It's no secret that NVIDIA takes most of the spotlight when it comes to desktop-class discrete graphics cards. AMD has been producing Radeon-branded cards for years now, but it's usually Team Green plastered everywhere for marketing. Just like its battle against Intel with processors, AMD has made recent strides in staying competitive against NVIDIA.
Here are the best AMD Radeon graphics cards you can buy right now.
While the AMD Radeon RX 6800 may not be the outright most powerful graphics card from AMD, it's our favorite choice for most gamers due to its fine balance between affordability and performance. This GPU is designed primarily for QHD (1440p) gaming, but you can get away with 4K in some games, so long as you turn down a few settings.
There are plenty of aftermarket RX 6800 graphics cards, just like all other mainstream releases from AMD and NVIDIA. Regardless of which one you eventually settle on, you'll enjoy a GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM for storing everything your most demanding games can throw at it. The core is capable of running at a speed of at least 1,815MHz without boosting.
3,840 steam processors ensure you've got ample performance with a compute performance rating of around 16.17 TFLOPs. On the rear of the GPU, you'll find HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB-C. This is one of the best graphics cards for those who aren't looking to spend a fortune.
The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT isn't quite the weakest card the company has released for the 6000 series, but it's close. The 4GB of GDDR6 RAM is great for games that don't require any more than what's available, but you may struggle to make good use of the 16 ray tracing accelerators as this card isn't designed with ray tracing in mind.
In fact, you'll find it difficult to smash through 100 frames per second at 1080p with more demanding games, requiring some settings to be turned down. But that's to be expected with such an affordable graphics card. It's compact and primarily designed with more compact PC builds in mind. Building a small PC for your kid? This may be just what you need.
When you're searching for not only the best GPU AMD has to offer with its RX 6000 series, but also one of the best GPUs around, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT is an absolute monster. It'll take on even the more demanding games and gladly throw frames at your 4K monitor without issue. This is AMD's flagship GPU for a few very good reasons.
Inside is 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, a core running at a base speed of 1,890MHz, 80 compute units and ray accelerators, as well as 5,120 steam processors. All this creates one incredible gaming machine. There's a cost, however, and I'm not talking price. This thing is rated at 335W TDP, meaning it's going to get real warm inside your PC.
You'll also need to make sure your PSU is up to the job of supplying enough power to the RX 6950 XT, which requires two 8-pin PCIe cables. It's likely overkill for most PC builds, but it would be a graphics card many PC gamers would love to own.
If all you require is a budget-friendly GPU that's both great for 1080p gaming and can easily fit inside smaller PC builds, look no further than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. This is a fantastic GPU at the lower end of the catalog from AMD with support for ray tracing — though whether you should enable it is an entirely different story.
We've got HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, a core clock speed of 2,359MHz, and a full 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM. But that's not all, AMD managed to keep the power draw down considerably, rating the card at just 160W for TDP. This means you won't require too much in the form of additional cooling, and the RX 6600 XT shouldn't get too hot.
1080p really is the limit for this card, though, in some games, you will be able to step up to 1440p. The price is extremely attractive, and there are several smaller designs from hardware partners, which means the RX 6600 XT is also a good shout for those building a smaller gaming PC. We were impressed by its slightly less capable sibling, the AMD Radeon RX 6600.
Choosing the best AMD GPU
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AMD's current lineup of GPUs has a lot going for it, with reliable performance and a great price no matter what kind of gaming PC you're planning to put together. But if you want the best of the bunch, then you want the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT. It's AMD's flagship RX 6000 series GPU and has one amazing punch for more demanding games.
If speed isn't everything and you'd much prefer to save a little money, I'd recommend going with the AMD Radeon RX 6800. It's a mid-range GPU with ample performance for 1440p gaming. You'll not struggle to enjoy all your Steam catalog with the incredible performance of either card.
