The best graphics cards 2017: top GPUs for your PC

When it’s time for a new graphics card, it’s time for one of the best graphics cards to date – no more procrastinating. Yet, if you’re new to building PCs or you’ve been out of the game for a while, you may not be familiar to what the top graphics cards are at the moment. Luckily, you have your friends here at TechRadar to keep you posted on the newest and best-reviewed graphics cards on the market right now, hands down.

Without the best monitor, having the best graphics card means nothing

There aren’t a ton of them, but we’ve managed to narrow our list of the best graphics cards down to a mere 8 of them, each with different customers in mind. If 4K is a must, for example, we’ve prominently spotlighted the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti as our best 4K graphics card, though we admit the $699 (£699, about AU$930) price tag isn’t for everyone. That’s why we’ve included selections all the way down to the GTX 1050, which retails at a fraction of the price.

Listen, we know it’s tempting to shell out $3,199 (about £2,430 or AU$4,070) for a laptop that dual-wields GTX 1070’s. But, when you can build a desktop for a less substantial beating on your wallet, why would you want to? The best graphics cards will soup up your existing PC or bring your new rig to life with visual rendering prowess that puts any integrated CPU graphics solution to shame. Plus you can always upgrade it down the road.

Per our previous explanation, the best graphics card is all about offering the most bang for your buck. As such, it’s our consensus that Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 is unparalleled when it comes to sheer value. For a modest sum of cash, this graphics card affords players full HD 1080p and – perhaps with a bit of overclocking – 1440p and even 4K gaming. At the same time, however, the GTX 1060 doesn’t bear support for SLI, so you’re limited to just one card.

Read the full review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

best graphics cards

The Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti comes closest to dethroning the Titan Xp as the world’s most powerful GPU. It’s wildly more capable than the GTX 1080 proper, thanks to its 11GB of GDDR5X VRAM and dramatically higher CUDA core count. It’s still no match for two GTX 1080s in SLI, but this single card is cheaper and supports a larger pool of games. If you’re looking for a single part to run your games at 4K, the Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti is the best graphics card to do it.

Read the full review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

The Nvidia GTX 1080 is the best all-rounder graphics card for gaming we’ve ever tested. While it can make 4K gaming viable, albeit with a bit of tweaking in triple-A blockbuster titles, that’s not exactly where the GTX 1080 shines the most. Instead, that’s in its ability to run PC games at their highest settings with the resolution cranked up to 1440p. Thanks to a recent price drop from Nvidia, too, it’s also more affordable than ever, making it that much more enticing.

Read the full review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is one of the best value-packed graphics card on the market right now. Benchmarks prove it runs faster than the Nvidia GTX 1070 and, thanks to the Bitcoin mining craze, it’s also cheaper to boot. The Vega 56 is arguably a little bit overkill for Full HD gaming, but that’ll come in handy for 144-to-240hz monitors and future-proofing. Users can also expect a great 1440p experience with this graphics card.

AMD’s flagship Radeon RX Vega graphics card may not have won titles for best for gaming on our list, but it is nevertheless a return to form for the Red Team. After all, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 has proved itself every bit as capable as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and for a lower price. Sporting 4,096 stream processors, 256 texture units and 8GB of HBM2 memory, this card has the brute computing power for physics-heavy VR gaming now and into the future. If nothing else, this is the AMD card to rule them all.

Read the full review: AMD Radeon RX Vega 64

When you’re building a microATX – or, especially a mini-ITX – computer, you want to aim for the smallest parts you can find without compromising much on performance. Though it’s a given that you might have to sacrifice a few frames-per-second in favor of a more compact form factor, with Zotac’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Mini – the smallest of its kind at 211 x 125 x 41mm (8.31 x 4.92 x 1.61 inches) – there’s very little in the way of prodigious 4K gaming.

The Nvidia GTX 1050 might not look like much on paper, what with only 2GB of video memory onboard, but this affordable GPU plays games better than you would think. If you’re willing to drop settings to medium, you can play Overwatch, CS:GO and other popular competitive shooters well above the silky smooth 60fps mark. Thanks to its compact size, it’s also perfect for small builds and entertainment center-bound streaming PCs.

eSports games often demand high frame rates over beautifully rendered graphical details, and this is where the Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti comes into its own. It’s an affordable but potent graphics card that can play most eSports games well above 60fps. It’s a tad more expensive than its lower-end Nvidia GTX 1050 brethren, but you’ll appreciate the extra legs on this card to play future eSports titles as well as the odd AAA game.

Read the full review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti