Graphics cards have been a feature for PC builders for some time. As more gamers venture onto PC gaming some wish to optimise their PC’s with fantastic graphics on display.
PC’s and graphics card can feel like an overload of technical jargon. At times to the novice this can can feel intimidating. This article will attempts to simplgraphics cards and give you an understanding of the best graphics cards on offer. This insight will leave you with less head scratching and more preparedness to find the best graphics card for you.
List of Featured Graphics Cards reviewed below:
1080p Gaming
- 6600/ 6600XT
- 6700 XT
1440
- 3070
- 3080
4K
- RTX 6800 XT
- NVIDIA 3080 TI
- NVIDIA 3090 TI
- 6950 XT
What do Graphics cards do?
Modern day games have amazing graphics however most PC’s are not always capable of handling these advance graphics. This is where graphics cards come in. They provide a PC with the ability to support the demand of those graphics. This means an enhanced experience when playing your favourite games.
Is a Graphics Card really needed?
Computers have to do a whole lot of calculations and they have to do them very fast.
One particular calculation out of many is the ability to figure out what colours and at what point they are output on the screen.
A graphics card is like a miniature version of your computer with the role of putting images onto your screen. Just like a computer a graphics card comes with its own processor which is refereed to as the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).
Computers have what is known as a CPU, the GPU acts as the equivalent for a Graphics card. To rely on the CPU to do these calculations is not as efficient as a Graphics card due to the cores within either processors. CPU’s normally have less but more dense cores to run intelligent calculations.
AMD RX6600 XT
The 6600 XT implements a 2359 MGHZ game clock, with 32mb, 8gb GDDR6 memory and 32 computer Units. The. power consumption on the 6600 XT is also a great selling point in comparison to other GPU’s in it’s range. For 1080p gaming this 6600 XT performs well and is once of the strong contenders in this category.
NVIDIA 3060
For 1080p gaming the 3060 is one of the top performing graphics cards out there. Most notable features are the 12gb memory and the X16 PCIE 4.0 connection. The 3060 also has the ability to perform well at 1440p gaming although this may be title specific as it may not hit the requirements on the most demanding games.
NVIDA 3070
The NVIDIA 3070 incorporates a GA 104 Graphics unit with 5888 cuda cores. In addition there are 8 gbytes of GDDR6 memory and bandwidth of 44 gigs per second. Notably the 3070 has a Boost clock of up to 1725 mg hz and a 220 watts of power which enables really effective cooling consumption. At 1080p and 1440p the 3070 performs well and can run a few number of games at 4K. All in all the 3070 is excellent value for money at its price and delivers a top quality performance despite its size compared to other GPU’s on the market.
Radeon RX6700 XT
The Radeon RX6700XT is is built on 7 Nanometer processor, based on the Novi 22 graphics. This is graphics card is on the higher end of the GPU market. With Direct 12 Ultimex Support this ensures that all modern games can be played with this graphics card. The 6700 XT supports hardware Ray Tracing, Variable rate shading and an Operating frequency of 2321 mhz which be boosted up to 2581. This graphics card provides superb 1080p performance and plenty VRAM. Should you be looking for a graphics card with a great price to performance ratio then the 6700 is the one for you.
NIVIDA RTX 3080
The RTX3080 is a top end desktop graphics card, it has 12 GB with a sizable GA 102 chip offering 8704 shaders. Built on the 8 nanometer process with 384 bits memory and a power draw of up to 350 watts. This graphics cards is for those who wish to use the highest graphic settings when gaming at 4k or 1440p. However it does seem to take a performance dip at 1080p with the more recent Ray Tracing titles. With DLSS and DXR support this performance drop is some what negated.
AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT
This graphics card is up there as one of AMD ‘s highest performing graphics card and therefore is another high end entrant. The 6800 hundred packs massive amount of power and features 72 CU’s, 4600 gpu cores a Base clock over 2000 mhz a Boost clock 2200 mhz and 16gb memory. 128 megabyte infinity cache this is what make the 6800 XT really perform which helps to Improves effective bandwidth by 119%. This card has no issues whatsoever handling games at 4k and 1440p.
NVIDIA RTX 3090
Built on an 8 nanometer process the RTX 3090 operates on a frequency of 1395 mhz this can be boosted up to 1700 mhz. It includes 82 RT cores, 10496 Cuda cores and 24 gb of memory. With specs the gaming experience is truly boosted when playing in ray tracing at 1440p and 4k. It is able to perform nicely with 8k playing performance. An excellent all round GPU/
AMD RADEON 6900 XT
The 6900 XT comes with the fully enabled NOVI 21 GPU with 80 compute unit in addition it supports a wider memory bus and extra shader cores. It has a 16gb memory, clocked at 1.6 ghz with a 256 bit memory that creates a bandwidth of 512 gb per second. This graphics card is really fast and for those 4K games this is a must have.
Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti
With a GA 102 GPU the 3090 is definitely in the top end of desktop graphics card. The card is based on the AMPIA generation and built on an 8 nanometer processor. it hosts 24 gb of memory and operates at 20gb per second, includes 10752 shaders with base and boost speeds clocked at 1560 mhz and 1.8 mhz respectively
AMD Radeon 6950 XT
Based on the NOVI 21 graphics architecture and 7 nanometer phography processor the 6950 is a powerful graphics card. It’s a relativley big graphics card and this is down to the great specs it possesses. Again if you’re one for gaming on the highest settings then you’ll find with this graphics card that it produces incredible frame rates on all titles. Can run almost all of the most popular games on ultra settings in stunning 4k resolutions
So there we have it, Graphics cards in a nutshell. As you can see NVIDIA and AMD are the two biggest players in the market. The article focuses primarily on the most current graphics cards as both the big hitters are coming out with new generation graphics cards that aim to push the boundaries and graphics to a new level. Let us know what you think of the article and also your thoughts on your personal opinions and preferences below.