Best Graphics Cards to Buy in 2024
Original blog post written by our expert team of writers on geekawhat.com
The graphics card market in 2024 is the most competitive it has been in years. NVIDIA and AMD are in a constant battle to beat one another on pricing and performance by offering new GPUs, or by slashing existing prices down to a more affordable level. And with so many new options hitting the shelves, purchasing the right option for your PC build can be a confusing task. So how do you determine which are the best graphics cards to buy out of the myriad of GPUs available to choose from?
Our testing includes some of the biggest games out there, from popular esports titles like Apex Legends and Fortnite, to demanding AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield and Alan Wake II which gives us 1000s of data points for comparison. You can learn more about how we test graphics cards, and view detailed gaming benchmarks for all of the cards below.
Best Budget Graphics Cards
1. AMD Radeon RX 7600
The RX 7600 can really hold its own when it comes to gaming performance. Across our testing we’ve found this GPU to offer high framerates across Esports titles like Apex Legends and Fortnite with the RX 7600 hitting 189FPS, and 273FPS respectively. Playing AAA titles at 1080p is more than feasible too, with the RX 7600 providing solid performance metrics within modern games such as Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy.
| Key Specs | AMD Radeon RX 7600 |
|---|---|
| Video Memory Capacity | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Bus Width | 128-Bit |
| Base Clock Speed | 1.72GHz |
| Boost Clock Speed | 2.65GHz |
| Stream Processors | 2048 |
| Ray Accelerators | 32 |
| Power Draw | 165W |
| MSRP | $269 |
Performance in AAA titles at 1440p is an area where the RX 7600 could see some improvement. While the power of the card enables strong frame rates at 1440p, you are ultimately restricted by the amount of VRAM that this card has.
Ideally, AMD would have equipped this card with 10GB or 12GB, which would have gone a long way to improve performance longevity of the RX 7600. With that being said, more VRAM is only good if you have the bandwidth to go with it, which is why this card still earns our recommendation over the RX 7600 XT.
Overall, the RX 7600 is one of the few true-budget graphics cards that is able to offer excellent performance across a plethora of games, while coming in at an affordable price point.
2. AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT
Stepping up a rung on the ladder, the Radeon RX 6750 XT is another excellent budget graphics card from AMD. The RX 6750 XT offers buyers 12GB of VRAM to play around with, while maintaining a competitive price point versus market alternatives like the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti. This GPU significantly benefits from the increased VRAM and stronger memory bus, resulting in solid 1440p gaming performance.
In Hogwarts Legacy, the RX 6750 XT held strong with an 85FPS average, which is a 21FPS bonus versus the RX 7600, demonstrating that more VRAM is key in many titles.
Although the RX 6750 XT is an older Radeon 6000 card, it has retained a great value-proposition even as stock begins dwindles due to it being a discontinued option. Across our testing we found the RX 6750 XT to be more than capable at 1080p, while providing great metrics at 1440p too. Buyers can also utilise FSR 3 and Fluid Motion Frames to improve performance when needed.
As we’ve alluded to above, the RX 6750 XT is a great card, but only for a limited time. Stocks of this GPU are gradually depleting, and they won’t be replenished once vendors are fully out. So if you plan on picking up this great budget option, you’ll need to make sure you do it while this card is still available.
Best Mid-Range Graphics Cards
3. AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT
The RX 7700 XT is geared towards buyers that have got a bit more cash to spend, and are looking to play most of their games predominantly at 1440p. Due to a range of price drops, the RX 7700 XT offers a better value-proposition that it did during its initial launch, now sitting around the $400 mark. This puts about $100 of room between the RX 7700 XT and the RX 7800 XT, making the former a really solid option for those sticking to a tight budget.
Performance wise, the RX 7700 XT is a huge competitor in the 1440p space, outputting high framerates in the vast majority of titles. In modern AAA games like Hogwarts Legacy, the RX 7700 XT can easily cope with the performance requirements, outputting an average framerate of 92FPS in our testing.
The rasterization capability of this GPU is phenomenal across Esports titles too, offering up 209FPS in Apex Legends at 1440p, and 295FPS in Fortnite at 1080p. Overall, the RX 7700 XT is a very good ‘bang for your buck option.
The only weakness that we’d recommend considering is the ray tracing capability of this GPU. While AMD cards have come a long way with improvements to ray traced gameplay, and performance uplifts with their FSR technology, NVIDIA’s cards are plainly better when it comes to ray tracing. AMD thrives in rasterized games, but buyers looking to play their favourite titles with ray tracing switched on should look at some NVIDIA options.
Want to keep reading? Head over to geekawhat.com for the full breakdown on the best graphics cards to buy in 2024.