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.
Last updated
How this guide was put together
- Only cards still in production are ranked. Out-of-production cards remain in the database and in comparisons, but recommending something you cannot reliably buy new is not useful.
- Performance indices are CompareYourGPU estimates aggregated from public review coverage, not CompareYourGPU measurements. Every figure derived from them is labelled.
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 gpu overall
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: 50% performance index at 1440p, 15% VRAM headroom, 15% feature set, 10% ray tracing, 10% efficiency. Only cards still in production are eligible. Price-based elements use each card's verified current price.
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.
- 575 W board power, 17.4 index points per 100 W.
- $6,592 current price.
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: RTX 5080 at $1,973
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
A capable 4K card with the full RTX 50 feature set at roughly half the price of the flagship. The 16 GB memory pool is the one specification that invites debate at this price point.
- Estimated 135-190 FPS at 1440p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
- 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus.
- 360 W board power, 20.6 index points per 100 W.
- $1,973 current price.
Strengths
- Strong 4K performance without the flagship's power and size requirements
- 960 GB/s of GDDR7 bandwidth, unusually high for a 256-bit card
- Full DLSS 4 feature set including Multi Frame Generation
Trade-offs
- 16 GB is the same capacity as the previous generation's equivalent tier
- The gap to the RTX 5090 is much larger than the gap in price suggests
- Still a four-figure purchase
Cheaper alternative: RTX 5070 Ti at $1,510
More powerful: RTX 5090 at $6,592
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
The most sensible high-end RTX 50 card: 16 GB of memory, near-RTX 5080 feature parity and a 300 W power budget, for meaningfully less money. It is the natural pick for a high-refresh 1440p build that might move to 4K later.
- Estimated 115-170 FPS at 1440p in a typical modern AAA game at High settings, no upscaling. Modelled estimate, not a measurement.
- 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus.
- 300 W board power, 21.7 index points per 100 W.
- $1,510 current price.
Strengths
- 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, generous for the price tier
- Sits close enough to the RTX 5080 to make the price gap hard to justify
- 300 W works on mainstream 750 W power supplies
Trade-offs
- No Founders Edition, so pricing and cooling quality vary by partner
- Still a premium purchase for a card aimed at 1440p
Cheaper alternative: RX 9070 XT at $988
More powerful: RTX 5080 at $1,973
Computed from the database
The whole market at 1440p, cheapest first
Not a ranking: every card in production we hold a price and a performance figure for, so you can check any pick against the rest.
14 cards in production have both a price and a 1440p figure on record. 14 of them carry a verified street price with its source and date; the rest are shown at launch MSRP, which is labelled as such and is not what they sell for. Of the 14 cards with both a verified price and a launch MSRP, 14 currently sell above MSRP, by a median of 77%.
| Card | Price | Basis | vs launch MSRP | Index, 1440p | Index per $100 | VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc B570 | $352 | Verified street price | +61% | 22 | 6.2 | 10 GB |
| RTX 5050 | $383 | Verified street price | +54% | 22 | 5.7 | 8 GB |
| Arc B580 | $435 | Verified street price | +75% | 27 | 6.2 | 12 GB |
| RTX 5060 | $502 | Verified street price | +68% | 29 | 5.8 | 8 GB |
| RX 9060 XT 8GB | $561 | Verified street price | +88% | 31 | 5.5 | 8 GB |
| RTX 5060 Ti 8GB | $634 | Verified street price | +67% | 34 | 5.4 | 8 GB |
| RX 9060 XT 16GB | $646 | Verified street price | +85% | 33 | 5.1 | 16 GB |
| RX 9070 | $814 | Verified street price | +48% | 55 | 6.8 | 16 GB |
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | $906 | Verified street price | +111% | 36 | 4.0 | 16 GB |
| RTX 5070 | $986 | Verified street price | +80% | 51 | 5.2 | 12 GB |
| RX 9070 XT | $988 | Verified street price | +65% | 63 | 6.4 | 16 GB |
| RTX 5070 Ti | $1,510 | Verified street price | +102% | 65 | 4.3 | 16 GB |
| RTX 5080 | $1,973 | Verified street price | +97% | 74 | 3.8 | 16 GB |
| RTX 5090 | $6,592 | Verified street price | +230% | 100 | 1.5 | 32 GB |
Performance index is a CompareYourGPU estimate where 100 is the fastest card tracked. Index per $100 divides that index by the price shown, so a card on a launch MSRP and a card on a verified street price are not directly comparable on that column.
How to read this ranking
The overall ranking deliberately does not weight price heavily. It answers 'which card is the most complete product', not 'which card is the best deal'. If price is your first concern, the value and budget rankings below answer that question directly, and they frequently pick different cards.
Each pick lists a cheaper alternative and a faster alternative computed from the same data, so you can see the shape of the trade-off in both directions rather than just the winner.
What changed this generation
Three things separate the current generation from the one before it. NVIDIA's RTX 50 series introduced Multi Frame Generation, which is not available on older cards. AMD's RDNA 4 finally brought a machine-learning upscaler, FSR 4, and closed much of the ray tracing gap. Intel's Battlemage cards made the sub-$300 tier competitive again by shipping more memory than anyone else at that price.
The result is that the buying decision at every tier is now closer than it has been for several generations, and it turns on which specific features you care about rather than on one manufacturer being broadly ahead.
Pick by what you do, not by the winner
The top of this page answers a general question. Most purchases are narrower: one monitor, a set of games, a budget. The 1080p, 1440p, 4K, ray tracing, value and budget rankings answer those narrower questions with different weights, and it is normal for them to disagree with the overall ranking.
A card that leads the overall list can sit well outside the top three for value, because the overall blend rewards a complete product rather than a frugal one. Read the ranking that matches your decision, not the one that happens to be on the front page.
Why the fastest card is rarely the right card
Performance rises more slowly than price at the top of the market: the last step of speed costs far more per frame than the step below it. The market table above shows this directly, since the index per $100 column typically falls as you move towards the fastest cards.
That does not make the fastest card a bad product. It means you are paying for headroom, which is worth it if you will use it, at 4K or at very high refresh rates for example, and wasted if you will not.
What a ranking cannot tell you
A ranking compresses a card into one number. It cannot see your monitor, your processor, your case or the games you play, and it is built on estimated performance indices rather than on measurements of your system.
Use it to shorten a list, then check the details on each card's own page and in the comparison tool before you buy. Where two cards are within a few points of each other, treat them as tied and decide on price, memory or features instead.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the fastest card not always ranked first here?
Are these rankings based on your own benchmarks?
How often does this page change?
Should I just buy the top-ranked card?
Does the ranking include cards that are out of production?
Related reading
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.
The best graphics cards for 4K gaming
4K is roughly 2.3 times the pixel count of 1440p, and it is unforgiving of a narrow memory bus or a small memory pool. This ranking weights 4K performance and VRAM heavily and excludes cards with under 12 GB of memory.
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.
Or skip the reading: answer seven questions and get a recommendation with the reasoning shown.