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Best GPU for 1440p gaming

The resolution most high-refresh gaming monitors run at, and the one where the performance and price curves meet most usefully.

How this is ranked: 40% performance index at 1440p, 30% performance per dollar at 1440p, 20% VRAM headroom, 10% ray tracing. Only cards still in production are eligible. Price-based elements use each card's verified current price.

Rank 1
Top pickNVIDIA$6,592Category score 70/100

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The fastest consumer graphics card on the market and the only one that treats 4K at high refresh rates as routine. It also asks for a 575 W power budget, a large case and flagship money, which is why it only makes sense at the very top of a build.

  • Estimated 180-260 FPS at 1440p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
  • 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus.
  • $6,592 current price.
  • 1.5 performance index points per $100 at 1440p.

Strengths

  • Comfortably the fastest option at 4K, with a wide margin over everything below it
  • 32 GB of GDDR7 removes memory capacity from the equation for gaming and most creator work
  • 1,792 GB/s of bandwidth keeps the card fed at 4K and in path-traced titles

Trade-offs

  • 575 W board power demands a high-quality 1,000 W-class PSU and strong case airflow
  • Flagship pricing puts it far outside the value curve
  • Partner boards are large enough to rule out most compact cases

Cheaper alternative: RX 9070 XT at $988

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Rank 2
AMD$988Category score 66/100

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

AMD's fastest RDNA 4 card and the strongest argument for Radeon at the high end: 16 GB of memory and rasterisation performance that trades blows with far more expensive NVIDIA cards. Ray tracing improved sharply this generation but still trails NVIDIA at the same price.

  • Estimated 115-165 FPS at 1440p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
  • 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus.
  • $988 current price.
  • 6.4 performance index points per $100 at 1440p.

Strengths

  • 16 GB of VRAM as standard, with real headroom at 1440p and 4K
  • Rasterisation performance well above its price tier
  • FSR 4 brings AMD's upscaling much closer to DLSS in image quality

Trade-offs

  • 304 W is high for the performance tier
  • Ray tracing still trails equivalently priced NVIDIA cards
  • FSR 4 support depends on the game, and the catalogue is smaller than DLSS

Cheaper alternative: RX 9070 at $814

More powerful: RTX 5070 Ti at $1,510

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Rank 3
AMD$814Category score 63/100

AMD Radeon RX 9070

The efficiency pick of the RDNA 4 range. It gives up some performance to the XT but drops 84 W of board power, and it keeps the full 16 GB memory pool, which is its main advantage over the similarly priced RTX 5070.

  • Estimated 100-145 FPS at 1440p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
  • 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus.
  • $814 current price.
  • 6.8 performance index points per $100 at 1440p.

Strengths

  • 16 GB of VRAM at a mid-range price
  • 220 W is notably efficient for this performance level
  • Same FSR 4 and ray tracing improvements as the XT

Trade-offs

  • Noticeably slower than the XT for a small price difference
  • Ray tracing trails NVIDIA cards at the same price
  • FSR 4 game support is still growing

Cheaper alternative: RX 9060 XT 16GB at $646

More powerful: RX 9070 XT at $988

Full specificationsCompare with alternatives

The thinking behind this category

These picks come from the database. The guide explains the decision they are meant to answer.

The best graphics cards for 1440p gaming

1440p is where most high-refresh gaming monitors sit, and where the price and performance curves meet most usefully. This ranking balances raw performance against memory headroom and value rather than optimising for any one of them.

Other categories

The same database, weighted for a different priority. Expect different winners.