Good Graphics Cards For Gaming

The graphics card industry is one of the most competitive industries out there. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since the GPU (graphics processing unit) is one of the most important components of a modern computer. It is essential for complex graphics applications to run smoothly on your screen. The best monitor won’t help you much if you haven’t installed a good graphics card in your computer

Industry giants like AMD and Nvidia compete with each other and complement their amazing collections of graphics cards with increasingly powerful models. There are so many good graphics cards it can be difficult to choose the right one. We look at the most important technical aspects that you have to pay attention to when you are faced with the choice of the best graphics card. We’ll also introduce some of the cheapest graphics cards that not only offer raw graphics power but are also great value for money.

What to Look for in a Good Graphics Card for Gaming?

Modern video games can have impressive graphics. However, this only works if the graphic card fulfills some minimum requirements to provide the necessary computing power. Let’s review some important factors which will help you in the decision making and you can use them to pick the Best Graphics Card for you.

AMD vs Nvidia

AMD & Nvidia are the Giants in Graphics Cards Industry and they offer tons of great GPU which can fulfill your gaming needs. When it comes to market share, Nvidia has the most but it is surely changing as AMD is coming with some pretty amazing GPUs in the market. However, it is also true that if you pick the Nvidia GPUs, you will have more configuration options.

AMD’s graphics cards often have more computing cores for the same price and thus also higher theoretical performance. Nvidia, on the other hand, equips its graphics cards with higher clock frequencies, which ensures more performance, especially in games.

CUDA Cores & Streaming Processors

Graphics Processors come with hundreds of Cores and their basic function is to power the GPUs. In Nvidia GPUs, these cores are known as CUDA Cores and in AMD GPUs, these cores are known as Streaming Processors. No matter, what you call it their basic function is to process the information. The More CUDA Cores you have, the better performance you will get. The popular Nvidia GPUs such as Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti come with 4352 CUDA Cores, and RTX 2080 Super comes with 3072 CUDA Cores. Similarly, in AMD GPUs, RX 5700 XT comes with 2560 Streaming Processors, and RX 5700 comes with only 2304 Streaming Processors.

VRAM

Graphics Cards come with a dedicated Memory known as VRAM. VRAM plays an important factor in determining the performance of the GPU. So, if you want to play modern games at medium settings then 4 GB VRAM is enough. However, if you want to make your GPU future proof then getting a GPU with at least 6 GB VRAM is a good idea.

Memory Clock Speed

The Last Piece of the puzzle is the memory clock speed of the GPU. It is basically how many calculation cycles your card can complete every second. GPUs come with two parameters for Clock Speed: Base Clock Speed and Boost Clock Speed. Base Clock Speed is the lowest clock speed of the card and the Latter is the highest when it is under pressure. Some GPUs also come with overclocking potential which can boost performance.

These are some of the important factors which you should consider when picking the Graphics Card for your setup. We would also recommend you let your wallet influence the decision. In the next section, we have some best GPUs which not only offer great value for money but also great gaming performance.

Best Value Graphics Cards for Gaming

Now you know what to look for in Graphics Cards. Let us share some of the best Value Graphics Cards which you can buy in 2020.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 – Best Value Graphics Card

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 is the Best Value Graphics Card you can get in 2020. The best thing about this GPU is that it comes with all the goodness of the RTX Series and awesome gaming performance with a very reasonable price tag. It can easily handle the majority of the AAA Games such as GTA V or Battlefield 5 at a higher resolution such as 1080p or 1440p with a higher refresh rate. It can stretch to 4K Gaming as well with some compromised and a G-Sync Monitor.

RTX 2060 comes with the 6 GB VRAM which also makes this GPU future-proof. So, if you are looking for a Graphics Card with the Best Value for Money and Great gaming Performance then you can’t go wrong with Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060.

Specs

CUDA Cores: 1920
Base Clock Speed: 1365 MHz
Boost Clock Speed: 1680 MHz
VRAM: 6 GB GDDR6

Pros

• Equipped with all the Goodness of RTX Lineup i.e. Ray Tracing, DLSS 2.0, and more.
• Great Value for Money
• Good for 1080 and 1440p Gaming
• Power Efficient

Cons

• Bit expensive than other GPUs on this list but still worth it.
  

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AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is one of the best Graphics Cards in the market in terms of its value for money. It directly competes with the RTX 2060 for the top spot. AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT can easily handle modern games at high and ultra-high settings at 1440p and 1080p resolution with great FPS. It can also touch 4K resolution but you will have to make some compromises.

It is also equipped with some great features such as Radeon Image Sharpening and Radeon Anti-lag features which enhance the overall gaming performance. In terms of performance, the RX 5700 XT is really good but it lacks some features such as Ray Tracing which can be a deal-breaker for many people.

Specs

Stream Processors: 2560
Base Clock Speed: 1650 MHz
Boost Clock Speed: 1950 MHz
VRAM: 8 GB GDDR6

Pros

• Great 1080p and 1440p Gaming Performance
• Better thermal performance than other Radeon GPUs
• It comes with some great features.

Cons

• No Ray Tracing
• Thermal performance is not as good as RTX 2060

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650

Nvidia GTX 1650 is one of the best GPUs available for 1080p Gaming. It belongs to GTX Series yet it comes with the Turing Architecture which is the latest and greatest GPU Architecture by Nvidia. GTX 1650 comes with 4 GB RAM and it can handle most of the AAA Gaming titles at medium-high settings at 1080p.

It is also more power-efficient than most of the other GPUs out there, thanks to the new Turing Architecture. If you are looking for a 1080p Gaming GPU with the best value for Money then Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 is a solid option for you.

Specs

CUDA Cores: 896
Base Clock Speed: 1410 MHz
Boost Clock Speed: 1590 MHz
VRAM: 4 GB GDDR6

Pros

• Great 1080p Performance
• More Power Efficient
• It comes with some Turning features such as VRS and NVENC Encoder

Cons

• No Ray Tracing features like RTX GPUs
• 4 GB RAM is not future-proof.

Which card you choose depends on your budget, so you have to decide what is the best deal for you. . But gaming is primarily about the high resolution and the more pixels the graphic card processes, the finer and smoother are the displayed images. Modern video games require a lot of computing power to display details such as landscapes, fog, water, etc. The frame rate is also important, more frames per second ensure smooth images. So make sure that your screen supports the resolution provided by the graphics card. Otherwise, investing in a particularly powerful graphics card is a waste of money.