5 Of The Best AMD Graphics Cards For Any Budget
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Are you tired of not being able to play your favorite games at max settings? Buying an AMD graphics card may be the answer to your woes. AMD is Nvidia's greatest rival in the discrete graphics card (GPU) market. Where Nvidia tends to push for maximum performance, AMD still keeps up a good level of gaming power but may sometimes turn out to be cheaper.
If you're looking to play new games, you need to consider GPUs from AMD's last two generations, meaning the Radeon RX 6000-series and the RX 7000-series. You don't have to build your own PC in order to be able to pick your GPU — it's important to keep in mind which model you're getting even in the case of a pre-built.
We'll cover five of the models that make the most sense below, including cards for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K gaming. There's something in here to fit every budget.
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
As long as you're sticking to 1080p gaming, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is a good way to build a solid computer. This GPU can handle most games at high settings. It's especially good if you're into esports titles, which are typically less graphically demanding, but require high framerates.
With the RX 6600 XT, you can play games like "League of Legends" at a steady 144 fps, but newer AAA titles are also going to run smoothly. Forget ray tracing, though — this is a budget card. The AMD RX 6600 XT has 32 Compute Units (CUs), 2048 Stream Processors (SPs), and a maximum clock speed of 2.59 GHz. It also comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory.
While this GPU is a decent rival to Nvidia's counterpart, it's usually cheaper. You can find it at or below $300 on Amazon. Some alternatives include the RX 6600 and the RX 6650 XT, both of which are somewhat close in performance and price.
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
If the RX 6600 XT doesn't quite cut it, you can comfortably move up a notch to the RX 6700 XT and unlock 1440p gaming capabilities. The RX 6700 XT is not a massive step up from the RX 6600 XT, but it gives you a lot more freedom to choose higher settings and a better monitor.
This graphics card comes with 40 CUs, 2560 SPs, and a maximum boost frequency of 2581 MHz. At 1440p, you should easily be able to hit around 60 frames per second (fps) or more in pretty much every modern game. However, you may need to tweak your settings in the latest AAA titles. Ray tracing is a whole different story, too. Nvidia is typically better at it than AMD, and this is still a midrange card, so lower your expectations for it — even though the RX 6700 XT supports ray tracing. Moving down to 1080p makes this card pretty great for most uses.
While the performance may not always be quite on par with Nvidia's RTX 3070, the RX 6700 XT is typically a really good value. You can find it for around $370 on Amazon.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
Another step up the AMD ladder brings us to the RX 6800 XT. This is the first AMD GPU in this last-gen lineup that can safely be recommended for 4K gaming. It's right on the cusp of it, though, and you'll find it a lot more comfortable at 1440p. Still, at high settings, the card is able to hit over 60 fps in 4K gaming — that's quite a feat for such a reasonably priced GPU.
In terms of the naming scheme, the card appears to be close to the RX 6700 XT, but the specifications tell a different story. The number of CUs has gone up to 72, and the GPU also features 4608 SPs and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory as well as a boost frequency of 2250 MHz. Ray tracing might still be a little sketchy here, especially at 4K. In truth, if you're looking for top-notch ray tracing performance, you might be better off investing in an Nvidia graphics card instead.
The RX 6800 XT usually costs around $580 to $650 on Amazon. Look out for the cheaper models — if you're willing to spend more, the next two GPUs are better alternatives.
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
The RX 6950 XT may not be the AMD graphics card with the best value if you look at the whole generation it belongs to — but compared to better GPUs, it's still a cheap option. Close in performance to the RX 6900 XT, it's a powerful GPU for gaming and other tasks, be it productivity, video editing, or even machine learning.
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT is a 4K gaming GPU through and through. You can expect to comfortably run AAA titles at 4K and at max settings. Ray tracing is more possible here than it is on any other AMD GPU from that generation, too. Of course, the newer RX 7000 series does it even better..
This GPU comes with 80 CUs, 5120 SPs, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, and a boost frequency of up to 2310 MHz. The jump between the RX 6800 XT and this model is not so drastic, but it solidifies the fact that this is a card made to handle high-end gaming scenarios.
The pricing of the RX 6950 XT can be a bit all over the place. You may find it for as low as $650 on Amazon, and at that price, it's certainly worth it. If it goes up to $750, you're better off buying the RX 7900 XT, or better yet, the RX 7900 XTX.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
We've reached the top of the line with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. This is currently the most powerful GPU in AMD's arsenal. It's not quite as good as Nvidia's RTX 4090 — most would compare it to the RTX 4080. However, it's still the best that AMD has to offer, and it costs a lot less than the Nvidia flagship.
The RX 7900 XTX comes with 96 CUs, 6144 SPs, 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, and a boost clock speed of up to 2.5 GHz. This is a GPU fit for 4K gaming, and even at maximum settings, you'll find that it can breeze through just about any title out right now. Over time, as newer and more demanding games come out, you may have to compromise on some settings — but it will take a while for it to get there. If you scale down to 1440p, you're going to see even higher framerates. However, for 1440p, you might as well buy a cheaper card.
This GPU is a lot more expensive than the other cards in AMD's lineup, except the RX 7900 XT. The RX 7900 XTX costs around $1,000 to $1,200, and if you find it priced well, it's an excellent deal. The RX 7900 XT is closer to the RTX 4070 Ti in performance and it costs about $820 to $900.