For budget-conscious gamers, finding the best cheap graphics card can significantly enhance your gaming experience without breaking the bank.
Manufacturers like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel offer impressive options that deliver smooth 1080p gameplay, and some even handle 1440p thanks to AI-powered upscaling technologies. A few of these affordable GPUs also support ray tracing, allowing for enhanced visual effects on a budget.
While these economical graphics cards may not match the very best graphics cards for visual fidelity or maximum frame rates, they are more than capable of running modern games at respectable settings.
Take the AMD Radeon RX 7600, for example, which offers excellent 1080p performance with 8GB of GDDR6 memory and utilizes AMD's FSR upscaling for improved visuals. Other strong contenders include the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and the Intel Arc A750. The Arc A750, for instance, features a wider memory bus and incorporates Intel's XeSS AI-upscaling, providing solid value for gamers mindful of their budget.
For a comprehensive comparison, check out our interactive chart in the "How I Test" section, where you can see how each graphics card performs across various benchmarks.
The quick list
The best cheap graphics card overall
If you're looking for the best cheap graphics card by price, then this is the one you want, matching stellar 1080p performance with value.
The best cheap Nvidia graphics card
The RTX 4060 is a fantastic card that's easy to find under $300/£300, which is less than some Nvidia RTX 3060 cards still sell for.
The best last-gen cheap AMD graphics card
The RX 6600 isn't that far behind the RX 6600 XT in performance, but it is a more appealing option for a dedicated capital-B Budget Build.
The best cheap Intel graphics card
The Intel Arc A750 has come a long way since launch, and it's performance for the price make it a great option for budget builders.
The best cheap Nvidia graphics card of the last generation
The Nvidia RTX 3050 isn't the best graphics card around, but it has a lot of the best features of Nvidia Ampere for a relatively low price.
Recent updates
November 5, 2024: Updated guide with new testing data in our interactive chart.
John has been working with computers since he was a teenager, long before he ever started writing about computer hardware or working on his Master's degree in Computer Science. Needless to say, he knows computers inside and out, and he has personally tested (and retested) all of the graphics cards on this page, regardless of whether he wrote our original review, and has validated the results you'll find here.
How I tested my picks for the best cheap graphics card
When it comes to chosing the best cheap graphics cards, it's not enough to look at benchmark scores and just pick whichever is the highest scorer.
If you're looking to buy a new graphics card that is more affordable than the obscenely expensive high-end cards or even their midrange siblings, you really need to look at its price-to-performance. You're really looking for how much performance can you squeeze out of every dollar or pound spent of that graphics card, and so we apply a pretty simply formula.
After we've collected all of our benchmark scores for all of the different graphics cards that we test, we simply divide those scores by the card's MSRP, and it gives us exactly how many points or frames per second each card puts out relative to its cost. These scores are then comparable across the entire range of graphics cards we test, giving us a very clear indicator for which cards are a great value and which cards are not, even if the latter are the most powerful graphics cards on the planet.
We also go off of subjective experience. Having tested the cards ourselves, we can get a real sense of where the cards fit into the budget market. And looking at cards in a target range of under $400 / £350 / AU$600 MSRP, we can see which cards offer the best performance per dollar/pound spent.
While we don't strictly choose based on that metric, it can serve as a helpful guide to picking which cards you should look at more closely versus which ones are clearly not worth further consideration.
The best cheap graphics card: FAQs
How much should I spend on a cheap graphics card?
For the most part, there are very few graphics cards that you can get under $200/£200/AU$300 that are worth upgrading your rig with, but we are tossing aside the definition of "cheap" if we suggest spending anything more than $400 / £400 / AU$600 on a budget graphics card.
With that price range, you have a number of options that are worth the price, and so you should let your budget determine what card it right for you in that range.
How long do cheap graphics cards last?
If you purchase a new graphics card, then even a cheap one will continue to run very well for several years, if not longer, depending on how hard you run it.
If you're talking about how long will it be before the minimum requirement for the best PC games no longer include your graphics card, it will likely be about as long as your card will actually operate before it is so obsolete that developers no longer support it.
All in all, you can expect to get at least three to four years of useful gaming life off the best cheap graphics cards on the market today.
How much is the cheapest RTX card?
The cheapest current-generation RTX card is the RTX 4060 which is available with an MSRP of $299 / £289. Alternatively, you can look to the previous-generation RTX 3050 which was released at $249 / £185. The latter is much weaker (and older) but could be found cheaper new or secondhand.
Is it worth buying a secondhand graphics card?
Another way of potentially getting a cheap graphics card is to buy one secondhand. We would recommend purchasing a GPU that's been officially refurbished if possible, and to see it in action if you can. Fortunately, the most recent models on the market cannot be used for mining so there's less worry of severe wear and tear as with some older cards.
How to choose the best cheap graphics card for you
So how do you find the best cheap graphics card, exactly, when you might not have a whole lot to go on? To help you narrow things down a bit, there are a couple of things to consider that will help making your search a good deal easier.
First and foremost, understand that it's very likely that you'll need to keep things to 1080p, with only occasional dips into 1440p territory, if you want anything near 60 fps. If all you're looking for is above 30 fps, then you might be able to get some games to play at 1440p.
Second, ray tracing is going to be very hard to pull off at this price point, at least effectively. AMD FSR will help, but not on the same scale as Nvidia's DLSS, and even DLSS is not going to ray trace high-quality scenes very well.
In a lot of ways, you will have to make a choice between ray tracing on the one hand and quality textures and models on the other, since you won't be able to have both in the price range that we're talking about.
That said, look at your system and honestly assess its capabilities, because if you've got 8GB RAM, a processor that's a little older, and a slow SSD (or even an HDD), then you're definitely better off looking at not just last-gen graphics cards but last-last-gen graphics cards. Even the most advanced GPU you can fit into your case and effectively power won't be able to run at full tilt if it is being bottlenecked by a slow CPU or slow RAM with insufficient capacity.
Fortunately, there are graphics cards out there that will greatly help the performance of that kind of system, but, likely, it won't be an AMD RX 7000-series or Nvidia RTX -4000 series card, so last-gen RX 6000-series or RTX 3000-series cards might be a better bet.
The best cheap graphics card: My top picks
The best cheap graphics cards of 2024
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Below you'll find extensive write ups for all the best cheap graphics card picks on this list. I've extensively tested each of these cards, so I know they're the best GPUs for those on a tighter budget or who just need a cheap GPU for a basic rig.
The best cheap graphics card overall
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 stands as the unparalleled choice in the affordable graphics card market, especially for those seeking remarkable performance without breaking the bank.
Priced under $300/£300, this card ushers in the cutting-edge AMD RDNA 3 technology to the budget segment, delivering an astonishingly high value for its cost. Its prowess in 1080p gaming is nothing short of extraordinary, rivaling even the pricier Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 12GB. The RX 7600 also offers commendable 1440p performance, a feat that's impressive given its 8GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus.
When it comes to gaming performance, the RX 7600 effortlessly achieves 60 fps in the top PC games at 1080p, most of which can be played on the highest graphics settings. It handles demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 with ease; a few adjustments in settings can unlock excellent gameplay, augmented by AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution technology.
While its ray tracing capabilities may lag slightly behind Nvidia's previous generation midrange cards, the RDNA 3 architecture significantly narrows this gap. This means that opting for this more affordable AMD option doesn't require a total compromise on ray tracing features. In sum, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the definitive best choice for anyone seeking top-tier performance at a budget-friendly price.
Read the full AMD Radeon RX 7600 review
The best cheap Nvidia graphics card
While some may have expected the Nvidia RTX 4060 to deliver a generational performance leap akin to its pricier Lovelace counterparts like the RTX 4070, it's important to recognize its true value as the most affordable option in Nvidia's lineup.
Currently available for under $300/£300, the RTX 4060 not only undercuts the price of some RTX 3060 models still on sale but also offers an exceptional deal for its category.
It might not be a groundbreaking upgrade for those who already own an RTX 3060 or similar, but for gamers upgrading from older Nvidia or AMD models, the RTX 4060 is a game-changer, delivering significant improvements at a cost even lower than the RTX 3060's original launch price.
Of course, the RTX 4060 isn't without its limitations. Its 8GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus may constrain its performance at 1440p, though it remains a viable option, particularly with the enhancements brought by DLSS 3.
Read the full Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 review
The best last-gen cheap AMD graphics card
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 isn't that far behind the RX 6600 XT when it comes to performance, but this slimmed down version of the Navi 23 GPU is a much more appealing option for a dedicated capital-B Budget Build.
Featuring some very respectable 1080p performance and support for features like AMD Radeon Super Resolution, this card can easily play the best PC games at 1080p with frame rates north of 30 fps, if not closer to 60 fps on some medium-lift games, on high or maximum settings.
All the while, this graphics card is a good bit cheaper than AMD's XT variant, so if you're looking to get the best performance at the lowest price, with an emphasis on price, than this is the card you need to be considering.
Read the full AMD Radeon RX 6600 review
The best cheap Intel graphics card
Intel has come a long way with its Arc graphics cards since they launched, and the Arc A750 offers solid 1080p — and even 1440p — performance at a very attractive price tag.
And, thanks to Intel's fairly extensive history with AI-powering hardware, its Intel XeSS super sampling technology fares shockingly well against Nvidia's much more mature DLSS technology, even if it ultimately has to take second place to the likes of the RTX 3060.
What's more, its ray tracing hardware is also surprisingly solid for a first-generation discrete graphics card, and it can play some games like Returnal like a dream. Other games though might not fare as well (especially older DX9 and DX10 titles, but Intel is regularly updating its drivers, so a lot of these issues will likely get straightened out in time. If you're ok with some growing pains, there's a lot to like about Intel's A750.
Read the full Intel Arc A750 review
The best last-gen cheap Nvidia graphics card
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is one of the few Nvidia graphics cards from the Ampere era that is anything close to being considered a budget graphics card, and for what it is, it's a solid choice for 1080p gaming.
It also comes with a lot of features that AMD cards simply don't have, like machine learning-enabled Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, and tensor cores to not just play games at fast frame rates, but also to handle creative workloads that even the best AMD graphics cards will stumble over.
Still, it's expensive for an Nvidia xx50-series card, with the GTX 1050 and GTX 1650 launching for nearly half the price of the RTX 3050. Such is the state of the industry though, and with graphics card price inflation being what it is, this is probably the lowest price you'll pay for a graphics card with this kind of performance and advanced features.
Read the full Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 review
Today's best cheap graphics card deals
