Best & Worst GPUs of 2023 for Gaming: $100 to $2000 Video Cards | GamersNexus (2024)

Format

For the formatting, we're breaking this up into categories based on price. The categories will include:

• Best & Worst $85 to $200 GPUs
• Best & Worst $200 to $300 video cards
• Best & Worst $300 to $400 graphics cards
• Best & Worst $400 to $750 GPUs
• And best $750+

We'll be listing each available card (by GPU SKU, not by board partner model) in each price range, eliminating anything we think is unreasonable or pointless (like old, heavily marked-up inventory). With that list, we'll walk through the best options and note anything that's particularly bad value.

Each of these has been reviewed at one point or another as well, sometimes with revisits later in its lifecycle. Of course, visiting our most recent reviews will get you the vast majority of the relevant and most up-to-date data. Our A580 review is available as an article as well and contains numerous cards in its price class.

Best GPUs from $85-$200

Intel Arc A750 | Revisit Review | Amazon | Newegg
AMD Radeon RX 6600 | Revisit Review (same as above) | Amazon | Newegg

This first category is a disaster as compared to previous years. The $100-$200 price class has long been one of the most popular, just after the $200-$300 range (which, according to our view retention stats, is the most popular range).

But today, this is our list of options:

Table of GPUs from $85-$200

Before even looking at the prices, take a look at the release year column above. There is a single entry from 2023. A GPU being from this year doesn’t make it necessarily good or bad, but it does affect pricing and what else is available. NVIDIA and AMD overbought at the tail-end of the pandemic supply race and got stuck with inventory, leading to a delay in more affordable, new cards.

The 2022 round-up column shows prices we wrote down for our Best Of summary last year for cards that we talked about. The 1630 was about the same price, the 1660 Super was higher -- so that’s come down, and the 6600 is about the same.

The newest cards on this list would be the Intel Arc A580 -- which just came out -- and the Arc A750, alongside the AMD RX 6400, NVIDIA GTX 1630, and AMD RX 6500 XT. But being the newest doesn’t necessarily make them the most relevant for price-to-performance.

If you've been out of the game a little while, it's important that you understand several of these newer cards cut the PCIe lanes down, which will primarily affect you if upgrading an older system with a more dated PCIe generation on the motherboard. It won't matter in a modern PCIe slot.

Best Value Under $200 (Choice 1 of 2): Intel Arc A750

The Intel Arc A750 might actually be one of the best values here right now. Our recent A580 benchmarks help give some perspective:

In Baldur’s Gate 3 running 1080p/Ultra, the A580 held a 64FPS AVG with DirectX and the A750 was just ahead of it at 66FPS AVG. The Vulkan results are more appropriate for Intel, where they ranked at 79 and 75FPS AVG. The RX 6600 is the most relevant competition -- both in price and performance -- and ran at 74FPS AVG. The 1660 Super, currently around $165 at time of writing, runs far enough below these two options that we’d skip it.

In Total War: Warhammer 3 at 1080p, the A580 ran at 85FPS AVG, putting it ahead of the RX 6600 by 16%. The A750 did even better, at 94FPS AVG and nearly GTX 1080 Ti performance levels.

Tomb Raider had the A750 at 103FPS AVG, allowing the RX 6600 a lead of 22%. In Final Fantasy XIV, we had the 6600 about tied with the A580 and behind the A750 GPU entries. In the same game at 1440p, the A750 pulls ahead of the 6600 by upwards of 22%.

Intel’s Arc A750 might be one of the best values right now at its new -- and maybe temporary -- $180 price point we’ve been seeing. The A580 is close enough that you should make the $10 jump to the A750. It’s worth it. The biggest problem with Intel remains its general reliability: Arc has massively improved specifically this year, but it still can have problems with new games as it often needs hand-tuning. This is particularly problematic for anything that isn’t DirectX 12 or Vulkan. As such, we’ve been recommending that only enthusiasts who have troubleshooting skills, patience, and/or a backup GPU buy Arc. Despite its big value uplift, it’s still not guaranteed that you can run a game well at launch. Starfield is a good example of that for Arc, and that’s outside of the game’s other issues. Intel has been working on this one, but it definitely wasn’t a week-1 title for Arc.

Best Value GPU Under $200 (Choice 2 of 2): AMD RX 6600

So, if all of that sounds like too much hassle or if you don’t want to be in the IT role for whomever you’re buying a card for, consider the RX 6600 as one of the best competitors in performance. It’s similar in price, sometimes it’s better than the A750, and most times, it’s about the same. NVIDIA is sitting this price class out right now, probably rolling hundred dollar bills into cigars and smoking them while watching the peasantly A750 and RX 6600 fight.

Best $200-$300 GPUs

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | Review (times have changed!) | Amazon | Newegg
NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti | Review | Amazon | Newegg
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT | Amazon | Newegg

The next section is for $200-$300 cards, which have historically been the most popular.

Table of GPUs from $200-$300 (End of Year 2023)

Here’s the options list. The release year column at least looks a little healthier.

The RTX 3050 is priced at $215, down from $270-$300 when we did this round-up last year. This card is irrelevant as compared to options from both AMD and NVIDIA, so we can eliminate it.

The RX 6650 XT and RX 6600 XT went up against the 3060 in last year’s comparison. Even today, the 6650 XT remains relevant and available, typically around $220 at time of filming. That’ll probably drop with sales in a day or two.

The RX 7600 is one of the two most relevant GPUs in this price category, currently around $240-$270. It’s already dropped in price twice since launch. The RTX 3060 Ti is still somehow around and hanging in there at $300. The RTX 4060 is the most modern NVIDIA GPU to show up so far, at $300 still. And finally, the 6700 XT remains at $300.

Best GPUs Near $300 in 2023: RX 6700 XT vs. RTX 3060 Ti vs. RTX 4060

The RX 6700 XT is the most powerful in this listing, with its 6750 XT refresh currently in the next price class. We’ll start by focusing on the 6700 XT, 3060 Ti, and 4060 since they’re all $300.

In our RTX 4060 review, we had the 3060 Ti outperforming the 4060 in Final Fantasy 14 at 1080p, at 6.3% better. The 6700 XT was further ahead still. At 1440p, the 6700 XT held 141FPS AVG to the 3060 Ti’s 135, with the 4060 getting embarrassed at 119FPS AVG. At least it wasn’t a 4060 Ti.

In Cyberpunk at 1080p, we saw the 4060 run at 86FPS AVG, behind the 3060 Ti again (which itself roughly tied the 6700 XT).

F1 2022 at 4K had the 4060 behind the 3060 Ti again -- the 3060 Ti has bandwidth advantages here. The 6700 XT led even the 4060 Ti in this one.

In our A580 review and using Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1440p, the 6700 XT was nearly at the CPU limit, with the 4060 trailing. The 3060 Ti was technically ahead of the 6700 XT, but functionally, they were tied.

From this set of results, the 4060 appears less relevant than it probably should be: The 3060 Ti and 6700 XT are better options if price is identical. The 6700 XT is particularly strong. Looking at Starfield 1080p/High before the biggest patch, the 6700 XT led the 4060 by 17% or more -- some games are better than others.

At $300, assuming you absolutely cannot spend more, we’d go for the 6700 XT or 3060 Ti. The 4060 is one of the best value 40-series cards, but it objectively isn’t as powerful as these equal price options.

Best Value GPUs Near $200-$250 in 2023: RX 6650 XT vs. RX 7600

The lower-end of the $200-$300 range is pretty healthy. We’d go for the RX 6650 XT or the RX 7600. The 6650 XT is basically an overclocked 6600 XT, so you can check the 6600 XT in our charts and estimate a couple percent higher. At $220, that’s the best deal in its price class. The RX 7600 fluctuates and trades places with the 6600 XT regularly, sometimes with leads that are noticeable. It’s not a bad option at $240 today.

Best $300-$400 GPUs in 2023

AMD RX 6750 XT | Amazon | Newegg
AMD RX 6800 | Amazon | Newegg

Now for the $300-$400 category.

Table of GPUs from $300-$400

This one is somewhat empty: We get reappearances from the RX 6700 XT, 3060 Ti, and 4060, but didn’t include them on this table since they’re available one tier down. The 6750 XT pops-up around $320 at the cheapest we saw it, or commonly $330. That’s basically an overclocked 6700 XT. The 4060 Ti 8GB also makes an appearance now, down from its $400 launch price for the 8GB model. It’s weird to still see the RTX 3070 around, but it is. The same goes for the RX 6800, which is a 2020 card but has become surprisingly relevant with its new pricing.

Our original review of the RTX 4060 Ti was simply titled: Do Not Buy. Now, some months later and with a price drop from $400, we still think it’s a hard sell. The 4060 Ti’s price didn’t fall in a vacuum: The 6750 XT and 6700 XT came down alongside it and are close competitors, with most of our tests showing them head-to-head with the 4060 Ti. If you’re not going to leverage features like NVIDIA’s Ray Reconstruction in Cyberpunk, Reflex, or its RT featureset, the 6700 XT and 6750 XT make more sense for rasterization performance at the value. That’s even truer at higher resolutions, where the 4060 Ti struggles. Our original 4060 Ti review showed several cases where the 3060 Ti outmatched it in higher resolution testing, leading to NVIDIA making a mockery of itself.

The RX 6800 is also worth consideration at the $370 price point. Back when we originally reviewed the card, we found the 6800 XT was commonly 10-15% ahead of the 6800, with some larger boosts in scenarios like ray tracing.

NVIDIA will have a compelling card eventually here, but the 4060 Ti isn’t high-end enough to survive on merits of features like DLSS and ray reconstruction alone.

Ultimately, at the top-end of the $200-$300 range and bottom-end of the $300-$400 range, the 6700 XT remains a relevant pick. That’s a big role reversal from when it launched at $480 MSRP. The 6750 XT would be another great option if you have a little extra to spend. After those, we think the RX 6800 might make more sense than the 7800 XT in some of the scenarios where its pricing is driven so far down. You can find our 7800 XT review here.

Best $400-$750 GPUs in 2023

NVIDIA RTX 4070 | Amazon | Newegg
AMD RX 6800 XT | Amazon | Newegg
AMD RX 6950 XT | Amazon | Newegg
AMD RX 7900 XT | Amazon | Newegg
For updates on the 6950 XT, 7900 XT, and RTX 4070, check our 7900 XT revisit.

Time to speed this up. We’re widening the range and now looking at the $400 to $750 price category, which makes this a lot more interesting. This is where it’s been the most exciting recently.

Table of GPUs from $400-$750

This table gives an idea for common options. We saw the 7700 XTs (reviewed here) start appearing at $430, with most of them at the MSRP of $450. The 4060 Ti 16GB also began popping-up around $430, a sharp fall-off from the original launch price. It’s still not worth buying. It’s not fast enough to benefit from the memory capacity increase.

The 6800 XT at $470 is compelling, especially as it’s cheaper than the 7800 XT and often trades places with it. We saw the 6800 XT outperform the 7800 XT in several tests thanks to its higher CU count, among other changes.

The 4070 runs $515 to $550. The 6950 XT is at $590, which is a great price for that card, and the 7900 XT has finally fallen back down to $740-$750.

Let’s start with the 7900 XT. A few weeks ago, we ran a revisit of this GPU using the Powercolor Hellhound as our test platform. We bought the card for $720 or so, which was a $180 reduction from the original MSRP. We were thrilled about the find and excited to share it, but within days, the price shot back up to $800. When we posted that video, we said we expected it’d come down again just in time for “sales” for Black Friday. Well, it did. It’s currently at $740, which leaves just enough room for a doorbuster sale in 1-2 days for $720 again. We wouldn’t be surprised. Manipulative retail practices aside -- and this is shared across all major retailers -- the card itself is actually a great pickup at $720-$740. We were lukewarm on it at $800 as it was in direct competition with the 4070 Ti. But the 6950 XT might outshine it at $590. Those are headed into extinction, but are close performers to the 7900 XT.

We have a few charts from our 7900 XT revisit you can look at to see how close they sometimes are. If you want the full details on these cards and how they compare to the 4070 Ti, check out the revisit. These are strong performers in rasterization, especially at higher resolutions, and compete closely enough in ray tracing to be worth considering at this price class.

Coming down in price, the RTX 4070 enters the fold in competition with the 7800 XT and 7700 XT. The easiest way to look at the 4070 vs. 7800 XT will be in our two charts from the review conclusion:

The 7800 XT had advantages anywhere from a couple percentage points to 23% over the 4070 in non-ray traced workloads, with a few losses here.

In ray tracing, the 4070 was ahead from 5% to 15%. If you really care about ray tracing performance, and especially if you might like features like ray reconstruction, the 4070 becomes much more relevant than in pure rasterization. We’d choose the RTX 4070 at this price-class for anyone eying games that are RT-heavy.

Best $750+ GPUs

NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Review | Amazon | Newegg

The $750 and up class is wild and also shows you where NVIDIA is focusing its new generation. We're hesitant to make any recommendations on the RTX 4070 Ti or RTX 4080 right now as there are refreshes due in first quarter of 2024. The refreshes will specifically target the 4080 and 4070 Ti, if rumors are to be believed.

Table of GPUs Over $750

Options are slim: The 4070 Ti somewhat appears one step down, with a lot of options in the $750 to $850 range. AMD’s RX 7900 XTX also remains in this upper pricing, although reduced from its $1000 launch price. It’s around $920-$950 commonly. The 4080 is around $1105 at the cheapest to $1200. And then the RTX 4090 has gone up in price, and is the only one in this entire list of GPUs that has gone in the wrong direction.

Maybe that’s because of sanctions, or maybe they just have the market cornered, but the cards are rarely in stock right now and also have somehow appreciated in value. These used to be around $1600.

In terms of performance, the 4090 definitely distances itself from the rest of the pack in ways that were previously unheard of for NVIDIA’s product lineup. Traditionally, the best card to the second-best card were much closer together -- especially if you’re talking about the range between a Titan and the highest-end non-Titan card. With the 40 series, that gap is wide enough to fit a mid-range GPU through. This is also true in ray tracing performance, where the 4090 is commonly 50% ahead of the 4080

Gallery of 4K Gaming Benchmarks

So the 4090 does its best to establish value by providing actual scaling over the 4080, but we can live without higher framerate to save a lot of money. The bigger place it provides value is the memory: For our workloads, with rendering videos in Premiere, we’ve actually found that our renders complete slower on an RTX 4080 than on an RTX 3090. That’s because the 3090’s 24GB of VRAM gets fully leveraged in our rendering workloads, whereas the 4080’s 16GB limits us severely and can slow render times down upwards of 50%. The 4090 works around this with the 24GB VRAM capacity. One of our render machines uses a 4090 for this reason, and we’d bet a lot of professional users -- even though they may wince at it -- are willing to pay the price to increase speed of work.

As for the cards below this, the 7900 XTX is difficult to justify against the 7900 XT’s new and low price. We’d generally opt for the 7900 XT over the XTX with a gap that large. The 4070 Ti remains worth consideration for heavy RT users especially. The 4080 we’re still not big fans of. The pricing is just too far out of bounds, yet it lacks the professional advantages offered by the 4090. We tried a 4080 as a cheaper alternative to the 4090 for rendering and it just wasn’t good for our workload.

Remember, NVIDIA will soon be refreshing its 4080 and 4070 Ti cards, maybe among others, so these categories will soon change.

Biggest Disappointment

The Biggest Disappointment category is hard. There are just so many options this year. For us, it’s more of a trend that’s disappointing: As part of its cost saving measures, AMD and NVIDIA both have made cuts to hardware while retaining old naming schema.

Despite a name being semi-arbitrary, it still sets a customer expectation. We’ve been the most disappointed in last-generation parts beating or equaling parts of a new generation with the same naming (just incremented). The RX 7800 XT is a great example of this, where the reduced CU count and other changes allowed the 6800 XT to best it in many scenarios. Despite a price drop with that, it’s just confusing for the average consumer. The same is true for NVIDIA’s RTX 4060 Ti, which was embarrassingly beaten by its own 3060 Ti at higher resolutions largely due to memory bandwidth reductions. We’d like to see the manufacturers keep the naming more in-line with what consumers already understand.

Closing Thoughts

That wraps up our list of the best GPUs for 2023. If you jumped to this section, go back to the price category that best aligns with what you're looking for -- each one is a self-contained guide for each price bracket. If you're looking for roundup-style information on other components, we also already published our Best CPUs of 2023 article, and our Best CPU Coolers of 2023 piece is on the way soon.