Best Budget Graphics Cards in 2023

With more entrants in both AMD’s RX 7000 series and Nvidia’s RTX 4000 series GPU lineups, budget GPUs are now finally hitting their stride with new next-generation offerings in play at price ranges that were until recently dominated by their aging predecessors.

The charge is led in part thanks to AMD’s RX 7600 along with Nvidia’s RTX 4060/4060TI GPUs, though the latter’s 16GB SKU is both hard to find and arguably poor value at MSRP. These GPUs replace AMD’s aging RX 6600XT GPU as well as Nvidia’s RTX 3060 and 3060TI GPU offerings, respectively, at the same price point.

This means that most of Game Rant’s budget GPU picks have been overhauled to match the newer status quo of the gaming market, which looks to benefit from both DLSS3/3.5 and FSR 2 and 3 as AI sharpening tech takes center stage in a world where resolutions move towards a new normal: Dynamic.

RELATED: The Best Graphic Cards You Can Buy In 2023

AMD’s new RX 7700XT and 7800XT GPUs further extend competition at the higher end, facing off versus the Nvidia RTX 4060TI and the RTX 4070 while offering a considerably better price-to-performance ratio than their predecessors. With FSR3 on the horizon from AMD and DLSS 3.5 from Nvidia, budget GPUs are expected to continue becoming more competitive as both

chip

designers contest what was a relatively stagnant market only a few months ago.

What Makes The Best Budget GPU?

Choosing a budget gaming GPU is a relatively hard task for users for several reasons. There are many choices available, and they all offer different strengths relative to some of their peers. This is particularly true when it comes to the newly defined budget range, which sees a mix of older and newer generations from AMD and Nvidia

featured

, thanks to them offering value at different price points. It does however boil down to some simple tenets to ensure that one is picking the right GPU for their needs:

Performance:

Core to every GPU’s viability is its performance during rasterization. For budget GPUs, where Ray Tracing is less of a factor compared to the ability to play all titles at a respectable resolution with decent frames per second (FPS), a GPU’s raw performance often determines if it suits the needs of a gamer or a professional.

Memory:

As modern games get increasingly memory-intensive thanks to larger textures and more monolithic game engines, it is crucial to make sure the GPU has enough memory to run modern titles without resulting in severe performance drops due to memory limitations. Currently, a minimum of 8GB of VRAM is considered adequate for entry-level gaming GPUs.

Cooling Options:

Modern GPUs run hot and require dedicated cooling. Thanks to advances made in GPU tech, they also are able to boost to higher clocks if their temperature and voltage readings allow it, something often called a ‘boost clock’ feature. Therefore, having effective cooling is more important than just having the largest possible cooler. Smaller, copper-based coolers with good fans will often outperform much larger GPU coolers in many cases, making some of the larger tri-fan GPUs, especially when on a budget, a purely aesthetic decision.

Size:

Some GPUs are oversized with larger coolers and might not fit in all cases. It is always a good idea to check for length measurements, the number of slots a GPU requires as well as those of one’s case in terms of space to ensure users have a GPU that fits their case without causing issues.

AI Sharpening

: Support for an AI sharpening tool makes a GPU more valuable,SAME with Nvidia leading the way thanks to its proprietary Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) tech which can bring up to 200% or 300% gains on certain titles. AI sharpening tools essentially render content at a lower resolution but use multiple techniques backed by deep learning to rebuild the image at a higher ‘native’ resolution, allowing for significant performance gains in tow.

While DLSS is limited to Nvidia GPUs, AMD’s alternative, FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is an open-source take on the same tech which is finding more widespread adoption thanks to support for consoles as well as all current generation GPUs from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. Likewise, Intel offers its own take on the tech known as Xe Super Sampling (XESS) which is the newest of the 3 implementations of the tech which is supported by its entry-level to mid-range Arc GPUs.

The Best Budget Graphic Cards In 2023

There are three major players in the game now, in order of market share: NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. The first two compete at various price points while Intel has been more or less focused entirely on the mid-range segment so far based on its Arc product releases, which are aimed at disrupting the $300-$500 market.

This does however also help Game Rant set a good precedent when it comes to what price range the team should aim for to both make comparisons fairer and define what “budget” signifies. Based on the fact that budget might mean different things for different consumers, the team at Game Rant will be looking at GPUs that range from $200 to $700 to cater to the bulk of our audience’s needs with regular updates in response to newer GPU releases.

The Best Budgets Graphics Cards

The ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6700 XT is an excellent mid-range GPU that trades at a sizable discount, offering a Navi 22 chip as part of its arsenal. It is bundled with an impressive 12GB of GDDR6 memory as it takes on Nvidia’s RTX 3060 and 3060TI with a minor pricing edge. With rasterization performance that sees it even beat the higher-priced RTX 3060TI, AMD’s ‘fine wine’ claims by some of its fans might hold ground as the 6700XT gains ground with every successive driver update.

At the core of the RX 6700XT is an RDNA 2-based core that is manufactured on a 7nm process. The Xbox Series S, Series X, and PS5 are also based on the same architecture which should make it a beneficiary of developer implementation of select AMD technologies on said consoles being ported to PCs down the line.

At the same time, the Ray Tracing (RT) performance of the RX 6700XT comes up considerably short, as does its own implementation of DLSS, AMD FidelityFX. This does help matters for the 6700XT but isn’t up there with Nvidia’s solution, which is arguably superior and more mature as the tech goes. However, that could change over time. Currently, at the price point it competes at, the RX 6700XT is a blend of value, performance, and

features

that can not be bested easily, making it our best budget GPU pick by far.

Despite the RTX 4060 being around, the RX 6700XT does hold its own in terms of raw performance, often beating the newer GPU. The extra 4GB of VRAM is also something that weighs heavily in the favor of AMD’s GPU, making it hold its position as the best budget GPU that Game Rant can currently recommend. That’s especially true since the RX 7600 seems slower, both on paper and in real-world use.

A further price cut makes the 6700XT just a better bargain to have over the slower RTX 4060, even as it offers a significant performance edge, making it our pick for the best budget-centric GPU. While the newer RX 7700XT GPU continues to make waves, it currently costs significantly more than the RX 6700XT while clocking in an approximately 40% gain in performance. It does, however, also come with a free copy of

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora


,

which makes it an easy choice to swap out for if shoppers have an extra $100 to spare on newer tech.

The discrete GPU market has a new, not-altogether-surprising entry in the form of Intel which renews focus on the entry-level and midrange in a bid to both, cater to consumers looking for a budget purchase and shake the dominance of the two major other players (Nvidia and AMD) while taking lessons learned from the endeavor to (hopefully) make more powerful integrated GPU solutions within its CPU offerings. The Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition 8GB Graphics Card is no exception as it decimates its own competition, AMD’s RX 6600 and Nvidia’s RTX 3050 with ease in raw performance benchmarks and holding its own in ray tracing benchmarks in tandem.

Intel’s lofty goals are still within reach, but Team Blue will have to endeavor to work towards lower power draw, particularly in idle situations for its ARC GPUs if they are going to compete for efficiency vs. other mobile and discrete competitors over time. Intel’s ongoing endeavors with its GPU drivers should improve things somewhat but in their current state, the ARC lineup handles DX12 titles quite well while falling short on more dated titles that use legacy versions of DirectX.

Game Rant does expect support to improve over time. Because it holds its own distinctly versus its competition (unless power draw is a core reason in one’s purchase philosophy), the A750 is as solid as it comes for an entry-level budget GPU purchase. The Intel Arc A750 is currently aging well and trades at a discount over its previous MSRP, making it an interesting and value-centric GPU pick that remains at the top of the list for a budget-centric Intel GPU.

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 7600 Gaming OC 8GB is an excellent GPU that also clocks in as the best budget AMD graphics card on offer. It features 8GB of DDR6 memory and a newer Navi 33 core with high clock speeds. It rounds off with excellent build quality and a massive, somewhat overkill tri-fan cooler, making it an excellent GPU to consider if on a budget.

That being said, it does have its quirks. AMD’s RX 7000 series GPUs still underperform their Nvidia equivalents when it comes to Ray Tracing. Also, the 8GB of GDDR6 memory might be a limiting factor for certain titles. As of late, higher texture sizes have made games more demanding in terms of GPU VRAM.

However, thanks to its pricing advantage as well as premium build quality at an entry-level price for the RX 7600 SKU, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7600 Gaming OC 8GB seems to have its bases covered when it comes to AMD fans and people hunting for a relative bargain in a slowing GPU market simultaneously.

Note:

This GPU comes with a limited-time offer of a free copy of

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

as part of an AMD Rewards promotion.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC is an excellent, compact RTX 4060-based GPU by the Taiwanese AIB. It delivers better-than-stock performance for an RTX 4060 GPU while costing the same as a Founder’s Edition. It goes for a no-frills design that prioritizes function over aesthetics, which might not appeal to all gamers, especially ones that are fond of using RGB lighting extensively and may look to the much pricier RTX 4060 options instead.

All in all, despite the negative press and consumer feedback that followed the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060TI since their release, they do happen to be the best-priced RTX 4000 (or 3000) series GPUs, making this an easy recommendation for users looking for an upgrade or a new GPU. Users looking for a similarly priced alternative to their RTX 3060 or 3060TI GPUs however, might want to wait for a better upgrade down the line.

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 6600 Eagle 8G Graphics Card is an entry-level AMD RX 6600-based GPU that has an overkill cooling system and a profile to match, given the chip it sports. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing from both an aesthetic or cooling perspective in the long term. While it isn’t the strongest performer on our list, it does do a decent job for its price and target resolution of 1080p, even if it takes a hit on Ray Traced content. This is a mainstay issue for AMD hardware currently, with both Intel and Nvidia’s implementations of the tech being considerably superior to Team Red’s.

The upside of the RX 6600 is that it is a relatively power-efficient GPU that can run on most computers without needing a dedicated PSU purchase due to its limited power draw needs. The RX 6600 Eagle by Gigabyte does feel like an over-engineered version of the GPU by an AIB. As mentioned earlier, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it could be a limiting factor for some users looking for a lower-profile budget GPU in the same trim. Thankfully other vendors such as XFX have buyers covered with a smaller form-factor SKU that performs similarly in the same price bracket.

The


higher prices on the RX 6600 GPUs, as well as the emergence of a newer RX 7600 offering, mean that the RX 6600 is becoming a less favorable option of late for users who can get much more value for money for $50 more. However, if one’s budget is limited, the RX 6600 might be the only affordable option in the market for its price point while offering respectable performance.

The Acer Predator Bifrost Intel® Arc™ A770 OC is part of Team Blue’s ongoing push to capture the burgeoning mid-range GPU market. It is an excellent first attempt by the CPU juggernaut as it attempts to push into the discrete GPU market en masse using a mix of value and raw power under the hood. As with most new products competing in a well-established market, it does suffer from well-entrenched competition from both AMD and Nvidia which have arguably better software support from developers and their own drivers on offer.

Acer’s take on the Arc A770 however does have a few tricks up its sleeve. It has excellent Ray Tracing performance, pushing 16GB of GDDR6 memory in a market segment that is currently crowded by 8GB and 12GB SKUs. Plus, it throws in superior DX12 compatibility and support for current-gen and upcoming titles, even as last-gen titles do take a significant performance hit.

To do so, Intel relies on PCI-E 4.0 and Resizeable Bar, however, which in a nutshell is a PCI-E implementation of access to a GPU’s frame buffer directly by the CPU. This allows for faster performance in a variety of tasks and applications, with a focus on gaming. The Arc A770 is an excellent upgrade for current-gen PCs but one that buyers should consider avoiding if they are pairing it with dated hardware, such as an older motherboard.

Intel’s Limited Edition ARC A770 is currently sold out at various retailers as it sees itself being supplanted with Acer’s alternative which features on this guide due to it offering similar or better performance at a much lower price tag. As the best Intel discrete GPU money can buy currently, it also offers RTX 3060TI-esque performance but limits its VRAM capacity to 8GB, making it less of a veritable bargain as a result.

The ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition is an excellent RTX 4070 SKU that delivers excellent performance at a price that pushes towards the upper echelons of the performance and price graphs but is somewhat digestible given what is on offer in terms of solid DLSS 3.0 and better Ray Tracing performance in addition to fast GDDR6X memory on offer making it the ultimate 1440P GPU currently at a relatively high $600 price tag, a common theme in the RTX 4000 series as Nvidia prices GPUs in a bid to allow it to clear older RTX 3000 series GPUs with ease.

While a lot of Nvidia fans are somewhat disappointed by Team Green’s less-than-aggressive pricing this generation, one cannot deny that in the case of the RTX 4070, if buyers are looking for an excellent high-end GPU at the sub $600 mark, buyers can’t really go wrong with Nvidia’s latest and greatest, even if it isn’t truly a value upgrade from the RTX 3000 series if buyers have an RTX 3070 or up unless they plan to max out RT or DLSS 3.0 performance with rasterization gains at a minimum at a similar price point as the RTX 3080.

That being said, the RTX 4070 is a capable GPU on its own with significant power under the hood, the ability to play games much more smoothly due to Nvidia’s frame-gen tech as part of its DLSS 3.0 offerings and stellar Ray Tracing (RT) performance under the hood, all of which make it a viable choice for gamers.

There is no price movement on most RTX 4070 in general and the ASUS variants seem to also experience a price floor of $600 lately. That being said, for the lack of better competition the RTX 4070 is here to stay and ASUS’s dual OC offering is one of the better SKUs money can buy. There are however cheaper RTX 4070s that have benefited from AMD’s release of a competitive RX 7800XT that directly competes with Nvidia’s mid-range offering this generation.

Note:

This GPU comes with a limited-time offer of a free copy of

Alan Wake 2

as part of an ongoing Nvidia game promotion. (Ends Nov 27th 2023)

The AMD RX 7800XT is a classic example of AMD throwing a spanner in the works for Nvidia’s mid-range GPUs, where it tends to deliver most of its most competitive products lately. The RX 7800XT is faster and cheaper than the incumbent RTX 4070 which trades at an MSRP of $600 currently. It also throws in 16GB of VRAM for good measure, a good 4GB more than its competition.

The XFX Speedster MERC319 RX 7800 XT Black offers a premium take on AMD’s latest release. While it does cost $40 over the MSRP of the stock unit, it offers much better build quality, cooling, and higher clocks to make up for it while remaining much quieter than most of its competing RX 7800XT SKUs. Users can opt for a cheaper AIB RX 7800XT if they are on a specific budget however which sits somewhere between the stock and XFX’s more premium take of AMD’s mid-range offering.

While users might struggle to fit the tri-fan behemoth in smaller cases, the RX 7800XT offers excellent value for money and performance. It also throws in a free bundled copy of

Starfield

to make it an even better proposition to gamers and enthusiasts on the fence currently for an upgrade this generation.

Note:

This GPU comes with a limited-time offer of a free copy of

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

as part of an AMD Rewards promotion.

FAQ

Q: How Important is DLSS or FSR Support For A New GPU?

Nvidia’s DLSS 3 (or 3.5) and AMD’s FSR 2 and 3 are AI-based sharpening tech that renders content at lower resolutions while upscaling it using machine learning to avoid a loss in quality to mimic a ‘native’ higher resolution render.

While this can lead to a slight loss in quality at times (or higher depending on the preset) it does offer massive increases in frames per second (FPS). This means that as an increasing number of publishers and developers focus on said technology to lower requirements or pack more fidelity under the hood, having a newer GPU that supports the latest standards of the above will inevitably result in a massive performance gain versus an older GPU.

An example would be Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace-based RTX 4000 series which offers massive gains on multiple DLSS3 titles versus its older Ampere-based RTX 3000 GPUs that do exhibit more limited gains while harnessing the same technology.

Q: How long do cheap graphics cards last?

Regardless of the price of the GPU, a newly purchased GPU should last several years. In terms of game support, most games should support GPUs for quite some time.

Q: How do buyers choose the best cheap graphics card?

Finding the best ‘cheap’ GPU is not an exact science given the sheer number of options available. Users should aim to find the most effective GPU options for their target resolution (1080P vs 1440P vs 2160P) and aim to get the latest version possible in their price bracket.

Features to consider:

• DLSS/FSR Support
• Ray Tracing Performance
• Rasterization Performance
• Dedicated VRAM
• Driver Support