The Best Video Card Buyer’s Guide – Winter 2024

By Ari Altman | Published February 3, 2024 | Updated February 3, 2024

MSI RTX 4080Get 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 10 best video cards on the market, starting at $100 and going up well into the thousands!

The Sky is Falling on GPU Prices, Hoorah!

For Winter 2024, there’s nothing but good news for gamers and content creators who want to get their hands on a great GPU, as long as they don’t need the top end RTX 4090 (more on that later). Thanks to fantastic competition between AMD and Nvidia in the mid- and high-end, performance per dollar has never been higher.

Despite the good times, you still have to be an informed buyer, because older gear continues to sit at inflated prices. For example, in the mainstream market, you could end up paying far too much for really old Nvidia cards. We recommend AMD’s Radeon RX 6600 and 7600 series exclusively for gamers on a budget. It isn’t even a close call. We also like the older RX 6800, which sits at an incredible pricepoint, beating newer, more expensive GPUs.

For high-end gamers, things are more competitive. Next-gen starts at the $600 pricepoint with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB. It’s everything gamers have wanted from Nvidia: amazing performance that beats top-rated last-gen GPUs, along with a lower price and far lower power consumption. Jumping up to $700, we switch over to AMD, where the RX 7900 XT 20GB is simply unbeatable.

Now, when we step up to the truly elite, it’s easy: at $1000, we recommend the GeForce RTX 4080 Super 16GB, which has two huge advantages over its similarly-priced competition from AMD (in the form of the RX 7900 XTX): far better Ray Tracing performance, and far lower power consumption. And then if you simply must have it all, you go for the RTX 4090 24GB. It is so far ahead of anything else that it might as well be next year’s best GPU, and frankly, its price reflects that, as it’s now a well above its original MSRP, and likely to stay there until the RX 5000 series arrives in 2025!

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.

  • Video Card

    Zotac GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5

    $100
    This 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!

    The Guru’s Tip

    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.

  • Video Card

    PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter 8GB

    $200
    Jump 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.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This is a seriously-fast budget gaming card, blowing by the GeForce RTX 3050, which costs far more!

  • Video Card

    XFX Radeon RX 7600 SWFT210 8GB

    $260
    Get 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.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This card is 20% faster than the 6600 above, which will be noticeable in a lot of games.

  • Video Card

    XFX Radeon RX 6800 16GB SWFT319

    $411
    It’s time to get gaming again! The Radeon RX 6800 16GB has impressive gaming power, beating the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, while offering double the VRAM, which makes it far more future-proof! And this model has a powerful 3-fan cooler to keep temperatures in check.

    The Guru’s Tip

    While this card is now a generation old, it's faster than anything either Nvidia or AMD has released at this pricepoint, and has more VRAM too, which makes it an easy pick as long as it's available.

  • Video Card

    MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB Ventus 2X OC

    $610
    The RTX 4070 Super offers amazing performance and amazing efficiency, surpassing the original 4070 by 15% at the same launch price. This model’s dual-slot, dual-fan cooler with oversized fans will keep temperatures in check and noise levels down, without filling up your system. Plus it has a factory overclock to give it an extra boost.

    The Guru’s Tip

    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.

  • Video Card

    XFX Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB MERC310 Black

    $725
    AMD broke new ground with its RX 7900 series, and the 7900 XT is a perfect showcase for that. Offering RTX 3090 Ti-stomping performance for far less money, it immediately put every last-gen GPU in its price range out of contention. And with 20GB of VRAM, it’s future-proof too! This awesome model from XFX uses the stylish and effective MERC310 cooler, which is even better than the reference cooler from AMD!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This pick is so easy - there's nothing that comes close for the price!

  • Video Card

    Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB Trinity @Newegg

    $800
    The RTX 4070 Ti Super improves upon the 4070 Ti by using the GPU behind the impressive 4080. That means it gets 16GB and a robust 256-bit memory bus, plus more GPU cores. Translation: it beats last gen’s king-of-the-hill RTX 3090 Ti while using far less power and at a far lower price. And this model from Zotac is fitted with a powerful triple-fan cooler for excellent performance and low noise.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This pick is a bit tough, as the 4070 Ti Super is a bit slower than the RX 7900 XT above in many games, but has far superior Ray Tracing performance. For most folks, we recommend the Radeon, but if you're a die-hard fan of Ray Tracing or Nvidia's features, go with the RTX 4070 Ti Super.

  • Video Card

    PNY GeForce RTX 4080 Super 16GB Verto

    $1000
    The RTX 4080 blew away the previous king-of-the-hill RTX 3090 Ti while using far less power, and with much more advanced Ray Tracing and DLSS technology. And this “Super” model offers even more cores, more memory bandwidth, and even lower power use, all for less money.

    The Guru’s Tip

    The 4080 Super offers similar rasterization performance to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, but its Ray Tracing performance is far superior, and at this level of GPU power, you can definitely take advantage of that.

  • Video Card

    Asus GeForce RTX 4090 TUF OC @Newegg

    $1850
    Hail to the king! The absolutely mind-blowing RTX 4090 24GB goes beyond extreme, beating the RTX 3090 Ti by 60%, an insane gen-on-gen leap in performance. And this model from Asus offers amazing cooling thanks to the massive triple-slot, triple-fan cooler!

    The Guru’s Tip

    The RTX 4090 is truly the no-compromise GPU, offering mind-blowing performance, as long as you have the power supply to keep it happy! We recommend nothing less than a 1000W unit.

  • Video Card

    MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X 24G @Newegg

    $2100
    As if the RTX 4090 weren’t impressive enough, this model from MSI takes the 4090 to the max, thanks to the all-in-one liquid cooler, including a 240mm radiator. It will keep the 450W monster of a GPU under control and at maximum boost!

    The Guru’s Tip

    If you have room in your system for the massive 240mm liquid radiator that this card uses for cooling, it's what you want. The 4090 is an ultra-hot beast, and a liquid cooler allows you to exhaust that heat directly out of your case, rather than have it warm up the rest of your components!

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