The best 1440p graphics cards of 2024: top 1440p gaming GPUs
Go beyond 1080p with the best 1440p graphics cards
The best 1440p graphics card on the market stands out as the sweet spot for enthusiasts seeking an immersive visual experience without the hefty price tag associated with top-tier GPUs.
As a pivotal component for midrange gamers, the best 1440p graphics card strikes a harmonious balance between cost and performance, proving to be an invaluable asset for those aiming to elevate their gaming setup.
While the best graphics cards of 2024 promise unparalleled performance, enabling the crispest 4K resolutions and highest graphics settings in cutting-edge games, their premium cost can be a deterrent for many. Enter the best 1440p GPUs—a compelling alternative that refuses to compromise on quality. These cards ensure you don't have to settle for even the best 1080p graphics card, particularly if you're the proud owner of one of the best 1440p monitors.
Whether your budget is tightly constrained or you're ready to splurge on the crème de la crème, our meticulously curated list is here to guide you. From the best cheap graphics cards, which often include previous generation's top 1440p performers, to the latest and greatest, our lineup is designed to cater to a diverse range of needs and preferences. Dive into our comprehensive recommendations and embark on a journey to find your ideal match—the best 1440p graphics card that aligns perfectly with your needs and budget.
The best 1440p graphics cards of 2024
Why you can trust TechRadar
We've pulled together the best Nvidia GeForce graphics cards and the best AMD graphics cards for 1440p gaming and content creation, and tossed in our price comparison tool to make sure you get the best cheap graphics card deal on the GPU you want.
The best 1440p graphics card overall
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The Nvidia RTX 4070 follows up one of the best graphics cards of all time, the RTX 3070, and improves on its predecessor in just about every conceivable way. From gaming performance to synthetic benchmarks, I extensively push these two cards to their limits, and found that at times the RTX 4070 was running 40% ahead of its predecessor in several games, though ultimately the RTX 4070's magic balanced out to an average performance gain of about 21%.
And, despite the 20% increase in price over the previous generation's RTX 3070 MSRP, the RTX 4070 performs so well that you can only shrug. With gaming performance at every resoltiuon capable of going toe to toe with the Nvidia RTX 3080 and RTX 30870 ti — the latter card featuing an MSRP double that of the RTX 4070's — there's just no question that this is the best graphics card for most people on the market right now.
Read the full Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 review
The best AMD 1440p graphics card
2. AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT
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Believe it or not, I'm still working on our full AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT review (I'm going for the full last-gen completion acheivement!). But with all the latest-gen cards dropping over the past few months, I've actually put more time in with the RX 6750 XT than I would have if I'd just reviewed it, and I have to say, the performance on this card is pretty spectacular.
It has its limitations, to be fair, and mostly that comes in the form of lagging ray-tracing performance, something that plagued the entire RDNA 2 generation. But for pure rasterization performance at 1440p, the RX 6750 XT is one hell of a contender. If you don't factor in ray tracing or upscaling tech, the RX 6750 XT is able to easily clear 80 fps on maximum settings at 1440p, on average.
This puts it even ahead of the Nvidia RTX 3070! Of course, once you turn on ray tracing, that all changes, with the RX 6750 XT averaging about 32 fps at 1440p with max settings, compared to the RTX 3070's 47 fps average over the same test suite. AMD FSR helps close the gap with an average of 52 fps with RT turned on and FSR set to performance. The RTX 3070, meanwhile, pumps out 68 fps with DLSS set to performance and RT turned on.
And while the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti has much better ray tracing and upscaling performance, the RX 6750 XT manages to beat Nvidia's midrange GPU pretty handily in pure raster gaming performance, 82 fps to 73 fps, on average.
We'll have more when we formally review the card in the next few weeks, but given everything I've seen, you definitely don't want to sleep on this card, especially now that it's price has dropped considerably now that AMD RDNA 3 and Nvidia Lovelace cards are on the market.
- John Loeffler, Components Editor
The best Nvidia Ampere 1440p card
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The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a very powerful GPU, bridging the gap between 1440p and 4K gaming. It can dabble in that higher resolution for some games, though we found it to struggle a little bit when pushed. But, when it comes to 1440p, the RTX 3060 Ti is rock solid.
Now that ray tracing has been around for a couple of generations, the 3060 Ti does an excellent job of implementing it without too many hits to the performance. While a superb graphics card, and probably more than what most people looking at gaming in 1440p need, it’s not perfect as it comes with an annoying 12-pin power connector that’s not standard. But, you do get an 8-pin adapter. On the plus side, this GPU stays much cooler than its predecessors when running graphically intensive tasks.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti review
The best 1440p card that can flirt with 4K
Specifications
Reasons to buy
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With the AMD Radeon RX 6800, Team Red proved that it could compete not just in the budget and mid-range markets but on the premium side as well. In particular, it gives its direct rival, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, a run for its money in both performance and value.
We were not only impressed by its thermal efficiency and low power consumption but by its feature set, which includes Radeon Boost for competitive gamers looking for an edge as well as Smart Access Memory which allows you to boost performance when paired with certain AMD CPUs, though you have to go into the BIOs of your computer for that.
Of course, the RX 6800’s performance is on point. Though it can handle 4K gaming, the RX 6800 shines most at 1440p when ray tracing has been enabled.
Read our full AMD Radeon RX 6800 review
The best Intel 1440p graphics card
5. Intel Arc A770
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
I'm wrapping up my Intel Arc A770 review as we speak, so it'll be a little while longer before I can formally pronounce a verdict on the A770, but there's no denying that the card has decent 1440p chops, even if it's not the best there is on the market.
The biggest draw for this card honestly is going to be its price and its strong upscaling technology, Intel XeSS, which uses hardware AI cores to process frames faster than the software solution AMD uses. Intel XeSS isn't as good as Nvidia DLSS, but it's surprisingly powerful, and on games that support it, you're going to like what you see, including a roughly 38% better framerate when using ray tracing at 1440p.
In terms of pure rasterization, the A770 averaged 61 frames per second at 1440p across the games I tested, which definitely makes the card easy to recommend. And, with 16GB VRAM at your disposal, 4K gaming with settings tweaks isn't out of the question, especially with more modest titles where the graphical demands on the shader cores aren't as high (I'm looking at you Cyberpunk 2077).
While this card is more marketed toward 1080p gamers (where it also excels), you're going to get more than enough 1440p performance from the A770 under typical conditions, and for the price, it's hard to beat. It might be somewhat hard to find now that Intel has discontinued the Limited Edition first-party cards as the company's graphics group pivots to its next-gen Battlemage GPUs, but there are still plenty of Arc A770s online, especially from third-party partners like ASRock and Acer.
- John Loeffler, Components Editor
How to choose the best graphics card for you
How to choose the best graphics card for you
You need to consider your graphical demands. You shouldn't settle for what you can afford right now if it's not powerful enough to handle your 1440p needs. You're better putting it off for a bit and saving up until you can afford the GPU that's the right fit.
You need to take a look at the vital specs: GPU memory, GPU size, Thermal Design Power or TDP, and ports and power connectors are all important. As are the number of teraflops (or GFLOPS) it has since that indicates the theoretical performance of that graphics card.
If you want the best ray tracing experience, Nvidia is still the king of the castle. However, we're sure that AMD will be upping its ray tracing game in order to compete. If you're into VR games and experiences, you should also make sure that it supports VR as well.
What is the best card for 1440p gaming?
Currently, the best 1440p graphics card remains the Nvidia RTX 3070, but the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT offers a compelling value proposition if you are strictly interested in gaming.
What is the cheapest GPU that can run 1440p?
The Nvidia RTX 3060 is capable of running 1440p graphics at acceptable frame rates for most AAA games at high-ish settings, but it's definitely pushing the bounds of what it can do at that resolution. The Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti is a much better option, though it does cost a bit more. If you're able to stretch your budget a bit, definitely go for the RTX 3060 Ti.
How we test graphics cards
In our graphics card reviews, we maintain a consistent testing process. This includes evaluating their performance through a set of 8-10 games, tested across various resolutions and with the latest drivers. Moreover, each time a new card is released, we retest all current-generation cards with the same hardware - identical processors, memory speeds, motherboards, and SSDs. This standardization is key to accurately measuring each card's performance and providing reliable comparisons with its rivals. Our comprehensive reviews also detail each card's power consumption and temperature when under load. Additionally, we assess the features of each graphics card, though these features generally show little variation from one generation to the next.
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John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY.
Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.
You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.
Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).
- Michelle Rae UyContributor