Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2025 – GPUs
Choosing the best graphics card for gaming in 2025 isn’t as simple as it used to be. A few years ago, you could line up GPUs on a simple ladder of performance versus price, but this generation has blurred those lines. Instead of dumping you a long catalog of models, I want to highlight the cards that truly deliver.
I’ve played, tested, and benchmarked nearly every major release — Intel’s new Battlemage series, Nvidia’s RTX Blackwell cards, and AMD’s full RDNA 4 stack. Based on those results, the standout for most PC gamers is the AMD Radeon RX 9070.
It nails 1440p performance, adds noticeably stronger ray tracing compared to AMD’s older GPUs, and comes with 16GB of VRAM that makes it ready for demanding games in the years ahead. Its launch pricing was rough, but today it’s positioned right where it should be, competing neck-and-neck with the RX 9070 XT and Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti.
For pure top-end bragging rights, however, the Nvidia RTX 5090 has no equal. It’s the ultimate high-performance GPU, combining unmatched speed with cutting-edge features — though you’ll pay dearly for the privilege.
The GPU market this year is shaped by high costs, fluctuating supply, and tariffs pushing prices further. But with the right guidance, you can still find a graphics card that hits the sweet spot for your budget and performance needs.
Quick list
The best overall graphics card
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is our current pick for the best graphics card for most PC gamers. Its price/performance combo, coupled with the improvements that AMD has made to both its ray tracing and upscaling tech, makes it a winner for me.
The best budget graphics card
It was anything but a shoo-in for Intel’s cheap Arc B570 to get a pick in our best GPU guide, but it’s got a lot of VRAM for the money, and when it’s around its MSRP there’s nothing that can touch it. Until the RTX 5050 comes back into stock, maybe.
The best high-end GPU
While it may only be some 30% faster than the RTX 4090, there is no other consumer GPU on the planet that comes close to its power or potential. And it also has the Multi Frame Gen magic trick at its disposal to deliver ludicrous frame rates in compatible games.
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