The Best Graphics Cards by Price (Oct 2018)

Picking up the correct GPU can be a tedious task. Manufacturers are always releasing new models every month. In this guide, I will show you the different options you have available depending on how much you want to spend.

If you see errors, misleading information, or you just don’t agree with me I would really appreciate your comments so we all can improve this post together. Try to be nice with each other and be collaborative.

How To Choose A Graphics Card

Before you start thinking about what graphics card suits you better, you should consider the following:

The best performance/price models are between the $150 to $250 range. Above that range, the power/price ratio will be considerably lower.
If you want a graphics card to be used for the next three to five years, playing games at ultra settings, you should consider the $300 to $400 price range models.
My personal advice is: buy a $200 to $250 card and renew it every two years. You will always have an edge-cutting graphics card, games at best quality settings and you will save a lot of money.

Now that all the new 2016 GPU models are available in the market, it’s time to know how to identify the successors or substitutes of the previous generation.

Unlike previous years, this current generation is much more colorful with the new Polaris architecture from AMD. We could say that Nvidia finally has someone to compete with and this is all good news for us, the consumers. And this means basically one thing: more competitive/adjusted prices.

Every time a new generation is released, the same questions arise once again: what’s the best model? How they perform compared to their respective previous version? Which one should I buy for {name your needs}?

New 2016 Generation VS Old 2015 Generation

In my opinion, the first thing you want to know is the equivalence between the old and the new generations. Follow the next directions to get the big picture of the current situation:

Entry level ($110 to $150): the RX 460 replaces the GTX 950.
Mid-tier ($200 to $240):
- The RX 470 replaces the R9 380X and the GTX 960.
- The RX 480 4GB and GTX 1060 3GB replaces the R9 390 and the GTX 970.
Mid-high tier ($220 to $300): RX 480 8GB and GTX 1060 6GB replaces the R9 390X and the GTX 980.
High-end ($450): the GTX 1070 replaces the GTX TITAN X 2015, R9 FURY and FURY X.
Enthusiasts (+ $640): the GTX 1080 and the new GTX TITAN X Pascal are the most advanced models of this generation and they currently don’t have any competitor, nor in this generation, nor in the previous.

** Learn more about the Nvidia’s Pascal architecture in this post:

All You Need To Know About The New Nvidia's Pascal Architecture

October 8, 2018

Choosing The Right GPU That Fits Your Needs

Now, the next question is obvious: from all the models mentioned above, which one is the best for my needs? That’s probably the most difficult question to answer as the graphics cards’ specifications can vary a lot from year to year.

But, as always, no matter how complex any matter can be, it can be rewritten or summarized so anyone can understand it. So I will try to put it straight for you:

For 1080p / 30 fps / high settings: the RX 560 or the GTX 1050.
For 1080p / 30 to 40 fps / ultra settings: the RX 570 or the GTX 1050 Ti.
For 1080p / 60 fps / ultra settings: the RX 580 (either 4 or 8 GB) or the GTX 1060 (either 3 or 6 GB).
For 1440p / 30 fps / ultra settings: the RX 580 8GB or the GTX 1060 6GB.
For 1440p / 144 fps / ultra settings: the GTX 1070.
For 4K / 30 fps / ultra settings: the GTX 1080.
For 4K / 60 fps / ultra settings: the GTX 1080 Ti or 2x GTX 1080 (SLI).

Note that the mentioned models are just the minimum recommended to achieve certain performance levels. Anything above the recommended models will obviously give you better results.

A Bit Of Theory: What Is A Shader?

You will see in this guide that one of the features that I’ve decided to include on each listed GPU is the number of shader cores included. And that is so for a reason: shaders are a reliable marker of GPUs power.

From a low-level perspective, a shader core is a computational resource that receives instructions and processes it in order to manipulate the pixels and polygon vertices within a scene, i.e. graphics rendering. AMD call these shaders cores Stream Processors while Nvidia names it CUDA Cores. Also, each manufacturer builds and configures the shader cores in their own ways, depending on the used architecture and performance goals. So, while there are some similarities, AMD and Nvidia shaders can’t be directly compared to each other.

Shaders are the the computational units used for rendering graphics. So, the more shaders, the better.

So, while there are some similarities, AMD and Nvidia shaders can’t be directly compared to each other. This does not mean that AMD is better/worse than Nvidia. They are just different and the best way to figure out which one is better is through performance tests. What you can actually do is compare GPUs within the SAME manufacturer: Nvidia vs Nvidia or AMD vs AMD.

Buying Guide

Casual – From $65 to $170

Cheapest models to play some games at 1080p. You will be able to play games at mid-high settings on two years old games and low-mid settings on recent titles.

GeForce GT 1030

GIGABYTE GT 1030 2GB

Market Price: $79.99

Available on:

The Best Graphics Cards by Price (Oct 2018)

How To Choose A Graphics Card

New 2016 Generation VS Old 2015 Generation

Choosing The Right GPU That Fits Your Needs

A Bit Of Theory: What Is A Shader?

Buying Guide

Casual – From $65 to $170

GeForce GT 1030

GeForce GTX 1050

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

Radeon RX Series: 550 2GB, 550 4GB

Radeon RX Series: 560 2GB, 560 4GB

Standard – From $170 to $235

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

Radeon RX Series: 570 4GB, 580 4GB

Ultra – From $235 to $330

GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

Radeon RX 580 8GB

Master Race – From $330

GeForce GTX 1070

GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

GeForce GTX 1080

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

Changelog

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