Buying a graphics card has been a roller-coaster since the late 2010s: Precipitous price hikes! Steep hardware shortages! Today, only a few truly new GPUs pass for budget-friendly—and just barely. Which are the low-cost winners? Ask us: PCMag has been testing graphics cards since the days of VGA, and we've reviewed almost every GPU released over that time. We apply decades of experience to our deep benchmark testing, which covers graphics performance from all angles: synthetic tests, AAA games, and even the nuances of super-scaling tools like DLSS and FSR. We test at all popular resolutions, as detailed in our reviews. Our current recommendations for the best budget graphics cards are AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT, Intel's Arc B580, and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060, but we also pinpoint several others for different situations. See all our choices below, along with a detailed buying guide and a handy spec comparison.
Overview
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![AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (16GB)]()
Best Budget AMD Graphics CardAMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (16GB)
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![Intel Arc B580]()
Best Budget Intel Graphics CardIntel Arc B580
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060]()
Best Budget Nvidia Graphics CardNvidia GeForce RTX 5060
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600]()
Best Last-Gen Budget AMD Graphics CardAMD Radeon RX 7600
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![Intel Arc A580]()
Best Last-Gen Budget Intel Graphics CardIntel Arc A580
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060]()
Best Last-Gen Budget Nvidia Graphics CardNvidia GeForce RTX 4060
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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050]()
Best Ultra-Budget Graphics Card for GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 3050
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![Intel Arc A380]()
Best Basic Display AdapterIntel Arc A380
You Can Trust Our Reviews
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
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Credit: Joseph Maldonado
![AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (16GB)]()
Best Budget AMD Graphics CardAMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (16GB)
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
While the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT barely qualified as a budget graphics card before, GPU prices have drifted upwards, forcing us to broaden our definition of "budget." The RX 9060 XT is quite powerful for its price and supports all of AMD's latest Radeon graphics features, including FSR 3 and FSR 4 image optimization. It also ships with 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, making it a more appealing budget option for gaming at 1440p and 1600p.
Who It's For
Competitive 1080p gamers on a budget: AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT is the most powerful graphics card we consider a budget model, more than capable of driving games at high refresh rates at 1080p. This combination of resolution and speed is critical for fast-paced competitive play.
Cash-strapped 2K gamers: The RX 9060 XT's large 16GB pool of GDDR6 RAM makes it better suited than most budget graphics cards for gaming at higher resolutions like 1440p or 1600p. The graphics card's limited 128-bit memory interface does affect performance at these resolutions, but it runs most games smoothly enough to deliver an enjoyable 2K experience.
Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 170 Card Length 9.4 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 1 GPU Base Clock 2700 GPU Boost Clock 3290 Graphics Memory Amount 16 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor AMD Navi 44 HDMI Outputs 2 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin -
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![Intel Arc B580]()
Best Budget Intel Graphics CardIntel Arc B580
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
The Arc B580 is currently Intel's fastest graphics card. Unlike the best cards from AMD and Nvidia, this one offers truly budget-friendly pricing and downright exceptional performance. The B580 easily outperforms cheaper cards and has relatively potent AI performance, too.
Who It's For
Hard-up 1080p gamers: Intel's Arc B580 is arguably one of the best budget graphics cards on the market today. Depending on the game and resolution, the B580 can outperform Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 and puts up a respectable fight against the RTX 5060. It helps that the B580 is even cheaper than the 5060, and while the 5060 is arguably the better buy, the B580 will still satisfy if you buy it instead.
Budget-strapped gamers stretching to 2K: Intel designed the B580 with a 192-bit memory interface and 12GB of RAM, which means it offers more memory bandwidth and capacity than most budget graphics cards. Both of these are critically important to running games at sharper resolutions. The graphics processor is fast enough that you can dabble in 2K gaming with a B580, but it certainly isn't the fastest or best option for this task, and newly released games may be too demanding for the B580 to run at 1440p or 1600p.
Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 190 Card Length 10.7 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Boost Clock 2850 Graphics Memory Amount 12 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Intel BMG-G21 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 2 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin Learn More Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition Review -
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Credit: Joseph Maldonado
![Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060]()
Best Budget Nvidia Graphics CardNvidia GeForce RTX 5060
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Nvidia's current best budget graphics card is the GeForce RTX 5060. It supports all of Nvidia's latest graphics features, and its boosted core count and memory bandwidth elevate it over the dated Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060. The 5060's use of GDDR7 memory is particularly beneficial, as this helps to improve performance at higher resolutions—the 4060's biggest weakness.
Who It's For
Gamers satisfied with 1080p: The RTX 5060 is one of the pricier graphics cards that we would consider a budget model, but its excellent performance justifies the cost. The 5060 can handle any modern game at 1080p and, thanks to GDDR7 RAM, it can play reasonably well at 1440p too.
DLSS enthusiasts: As a member of the RTX 50-series, the RTX 5060 includes DLSS 4 and multi-frame generation. These are exclusive to the specific games that support these features. Given the widespread support for AMD's FSR, I don't typically recommend buying a graphics card just to access features like DLSS or XeSS, but if you really want DLSS support from a budget GPU, the RTX 5060 is your best option.
Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 145 Card Length 10.56 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 2280 GPU Boost Clock 2595 Graphics Memory Amount 8 Graphics Memory Type GDDR7 Graphics Processor Nvidia GB206 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 3 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin -
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![AMD Radeon RX 7600]()
Best Last-Gen Budget AMD Graphics CardAMD Radeon RX 7600
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
The Radeon RX 7600 is the lowest-priced member of AMD's Radeon RX 7000 series. This GPU is old, but it remains available as a sensible budget graphics card. Even using the outgoing RDNA 3 graphics architecture, the 7600 can run the most demanding modern games, albeit not at the highest detail settings or resolution. It comes loaded with 8GB of graphics memory, making it best suited for 1080p gaming.
Who It's For
AMD-loyal 1080p gamers on tighter budgets: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 provides excellent performance for gaming at 1080p resolutions. It isn't the best budget graphics card that AMD has, but it is still an attractive option so long as you find it for below its MSRP. Note, however, that its performance drops quickly as you increase the resolution, so do not play games on this card beyond 1080p, its decided sweet spot.
Gamers who don't care about ray tracing: Cards in the RX 7000 series, like the Radeon RX 7600, have powerful hardware for running games, but their ray-tracing performance holds these cards back in newer titles that support this lighting technique. While the RX 7600 is a poor fit for ray tracing, older games that don't use it often run exceptionally well on this card. If most of the games you play lack ray-tracing support, then you'll likely enjoy gaming on an RX 7600.
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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Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton
![Intel Arc A580]()
Best Last-Gen Budget Intel Graphics CardIntel Arc A580
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Intel's Arc A580 is a surprisingly capable graphics card for its price. In our in-house testing, the A580 ran most games at playable frame rates with maxed-out graphics settings and 1080p resolution. Highly demanding games, such as Returnal with ray tracing, also ran at playable speeds, but more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 fell just short.
Who It's For
1080p gamers on tight budgets: The Arc A580 remains one of, if not the, fastest graphics cards available at its price. It's a competent option for running many games at 1080p, making the A580 an excellent choice if you're a seriously cash-strapped PC gamer. Anything notably more potent than this card typically costs at least $100 more.
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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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060]()
Best Last-Gen Budget Nvidia Graphics CardNvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 was the most affordable graphics card introduced in its RTX 40 series. Its budget pricing and relatively potent performance made it one of the most recommendable GPUs of its generation. It's still worth considering in modern gaming PCs, but you'll want to catch it on sale. Nvidia released the 4060's successor, the RTX 5060, at the same price. For this reason, you'll sometimes find both GPUs for around the same price. With that in mind, only grab an RTX 4060 if you can find one for way less than you would pay for a 5060.
Who It's For
1080p gamers looking to save extra on legacy gear: The GeForce RTX 4060 performs exceedingly well at 1080p and has a modern feature set. For a time, the RTX 4060 was arguably the best budget graphics card available. While this is no longer true, the 4060 is still a highly capable card for gaming so long as you respect its limitations. Don't look to this GPU for gaming at higher resolutions. Keep it at 1080p, and you should be happy with its performance.
PC gamers with limited PSUs: The RTX 4060 GPU's official maximum thermal design power (TDP) is just 110 watts, making it one of the least power-hungry graphics cards released in the last few years. This distinction makes the RTX 4060 an ideal option if you have a PC with a low power rating that prevents you from installing more powerful graphics cards.
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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![Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050]()
Best Ultra-Budget Graphics Card for GamingNvidia GeForce RTX 3050
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3050 is a relatively capable graphics solution designed for 1080p gaming. supporting ray tracing, DLSS 2.0, and AI-accelerated workloads. It launched for just $249 and remains affordable today. The 3050 is far from the best GPU you can buy, but its relatively modern feature set, coupled with its budget pricing, makes it an option worth considering for affordable PC graphics.
Who It's For
PC gamers on the tightest budgets: The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is only worth considering for the least-expensive gaming PCs. It's not well-suited for playing games at higher resolutions than 1080p. You'll get an enjoyable gaming experience in many games at that resolution, but you'll need to turn down the graphics settings on many modern games to maintain a smooth frame rate at 1080p.
Legacy PC gamers: The RTX 3050 is not particularly fast in modern games, but it runs older games exceptionally well. Games that are a few years old should run just fine on the RTX 3050, and even older games, like Bioshock Infinite, can run at higher resolutions above 1080p.
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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![Intel Arc A380]()
Best Basic Display AdapterIntel Arc A380
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
The Intel Arc A380 is one of the lowest-priced graphics cards we've seen in recent years, making it a natural for this list. It packs a lot of video memory for its price (6GB of VRAM) and supports ray tracing. However, that's about all we can say in favor of this card: It's an upgrade from integrated graphics, and something to buy if you must have a dedicated GPU, but it isn't a fit for serious gaming or graphics-dependent programs.
Who It's For
PC shoppers who must buy a GPU: The Intel Arc A380 works best for systems that lack an integrated graphics solution. If your PC has no integrated graphics, you will need a GPU to output an image to a display. Here, we can recommend the A380 as one of the cheapest, relatively modern graphics cards you can buy. You can find older options like the Nvidia GTX 1030, but these are slower with even fewer features and less advanced multimedia capabilities.
Legacy PC gamers: While the Arc A380 is far from ideal for running modern games, it is capable of running older games well enough to create an enjoyable gaming experience. The A380 ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider with an average of 47 frames per second while using max settings at 1080p. This is a 2018 title, and so most games of this age or older should run acceptably well on the A380.
Specs & Configurations
Board Power or TDP 75 Card Length 7.4 Card Width double DisplayPort Outputs 3 GPU Base Clock 2250 Graphics Memory Amount 6 Graphics Memory Type GDDR6 Graphics Processor Intel Arc A380 HDMI Outputs 1 Number of Fans 1 Power Connector(s) 1 8-pin -
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Best For | Best Budget AMD Graphics Card | Best Budget Intel Graphics Card | Best Budget Nvidia Graphics Card | Best Last-Gen Budget AMD Graphics Card | Best Last-Gen Budget Intel Graphics Card | Best Last-Gen Budget Nvidia Graphics Card | Best Ultra-Budget Graphics Card for Gaming | Best Basic Display Adapter | Best Budget AMD Graphics Card | Best Budget Intel Graphics Card | Best Budget Nvidia Graphics Card |
Graphics Processor | AMD Navi 44 | Intel BMG-G21 | Nvidia GB206 | AMD Navi 33 | Intel Arc A580 | Nvidia AD107 | Nvidia Ampere GA106 | Intel Arc A380 | AMD Navi 44 | Intel BMG-G21 | Nvidia GB206 |
GPU Base Clock | 2700 | 2280 | 2250 | 1700 | 1830 | 1552 | 2250 | 2700 | 2280 | ||
GPU Boost Clock | 3290 | 2850 | 2595 | 2625 | 2505 | 1777 | 3290 | 2850 | 2595 | ||
Graphics Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR7 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR7 |
Graphics Memory Amount | 16 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 8 |
DVI Outputs | |||||||||||
HDMI Outputs | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
DisplayPort Outputs | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
VirtualLink Outputs | |||||||||||
Number of Fans | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Card Width | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double | double |
Card Length | 9.4 | 10.7 | 10.56 | 8 | 10.7 | 9 | 7.94 | 7.4 | 9.4 | 10.7 | 10.56 |
Board Power or TDP | 170 | 190 | 145 | 165 | 185 | 115 | 130 | 75 | 170 | 190 | 145 |
Power Connector(s) | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 2 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin | 1 8-pin |
Buying Guide: The Best Budget Graphics Cards for 2026
Everybody's got a different idea of "budget," of course, but we consider any graphics card priced under $350 to be a budget option. We based this target price on MSRP because graphics card pricing is fluctuating wildly due to supply constraints. You may have to pay more than $350 when buying one of the cards mentioned here.
Why $350? Because it covers AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5050—the least-expensive options in the companies' current lineups. In other words, the most budget-friendly options that aren't officially last-generation products.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)Of course, $350 rules out many current cards, but it still leaves a fair number of models to consider. Most of these tend to come from the previous generation, but occasionally, we see newer models in the budget market, too.
Key Features: What to Expect in a Budget Graphics Card
With budget cards, you need to look out for key features. The first, and arguably most important, is ray-tracing support. Some would argue that lower-end, budget, and mainstream cards are not powerful enough to run games with ray-traced graphics to start with. This argument is largely unfounded.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Yes, ray tracing in games is unquestionably demanding, but, as with most graphics features, how demanding it is depends on several variables. For one, ray tracing can typically be set to low, medium, or high, with each level increasing the workload. The resolution you use in games also affects how much ray tracing a graphics card needs to do.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)What's more, if you have ray tracing disabled, the hardware in your graphics card that would accelerate ray-traced graphics sits idle. When it is enabled, most of the increased workload is placed on these ray accelerators, which ultimately means that enabling ray tracing could have a small or even negligible impact on performance in some scenarios. This is particularly true if you enable ray tracing only at its least demanding resolution setting, say, 1080p.
At the same time, enabling ray tracing, even at a low level, typically improves image quality noticeably. Given the choice, it is almost always better to buy a graphics card that supports ray tracing than one that does not, so that you can take advantage of this feature when possible. Most new graphics cards have this feature built in, including all of the cards we recommend.
Then we come to screen optimization technologies such as AMD’s FSR, Intel’s Xe Super Sampling (XeSS), and Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). We won't dive too deeply into all the options out there; there are just too many, with multiple versions of FSR, XeSS, and DLSS, as well as a few third-party tools.
Just remember this: These features are beneficial, but we wouldn’t recommend paying more for them. As long as you are buying a modern graphics card, you should be able to use at least some of these technologies in some games. A key reason for this: AMD’s FSR 1 and FSR 2 are universal and work with virtually all modern cards today, which gives you access to the feature in many games. Support for XeSS or DLSS can be beneficial in some titles, but again, these technologies aren't important enough to influence which graphics card you buy.
Thermal Performance and Card Design
The physical design of a graphics card sometimes gets too much attention and, at other times, too little. Undoubtedly, an edgy aesthetic and RGB LEDs help some graphics cards stand out, but these factors won’t improve performance. So, it won’t hurt to pay a little more for a graphics card that you find more aesthetically pleasing, but if money is tight, you shouldn’t go overboard here or let looks determine what actual level of GPU you get. If you have a choice, features and GPU power should always beat snazzy lights.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Thermal hardware, on the other hand, has a significant impact on performance. Typically, the thicker a graphics card’s thermal solution is, and the more fans it has, the better its performance potential (the actual GPU being the same, of course). This is not always the case, as you'll find factors you typically can’t see, such as the design of the heat pipes, the mounting pad, the voltage regulator module (VRM), and RAM cooling. Regardless, more fans and a bulkier design in the same product family with the same GPU typically mean more thermal headroom.
You’ll also want to make sure that any card you buy fits—physically, that is—in the system you are buying it for. Your PC case limits how large a graphics card you can buy, but as long as the card still fits, bigger is often better.
Budget Graphics Card Essentials: Power and Connections
Budget graphics cards tend to be less power-hungry than mainstream and high-end options. This means that you won’t have to worry about power consumption quite as much, but you still need to keep an eye on it to ensure that the card you buy is compatible with your PC. A low-end power supply may not be able to handle some graphics cards, particularly when upgrading a pre-built PC.
How can you tell? First, check your power supply's peak power rating, in watts (W). All graphics-card manufacturers list a minimum recommended power-supply wattage for each card; so long as your power supply matches that minimum or tops it, you should be good to go, unless your system is kitted out with an unusual loadout of extra power-consuming internal components.
Note, though, that the recommended PSU wattage number listed for graphics cards tends to be a little exaggerated, to be safe, so, technically, you can get by with a bit less. For safety, we recommend sticking to the manufacturer's guidelines. As noted, the biggest hurdle typically arises with prebuilt PCs, some of which can have weak 300W or lesser PSUs.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)The other thing you’ll need to watch for, in terms of power delivery to the card, is the power connections. Most budget graphics cards have either a six-pin or an eight-pin power connector along the edge of the card. Many budget cards have one connector, but some may require a pair. The lowest-end cards may have none, drawing all the power they need through the motherboard's PCI Express socket. You’ll need the same free connections on your power supply; you can tell by looking at the power supply and its free power leads or strands, if any. Some Nvidia cards feature a different proprietary power connector (dubbed 12VHPWR), but if you buy such a card, it will come with a cable adapter to make it work with the standard six-pin and eight-pin power connections, in case your PSU lacks native 12VHPWR power leads.
(Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)For graphics outputs, you'll simply want to match the monitor(s) you intend to use with what's on the card's backplate. Most mainstream monitors support HDMI or DisplayPort (or both) nowadays, and it's the dealer's choice, for the most part, which one you use with a budget graphics card. (Most cards come with one HDMI output and several DisplayPorts, the number sometimes dictated by the card's thickness.) If you want to delve deeper into the HDMI-versus-DisplayPort matter, we have an explainer.
Ready to Buy the Right Budget Graphics Card for You?
Ultimately, the best graphics card you can buy depends on your desires and budget, as well as the monitor you'll attach it to. The lowest-end cards that we've listed are capable gaming cards, but only if you are interested in playing older games. For some, that’s enough.
The more capable options we’ve listed deliver significantly better gaming performance and better overall value, giving you smooth gameplay at 1080p and high detail settings. (For details on that, dig into the individual reviews and see how these cards performed in specific games.) We’d push most people toward these options. Not only can they can play modern games well, there's a reasonable chance that they'll still be viable three or four years down the road. For anything more robust than that, you're in the $350-plus zone (again, MSRP); check out our main best graphics cards roundup.