If you’re looking for the Best Value for Money Graphics Cards. You have come to the right place! Nowadays everything is so expensive and a lot of us (Including me) are looking for components that won’t break the bank but still want decent performance!
This is not an indepth guide, the aim is to give basic information and a simple overview of what these Video Cards offer in terms of performance , dimensions, total draw power & recommended processors.
As when starting a new build, I am sure we have all found a new case, wondering if the card we wanted would fit! Or what is the best processor to pair with that particular GPU, instead of googling around extensivley to find this information, it is all in one place!
Here are the top 5 GPUs for the best value for money at this moment in time.
Number 5
Intel Arc A580 – Core 3072 8GB GDDR6
Created by Intel on the 10th October 2023, this is a mid range GPU from the Intel’s Arc 5 Series. This is built on a 6nm process and packs a punch for the price. It has DirectX 12 Ultimate hardware capabilities that enable ray tracing support, with 24 RT Cores.
With a price tag of £200/$169.99, 256 -Bit Memory bus a 2.0Ghz boost clock and support for DLL/FSR and intel’s very own XeSS (XE Super Sampling) your ticking all the boxes for team blue.
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Specification Sheet Overview:
Clock Speed – Base 1700, Boost 2000, Memory 2000MHz 16Gpbs Effective
Board Design – Dual Slot, TDP: 175W, Suggested PSU: 450W, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x Display ports, 2x 8-Pin Power connectors
Recommended Resolutions – 1920 x 1080
Card Dimensions – L= 222, W= 101 D= 40.9 mm – 742g weight
GPU Equivalents – 6600 XT
Recommended CPUs: AMD Ryzen 5- 5500 / 5600X / 5600g / 3600 Intel i3 12th Gen or Higher
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ARC A580 Gaming Benchmarks
Here are a few benchmarks running games with the Intel Arc 580. This will show it running with a Ryzen 5500(Also a budget CPU) This will give you a rough idea of the FPS that can run on the chip.
So anything with similar performance to this processor or higher would give you roughly the same performance, or using better chips will only increase the value of the Frames Per Second.
Hogwarts Legacy Intel Arc 580 with Ryzen 5 5500 16gb Ram @ (1080p)
This chart is showing the FPS in Hogwarts Legacy. The minimum FPS is around 61, while the average 88 and Maximum FPS hitting 119. (Ray tracing disabled and XeSS balanced enabled)
Apex Legends Intel Arc 580 with Ryzen 5 5500 16gb Ram @ (1080p)
This is the chart showing the FPS in Apex Legends. Miniumum FPS was about 66 with the average coming in at 102 and highs of 144
Number 4
RTX 4060 – Cores 3072 8GB GDDR6
Created by Nvidia on the 18th of May 2023 this is a mid range GPU from Nvidia’s 40 Series Generation. This bad boy is built on a 5 nm process. which keeps it even cooler and more energy efficient then the Intel Arc A580.
Team green doesn’t hold back with this GPU with its 3rd Gen Ray Tracing cores up to x2 the ray tracing performance, and 4th Gen Tensor Cores with up 4x performance with DLSS. Which is Nvidia’s AI accelerated technology. If you’re looking for a budget GPU and do more than game, you can’t go wrong.
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Specification sheet overview
Clock Speed – Base 1880, Boost 2460, Memory Clock 2125 MHz 17 Gbps effective
Board Design –Dual Slot, TDP: 115W, Suggested PSU 450W, 2x HDMI 2.1 ports & x2 DisplayPort 1.4
Card Dimensions – L=170 W=120 H=40 mm
Recommended Resolutions – 1080p, 1440p
Ray tracing Cores – 24
Equivalents – AMD RX 7600
Recommended CPUs: Ryzen 7 7700x / I5 13600K
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RTX 4060 Gaming Benchmarks
Here are 3 games running on the 4060. This is paired with the Ryzen 7 7600. All 3 games will be running on ultra at 1080. This card is capable of running some games at 2k, but I have not ran any bench mark tests for this.
A quick youtube search will show you the games that can run at 2k on the 4060.
Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra RTX 4060 with Ryzen 7 7600 16gb Ram @ (1080)
This chart is showing the FPS in Cyberpunk 2077. Minumum FPS coming in at 59 with averages of 68 with a maximum FPS of 80
Hogwarts Legacy Ultra RTX 4060 with Ryzen 7 7600 16gb Ram @ (1080)
This is a chart showing FPS for Hogwarts Legacy. Minimum FPS coming in at 39 (Which was once). An average of 64 and maximum of 86
Number 3
Radeon RX 6750 XT 12GB DDR6
At number 3 created by AMD the Radeon RX 6750 XT has 12GB of ram and was released on March 3rd 2022. This card is suitable for the 4k gaming space on a budget. If you already have a 4k monitor and don’t want to fork out too much on a graphics card!
It is built on a 7nm process and has 40 Raytracing cores. (A lot more than the other two on this list!) So turning on Ray tracing with FSR in God of war has really nice frame rates. The price brand new for this card is around about £300/$300. A steal for you and win for team red!
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Specification Sheet Overview:
Clock Speed – Base 2150, Game Clock 2495 Mhz, Boost Clock 2600MHz, Memory Clock 2250 Mhz 18Gbps effective
Board Design – Dual Slot, TDP 250W, Suggested PSU 600W, 1x HDMI 2.1 & 3x Display ports, 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector
Ray tracing Cores: 40
Card Size- L-267 W-110 H-40 mm
Recommended Resolutions – 1080, 1440p
Graphics – 40 Raytracing Cores
Equivalents – RTX 3070
Recommended CPU’s: Ryzen 5 5600, Ryzen 7 7700
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Radeon 6750XT Gaming Benchmarks
God of War Radeon 6750XT with Ryzen 5 5700X3D 16GB RAM @(1080)
This is God of War Ultra at 1080. FPS Low of 97 average of 115 and maximum of 139 FPS
God of War Radeon 6750XT with Ryzen 5 5700X3D 16GB RAM @(1440)
This is God of War Ultra at 1440. FPS Low of 75 average of 87 and maximum of 104 FPS
God of War Radeon 6750XT with Ryzen 5 5700X3D 16GB RAM @(4k)
A playable FPS performance, Lows of 60 average of 53 and max of 59
Number 2
Radeon RX 6600 – 1792 Cores, 8GB GDDR6
Team red makes the list again! Created by AMD on July 30th 2021. Even though it was released 3 years ago it’s still a top card for the price. You can snag this card on ebay for under £200/$200 and it still has decent frame rates for some of the newest games! In my opinion you can’t go wrong, the reason why this made number 2!
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Specification Sheet Overview:
Clock Speed – Base Clock: 1626, Game Clock: 2044 MHz, Boost Clock: 2491 MHz, Memory Clock: 1750 MHz 14 Gbps effective
Board Design – Dual slot, TDP: 132w, Suggested PSU: 300w, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x Displayport, 1x8pin Connector
Card Size – L= 190 W=110 4.3 H=40 mm
Recommended Resolutions – 1080
Graphics – 32 RT Cores
Equivalents – RTX 3060
Recommended Processors – Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel I3 12100
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God of War Radeon 6600 with Ryzen 5 5500 16GB RAM @(1080)
The chart above for Hogwarts have decent FPS with the 6600 with lows of 56 average FPS of 77 and a maximum of 86
Sparking Zero Radeon 6600 with Ryzen 5 5500 16GB RAM @(1080)
The chart for Dragon Ball Z sparking Zero. A game released this year. Showing lows of 29, an average of 49 FPS and a maximum of 61.
Number 1
Radeon RX 6650 XT 2048 cores 8GB
At number 1 the Radeon RX 6650 XT is the current value for money champion. It was released on the 10th May 2022. You can grab this card for £200/$200 on amazon for brand new. Or if you prefer on ebay for even less.
This card is around 20% Faster than its 6600 cousin. It has the same amount of RT cores. You also game on this card at 2k with decent frame rates, as shown in the gaming benchmarks below.
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Specification Sheet Overview:
Clock Speed – Base 2055 Game 2410 Boost 2635 MHz, Memory Clock 2190 @ 17.5Gbps effective
Board Design – Dual Slot TDP176w, Suggested 450w, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x8pin
Card Size – L=190 W = 110 H= 40 mm
Supported Resolution – 1080, 2k,
Ray Tracing Cores – 32 RT Cores
Recommended CPUs: Ryzen 7 7600
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6650 XT Gaming Benchmarks
God of War Radeon 6650 with Ryzen 5 5600x 16GB RAM @(1080)
This charts shows God of War with FSR off. Lows of 58 , average FPS of 65, and a maximum of 81.
Cyberpunk 2077 Radeon 6650 with Ryzen 5 5600x 16GB RAM @(1080)
The chart shows Cyberpunk 2077 with FSR off. With lows of 43, an average FPS of 57 and a maximum of 67.
This concludes the top 5 Best Value for Money Graphic Cards. You should have a rough idea which GPU’s to get if you are on a tight budget. As the article is for a budget I have not recommended high end CPus such as the Ryzen 9 9900x or the I9 14900K. Just processors that you can play games comfortably with decent frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.
The guide is aimed more towards gamers, but if you are a content creator, game designer or video editor. I would always recommend a Nvidia GPU, as you can run into problems with other cards, these cards are best supported with Nvidia and the driver support they provide. With Softwares such as Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Maya etc.
The entry graphics card I would recommend is the 4060. You can’t go wrong with gaming and also creating content. For gaming specifically I would go for team red or blue, as you generally get a better price to performance ratio!
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