The concept of pc gaming is all vague without some quality graphics cards. However, since there are too many out there, the best option for you would be to consult us on the matter. If you have done, you could use our list of Top 10 Best Gaming Graphics Cards 2021. The products in the list are reviewed strongly on the factor of price so this might prove good for you.
How do we choose our Best Gaming Graphics Cards 2021?
The best graphics card currently is the one which delivers more fps (at least 60) than any other product on a 4k resolution. We can change the resolution to FHD and set a standard benchmark. Judgments based on these criteria can be well-made because, at these setting, even a game with ordinary graphics would love beautiful. Even though a new series called RTX by NVIDIA is already out there, we haven’t updated the list with those cards because the work on RTX technology is under progress and it has many optimization issues.
We have limited ourselves to 1000 series by NVIDIA and 500 series by AMD because the driver support for these cards is at its best and the price range has also been downgraded to sell those new series coming. We judge the cards based on their video memory, bit-rate, texture rate, pixel depth, and of course, the quality of the drivers which is always a major factor behind the better performance of any product. In this list on Best Graphics Cards for the Money, we have covered all the high and medium-end cards depending on different graphical needs of gamers.
10 Best Gaming Graphics Cards 2021:
We already have shared graphics cards for mining etc and we already have reviews regarding top gaming pc of 2021.
But if you wanna build your own gaming pc then we have separate hardware buying guides for that as well.
And a part of that series, today we are gonna list 10 Best Gaming Graphics Cards 2021 along with the reviews, feature and pros and cons of each graphics card.
So, lets begin the list without further delay:
Name | Card RAM | RAM Type | Where to Buy? |
---|---|---|---|
NVIDIA GTX 1060 | 6GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | - | - | Check Details |
NVIDIA GTX 1070 Ti | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
GTX 1080 | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
GTX 1070 | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
GTX 1080ti Mini | 8GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
NVIDIA GTX 1050ti | 4GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
NVIDIA GTX 1050 | 2GB | GDDR5 | Check Details |
Contents
- 1 1. NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB Edition:
- 2 GTX 1060 Review:
- 3 2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti:
- 4 GTX 1080ti Review:
- 5 3. NVIDIA GTX 1070 Ti:
- 6 NVIDIA GTX 1070ti Review:
- 7 4. AMD Radeon RX Vega 56:
- 8 AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 Review:
- 9 5. AMD Radeon RX Vega 64:
- 10 AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Review:
- 11 6. GTX 1080:
- 12 GTX 1080 Review:
- 13 7. GTX 1070:
- 14 GTX 1070 Review:
- 15 8. GTX 1080ti Mini:
- 16 GTX 1080ti Mini Review:
- 17 9. NVIDIA GTX 1050ti:
- 18 GTX 1050ti Review:
- 19 10. NVIDIA GTX 1050:
- 20 GTX 1050 Review:
1. NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB Edition:
After what mining of crypto-currency did to the market of graphics hardware, an economical and powerful card like GTX 1060 became so much harder to afford. However, the prices are now settling and in that case, GTX 1060 is always your best-budget buy. The top features are mentioned:
- NVIDIA GTX 1060 is available in both 3 and 6 GB video memory editions.
- For ultimate gaming performance at 1080p, we recommend the 6 GB edition.
- For those who love overclocking, this is definitely your go.
- You can go SLI with this one and that is one con that it has.
GTX 1060 Review:
This was the first card I bought from the 1000 series and was also the last since I moved on from pc gaming but it brought me probably the best gaming experience of my life. On a screen with FHD resolution, I was able to run all the games on higher settings and even the next-gen games like Assassin’s Creed Origins and Mafia 3. There are two versions of GTX 1060 including the 3 GB mini edition and the beast 6 GB edition by Gigabyte, Asus, and many others.
Also, even though it has no SLI support, it would still perform faster than the SLI of two 970s which is quite amazing. GTX 1060 is one of the most economical graphics card and also one of the best graphics under 200 dollars in case you are buying the 3 GB edition. The 6 GB edition is slightly expensive and for games with higher video memory requirement, you should get this one.
- It allows QHD and FHD gaming OTG.
- Fits on most motherboards due to the compact design.
- Both 6 GB and 3 GB versions are available.
- There is no SLI support.
- 3 GB has fewer shaders than 6 GB.
2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti:
Though we promised an economical list this time, there is no way you can go 4k with those. That is why we are bringing you GTX 1080ti from the same vendor which is your ticket to open the doors for 4k gaming. The top features are mentioned below:
- GTX 1080ti from NVIDIA is a graphics unit perfect for 4k gaming.
- The card features a video memory of 11 GB which is immense.
- There are two HDMI ports and 1 display port.
- Even with such graphics power, it remains so cool.
GTX 1080ti Review:
Unless we consider the newly released GTX 2000 series, this GTX 1080ti is the most powerful GPU on the planet. As far as the best graphics cards under 1000 dollars are concerned, this one has no matches and even though a couple of its competitors are out there, it would easily beat them in any game thanks to the perfect drivers’ support. GTX 1080ti has a video memory and 3d card based on GDDR5x technology which is known to run all the games at 60 fps on a 4k screen.
For a powerful gaming pc where you wish to run all the games on a resolution of 4k and especially for the next-gen games, this is a card you must buy. Though it has no RTX features and you cannot turn them on in Battlefield 5 and in Metro Exodus, though technologies still need a lot of optimization so that you can do pretty well without them.
- Among the best graphics cards for rendering.
- The huge video memory size of 11 GB.
- There are 1480 core processors engineered.
- The memory clock is also 11 GHz.
- It gets very hot.
- Not the coolest design.
- A heavy investment.
3. NVIDIA GTX 1070 Ti:
Not that we are NVIDIA’s fanboys or something which these devices definitely deserve these rankings. So the next on the list is 1070ti which is there to give you mastery over 1440p gaming. Being in the middle of 4k and 1080p, it has following top features:
- It is the time to master a gaming resolution of 1440p that is WOW!
- The card features an 8 GB GDDR5 video memory for gaming.
- This has some heating issues which would be the only con.
- One of the most economical gaming solutions as compared to the performance.
NVIDIA GTX 1070ti Review:
NVIDIA GTX 1070ti is the next best thing after 1080ti and 1080 and is the true representation for the best graphics cards under 1000 dollars. This is because others can get expensive time. Even though the downgrade in drivers due to the release of RTX series has caused some havoc, it is still running all the games on 4k. On some games though, you might get 60 fps all the time but this is only for the next-gen games.
NVIDIA GTX 1070ti is the best GPU to play games at a resolution of 1440p because when it comes to this, there is no game it would run above 60 fps unless of course, you turn on the RTX feature of any game where it would completely die. This graphics card comes with a VRAM of 8 GBPS and has 1607 core clock processor.
- Perfect for gaming at 1440p.
- The 8 GB more than enough for all games.
- It is power efficient even though it heats a lot.
- There are more core clocks than 1060 6 GB.
- Currently the best graphics card under $500.
- Still uses GDDR5 memory.
- The older Pascal architecture.
4. AMD Radeon RX Vega 56:
Well, it is finally the time that we give some space to AMD even though our 4th pick from them is quite expensive for this list. It is not AMD’s tradition to bring expensive stuff but it is okay if the performance is like the one which AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 offers:
- It is time to enjoy an 8 GB HMB2 gaming performance.
- The RX Vega from AMD gives 60+ at 1080p always.
- Well, the heating issues are always there with AMD.
- The energy consumption is great but so does gaming performance.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 Review:
Some of my early day cards were all by AMD but later I got shifted to NVIDIA since AMD pretty much started sucking in drivers support mainly. However, that is no longer true, especially with the RX series cards. The RX Vega cards are one of the latest and among those, the pretty admirable one is this AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 with 8 GB video memory, 3584 stream processor, and has the ability of running games at 4k. However, it is also recommended for 1440p due to the lags.
As usual, the AMD cards are much more affordable than their competitors and if a 1070ti is becoming hard for you to afford, you can get this AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 as the best alternative with the equivalent performance. It uses the HBM2 memory by AMD and is also one of the durable options you can get for the future.
- A very price competitive product.
- Good for running games on 1440p at 60 fps.
- It is much better than GTX 1070.
- Free-Sync for many monitors.
- The power draw is always as usual.
- Also, it heats up a lot.
- Vega is still less efficient.
5. AMD Radeon RX Vega 64:
Here is another product of the same category. However, the driver support for RX Vega 64 being the latest model is much better than Vega 56 and here we are with our 5th pick for the list. Its top features are mentioned:
- No difference in video memory that is 8 GB HMB2.
- The benchmarks results in all games were really impressive.
- Being an AMD product, the energy consumption is always high.
- At 1080p, 60 and more fps are guaranteed for all games.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Review:
For some reason, this graphics card by AMD doesn’t seem to follow the tradition for being an affordable product. However, if you wish for a smooth 4k gaming performance, you will have to pay for this one. AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 has about 4k stream processor which makes it one of the best graphics cards for video editing. As per their tradition for excellent mining, it is also one of the best graphics cards for mining as well.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 comes with a memory size of 8 GB even though the core clock is much lesser i.e. 1247. The fps might still stutter in 4k games when that is due to the poor driver support and we can still wish for the better updates in that area. This is a pretty nice overall package which goes very well with the Intel processors as well.
- Basic 4k but excellent 1440p performance.
- The software features for streaming and recording are great.
- This is one of the best graphics cards for VR gaming.
- A very pricey thing for an AMD product.
- It also has overheating and power draw issues.
6. GTX 1080:
Even though after the release of GTX 1080 Ti, people rarely go for 1080 but those with a little budget issue, they go for 1080 which is another of the best GPUs so far. One of the reasons why many hardcore gamers prefer this is its price which is much better than most of the cards in this range and still delivers the 4k gaming performance due to which the gamers buy these high-end cards. Also, the driver support is amazing for which people love GTX 1080. See its top features below:
- A card which delivers 60 or more fps even on 4k resolution
- In most of the games, has 2560 CUDA cores.
- 10 GBPS memory speed which makes it immensely powerful.
GTX 1080 Review:
When you have to buy GTX 1080, we prefer raising your budget and getting a GTX 1080ti but when there is no more money coming, you can still settle for this one. Though there is no reason why you shouldn’t get it. It still delivers 60 fps on a 4k screen in any old or next-gen games, has great NVIDIA drivers support, and moreover, it has 2560 making it one of the best graphics cards for editing the videos.
With the 10 GBPS memory speed, the videos can be rendered very fast and if you need to use ShadowPlay, it will deliver the quality VR gaming experience.
- 10 GBPS memory speed.
- An immensely powerful GPU.
- It will take every game above 100 fps on 1080p.
- No idle fans while not in use.
- Poor performance in AMD optimized games.
7. GTX 1070:
Before the release of the Ti editions from the company, people would only go mostly for GTX 1070 and some of its reasons include the medium budget and high-performance card. This gaming beast has the following amazing features:
- GTX 1070 is a 256-bit graphics card with a video memory of 8 GB, and it also uses the GDDR5 technology.
- Another of the cards which would run all the next generations games at 60 fps
- Would also run 4k games at good frame rates.
- With the latest drivers released for the 10 series, its performance gets better and better every day.
GTX 1070 Review:
The RX Vega 56 and there are some other reasons for which we have ranked GTX 1070 this down the list. If you need to play the next-gen games and don’t want your fps to drop below 60 especially on 1080p, there is no doubt that we will recommend you this GPU. Vega 56 would have been better and it is in some games but due to the better driver support, we prefer GTX 1070 more.
Being an NVIDIA card, GTX 1070 is expensive and while you are looking forward to building a high-end pc with an average budget for the graphics card, it would be difficult to afford this one. Its performance on 1440p is much better than RX Vega 56 so keep that in mind.
- GTX 1070 is based on the GDDR5 memory.
- Good for next-gen games on 1080p.
- It can also run most games on 4k.
- Expensive than the competitors.
- Surprisingly higher energy consumption.
8. GTX 1080ti Mini:
You should not believe when it says the word ‘Mini’ because of a little less powerful than the main edition, GTX 1080ti Mini is everything you need. This is quite expensive though but for unstoppable gaming performance, you have got to get it. Some of the top features of this graphics card are mentioned below:
- GTX 1080ti Mini also has a video memory 11 GB and is based on GDDR5x.
- This graphics unit has a total of 3,584 stream processors.
- The product has a 1,506 core clock and 10 GBPS memory clock.
GTX 1080ti Mini Review:
The GTX 1080ti Mini version doesn’t mean that it lacks anything in the gaming performance. In fact, it is designed for the Mini-ITX boards and chassis where the other longer 1080ti wouldn’t fit and it is all a matter of size instead of the performance. This mini edition is introduced by ZOTAC and you will not get this from any other brand. If you need to have a concise casing, this GTX 1080ti Mini will be the best thing to install there.
There is no difference in the gaming performance of this ZOTAC GTX 1080ti Mini graphics card and the longer version by other brands. However, we have seen some of the cards by this brand giving fewer fps in some games. But, it also delivers better fps in some games so that balances it out. The only difference between the features is the presence of a lower memory clock and that is 10 GHz in this GTX 1080ti Mini.
- The design is neutral.
- Good for VR and 4k.
- You get a 5-year warranty.
- You will love the solid construction.
- The shroud is made of plastic.
- The temperature is higher than the original.
9. NVIDIA GTX 1050ti:
GTX 1050ti is the enhanced and even powerful edition of 1050 which has been upgraded up to 4 GB video memory. We shall now proceed and close this list by telling the features of this medium-end gaming beast:
- GTX 1050ti is an upgraded version with 4 GB video memory at GDDR5 technology.
- Now enjoy the power of 768 stream processors and core clock that is 1,290.
- Made for solid performance at 1080p with a memory clock of 7 GBPS.
- If you want to overclock your card, this is the one with much potential.
GTX 1050ti Review:
Only because of its price that GTX 1050ti is ranked below 1050 but if we consider the performance, this is the medium-end beast you were looking for. TW3 is a pretty heavy game and we have witnessed this card running that easily on high settings on a screen resolution of 1080p so how good a GPU can be?
Also, for a medium-end card, it has a better sum of stream processor and core clock which are 768 and 1290 respectively. The memory clock of 7 GBPS is more than enough for optimized performance and if you need to overclock this yourself, you can do it especially the Gigabyte edition.
- It has 4 GB VRAM.
- A very power-efficient graphics card.
- Comes with the great OC potential.
- Now run all games in FHD.
- It doesn’t require an extra power connection.
- It doesn’t have SLI either.
10. NVIDIA GTX 1050:
For those of you who are low on budget, well, you don’t need to worry anymore since the medium-end of the powerful 10 series is here. 1050 is one of the models which delivers great fps in most of the games except for some top next-gen ones. The product has the following top features:
- A GDDR5 graphics card with 2 GB video memory.
- 7 GBPS memory clock, 1,354 core clock, and 640 stream processors.
- One of the most affordable and powerful medium-end GPU.
GTX 1050 Review:
NVIDIA has this habit of releasing the cards for medium-end gaming and when it comes to that, the GTX 1050 and 1050ti are the kings of this category. For any next-gen game, you can get the medium graphics settings on 1080p and more than 200 fps on games like CS GO. In fact, if you are a regular DOTA 2 or CS GO player, you don’t need anything better than this.
The 1000 series is still getting its driver updates and as long as that continues, having these cards is a pretty excellent thing to do. There are both 2 and 4 GB versions of these cards available in the market with some price difference of course.
- Among the best graphics cards under 200.
- For superior gaming performance at FHD.
- The fan automatically turns off when idle.
- 2 GB version isn’t enough though.
- No VGA signal present in DVI.
Final Words:
So, this was our review of 10 Best Gaming Graphics Cards of 2021. If you are a gaming expert and wanna add something or a newbie and have any confusion then feel free to use the comments section below.
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