GRAPHICS CARD PC

Far from just being the reference version of the 'flagship' Ampere graphics card, because of that cooler and redesigned PCB, it is the ultimate expression of the RTX 3080. Pick your expletive, because the RTX 3080 Founders Edition is ****ing great.

If there was one bit of advice for buying a GeForce RTX 3080 it would be that it's worth trying to get your hands on the Founders Edition if at all possible.

Which I guess is also why it's so tricky to get hold of. The RTX 3080 may need a fair chunk more power-you'll want at least an 850W PSU-and be tricky to get hold of, but this is the most desirable graphics card around today. Nvidia has managed this by adding a whole load more CUDA cores to the mix in this 8nm GPU and updated Tensor Cores (for extra DLSS goodness) and second-gen RT Cores to make with the ray-traced pretties. The RTX 3080 represents a huge generational performance boost over the previous RTX 20-series. When you can now get ray-traced performance that exceeds the frame rates you'd get out of the top card of the RTX 20-series when running without it, you know that this is a whole different beast. And hey, the RTX 3080 can actually run Crysis (opens in new tab). The first generation of ray tracing-capable cards required such a huge frame rate sacrifice that most people shied away from turning it on, but that's no longer the case with this generation. The thing which really stands out from our testing is the difference it makes to ray-tracing performance. If you're after something a little more high-powered, however, maybe wait a minute before splashing out on a GPU. These GPUs are likely to offer a darn sight more performance for less, though the more budget-conscious GPUs like the RTX 3060 (opens in new tab) or RX 6600 XT (opens in new tab) aren't likely to be replaced by shiny new cards immediately. Nvidia and AMD are both working hard on ramping up the gaming GPU selection, with new cards expected to launch this year. Just remember that the next generation of GPUs is coming soon. If you're not sure which GPU suits you, the list below details Nvidia and AMD's finest. Then there's Intel with its Arc Alchemist graphics card, which isn't looking particularly competitive (opens in new tab) yet. If you're after a powerful but cheap graphics card, we recommend the RTX 3060 Ti (opens in new tab) it's a really strong buy close enough to its MSRP. It's been a close call but the GeForce RTX 3080 (opens in new tab) just about beat AMD to the top spot-a case could be made either way, though. The launch of the Radeon RX 6800 XT (opens in new tab) has shaken things up, and both Nvidia and AMD have been squaring off for the crown. Our findings? GPUs are in a great place right now. We've actually barricaded ourselves into the office with the sheer number of graphics cards we've tested in anticipation of them actually coming back in stock. We've put the latest graphics cards through our extensive benchmarking tests. The latter hasn't been a thing for GPUs recently, but someone up there's hit the reset button, and things are finally returning to normal.

It should offer great value for money and be easy to find on the digital shelves.

GRAPHICS CARD PC

When it comes to the best graphics card for PC gaming, you're going to want one that's capable of beating the rest with silky-smooth frame rates at the highest graphics settings, even at more expansive resolutions.

Graphics card