Best GPU for Ryzen 7 5800X in 2024

One of the best CPUs on AMD’s last-gen AM4 socket, the Ryzen 7 5800X, is still a great pick for gaming with enough power to keep up with most of the latest GPUs. That being said, this CPU is on an older platform and will struggle more than the latest generation with new titles, especially if you’re looking for frame rates over 120. Still, if you’re looking to squeeze every bit of performance out of this CPU, upgrading to one of the latest GPUs can offer some major gaming improvements. You may even see other improvements, such as support for DLSS with a newer RTX card, better ray tracing performance, or even better streaming with AV1 encoding.

Make the most of your 5800X with a new GPU

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070

Best overall

Balanced performance for the 5800X

The RTX 4070 has good all-round performance thanks to the Ada Lovelace architecture along with a solid 12GB of memory. It also supports ray tracing with 46 accelerators and DLSS to keep performance high with more complex games.

Graphics RAM Size

12GB GDDR6X

Brand

Nvidia

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Process

5nm

Transistors

35.8 billion

Shader Units

5,888

Ray Accelerators/Cores

46

Stream Processors

46

Base Clock Speed

1,920MHz

Boost Clock Speed

2,480MHz

Memory Bus

192-bit

Memory Bandwidth

504.2GB/s

Power Draw

200W

Pros

• Strong gaming performance
• DLSS 3 support
• Solid ray tracing performance

Cons

• Only 12GB of VRAM
• Pretty expensive

Unless you’re a streamer or have some cash burning a hole in your pocket, there’s not much reason to use a $1000 or higher GPU. For many new PC builders or those looking for an upgrade, the RTX 4070 just about nails the sweet spot, coming in at $500-600. The 12GB of memory means that this card won’t be optimal for 4K gaming, but at a more sensible 1440p, or 4K with DLSS, it should be more than enough. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, our RTX 4070 review achieved 114 fps with settings at Ultra and RT at Ultra with DLSS on. That’s up from 40 fps with no DLSS enabled.

It must be said that the memory on this card is a bit of a drag in general with its 12GB of GDDR6X choked by a 192-bit memory bus and 504.2GB/s of bandwidth. The similarly priced AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, for example, has a 256-bit bus taking memory bandwidth up to 624GB/s. AMD’s lineup generally has more raw power for the price, but Nvidia’s DLSS and ray tracing optimizations blur those lines. As mentioned above, DLSS can greatly improve frame rates by upsampling from a lower resolution, and while it’s not a match for native, it still looks great overall. Similarly, Nvidia’s focus on ray tracing with its hardware makes it the clear choice for games with ray tracing.

Nvidia’s software is also great, though I don’t love that you need to make an account to make the most out of it. The software can not only make sure you have the latest Game-Ready Driver installed, but can also help you track performance and make settings adjustments to achieve a more stable frame rate. The GeForce experience also makes getting set up for streaming easy for inexperienced users.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

Best AMD card

Game in 4K with an all AMD PC

AMD’s second-fastest GPU, the Radeon RX 7900 XT is a 20GB monster that’s suitable for 1440p or 4K displays. While it falls behind Nvidia’s high-end cards for ray tracing, this card still offers impressive performance for the price.

Brand

AMD

GPU Speed

2GHz

Interface

PCIe 4.0

Memory

20GB GDDR6

Power

315W

Boost Speed

2.4GHz

CUDA Cores

5,376

Architecture

RDNA 3

Process

TSMC 5nm (GCD), TSMC 6nm (MCDs)

Base clock speed

2,000 MHz

Boost clock speed

2,394 MHz

Memory bus width

320-bit

Cache

6MB L2 + 80MB L3

Memory Bandwidth

800GB/s

Pros

• Plenty of VRAM at 20GB
• Plenty of performance for 1440p or 4K
• Fast 320-bit GDDR6 memory

If you’re looking for the best raw performance under $1000, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XT is your best bet. This card features a hardy 20GB of GDDR6 memory. This RDNA 3-based GPU is clocked at 2,000MHz base and 2394MHz boost clock speeds at stock. It also has a fairly wide 320-bit memory bus resulting in 800GB/s memory bandwidth. All of these numbers mean this card is one of AMD’s most competitive in years, with strong performance in games without ray tracing or reasonably low ray tracing settings.

AMD sticks a bit closer to the basics when it comes to software, but still has an answer to some of Nvidia’s best tech. FSR 2.0, for example, brings DLSS-like upscaling without needing a specific card, though results largely favor DLSS if both are available in a game. This GPU does support ray tracing, though without Nvidia RT cores, you’ll give up a lot of performance to get there.

That being said, AMD is still a strong option for this generation and the RX 7900 XT is one of its best, with only the 7900 XTX beating it on Team Red. AMD’s software is better than ever with the ability to track performance stats and adjust your settings for better performance. You can even do some overclocking with stress tests built in to check your stability. Just make sure to enable Smart Access Memory with your R7 5800X to get the best performance.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super

Best 4K card

Performance 4K gaming with DLSS and ray tracing

The RTX 4080 Super is overkill for many gamers and costs as much as some complete systems, but the performance doesn’t lie. If you’ve got a 4K monitor, and you want a smooth frame rate with ray tracing enabled, this is a good starting point, especially with DLSS.

Brand

Nvidia

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Process

5nm

Memory Bandwidth

736.3GB/s

Pros

• Strong performance at 4K
• Impressive ray tracing performance
• Support for high frame rates with DLSS and frame generation

Cons

• Very expensive
• Not a great value for non ray traced games

The RTX 4080 Super launched to slide in between the existing RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4090, offering gamers a better value GPU over the outgoing RTX 4080. Unfortunately, that also means that the card is quite expensive for something that’s not even at the top of Nvidia’s product stack. The performance is there and, compared to the RTX 4070 Ti, you’ll get much higher frame rates, which can benefit those with high refresh rate monitors. It will also work well with the Ryzen 7 5800X.

When it comes to raw power, the RTX 4080 Super doesn’t match a price-equivalent AMD pick but, thanks to Nvidia tech like DLSS and frame generation, some games get a boost in frame rate with little visual compromise. The RTX 4080 Super will also stomp AMD when it comes to ray tracing with 76 ray accelerators. As we saw in our Radeon RX 7900 XT vs. GeForce RTX4080 comparison, the AMD card trades blows with the RTX card in raster performance, but the gap widens, favoring Nvidia, when RT is enabled.

If you’re looking forward to new games featuring high-end ray tracing features and DLSS, the Nvidia card will be unquestionably faster than AMD’s best offerings. Like the other Nvidia GPUs on this list, you also get access to Nvidia’s powerful GeForce Experience software with streaming, screen recording, and performance statistics to help you make the most of your experience.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

Best 1440p AMD card

Plenty of VRAM for high resolutions

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is one of AMD’s fastest cards with plenty of performance for high refresh rate monitors at 1440p. It even has enough power for 4K with 16GB of VRAM onboard.

Brand

AMD

Architecture

RDNA 3

Process

5 nm, 6 nm

Transistors

28.1 billion

Shader Units

4,608

Ray Accelerators/Cores

60

AI Accelerators/Cores

120

Stream Processors

3,840

Base Clock Speed

2,124MHz

Boost Clock Speed

2,430MHz

Memory Capacity

16GB GDDR6

Memory Bus

256-bit

Memory Bandwidth

2,708.4GB/s

Power Draw

263W

Pros

• Exceptional at 1440p with enough power for 4K
• Strong performance for the price
• Fast 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM

Cons

• Weaker ray tracing support than Nvidia
• DLSS performs better than FSR

When it comes down to it, the Radeon 7800 XT from AMD looks like a bargain next to the Nvidia chips. It’s cheaper than the RTX 4070 with more memory and, compared to Nvidia’s GPU, it trades blows in terms of frame rate as long as ray tracing is left out. If you bring ray tracing back in, however, the Nvidia card takes the lead. AMD also packed in 16GB of RAM with a 256-bit bus for 624GB/s compared to 504.2 on the RTX 4070. Depending on your need for ray tracing, the RX 7800 XT is a great choice for 1440p gaming with modern games.

Like the 7900 XT above, you get AMD’s software with analysis and settings recommendations to help you get the best performance from your games. You’ll also be able to change some performance settings to give you a little more power with an overclock, or simply to better manage your thermals with a custom fan curve. AMD also supports game recording and streaming through its software, though it doesn’t feel as feature-rich as Nvidia’s software. That being said, it nails all the basics and helps keep you on the latest drivers.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition

Best 1080p card

Strong performance for a budget build

The RTX 4060 Ti isn’t the fastest anything, but with the right price and good balance of features, it’s a strong choice for gamers on more of a budget. It’s based on Nvidia’s latest architecture, however, so you still get ray tracing and DLSS support.

Brand

Nvidia

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Process

5nm

Transistors

22.9 billion

Ray Accelerators/Cores

34

Stream Processors

4,352

Base Clock Speed

2,310MHz

Boost Clock Speed

2,535MHz

Memory Capacity

8GB GDDR6

Memory Bus

128-bit

Memory Bandwidth

288GB/s

Power Draw

160 W

Pros

• Strong performance for 1080p gaming
• Support for DLSS 3
• Solid ray tracing performance

Cons

• Only 8GB of VRAM
• No good for 4K gaming

The RTX 4060 Ti looks like more of a compromise than it really is from the spec sheet with just 8GB of memory and a slow 128-bit memory bus. Even so, Nvidia squeezes every drop of performance out of this sub-$400 card, so you can get playable frame rates over 60 fps at 1440p or 1080p. It also still has an edge over a comparably priced AMD card when it comes to ray tracing. It even holds its own compared to the pricier RX 7700 XT when ray tracing is enabled. There is a 16GB version of the 4060 Ti, but for gamers, it doesn’t make much sense.

Despite being one of the cheaper cards in the RTX 40 series, it’s based on the same Ada Lovelace architecture as the more premium GPUs from Nvidia, but it’s more than a beefed-up 4060. It has more CUDA cores at 4352 than the RTX 4060 as well as higher base and boost clocks. It also uses the same software as the more expensive cards, so you get Nvidia’s GeForce experience with its streaming features including AV1 encoding. Naturally, you’ll have access to the latest Game Ready drivers from Nvidia and the ability to analyze the performance of your games with recommended settings.

AMD Radeon RX 7600

Best Value

Power for modern games under $300

The AMD Radeon RX 7600’s best trick is keeping its price under $300. This is a strong choice for 1080p gaming and even 1440p gaming if you don’t mind knockig a few settings down.

Brand

AMD

Architecture

RDNA 3

Process

6nm

Transistors

13.3B

Ray Accelerators/Cores

32

AI Accelerators/Cores

64

Stream Processors

2,048

Base Clock Speed

2250MHz

Boost Clock Speed

2655MHz

Memory Capacity

8GB GDDR6

Memory Bus

128-bit

Memory Bandwidth

288GB/s

Power Draw

165 W

Pros

• Strong performance at 1080p
• Solid price for the performance
• Reasonable 1440p performance

Cons

• Only 8GB of VRAM
• Poor ray tracing performance

It feels like GPU prices have exploded in the past few years, but there are still some decent values to be found in the current generation. The Radeon RX 7600 comes in at under $300, solid for strong performance in games from the past few years and plenty of power for the latest gaming engines, as long as you’re fine with knocking a few settings back to medium. This GPU will struggle with newer games at resolutions higher than 1440p, but should still offer playable performance. That is especially true with how many games now include support for FSR and dynamic quality settings.

This GPU has 32 compute units compared to 56 in the 7700 XT, 60 in the 7800 XT, and 84 in the 7900 XT. Even so, it runs at a fairly high clock speed with 2250MHz as a base. The memory bandwidth isn’t great at 288GB/s due to a narrow 128-bit memory bus. That being said, it only has a TDP of 165W making it a good choice for a small case with limited airflow.

Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition

Best Intel card

Taking on AMD and Nvidia

Team Blue has joined Team Red and Team Green with its very own dedicated GPUs. The Arc A770 is a decently powerful card with 16GB of VRAM with a fast 256-bit bus. Intel has also continued to improve its drivers since launch, improving performance in many titles.

Brand

Intel

GPU Speed

2.1 GHz

Interface

PCIe 4.0

Memory

16GB GDDR6

Power

225 W

Architecture

Alchemist

Process

6nm

Base clock speed

2100MHz

Memory bus width

256-bit

Memory Bandwidth

560GB/s

Pros

• Strong performance gains with new firmware
• Decent value for money
• Strong 1080p performance in newer titles

Cons

• Unpredictable performance in older games
• Struggles at higher resolutions

Intel doesn’t have the greatest reputation for GPUs thanks to years of disappointing integrated graphics chips, but its dedicated GPUs have managed to stay competitive with aggressive software updates. When the Arc A770 was released, its underbaked drivers left a lot to be desired, especially in DirectX 11 titles, but Intel has continued to aggressively update its software and has improved performance quite a bit.

The Intel Arc A770 has all the right ingredients with a hefty 16GB of GDDR6 memory, but our Arc A770 review noted compromised performance in a lot of titles. That being said, newer benchmarks from Gamer’s Nexus show how Intel was able to close the gaps with improved drivers, helping it be competitive with the AMD RX 7600 and Nvidia RTX 4060. Intel also includes AV1 encoding which can be good for a streaming PC. Finally, Intel’s XESS is Intel’s answer to DLSS and FSR, and it’s shown promise in a few titles but will take time to be more widely adopted.

Get higher frame rates with a new GPU for your Ryzen 7 5800X rig

Since AMD has moved on to a new socket for its latest generation of CPUs, owners of the last generation 5000 series chips, like the 5800X, will need to upgrade both their motherboard and RAM in order to get a newer CPU. That also means that it could be the right time to score a good deal on what is still a quite capable gaming CPU. If you’re picking up a used complete system with an older GPU, dropping in one of the best GPUs will result in bigger gains than just about any other upgrade.

Your main choice between AMD and Nvidia mostly comes down to your desire for ray tracing. Ray traced games continue to run better on Nvidia GPUs across the board, and Nvidia’s DLSS solution gives it an even bigger edge. That being said, AMD generally offers the better bang for your buck outside of ray-traced titles.

The RTX 4070 from Nvidia is just about the perfect GPU to pair with a Ryzen 7 5800X. It offers plenty of performance for people gaming at high refresh rates at 1080p and still offers playable frame rates at 1440p in many titles. It supports DLSS, so you can crank up the settings a bit in newer titles without hitting the frame rate too hard. The RTX 4070 should be able to play just about any game on Steam with relative ease.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070

The RTX 4070 has good all-round performance thanks to the Ada Lovelace architecture along with a solid 12GB of memory. It also supports ray tracing with 46 accelerators and DLSS to keep performance high with more complex games.