Picking a graphics card for your new rig can be a frustrating process, and truth be told, it's kind of a strange time to build a gaming PC. The latest graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia are all focused on high-end enthusiast gaming, with almost none of the 2018 and 2019 cards costing less than $350 dollars.
Not everyone has the doubloons to spend so much on a GPU, even though it is objectively the most important component of your gaming PC. Still, you can get some fantastic budget graphics cards at price points lower than that. The options are limited, but they're still there, and they're extremely reliable and relevant even for the most visually demanding AAA titles.
Top 3 Best Budget Graphics Cards in 2019The budget range we've selected for our favorite midrange graphics cards is from $150 to $250. These GPUs are excellent for gaming on 1080p resolution, which is still the most used resolution for video games among mainstream gamers. If you don't own a 1440p panel and don't plan to invest in one any time in the future, this range will suit you very well.
BEST OVERALL
Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GB Best Price per Performance The Radeon RX 580 8GB provides value and performance for the budget range that is simply unmatched. This card offers fantastic 1080p performance with the highest settings on almost every game out there, comfortably running at 60fps on that resolution.
Check Amazon Check NeweggThe RX 580 8GB is the best option for anyone looking to run most modern games at 1080p and 60fps on max settings with little trouble. This is truly the king of 1080p gaming in modern times.
Specs and Performance Overview: Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GBAMD has done a lot in the CPU niche to give Intel some tough time with its release of the Zen architecture based Ryzen CPUs, but they're still far behind Nvidia in the GPU department. Or at least that's what Nvidia will want you to believe.
While it's true that Nvidia has a monopoly in this market and dominate the high-end GPU niche, the midrange and budget tier side is more evenly balanced. AMD's RX 580 is perhaps the best graphics card you can buy for less than $250 right now, beating the GTX 1060 6GB comfortably in several games despite costing less, and offering 2GB more RAM.
AMD RX 580 wasn't a groundbreaking reinvention though. In fact, it is largely based on the older RX 480. Many considered it as a rehash, but the performance of the RX 580 has shown that it is a considerable improvement over the 480, running at far higher base clock speeds than the RX 480. Performance across the board is almost consistently similar to the GTX 1060 6GB which was superior to the RX 480 at the time of release, but the RX 580 offers far more memory and memory bandwidth. Additionally, DirectX 12 performance is far superior on the RX 580 when compared to the GTX 1060.
Games such as Hitman, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and The Division in particular massively benefit from the 580's superior performance with DX12, and given that DX12 games will become more common, we see it as a wiser investment to consider the RX 580 over the GTX 1060 6GB.
AMD Radeon graphics cards have often suffered from power efficiency though, and that's where the RX 580 is inferior to its Nvidia counterpart. We're talking about an increase in consumption of over 60 watts here from the GTX 1060 6GB to the RX 580 8GB, which is a significant consideration if you're running a modest performing power supply. Still, for most gamers with good power supplies above the 500 watts mark, there shouldn't be any problem pairing a single RX 580 with a powerful processor. Do note that you'll need a 6-pin and 8-pin power connection combo to run this card.
It's important, however, that the RX 580 also comes in a 4GB version. The 4GB version, however, is far inferior to the mainstream variant, and we don't recommend it because its performance isn't as reliable, nor does it perform well at higher resolutions. AMD has also released the Radeon RX 590, which is more powerful than the RX 580, but is around the $300 mark, which we don't consider the "budget" range.
Speaking of higher resolutions, although we've coined the RX 580 as a 1080p card (which it is based on its speed and performance), it can run many games comfortably on high settings at 1440p resolution as well. Just don't expect to reach 60fps in most visually stunning titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Battlefield V. The overall performance at 1440p though is superior to the GTX 1060 6GB even in some DX11 games because of the higher VRAM available on the RX 580. VRAM is important for higher resolutions as higher resolution textures eat up a lot graphic memory.
We'd still recommend a higher budget for your graphics card if you plan to play exclusively on 1440p resolution because the RX 580's performance (while good) isn't going to bring you a consistent 60fps at ultra settings for every game.
Often, many users make the mistake of only observing the peak frame-rates with any graphics card to judge it. While peak frame-rates certainly tell a lot about the graphics card's ability to perform, consistency of frame-rates is far more valuable for the overall gaming experience. Consistency is where the RX 580 beats its competition in videogames where it isn't even the fastest card for a particular videogame.
RUNNER-UP
MSI GTX 1060 6GB The Most Popular Card is Still Relevant The GTX 1060 6GB was Nvidia's most popular Turing graphics card, and it is still relevant today. The 1060 provides wonderful performance thanks to its high clock speeds, but perhaps the key point of this graphics card is how power efficient it is, running at just 120 watts TDP.
Check Amazon Check NeweggGoing neck and neck with the RX 580 in most videogames, the GTX 1060 6GB is an excellent choice for mainstream gamers even today, given Nvidia's RTX 2060 is still almost $120 more expensive than it.
Specs and Performance Overview: MSI GTX 1060 6GBFor most gamers aware of the technological developments of the past three years in PC components, it'll come as no surprise that the Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB is still a relevant card today. Yes, it's technically been "replaced" by Nvidia's latest gen RTX 2060, but the price discrepancy between the two clearly shows that they're not in the same league.
The GTX 1060 6GB is still an excellent graphics card for anyone looking for reliable performance in 1080p resolution. 60fps are achievable across the board with most videogames on ultra settings, though you may struggle with certain DX12 games a bit. Still, that struggle won't have dire consequences on your enjoyment, as almost all games will run well above the tolerable 30fps mark consistently.
The reason for GTX 1060 6GB's excellent performance is its high clock speeds, which can reach up to 1759MHz with certain models. You can further crank it up with some smart overclocking if your power supply can handle it and your PC case's thermal management is good enough. This card does belong to Nvidia's last gen, but it still shows sensational power efficiency, running just around the 120 watts TDP.
Overclocking the card thus becomes an absolute breeze with a good power supply, and the temperatures stay great with most aftermarket models from companies like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA, and others. You'll only need a power supply of around 400-450 watts to pair this Nvidia graphics card with a good CPU. The 1060 6Gb uses a single 8-pin power connector as well, which is far more efficient than the power-gorging 6-pin and 8-pin combo of the RX 580. You can also get the card in a 3GB version, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, and it performs excellent in compact gaming systems at 1080p resolution.
Where the GTX 1060 6GB does struggle though is at higher resolutions. That's not to say it's impossible to play videogames at 1440p resolution with this card, but you won't get the crispy smoothness that you would with a higher end card. A lot of that performance drop has to do with the memory. 6GB is still okay for 1440p gaming, but the card has a memory bandwidth of just 192-bit, which is less when compared to the RX 580's 256-bit bandwidth and 8GB of VRAM.
The real-time ray tracing brother from the latest generation offers the same amount of RAM and memory interface width, but it's an overall superior card in many ways thanks to its much faster memory speeds and a higher number of processors.
With Nvidia failing to plug the budget range with a 2000 series card, the GTX 1060 6GB will continue to remain the go-to choice if you're on Team Green.
VALUE PICK
XFX RX 570 8GB An Underrated 1080p Card The AMD Radeon RX 570 graphics card is inferior to the RX 580 and the GTX 1060 6GB, but it's superior in performance to the 1050 Ti and remains a great choice for anyone who can't afford a graphics card around the $200 mark.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1525850031141-2'); }); Check Amazon Check Best BuyWe recommend the RX 570 for all gamers looking to buy a graphics card in the sub $200 range. It outperforms the 1050 Ti and comes in around the same price.
Specs and Performance Overview: XFX RX 570 8GBThe Radeon RX 570 graphics card is the ideal choice for individuals looking for a graphics card that won't reach the $200 price point. It's lower powered than its bigger brother, the RX 580, but it manages to beat Nvidia's e-sport focused GTX 1050 Ti in most videogames. Moreover, the additional RAM available on this card makes it far superior to the GTX 1050 Ti for playing certain titles on 1440p.
That's not to say the RX 570 is capable of running all games on 1440p smoothly though. It will generally struggle due to its lower number of stream processors, lower memory speeds, and lower core clock speeds. Some videogames should run smoothly at 1440p and 60fps with no problem, but don't expect that to be the norm across all AAA titles.
Multiplayer videogames like Overwatch, Fortnite, and PUBG will run comfortably at 60fps and above on 1080p resolution, provided you have a good CPU and fast enough RAM to assist it. The 1050 Ti will often struggle to reach such frame-rates on PUGB and Overwatch, so the RX 570 is the GPU of choice of those who play such online games extensively.
The major difference in the RX 570 from the RX 580 is the number of stream processors and texture units. As a result, handling of high-resolution textures is where the RX 570 will struggle despite the abundance of RAM available in the 8GB version. Yes, we say "version" because there is also a 4GB version of this graphics card available at a much lower price, but we wouldn't recommend it.
Factory overclocking from companies like XFX and MSI will greatly boost the performance of this GPU beyond what you'd get in reference models and benchmarks as well. Furthermore, with a decent power supply, it's quite easy to push the RX 570 near its wattage limit and get performances that can even much the GTX 1060 3GB in certain games.
The 6GB version of the GTX 1060, however, is still far ahead. You'll be supplying the RX 570 with a total of 200 watts (75 watts from the PCIe bus and 125 watts from the 8-pin connector), so you can really push it far with the overclocking, provided your PC case gives great cooling and the manufacturer's cooler is excellent.
Final ThoughtsUnfortunately for gamers building a mid-range PC for 1080p gaming, there aren't too many choices. Most of the graphics cards available for this budget range are over two years old. Nvidia is still obsessed with cramming the high-end gaming market with new cards, while AMD is desperately trying to give its rival competition in that budget area.
Yet, these graphics card from 2017 are still relevant and perform well on 1080p resolution in most modern games, and should be a consideration for anyone looking to build a good value gaming PC.
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