BEST GPUs To Buy 2023
In this post we plan on delving into the landscape of GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) to help users decide what options available cater to their diverse needs for both gaming enthusiasts and work professionals that require powerful rendering and AI / machine learning capabilities in 2023 and early 2024. One common trend about most of these graphics cards that we would like to address is that, if you’re a gamer looking for raw performance at a reasonable price AMD is most likely going to have what you’re looking for at many of these price points. However, if you believe you’re also going to need a GPU capable of fast rendering times in certain softwares such as Blender, After Effects, Premiere Pro, etc. or need a GPU that is fast and efficient in the new emerging AI tools we recommend going for Nvidia instead, though it might cost you slightly more.
Best GPUs To Get Under $200 USD
For our readers that are just venturing into the realm of PC gaming, we recommend the AMD RX 6600 as an excellent entry-level choice that can be picked up for around $200 USD on Amazon right now from several manufacturers. In this case, for the manufacturer we recommend picking up a XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600. This card comes equipped with 8GB GDDR6 with an RDNA 2 architecture, and has a clock speed of 2044 MHz and a boost clock that can reach up to 2491 Mhz. If you’re eyeing this card as your next graphics card, we recommend buying it soon as many manufacturers are selling the last of these cards to make way for the newer 7000 series cards that superseded the 6000 GPU line. With this GPU, you can expect entry level performance that should work just fine for somebody that plans to game at a native resolution of 1080p.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Radeon RX 6600 CORE Gaming Graphics Card
Best GPUs To Get Under $400 USD
Our next price range is for GPUs under $400 rather than under $300 because the best option around that price was just barely above $300, but it’s so much better than the other options in that range we felt we had to talk about it over the others. That option is the RX 6700 XT, specifically the XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD RX 6700 XT which will currently set you back $319 USD on Amazon. Again, similar to the RX 6600 we recommend buying these soon as inventory of these cards will soon come to a close to make way for more of the 7000 series cards. As for the specifications of this card, it comes with 12GB GDDR6 of memory, a normal clock speed of 2321 MHz, and a boost clock speed that goes all the way up to 2581MHz. The card also sports an impressive looking Triple Fan design paired with a great looking design that would look perfect in any PC build that wants to look the part. If you purchase one of these for your build, you can expect solid performance that should work great even at a native resolution of 1440p.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming Graphics Card
Best GPUs To Get Under $500 USD
For our under $500 USD choices, our recommendations are based on what you wish to do with the hardware. If your primary goal of purchasing a graphics card in this price range is to play video games, particularly at a native resolution of 1440p, you should purchase an RX 7700 XT. We recommend getting the XFX Speedster QICK319 RX 7700 XT which comes equipped with 12GB GDDR6, a GPU clock speed of 1784 MHz as well as a boost clock up to 2599 MHz. At the moment, this graphics card will cost you $439.99 USD on Amazon which isn’t that bad though if you can afford it we recommend going with our under $600 option (the RX 7800 XT) instead as the price difference between the two cards isn’t that great, but what they bring to the table is.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): XFX Speedster QICK319 RX 7700 XT Black Gaming Graphics Card
Before moving on to our under $600 USD options though, we do have one other card we recommend for under $500 USD, particularly if the primary goal of your computer system isn’t gaming but is more along the lines of rendering, 3D modeling, and AI image generation. That card is the 4060 Ti 16 GB variant, specifically the GIGABYTE 4060 TI OC 16GB model which currently goes for $489.99 USD on Amazon and comes with a core clock speed of 2595 MHz. For raw gaming performance this card is slightly worse than the RX 7700 XT, but since it’s a Nvidia card it currently outperforms the RX 7700 XT for things such as Blender 3D modeling/rendering and Stable Diffusion. Additionally, this card also allows for Ray Tracing in games that support it and DLSS 3 but if Ray Tracing is important to you we recommend getting a higher end card simply because this card, despite supporting it, lacks the ability to fully utilize Ray Tracing at a reasonable level of performance.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming OC 16G Graphics Card
Best GPUs To Get Under $600 USD
In the $600 USD and under price range we once again have two options. The first choice is the RX 7800 XT which will give you an excellent native 1440p resolution experience and a good native 4K resolution experience if you’re planning on building a top of the line system. We once again are recommending an XFX model, the XFX Speedster QICK319 RX 7800 XT which currently costs $519 USD on Amazon. This particular version of the RX 7800 XT comes equipped with a clock speed of 2430 MHz as well as 16GB GDDR6 memory (256Bit). For its price, the value it brings to the table is an absolute bargain when concerning price-to-performance.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): XFX Speedster QICK319 RX 7800 XT CORE Gaming Graphics Card
Our other sub $600 USD choice is the RTX 4070 for those users once again looking for Nvidia specific features like Ray Tracing and DLSS 3 or those that need extra performance for work/hobby related tasks. We recommend getting the ASUS Dual RTX 4070 OC model which is currently listed at $579.99 USD on Amazon. This model comes equipped with a default clock of 2475 MHz and an overclock mode of 2505 MHz as well as 12 GB GDDR6 memory. The RTX 4070 might be slower than the 7800 XT in raw performance, but just to reiterate if Ray Tracing is important to you this card will outperform the 7800 XT in those situations.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): ASUS Dual GeForce® RTX 4070 OC Edition
Best GPUs To Get Under $1000
Our final category for GPUs is our choices for high end options we believe are worth it for the users looking for the highest level of performance currently available. Now, before we list those choices off though we do want to point one thing out, which is that there are GPUs available that are better than these, specifically the 4080 and 4090, but they do not fall under the $1000 price point. In fact, the 4090 is over double that at $2390 USD on Amazon right now. At such a high price point, we believe the normal consumer doesn’t need to spend that level of money on a graphics card, especially if your goal is simply to play video games, but if you’re a professional company that needs that extra power it might be right for you.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): ASUS TUF GeForce RTX® 4090 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card
For the normal consumer though, if you want to buy the highest end graphics card you can under $1000 USD we recommend the RX 7900 XTX. Currently, you can get the XFX Speedster MERC310 RX 7900 XTX model for $979.99 USD on Amazon. Being a high end card it comes with an impressive boost clock of 2615 MHz and a massive 24GB GDDR6 memory (384bit). For that price point you can expect this card to handle a native resolution of 4K easily, making it the best choice on this entire blog post for raw gaming performance.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX Black Gaming Graphics Card
On the Nvidia side the closest option you have that remains under $1000 USD is the RTX 4070 Ti. Right now you can get the GIGABYTE RTX 4070 Ti WINDFORCE OC version of this card for $782.20 USD on Amazon, which comes with 12GB GDDR 6X (192bit) memory and a core clock speed of 2625 MHz. You can expect this card to run native 1440p resolution games no problem while also providing good performance if your system is alternatively running a native resolution of 4K. Another positive of this card is once again the Nvidia features available to it that AMD cards don’t offer, specifically Ray Tracing, DLSS 3, and again things like AI Image generation and video rendering speeds. Whatever option you decide to go with though, we believe you’ll be happy with it for the foreseeable future.
Amazon Affiliate Link (US): GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti WINDFORCE OC 12G Graphics Card