The best budget graphics cards
This ranking covers cards priced at $350 or below. At this end of the market the differences between products are large in percentage terms and small in absolute money, so a careful choice is worth more here than anywhere else in the range.
Last updated
How this guide was put together
- Only cards with a price at or below $350 are eligible.
- Ranked on performance per dollar at 1080p (55%), performance index at 1080p (30%) and VRAM headroom for 1080p (15%).
- Prices are launch MSRP. CompareYourGPU does not publish current street prices it has not verified.
The full site-wide methodology, including how the performance index and value scores are produced, is on the methodology page.
Computed from the database
Current picks: best budget gpu
These are not hardcoded into the guide. They are read from the live ranking, so this section updates whenever the underlying data does.
How this is ranked: Cards priced at $350 or below only. 55% performance per dollar at 1080p, 30% performance index at 1080p, 15% VRAM headroom. Only cards still in production are eligible. Any price-based element uses launch MSRP, because CompareYourGPU holds no verified current price for these cards.
Intel Arc B580
The most memory you can buy at this price: 12 GB on a 192-bit bus for entry-level money. Ray tracing is respectable for the tier, but the card needs Resizable BAR to perform as intended, and driver maturity varies more than it does on NVIDIA or AMD.
- $249 launch MSRP.
- Estimated 75-105 FPS at 1080p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
- 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus.
- 12.4 performance index points per $100 at 1080p.
Strengths
- 12 GB of VRAM and 456 GB/s of bandwidth at an entry-level price
- Ray tracing performance is competitive with cards costing more
- AV1 encode and decode, plus VVC decode
Trade-offs
- Requires Resizable BAR; performance drops sharply on platforms without it
- Driver behaviour in older titles is less consistent than the competition
- 190 W is high for the performance it delivers
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB
The same GPU as the 16 GB model with half the memory. At 1080p it is a competent budget card; the moment textures or ray tracing push past 8 GB, the 16 GB version pulls away for $50.
- $299 launch MSRP.
- Estimated 90-130 FPS at 1080p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
- 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus.
- 12.7 performance index points per $100 at 1080p.
Strengths
- Same GPU and clocks as the 16 GB model
- 150 W and a single 8-pin connector
- FSR 4 support at an entry price
Trade-offs
- 8 GB of VRAM is already limiting in recent releases
- Shares its product name with the 16 GB card
- Little headroom for future titles
Cheaper alternative: Arc B580 at $249
More powerful: RX 9060 XT 16GB at $349
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
The cheapest 16 GB card in this database. Its 128-bit bus limits how far the memory advantage stretches, but for 1080p and light 1440p it removes VRAM from the list of things to worry about.
- $349 launch MSRP.
- Estimated 95-135 FPS at 1080p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
- 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus.
- 11.2 performance index points per $100 at 1080p.
Strengths
- 16 GB of VRAM at well under $400
- 160 W on a single 8-pin connector
- FSR 4 and modern ray accelerators in a budget card
Trade-offs
- 128-bit bus and 320 GB/s of bandwidth cap its ceiling
- The 8 GB variant shares the name and is a different product
- Ray tracing is usable rather than strong
Cheaper alternative: Arc B580 at $249
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Where the money goes at this price
Below $350 you are choosing between three things: raw speed, memory capacity, and feature support. Very few cards give you all three, and which one to prioritise depends on how long you intend to keep the card.
For a two-year card in a 1080p build, raw speed is the sensible priority. For anything longer, memory capacity is the thing most likely to end the card's useful life first.
The Intel Arc consideration
Intel's Battlemage cards offer more memory per dollar than anything else in this bracket, which is a genuine advantage. There is a real caveat: they depend on Resizable BAR, a motherboard feature that older platforms do not support, and performance drops substantially without it.
If you are pairing a budget card with an older system, check that your motherboard supports Resizable BAR before considering Arc. On a current platform it is a non-issue.
What to avoid
Be careful with cards sold in two memory configurations under the same name. The 8 GB and 16 GB versions of the same product are materially different purchases, and retail listings do not always make the distinction obvious. Check the exact model before ordering.
Also be wary of heavily discounted previous-generation cards that miss current upscaling and frame generation support. At this price tier those features do more for real-world playability than a few percent of rasterisation performance.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum I should spend on a graphics card in 2026?
Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for a budget build?
Should I buy a used graphics card instead?
Related reading
The best graphics cards for 1080p gaming
1080p is the resolution where spending more stops paying off fastest. This ranking weights performance per dollar heavily, because at 1920x1080 the difference between a good card and an expensive one is often frames your monitor cannot display.
How to choose a graphics card
Most graphics card advice starts with a list of products. This guide starts with the four questions that decide which list you should even be looking at, because a card that is perfect for one build is a waste of money in another.
The best graphics cards right now
This page ranks every in-production graphics card CompareYourGPU tracks on a blend of performance, memory, features and efficiency. The ranking is computed from the database, so it changes when the underlying data does.
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