Generation after generation, graphics cards are pushed to deliver better image quality. (Look at any two high-end games released a few years apart; the difference is stunning.) Despite this, 1080p remains the most common display resolution for PC gamers...but you still need the right card to play the latest titles. That's where we, the testing experts at PCMag, come in. We've scrutinized the graphics-card field for decades and have reviewed samples of most every current-generation and recent card. We apply our collective experience and expertise to publish GPU reviews you can trust, testing cards for gaming frame rates, features, design, and thermals. Our current picks for the best 1080p-optimized cards are AMD's Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060. Read on for those and a handful more of the best graphics cards for 1080p, followed by a deeper-dive guide to how to shop and a comparison chart.
Overview
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600]()
Best Overall Value AMD Graphics Card for 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 7600
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060]()
Best Overall Value Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 4060
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![Intel Arc A770]()
Best Overall Value Intel Graphics Card for 1080p GamingIntel Arc A770
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT]()
Best AMD Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 7600 XT
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti]()
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
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![AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT]()
Best Budget AMD Graphics Card for 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050]()
Best Budget Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 3050
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![Intel Arc A580]()
Best Budget Intel Graphics Card for 1080p GamingIntel Arc A580
You Can Trust Our Reviews
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600]()
Best Overall Value AMD Graphics Card for 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 7600
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
AMD's Radeon RX 7600 is an excellent graphics card for running modern games maxed out at 1080p—just stay at that resolution!—and 60fps.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 165 Card Length 8 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 2250 GPU Boost Clock 2625 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor AMD Navi 33 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin Learn More AMD Radeon RX 7600 Review -
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060]()
Best Overall Value Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 (tested here in Asus livery) produces exceptional ray-tracing performance, thanks to its "Ada Lovelace" architecture. It's the best modern, moderate-cost graphics card for 1080p gaming.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 115 Card Length 9 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 1830 GPU Boost Clock 2505 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Nvidia AD107 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin -
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![Intel Arc A770]()
Best Overall Value Intel Graphics Card for 1080p GamingIntel Arc A770
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
The Arc A770 Limited Edition is Intel's first credible effort at breaking into the discrete graphics market. It has a few issues (especially with older games), but its pricing, huge pool of memory in our test card, and general performance put it in the graphics conversation.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 225 Card Length 11 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 2100 Graphics Memory Amount 16 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Intel DG2-512 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 6-pin, 1 8-pin Learn More Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition Review -
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT]()
Best AMD Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 7600 XT
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
AMD's Radeon RX 7600 XT, tested here in XFX livery, is much costlier than its RX 7600 kin, relative to the performance boost it nets you—and it struggles on value against competing Intel and Nvidia graphics cards.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 190 Card Length 11.75 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 1720 GPU Boost Clock 2755 Graphics Memory Amount 16 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor AMD Navi 33 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 3 Power Connector(s) 2 8-pin -
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti]()
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is exceptional for gaming at 1080p, but it's limited at higher resolutions by its cut-back bandwidth, making this graphics card a tougher sell for anything more demanding.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 160 Card Length 9.61 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 2310 GPU Boost Clock 2535 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Nvidia AD106 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 12VHPWR -
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![AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT]()
Best Budget AMD Graphics Card for 1080p GamingAMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
Gigabyte's take on AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT budget GPU provides nearly rock-solid 1080p PC gaming performance in AAA and multiplayer titles, but it runs hot and packs unneeded ray-tracing cores.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 107 Card Length 7.56 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 1 GPU Base Clock 1717 GPU Boost Clock 2815 Graphics Memory Amount 4 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor AMD Navi 24 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 6-PIN Learn More Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT Eagle 4G Review -
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050]()
Best Budget Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 3050
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
The GeForce RTX 3050 is a strong junior entry into Nvidia's peerless lineup of "Ampere"-powered RTX 30 Series GPUs, and this EVGA XC Black card is a corker for 1080p play at a near-budget price.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 130 Card Length 7.94 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 1552 GPU Boost Clock 1777 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Nvidia Ampere GA106 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin -
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Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton
![Intel Arc A580]()
Best Budget Intel Graphics Card for 1080p GamingIntel Arc A580
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
ASRock's take on the Intel Arc A580 GPU delivers terrific performance for its price, making it one of the best value-oriented graphics cards money can buy.Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 185 Card Length 10.7 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 1700 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Intel Arc A580 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 2 8-pin -
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4.0 Excellent |
4.5 Outstanding |
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4.0 Excellent |
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Best For | Best Overall Value AMD Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Overall Value Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Overall Value Intel Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best AMD Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p Gaming | Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p Gaming | Best Budget AMD Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Budget Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Budget Intel Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Overall Value AMD Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Overall Value Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming | Best Overall Value Intel Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming |
Graphics Processor | AMD Navi 33 | Nvidia AD107 | Intel DG2-512 | AMD Navi 33 | Nvidia AD106 | AMD Navi 24 | Nvidia Ampere GA106 | Intel Arc A580 | AMD Navi 33 | Nvidia AD107 | Intel DG2-512 |
GPU Base Clock | 2250 | 1830 | 2100 | 1720 | 2310 | 1717 | 1552 | 1700 | 2250 | 1830 | 2100 |
GPU Boost Clock | 2625 | 2505 | 2755 | 2535 | 2815 | 1777 | 2625 | 2505 | |||
Graphics Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
Graphics Memory Amount | 8 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
DVI Outputs | |||||||||||
HDMI Outputs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
DisplayPort Outputs | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
VirtualLink Outputs | |||||||||||
Number of Fans | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Card Width | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double |
Card Length | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11.75 | 9.61 | 7.56 | 7.94 | 10.7 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
Board Power or TDP | 165 | 115 | 225 | 190 | 160 | 107 | 130 | 185 | 165 | 115 | 225 |
Power Connector(s) | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 6-pin, 1 8-pin | 2 8-pin | 12VHPWR | 1 6-PIN | 1 8-pin | 2 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 6-pin, 1 8-pin |
Buying Guide: The Best Graphics Cards for 1080p Gaming in 2026
With the 1080p resolution's overwhelming popularity, quite a few cards compete for the top spot in the category. The field of 1080p graphics cards is more granular today than it's ever been, with nearly a dozen different card classes (defined by their different core graphics processors) to choose from. But that's where we come in. We'll walk you through the features you need to pay attention to when shopping for a 1080p-ideal video card and outline the best cards we've tested for gaming at this resolution, given your budget.
Buying Basics: What to Look for in a 1080p Card
Most budget graphics cards today are optimal solutions for gaming at 1080p. However, if you want to run modern games with maxed-out graphics settings, then you will need to invest a bit more than $250. You'll be able to get by gaming at 1080p in modern games on a card that costs less than that, but in most games, you can expect to need to turn settings down a bit to maintain a smooth frame rate. At $269, you can get AMD's Radeon RX 7600, which is considerably faster than cards that cost less and drives an excellent 1080p gaming experience. You then get Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 at $299, which is, if anything, a superior option to the RX 7600 and worth the slightly higher cost.
You should be careful about going much higher than this for a 1080p graphics card. We start to see diminished returns past the $300 mark. It's not that you wouldn't still benefit from a faster card, it's just that you tend to be paying for more performance than you need in most games past this point at that resolution. Cards like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT have extra RAM, which helps some but does little to boost overall performance. You could even benefit from up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 at $549 if you want to game at very high refresh rates. But you really won't need that much performance for most games, and it's a bit overkill.
How Much Video Memory Is Enough for a 1080p Card?
The amount of graphics memory (video RAM, or VRAM) that your video card has onboard directly affects the resolution at which you can game smoothly, as well as the detail settings that are possible. The overall power of the graphics processing unit (commonly called the "GPU") also plays a key role here, but without sufficient VRAM or memory bandwidth, the GPU is unable to perform at its full potential. Instead, it gets stuck waiting on data, and performance drops as a result.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)A graphics card's pool of RAM works as a storage depot for image data that the GPU is expected to need soon. All of that data resides somewhere on your PC in a storage device, but the graphics card doesn't have direct access to it. For a graphics processor to access that data, it needs to at least be loaded into a PC's main system RAM. But if the graphics card were to rely only on the data in the system RAM, it would slow to a crawl and be constricted by the speeds of the RAM and the PCI Express bus connecting the GPU to the system.
The graphics card's pool of video memory (VRAM) helps overcome these hurdles. That data still needs to make its way to the graphics processor for work to happen, and this makes the amount of bandwidth available between the GPU and the VRAM critically important. This grows more important at higher resolutions and as the amount of memory used increases. Not having enough VRAM can also seriously hamper performance, because the card must wait as more data is loaded into the graphics card's memory from the system RAM.
Setting an exact minimum amount of graphics memory you should have for 1080p gaming is difficult, as this depends on lots of factors. Depending on the game, you could, realistically, play reasonably well with just 1GB of memory available to the graphics card. We note this is possible, but far from ideal and only something you'd want to try if you are on an extreme budget and buying a graphics card second-hand for under $50.
For a card you'd buy new, 4GB of VRAM is ideal right now as a floor for an entry-level 1080p graphics card. Cards that ship with 8GB are the best option for high-end 1080p gaming, though. This amount will forestall any major bottlenecks even with maxed-out graphics settings.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)In cards under $400 (MSRP) nowadays, you'll see graphics memory ranging from 1GB up to 16GB. It's never a problem to have more memory on your graphics card than you need, but it's important to not exclusively rely on the amount of memory while making your decision. The power level of the graphics processor itself is far more important. It's best to check our graphics card reviews for more details on this, as each card has its own story to tell when it comes to performance.
Which Ports Does My Graphics Card Need for 1080p Gaming?
All the standard outputs on today's graphics cards (VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort) support 1080p resolution. VGA and DVI ports have practically disappeared from late-model cards worth mentioning; among new cards, these ports show up only on low-end cards now designed as simple display adapters. In most cases, you'll just need to pick a card that has a port matching what's on your monitor. It's not until you get into resolutions higher than 1080p that it's possible to start exceeding the capabilities of some interfaces, such as VGA, DVI, and older versions of HDMI.
If you're sticking to 1080p, you shouldn't have much cause for concern or confusion, since all cards and most monitors these days have multiple kinds of ports. Chances are, you'll be able to just plug in and go; at worst, if you're upgrading from an old system or card, you may need a new cable or an adapter. So keep these things in mind while you're shopping.
Both DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 can support 1080p resolution up to a 240Hz refresh rate, so if playing games at a high refresh rate is your main concern (more on that in a moment), make sure you pick up a card and a cable that are appropriate for this aim. However neither HDMI 2.0 nor HDMI 2.1 can support 360Hz (only DisplayPort 1.4b and above can handle that job), so make sure if you buy an elite, cutting-edge monitor like the Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN that you have the right GPU and cable for the job.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)Also realize, if you're making the move for the first time away from DVI or VGA, that the HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces can carry an audio signal; if your display has built-in speakers (or is an HDTV), that can eliminate some cabling complexity.
How Much Should My Graphics Card Cost (at MSRP)?
This is a moving target, but it's safe to say you can expect to drop between $150 and $400 on a 1080p-appropriate video card today, depending on whether you want to run games at the very highest settings or closer to medium ones. If you're interested in enabling anti-aliasing (AA), which smooths jagged lines from the edges of in-game objects, you'll need to spend toward the higher end of the range, especially if you want to crank up the AA settings as high as possible. (AA tends to be demanding.)
If you're content with just average detail settings and frame rates, by all means, adhere to a strict budget. But if you want maximum detail and AA at 1080p, you'll probably need to venture into the $250-to-$400 zone.
Should I Get an AMD, an Nvidia, or an Intel Graphics Card?
As we mentioned in the intro, the 1080p gaming space is complex, with multiple competing GPUs each from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. Several GPU families are designed to be high-end 1080p solutions, as well as a few more intended to be budget-friendly 1080p options. Then you have the plethora of graphics cards from previous generations that are still for sale new or secondhand that also compete in this space.
Overall performance is still the best-determining factor for deciding which card to buy, and for this, we again recommend checking our reviews for any cards you are considering. You'll find a few extra technologies that can help to change your decision, though. In particular, we're talking about DLSS, FSR, and XeSS. These technologies work to boost performance. They lower image quality while doing so, but they aim to minimize this so you get images on screen that, if the tech does its job right, aren't noticeably different with the technology-enabled or disabled.
Among these three, Nvidia's DLSS technology has the advantage of image quality. It also has the performance advantage, at times, depending on the game and if activating DLSS 3 is an option for it. (Both card and game need to support DLSS for it to work.) DLSS 3 works only on Nvidia's GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards, and this is a key selling point of the RTX 40 Series, but it doesn't always improve performance. This depends on how heavy a load is placed on the graphics card.
AMD's FSR technology, in comparison, tends to give greater performance bumps than DLSS 1.0 or 2.0. In our testing, FSR always results in a performance boost, with FSR 2.0 and FSR 2.1 trading back a little bit of that performance for improved image quality. FSR may work better on AMD cards due to better optimization, but it's less of a selling point for AMD cards, as FSR is intended to work on everything. (It can be enabled on Intel and Nvidia graphics cards, as well.)
Currently, it's difficult for us to place Intel's XeSS technology; it's still relatively new. It more closely resembles FSR than DLSS, and it can help to get a better boost on Intel cards than you'd get with FSR.
Ultimately, we wouldn't want to expressly call out any card brand as a unilateral "best" option—no questions asked. Intel's cards are by far the least market-mature and seeing sporadic gains as new drivers roll out; at the other extreme, Nvidia and its GeForce brand hold dominant market share. There truly aren't any bad cards in our recommend list; it simply depends on which card is offering the best performance and features for the price (which changes constantly) and your budget. Our best picks at this time can be found above, outlined by the family of GPU; many card makers, or "card partners," manufacture cards based on these GPUs that perform broadly similar.
What Is My Monitor's Refresh Rate, and Why Does It Matter?
Note that our 1080p-card advice so far is based on the assumption that you'll be using a standard monitor with a refresh rate of 60Hz. If you mean to use (or soon upgrade to) a display panel with a higher refresh rate, such as one of the deluxe 144Hz, 240Hz, or even 360Hz gaming panels now on the monitor market, you'll likely need a higher-end card than these to get the full benefit of those displays. (See our picks for the best gaming monitors.) Frame rates higher than 60 frames per second (fps) will show up readily on these panels, and you'll want to look at a given graphics card's gaming test results for an idea of the sustained frame rates you will likely get with any given card.
(Credit: Kyle Cobian)Though you can find 4K monitors that can technically push upward of a 144Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution, these are expensive. You'll also find some debate as to whether it's practical to buy one of these monitors now. Currently, only the most powerful graphics cards can take full advantage of these monitors without seriously reducing graphics settings. Like all things tech, the price of monitors also tends to decrease over time, which makes a strong argument for buying a high-refresh-rate 4K monitor later if you want one when you'll also be able to buy a faster graphics card more capable of handling them.
For the vast majority of players, high-refresh-rate gaming lives in the world of 1080p. Whether it's 144Hz, 165Hz, or 240Hz, the 1080p displays in these categories are priced roughly in the range of $150 to $700. Regardless of which monitor you buy, you'll want to ensure you buy a graphics card that can keep up.
The point is that if you're planning on gaming at 1080p competitively, make sure you've got a card that can push the game(s) you intend to play at that refresh rate because the last thing you'd want to end up with is a pricey monitor that doesn't have a powerful enough GPU to back it up properly. That's where formal reviews, and looking carefully at 1080p test results for a given video card or class of cards, make all the difference.
Ready to Buy the Right Graphics Card for 1080p Play?
See our deep-dive reviews below of individual cards for a good idea of the kind of frame rates you can expect in games that you might play. We test with demanding new titles and some staple older offerings. Also, for a look at our picks for the best overall video cards, see our roundup of the best graphics cards; for play at 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels), check out the best graphics cards for 4K gaming; and if you have a small-form-factor desktop, check out the best graphics cards for compact PCs. (Interested in a fully built gaming system? Also check out our picks for the best gaming laptops and the best gaming desktops.)