The Best GPUs 2022: New & Used Graphics Cards

[Steve]

It's been two years since we published a best GPUs guide, and that's because for two years now the market has been in complete shambles. But things could finally start to improve. So where are we now?

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/gpu-2022/

 

[Nobina]

Price varies quite a lot depending on the country you live in. What might be a decent recommendation if you live in the US could be terrible for someone living in Europe. For me, the most annoying thing is when I read that the prices have somewhat gone down only to see that it doesn't apply to where I live.

 

[Dimitriid]

"Spend as little as possible" - Best GPU to still get is the integrated graphics on the 5600g

Specially now that the Steam Deck will popularize 1080p and 720p low settings gaming you could just do it on integrated graphics and save 500 which is the lowest, feasible recommendation that you're throwing here.

As I said before you always ignore this as a realistic option for most people and instead end up just lamenting the rest of the bad choices instead of trying to get people out of a consumerist mindset of saying "Yeah, you've gotta spend 500 or risk getting something used (Or factory crippled like the 6500 xt) there's no other options"

 

[silversea]

If everyone stops buying GPU's and CPU's for 6 months or so the prices will be forced down to near-normal levels due to price pressure, the longer the consumer can contain themselves the lower the price will go, but there is one big problem standing in the way of that, we are all human, and as such, we can never come together as one fore such an enormous undertaking.

 

[NumberSix]

When I paid 400 quid for a brand new RTX 2070 Super I thought I had been ripped off, ahh those were the days.

 

[Sausagemeat]

Now that supply is limited you can really see how much and I mean literally how much people prefer GeForce to Radeon. Where I live RTX 3060s sell at more than double MSRP and you have to join a waiting list to buy it. Alternatively you can get a 6600XT for quite a lot less and it’s in stock more than it’s not.

It’s because Radeon is a dumpster fire and people know to avoid it. I’m certainly never going Radeon ever again after the last two cards I’ve had from AMD.

 

[madboyv1]

I remember buying my Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Windforce new for $650, thinking "man, buying this at a premium hurts, but it is what it is. It's been sold out for several months now and this is the one I need/want (running a 12L case back in 2016 was not as easy as it is now). Looking back reminds me how lucky I actually was. =/

 

[HardReset]

So let's see.

January 19 2022 6500XT gets review score 20/100 https://www.techspot.com/review/2398-amd-radeon-6500-xt/

Then February 11 2022 6500XT is recommended as best alternative for Entry-level GPU.

Wtf am I reading here? Like I commented on 6500XT review thread, no matter how "bad" that product is, it's both affordable and available. And on today's market that pretty good combo. It makes me wonder why Techspot staff had to argue when I told them that. Because now they seem to agree

 

[wiyosaya]

So let's see.

January 19 2022 6500XT gets review score 20/100 https://www.techspot.com/review/2398-amd-radeon-6500-xt/

Then February 11 2022 6500XT is recommended as best alternative for Entry-level GPU.

Wtf am I reading here? Like I commented on 6500XT review thread, no matter how "bad" that product is, it's both affordable and available. And on today's market that pretty good combo. It makes me wonder why Techspot staff had to argue when I told them that. Because now they seem to agree

Reality stepped into the ring and gave them a knockout punch.

 

[wiyosaya]

Now that supply is limited you can really see how much and I mean literally how much people prefer GeForce to Radeon. Where I live RTX 3060s sell at more than double MSRP and you have to join a waiting list to buy it. Alternatively you can get a 6600XT for quite a lot less and it’s in stock more than it’s not.

It’s because Radeon is a dumpster fire and people know to avoid it. I’m certainly never going Radeon ever again after the last two cards I’ve had from AMD.

So if a time comes in the future where the AMD card is considered by reviewers to be the best card, and the equivalent nVidia card is considered the "dumpster fire", you would still buy the nVidia card?

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Really? Asking for $600 for a 3050? That's nuts.

Now I feel bad for $375 I'm asking for the RTX 3050 I got; I grabbed it so I could just to pass along at cost to someone that might be having troubles to find an entry level GPU.

RTX 3070 going for $1100?

The 3070 I have I'm only asking $900. After I pay shipping costs to ship the card someone that means I'd maybe make $40-45 off of it.

I grabbed these cards up to resell at just above cost (so I can recoup my money and not lose any money when I pay to ship the cards out) and no one has shown interest in them yet.

I guess I'm doing something wrong. I should gouge the crap out of people.

 

[MrJelly]

Now that supply is limited you can really see how much and I mean literally how much people prefer GeForce to Radeon. Where I live RTX 3060s sell at more than double MSRP and you have to join a waiting list to buy it. Alternatively you can get a 6600XT for quite a lot less and it’s in stock more than it’s not.

It’s because Radeon is a dumpster fire and people know to avoid it. I’m certainly never going Radeon ever again after the last two cards I’ve had from AMD.

The market is skewed by crypto mining performance, which doesn't translate to gaming performance. That's why even the low end Nvidia cards cost so much, because the Ampere architecture is especially good for mining. Equivalent AMD cards are cheaper because they have lower hash rate.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

"Spend as little as possible" - Best GPU to still get is the integrated graphics on the 5600g

Specially now that the Steam Deck will popularize 1080p and 720p low settings gaming you could just do it on integrated graphics and save 500 which is the lowest, feasible recommendation that you're throwing here.

As I said before you always ignore this as a realistic option for most people and instead end up just lamenting the rest of the bad choices instead of trying to get people out of a consumerist mindset of saying "Yeah, you've gotta spend 500 or risk getting something used (Or factory crippled like the 6500 xt) there's no other options"

So how do I add a 5600g to my intel 9th gen system?

OOPS, its not a GPU, something you always seem to forget.

And LMFAO at spending $250 on an APU to play at 720p low. If you want to do that there are literally hundreds of cards on the market that will do a far better job, at a cheaper price. A pentium and DDR5 GT 1030 will blow that pile of trash out of the water.

 

[Lounds]

The RX 6700 XT will likely age better than the 3060Ti but currently I'd say the 3060ti has the edge due to its better RT performance and DLSS features.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The BEST shouldn't be subject to "price".

The best video card is the 3090 and all variants of it until the 3090Ti gets here.

Saying that a Radeon card is better because "you can afford it" is like saying, you should buy a Toyota over a Mercedes.

 

[nnguy2]

The BEST shouldn't be subject to "price".

The best video card is the 3090 and all variants of it until the 3090Ti gets here.

Saying that a Radeon card is better because "you can afford it" is like saying, you should buy a Toyota over a Mercedes.

The car you can afford and have is infinitely better than the theoretical car you cant afford and don't have.

 

[MarcusNumb]

Well it's sad to see the price for the "entry" level is 500. Now I don't feel too bad for paying 430 for 5700xt red devil or 870 for 3070ti gaming x trio. Hopefully next year we'll see more normal prices cause now this is just ridiculous.

 

[Sausagemeat]

So if a time comes in the future where the AMD card is considered by reviewers to be the best card, and the equivalent nVidia card is considered the "dumpster fire", you would still buy the nVidia card?

No I would not buy a bad Nvidia card. Recognising Radeon as the snake oil that it is doesn’t mean I would automatically just buy Nvidia.

But reviewers are difficult to trust. They make it out like Radeons and Geforece are competitive with each other. But they really aren’t, GeForce is absolutely destroying Radeon on performance, features, drivers, length of product support and most importantly sales. Most people aren’t stupid enough to buy Radeon anymore, usually after getting a bad experience in the past. I wonder how all the consumers buying a 6500XT will buy next time when the time comes around.

 

[HardReset]

But they really aren’t, GeForce is absolutely destroying Radeon on performance, features, drivers, length of product support and most importantly sales. Most people aren’t stupid enough to buy Radeon anymore, usually after getting a bad experience in the past. I wonder how all the consumers buying a 6500XT will buy next time when the time comes around.

So much rant when AMD gets 4 out of 5 recommendations

With all sources missing of course. Nvidia fanboys are so funny.

 

[Avro Arrow]

"For those of you looking to spend as little as possible the cheapest new graphics card is the unfortunate Radeon RX 6500 XT. Essentially, it’s a bad product with numerous issues that costs too much for what it is. However, there’s no alternative for under $450, so if you desperately need a new graphics card and the used market is out of the question, this is it.

Alternatively, if you do have access to a heavily used market, we recommend looking at the Radeon RX 570 4GB, which can typically be had for under $200 and is arguably a better product. For similar money, or around $270, a used Radeon 5500 XT 4GB or GTX 1650 Super are better products, so consider those instead if you find them."

Well, if someone is that desperate, I have an R9 Fury that I could be persuaded to part with for $200USD. Its performance is somewhere between the RX 580 and RX 590.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The car you can afford and have is infinitely better than the theoretical car you cant afford and don't have.

"Availability" is also not an indicator of the intrinsic value of "the best card".

 

[nnguy2]

"Availability" is also not an indicator of the intrinsic value of "the best card".

to the person buying the card it is

 

[BadThad]

EXCELLENT article Steven! Thanks for the update!

 

[torchyear]

I've noticed that, at least in AU, GPU prices have been inching downwards over the last month by around 5-10%. The nvidia tax still holds, but at least there's some progress. Unfortunately, BTC and ETH prices have recovered somewhat after the recent crash, so I'm not expecting major discounting anytime soon.

I think it's still better to hold off just a little longer to see what eventuates with discrete Intel Arc being promised around March. I tend to see things from a content creator perspective (where GPUs aren't necessarily a luxury), and I'm reluctant to go Radeon when CUDA/NVENC and QuickSync h265 encoding offers more performance and flexibility than OpenCL/VCE. (Last I looked, QuickSync beats out AMD and nvidia for 10-bit and 12-bit h265 encoding/decoding capabilities.) Geforce also really needs to step up their VRAM sizes to stay relevant with 8K editing and 3D modelling.

Davinci Resolve hardware encoding (Puget systems)
Premiere Pro hardware encoding (Puget systems)

 

[Axeia]

When I paid 400 quid for a brand new RTX 2070 Super I thought I had been ripped off, ahh those were the days.

Haha I can relate, I begrudgingly paid £160 for a RX580 8GB in 2020. Got it up for sale for £260 now.