12 best graphics cards 2019-2020

Few modern computers do without a separate graphics adapter. Even if you are not playing, you may need it for editing, watching high-definition video, working with graphics, and so on. And, of course, when choosing a good video card, you need to understand what tasks it is purchased for. But even in this case, many consumers may get confused, since dozens of adapters for every taste are available on the market today. So which one should you buy if you don't want to study characteristics, view comparisons and tests, and also spend time on other similar things? We recommend taking a look at the best video cards from our review, which we sorted into three categories, and then choosing the right one.

How to choose the right video card

1. First of all, you need to decide on the purpose of the device. If you are looking for a graphics card for simple tasks, then perhaps even integrated graphics will be enough for you. Watching 4K video and more serious, but still simple processes will require weak discrete adapters. For games, depending on your requirements for graphics, as well as the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor, you need something more powerful. Professional tasks involve buying the most powerful graphics adapters, which chip manufacturers do not focus on the general consumer.
2. The second important point is the video card cooling system. First, it is important that it is not noisy. Even if the card hums at minimal load, it will cause discomfort, and over time it will even lead to fatigue. Secondly, the cooling efficiency should be considered. Moreover, the more compact your case and the fewer additional coolers are installed in it, the better the standard CO should handle.
3. And since we're talking about the size of the case, it is worth mentioning the size of the video card. Most modern adapters occupy 2 or 3 slots. But this is a secondary indicator, when length is what needs to be considered first. If you have a lot of free space inside and it is immediately obvious that you should not worry about the length, then you can choose any adapter from the list below. In other cases, check the specs to find out what size the card can fit into your case without any problems.
4. Budget is another significant choice parameter. But everything is clear here: the more powerful the card, the more expensive it will cost the buyer. But what is not obvious to everyone is the importance of the processor in the assembly. A weak CPU will not open up a top-end video adapter, and most of its power will be idle. At the same time, on the screen you will observe friezes, which clearly do not add comfort to the gameplay.

The best inexpensive graphics cards

Immediately, we note that we did not fit into the very budget segment, where the GT 1030 and its analogues are located. These cards are good mainly for office computers, simple online games or old projects, for which the allocated power will be sufficient, if not maximum, then certainly at medium graphics settings. Home users usually want something more powerful. It is these video cards that we decided to consider in this category, and their average price is only 15 thousand rubles.

1.GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

The review of the best GPUs opens with a video card from Gigabyte, built on the basis of the GTX 1050 Ti chip.It's still the go-to choice for a basic gaming PC. But keep in mind that we are only talking about basic computers, since the monitored video adapter does not even offer a modest power reserve.

This is the only model, not only in this category, but in the overall ranking, where no additional food is required. Many budget units do not have dedicated lines for video cards, therefore, having just such a power supply unit, you should take a closer look at the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

It is equipped with 4 gigabytes of video memory, and gradually this volume begins to become insufficient for modern projects. The board has one DisplayPort, DVI-D and HDMI (the first is version 1.4, and the last is 2.0b). The GTX 1050 Ti has a 128-bit bus, 48 ​​texture and 32 raster units, and 768 universal processors.

Advantages:

• very quiet video card;
• attractive cost;
• effective cooling;
• good performance;
• overclocking potential.

2.MSI Radeon RX 570

Another video card with factory overclocking, but this time from MSI and based on a chip from "Red". The cost of the Radeon RX 570 is roughly comparable to the adapter described above. However, in most cases, it demonstrates the best gaming performance. This makes the MSI Radeon RX 570 an ideal choice for users looking to play all modern games at high to medium graphics settings and Full HD resolution.

Advantages:

• efficient TORX cooling system;
• three DisplayPort, as well as HDMI and DVI-D outputs;
• 8 GB of video memory;
• easy overclocking to maximum performance;
• great performance for your money;
• moderate level heating under load.

Disadvantages:

• noticeably noisy at maximum speed.

3. ASUS Radeon RX 580

The next in line in the rating of video cards is a high-quality model from the ASUS brand, also based on an AMD chip. The differences between RX 580 and RX 570, however, are not too many. There are a little more texture and processor units here, the memory frequency has been raised from 7000 to 8000 MHz, and the graphics processor has been slightly accelerated. For all this you will have to pay about 70 $, but in practice, all improvements will provide about 10 additional personnel in modern projects.

The model in question is a good video card, at the same time inexpensive for the stated capabilities. However, it is very massive. There are three fans at once, so the length of the adapter is almost 300 mm. The thickness is also no less impressive, so get ready that after installing the adapter, not two, as in other cards of this category, will be covered on the board, but three slots.

Video outputs in ASUS Radeon RX 580 Strix OC Gaming will be enough for any consumer. There is a pair of DisplayPort and HDMI, as well as DVI-D for connecting older monitors. The recommended power supply for one of the best reliability video cards in the rating is 500 W, which is only 10% more than for the younger model. But the adapter has the same requirements for additional power supply - 8 pin.

Advantages:

• brand CO with three turntables;
• beautiful lighting;
• the most productive in the category;
• many video outputs for every taste;
• nice branded software;
• despite its massiveness, it is very quiet.

disadvantages:

• very dimensional card;
• there may be a problem with whistling chokes.

4.MSI GeForce GTX 1060

If you really need to save 28–42 $, but you do not want to lose too much in performance, then you should buy the MSI GeForce GTX 1060. This card has a higher GPU frequency and one and a half times more ROP units required for final image processing. But there are almost 2 times less universal processors and texture units here than in the competitor from AMD.

Does this have a big impact on gaming performance? Yes, in some cases, the cheap GTX 1060 3 GB graphics card is inferior to its main competitor. But usually the frame rates of the two adapters are not too different, and in some cases NVIDIA's brainchild even manages to keep the lead (for example, in the still incredibly popular "GTA V").True, only 3 GB of memory is already starting to be lacking for some advanced games, which should be taken into account before buying.

Advantages:

• acceptable power;
• silence even under heavy load;
• cooling system operation;
• compact dimensions;
• you need 6 pin power, not 8 pin.

Disadvantages:

• little video memory.

The best graphics cards for price and quality

Usually, neither budget nor high-end devices offer a price that matches their capabilities. The gap between the price tags of inexpensive options is usually minimal, and in the case of buying a more affordable solution, you can always regret not giving a little more for a more interesting option. What can we say about premium solutions, where you are forced to pay a lot in order to get the best. But between these groups of video cards there are strong middlings that offer good performance for more than a reasonable price.

1.MSI GeForce GTX 1070

And the first in this category is one of the coldest video cards. MSI's GeForce GTX 1070 has several operating modes. So, in OC Mode, the frequency of its processor can reach almost 1800 MHz. The game mode offers a slightly lower performance. If you are interested not in maximum performance, but in quiet operation, then you can turn off Silent Mode. In it, the frequency drops from the standard 1607 MHz to 1506 with the possibility of overclocking to 1683 in the boost.

Advantages:

• attractive design in MSI style;
• well thought-out cooling system;
• the highest build quality;
• flexible system of settings to suit your preferences;
• optimal performance;
• the card is equipped with LED backlighting.

2. Palit GeForce RTX 2025

Why are these rays needed if they are almost nowhere to be found? Better to take the model of the previous generation and enjoy high fps.

Familiar words? Surely you have met such a position at least once in the comments or even in personal communication with familiar gamers. We are not going to discuss its fairness or fallacy now, but just talk about the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 video card. Why about it? It's just that you don't overpay for beams here. Yes exactly! The performance of this adapter is usually higher than that of the GTX 1070. At the same time, the price tag of the latter is either the same or higher than that of the RTX 2060. If you were ready to pay money for the GTX 1070 or its Ti version, then it is better to purchase an adapter from the new generation. In addition, the combination of price and quality, the Palit GeForce RTX 2060 GamingPro video card is an excellent solution not only in our review, but also in the market as a whole.

Advantages:

• attractive cost;
• impressive performance;
• good overclocking potential;
• ray tracing support;
• excellent build quality and components;
• quiet and efficient cooling.

Disadvantages:

• fans are running constantly;
• only one outlet for each of the three types.

3.Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 590

Some users categorically do not want to support NVIDIA because of its pricing policy and business principles in general. Such buyers are probably wondering which is the best video card in terms of value for money in the AMD range. We believe that this can be called the RX 590. It has a 256-bit bus, and also has 8 GB of memory, clocked at 8400 MHz.

For 6 + 8 pin power, so make sure your PSU has them.

The RX 590 chip is manufactured using a 12nm process technology, and its performance is about 5-10% higher than that of the 580th model. Yes, this is a small increase, but it should be borne in mind that we have a video card with the best price in the category - up to 280 $... At the same time, the adapter looks stylish and pleases with the presence of a backlight adjustable through the manufacturer's proprietary utility Sapphire TRIXX.

Advantages:

• moderate power consumption;
• almost no noise at full load;
• the presence of customizable lighting;
• two modes of operation of the cooling system;
• reasoned cost of the card.

Disadvantages:

• in some instances, choke noise is observed;
• at high load, the temperature is selected to 90 degrees.

4. ASUS GeForce GTX 1070

Why did we praise the RTX 2060 and then add two GTX 1070s to the review at once? It's just that there are some problems with the new series of greens. From the very beginning of sales, consumers have complained about the rapid failure of video adapters. Yes, the situation is not too frequent, it is already being resolved (or decided), and stores change cards under warranty without question. But since there is a problem, it is more rational to wait for new games or take a closer look at the analogs from the 10th series. In addition, there are rumors that prices for it will soon drop in order to quickly realize the surplus of chips in warehouses.

So what can the best-value NVIDIA graphics card from ASUS offer you? First of all, it looks great. If you have a case painted in white with black accents, then this video card is exactly what you need. Secondly, only one 8-pin power supply is required here, when in the analog from the MCI one more 6-pin connector is needed. Thirdly, thanks to the proprietary utility, the user can turn on OC Mode, getting the video processor operating frequency of 1607 MHz or 1797 in Boost mode, or Gaming Mode (1771 MHz), without suffering from manual overclocking.

Advantages:

• additional power supply from only one 8 pin;
• the turntables do not spin at minimum load;
• low power consumption;
• well-developed cooling system;
• attractive design and high-quality assembly;
• quite cold even under high load;
• high overclocking potential;
• official manufacturer's warranty for 3 years.

The best graphics cards for gaming

We deliberately do not consider professional cards in this review. Such adapters cost thousands of dollars, and a person who has both the funds for such a product and an understanding of what it is for will probably know what is better to buy. But gamers often doubt the choice. If you love to play, this does not mean that you need to understand the technical intricacies of the acquired hardware. Sometimes you just want to buy, stick in, and then enjoy 4K and 60 fps. And gaming video cards of our TOP will allow you to do just that!

1. Palit GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

And the first in this category is the most powerful graphics card available on the market today - the RTX 2080 Ti. Perhaps at the June Computex, Lisa Su will make Huang nervous with her presentation. But for now, there is a high probability that if the Radeon Navi series can deliver anything impressive, it will only be for professional users. The expectation of 7-nanometer video cards for gamers from the "red" can be delayed, and for fans of the entire top-end 2080 Ti will be a worthwhile product for a long time.

However, the video adapter in question cannot be called affordable either. Even the version from Palit, which is famous for its affordable solutions, will cost the gamer 980 $ and higher. Yes, the graphics chip in the 2080 Ti can do wonders, but the increase in power compared to the magnificent 2060 is about 2 times lower than the price increase. And, it would seem, why pay so much if there is still nowhere to use the notorious rays?

If you do not strain, then the user will be able to remember only "Metro: Exodus", "Battlefield V" and the last "Tomb Raider" with the support of this technology (and not to say that everything is as smooth as we were promised). And if ray tracing stagnates for a long time, as happened with other NVIDIA developments, then, in fact, you will pay for nothing. But here everything is not so simple, and below we will explain why this is so.

Advantages:

• Palit has one of the lowest prices for 2080 Ti;
• the best performance in the gaming segment for the next 5 years;
• an impressive 11 GB of GDDR6 memory;
• beautiful design and efficient cooling;
• three DisplayPorts, HDMI output, and a USB-C port.

2.ASUS Radeon RX Vega 64

The top video card from the Radeon RX Vega family continues. And although these accelerators could not bypass the "green" competitors of the 10th series, and remained in the role of catch-up, they managed to gain excellent popularity among buyers.Even the reference Vega 64 can boast of an excellent cooling system, and in the performance of ASUS, which was the first to release an accelerator with a non-standard board and a modified CO, everything became even better.

Out of the box, one of the best "red" video cards operates at standard frequencies - 1630 MHz for the processor and 1890 MHz for HBM2 memory. OC Mode does not help much in the proprietary ACS utility, adding only a few tens of megahertz to the indicated values. In fact, the overclocking mode is here only to exist, but there is almost no sense from it.

The main drawback of the RX Vega 64 video card is, surprisingly enough, its availability with it, there were problems at the start of sales, and after a year and a half the situation has improved slightly. And the prices for the accelerator, including the solution from ASUS, cannot be called unequivocally the best on the market, which is important for processors from the same AMD.

The Radeon RX Vega 64 gaming graphics card has a 2048-bit memory bus and 8 GB of video memory. The device requires a pair of 8-pin connectors for additional power, and the manufacturer's recommended power supply for the finished system should be 750 watts. Please note that this model is 298 mm long and occupies three slots on the motherboard, so it will not work for compact cases.

Advantages:

• good gaming performance;
• memory bandwidth;
• corporate design of ACS;
• high-quality board and element base;
• cold at high loads;
• price-quality ratio.

Disadvantages:

• availability;
• high noise.

3.GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

To say that the new generation of NVIDIA video cards surprised buyers with their price is to say nothing. Yes, the cost of over $ 1200 for the top version will only be pulled by the wealthiest gamers. Therefore, today the GTX 1080 Ti is still relevant, which can be found cheaper. 700 $... And one of the best video cards with this chip according to customer reviews is the GIGABYTE GTX 1080 Ti Gaming OC. It is equipped with 11 gigabytes of fast video memory (GDDR5X, frequency 11 010 MHz), supports SLI, and also has three DP outputs, one HDMI and DVI-D. To power this model, 6 + 8 pin is required, and the recommended power supply unit for a system with such an adapter is 600 W.

Advantages:

• Ideal for 4K gaming
• the convenience of the proprietary utility AORUS;
• pleasant appearance;
• colorful design and excellent build;
• fans do not spin without load;
• price tag (especially against the background of the new generation).

Disadvantages:

• a bit noisy under load and heats up noticeably.

4. MSI GeForce RTX 2025

Let's be honest, when you buy a 2060, set the graphics settings to ultra and turn on the beams, you can get a comfortable and stable frame rate only when using a Full HD monitor. Even in QHD, unpleasant drawdowns can already occur, so for such a resolution it is better to purchase a GeForce RTX 2070 video card. With tracing disabled and a slight decrease in picture quality (and not in all games), you can even play in 4K.

In reviews, the MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor graphics card is praised for its excellent design and effective cooling system, which keeps the adapter cool even under increased load. I am also glad that there are all the necessary video outputs, including USB-C. As for the amount of memory, 8 GB of fast GDDR6 is installed here, working at an impressive frequency of 14,000 MHz. The graphics processor in normal mode keeps the frequency at 1410 MHz, and rises to 1620 MHz in boost.

And now, as we promised above, let's talk a little about rays. Quite recently, not everyone was able to buy a powerful gaming graphics card from the RTX series and explain what the point is in such an impressive cost. The developers simply would not offer a large number of games suitable for such adapters due to their almost complete absence among the bulk of gamers. But NVIDIA did a very good job, and has already announced the release of a driver that adds ray support even to GTX-series cards starting from 1060 and older.

Advantages:

• almost always colder than 60 degrees;
• impressively quiet cooling system;
• excellent gaming performance;
• reliability and durability;
• high-quality and trustworthy assembly;
• allows you to enjoy the rays in QHD resolution.

Disadvantages:

• quite large (takes 3 slots, length 309 mm).

Which GPU is better to buy

As we noted above, everything depends on the tasks and, of course, the budget. Based on them, you can quickly decide which video card is the best for you. Do you limit yourself in finances? Feel free to take the 2080 Ti, because the market simply does not offer anything better for games. Do you want to enjoy the rays, but think that spending more than 70 thousand on a video card is too reckless? Choose the RTX 2070 model. If the resolution of your monitor is 1920 × 1080, then you should give preference to 2060, because for high settings at Full HD it will be enough for your head, but for the price and quality it is simply not the best on the market. The alternative to this adapter from the previous generation is the GTX 1070. But for some buyers, the video card may still be too expensive. If so, your choice is the GTX 1050 Ti or the gorgeous RX 570/580 with 8GB VRAM.