600 SWFT210 8GB
$320The Guru’s TipGet into serious PC gaming today with the Radeon RX 7600 8GB. It has plenty of power to tackle any modern game, and has no competition from Nvidia GPUs at its pricepoint.This card is a serious step up from the RX 6600, and far less expensive than competing Nvidia cards.
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Video Card –XFX Radeon RX 7700XT 12GB
$480The Guru’s TipThe Radeon RX 7700 XT 12GB has impressive gaming power, beating Nvidia’s similarly-priced offerings by a huge margin. Plus, it has the added advantage of 12GB of VRAM, which makes it much more future-proof too!GPUs in the critical $400-$600 price range are surprisingly hard to find - right now, the RX 7700XT is very likely all you'll find, and it's a very decent card for the price.
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Video Card –MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12GB Shadow
$600The Guru’s TipThe RTX 5070 offers amazing performance and amazing efficiency, surpassing the 4070 by over 20% at the same launch price. This model’s dual-fan cooler will keep temperatures in check and noise levels down, without going overboard on size.It's great to have Nvidia back in the price-performance race! This is also our pick for a fantastic app accelerator for video production and other professional uses, offering a tremendous boost without going overboard on price.
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Video Card –GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC
$970The Guru’s TipThe RTX 5070 Ti improves upon the 4070 Ti Super, nearly equaling the last-gen 4080 in the process. It has 16GB of VRAM and a robust 256-bit memory bus, plus ultra-fast GDDR7 VRAM. And this model from Gigabyte uses three oversized fans for excellent performance and low noise.AMD tried to compete with the 5070 Ti but failed. The RX 9070 XT was supposed to be a little slower but a lot less expensive. Instead, it's a little slower and around the same price, making the 5070 Ti a better all around package.
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Video Card –Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Gaming OC
$1300The Guru’s TipThe RTX 5080 is the ultimate GPU ever sold for under $1500. It has advanced Ray Tracing and DLSS technology, and this model from Gigabyte has a powerful triple-fan cooler and a factory overclock, along with sweet ARBG lighting!The 5080 is essentially the best GPU you can buy today, and nearly matches the older RTX 4090, which has been discontinued. While the 5090 is much faster, it's also not a product you can actually buy!
Video Cards
- Video Card – Zotac GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 ($116)
- Video Card – Asrock Radeon RX 6600 8GB @Newegg ($220)
- Video Card – XFX Radeon RX 7600 SWFT210 8GB ($320)
- Video Card – XFX Radeon RX 7700XT 12GB ($480)
- Video Card – MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12GB Shadow ($600)
- Video Card – GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC ($970)
- Video Card – Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Gaming OC ($1300)
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The Monitor Buyer's Guide
What's the use of a new video card if you don't have an awesome monitor to use with it?!?
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The Keyboard & Mouse Buyer's Guide
A fast GPU won't get you anywhere without the right gaming keyboard and mouse!
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Speaker & Headset Buyer's Guide
No serious PC is complete without the right audio equipment, so don't miss our guide for the best picks!