Black [[link]] Friday is normally the perfect time to grab yourself a new graphics card. There are, after all, out there for practically every GPU of the current generation. And some of them are mighty tempting, especially if you've been using the same one for a good few years. For example, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 10-series spawned the amazing and while it's still pretty potent today, it lacks all the fancy ray tracing hardware and DLSS technology in the latest RTX models.
However, we're not far off seeing a new generation of GPUs from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. The first and last are expected to showcase RDNA 4 and at CES in January, and it's rumored that Intel will try to get the jump on them with a Battlemage launch in December.
Quick Links
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT -
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX -
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 -
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 -
RX 6650 XT
Yes, this is an RDNA 2 graphics card, first launched back in 2022. So why on Earth should you consider buying something that old when AMD is apparently going to announce its ?
Two reasons: (1) GPU vendors tend to announce and then release their higher-end models first, with the more budget-friendly offerings coming much later; (2) the is a pokey little GPU for very little money.
Make no mistake, this Radeon is very much a budget 1080p graphics card but if you've been chugging along with something like a or a , it'll blow them out of the water. Not that you should ever have your gaming PC in water, of course.
Think of it as a slightly slower but a good $40 cheaper, then you'll be right as rain. The newer RDNA 3 card does have better ray tracing performance but you're not going to be using that with a budget GPU, nor are you going to miss out on the dual-issue FP32 shaders.
AMD is unlikely to announce a really cheap RDNA 4 GPU at CES so if you are looking for a very cost-effective upgrade for your gaming PC, the RX 6650 XT is the ideal choice.
RX 7900 XTX
You're probably thinking I've totally lost the plot suggesting that you should buy AMD's current top dog in its gaming GPU portfolio, but hear me out.
The next generation of Radeon graphics cards is generally expected to include no 'halo models' like the , with to improve its bottom line.
That means there's a very good chance that you won't see a 24 GB RDNA 4 card any time soon, if ever. All that sweet, [[link]] sweet VRAM means you're not going to hit any kind of memory issues in your games for a very long time and while the 7900 XTX doesn't have the ray tracing grunt of an equivalent GeForce RTX, it's still pretty good.
Admittedly, that amount of VRAM is somewhat wasted in games but if you like to do a spot of AI shenanigans or memory-hungry content creation, then it's a much cheaper bet than Nvidia's 24 GB offerings.
It's more expensive than an but it notably outperforms it, when you leave ray tracing disabled. And at $820, it significantly undercuts the . In short, it's a hell of a lot of GPU for the money.
Of course, it's still a lot of money and I dare say there's a chance that there will be an RDNA 4 card that's just as fast in certain games (or have better ray tracing chops). But I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for AMD's behemoth.
Buy one while you can still get a monstrous Radeon.
RTX 4060
With Nvidia expected to announce , you're probably best off waiting to see what the new lineup of Blackwell-powered models are like.
But if you don't want to wait or you're of the opinion that the RTX 50-series is going to be very expensive, then there are only two out of the current RTX 40-series that I think are worth buying in the Black Friday sales.
I'm not suggesting the rest are rubbish—far from it—it's just that, as with AMD, we're not going to see a budget Blackwell until we're well into 2025. The cheapest of all the current Ada Lovelace offerings is, of course, the little .
Mind you, this triple-fan monster from Gigabyte is hardly what you call little. Still, you should have any problems with keeping it cool, that's for sure.
One could argue that there's no such thing as a bad GPU, just a bad GPU price. And in the case of the RTX 4060, it's very much the latter. It's a perfectly decent entry-level graphics card, packing all the features of its larger brethren, bar VRAM.
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There's much argument to be found on the interwebs about how 8 GB of VRAM just isn't enough these days, and such claims are typically backed up with performance figures of cards tanking out their frame rate because they're bouncing off a VRAM limit.
That's actually a fault of the game, not the card, as it's perfectly possible to have a memory management system in games properly track how much VRAM is available and not try to exceed it.
Anyway, for me, the RTX 4060's best feature is DLSS. The combined is a remarkable collection of technology and in the right game, it can turn a sluggish grind into a whirling flurry of frame rates with nary a visual glitch to be found.
Pitch an RTX 4060 against a GTX 1060 and the fight will be over before the game has even loaded.
RTX 4070
Yes, that's right—the . Not the Super, nor the Ti Super. And you can forget about the 4080s and 4090s, too. This is the one that's worth your pennies.
And my reason is simple: It's a surprisingly capable GPU and not just 'for the money'. I have two in my office and I'm frequently impressed by how well they cope with today's biggest games. We're taking levels of pixel pushing, but with a much lower power consumption and you get the full DLSS [[link]] package to boot.
And at $470, a good $120 lower than its ridiculous launch price, it's a great deal too. Sure, the is a better GPU but it's over $100 more expensive. I can't see Nvidia releasing a Blackwell card at this price that will give the 4070 a good thrashing.
I've already argued my case for 8 GB of VRAM not being as much of a problem as some folks make it out to be but if you don't believe me, or you want a new graphics card that will last for many years, then the 12 GB here should ease those doubts.
Intel?
It can't have passed you by that I've not recommended any Intel graphics cards. Well, it's not because they're overpriced, as you can pick up an Arc A770 (the best of the Alchemist bunch) for just $230 at .
The problem with all the Arc GPUs is that their performance is inconsistent and unpredictable. They'll work fine in some games and then awful in others. That's partly down to drivers but it's mostly because the architecture isn't as finely honed or as suitable for gaming as AMD and Nvidia's.
Fortunately, it's expected that Intel will showcase Battlemage, the next generation of Arc graphic cards, in December and while they won't be as cheap as the current gen, they're surely going to be better performing.
We'll let you know what they're like as soon as find out.