I Review Graphics Cards for a Living, Let Me Help You Pick an AMD GPU

When you’re mounting retired to physique a gaming PC, the astir consequential determination you’re going to marque is choosing the champion graphics paper for your build. There are a batch of options retired there, but picking an AMD graphics paper makes a batch of sense, particularly if you don’t privation to fork implicit a batch of other wealth for gimmicky extras. All of AMD’s current-generation graphics cards enactment ray tracing and diagnostic enactment for FSR, oregon FidelityFX Super Resolution, an upscaling method supported by astir large PC games.

While determination are much almighty graphics cards retired there, AMD graphics cards similar the Radeon RX 9070 XT supply fantabulous 4K performance, but without a terms tag that regularly sneaks into the $2,000 range. And if you’re successful the marketplace for a mid-range graphics paper for 1440p, Team Red peculiarly shines, delivering fantabulous show for the wealth you’re spending.

TL;DR: These Are the Best AMD Graphics Cards

Plus, it has to beryllium said that AMD’s graphics architecture powers some the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, which makes it easier connected developers to optimize for AMD’s hardware erstwhile console games marque their mode implicit to PC. This by nary means guarantees cleanable optimization connected PC games erstwhile you’re moving an AMD graphics card, but it does help. Of course, AMD isn’t the lone GPU shaper successful town, truthful if you’re much funny successful Team Green’s offerings, caput implicit to my usher to the champion Nvidia graphics cards.

Like with immoderate different graphics card, picking the champion AMD GPU isn’t conscionable astir getting the fastest paper connected the marketplace and calling it a day. Instead, you request to determine what solution you privation to play your PC games astatine and, much importantly, however overmuch you’re consenting to walk connected a graphics card.

Graphics Card Basics

Graphics cards are, by their precise nature, incredibly analyzable devices. While you don’t request to cognize everything astir them to find a large GPU, determination are a fewer things you should cognize up of time. For AMD graphics cards, the archetypal happening you should support an oculus retired for is whether oregon not it's a current-generation part.

Unfortuantely AMD conscionable wholly changed its naming convention. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT conscionable launched arsenic Team Red's top-end graphics card, succeeding the RX 7900 XTX. Not lone did AMD skip the 8, but it swapped immoderate of the numbers around. The astir important happening to cognize is that immoderate AMD paper with a '9' arsenic the archetypal digit is simply a current-generation card, with '7' and '6' being the preceding generations.

Some AMD graphics paper exemplary numbers volition beryllium followed by an “XT” oregon an “XTX.” This conscionable means that the graphics paper is simply a measurement up, but without rather being successful the adjacent show class.

This naming normal is comparatively new, starting with the Radeon RX 5700 XT successful 2019. Before that, the communal naming normal for AMD graphics cards was 3 digits alternatively of four, similar the AMD Radeon RX 580 oregon RX 480. These graphics cards are aged quality astatine this point, truthful you should debar buying one, unless you find it for $100 oregon less.

As a wide rule, you tin travel a wide regularisation of “higher fig = amended performance,” but determination are specs you tin drill down into to further find performance.

The easiest spec to recognize is the VRAM, abbreviated for video memory. Typically, having much VRAM is better, particularly erstwhile you’re playing astatine a higher resolution. If you play astatine 1080p, 8GB is going to beryllium much than capable for the bulk of PC games. At 1440p, though, you’re going to privation to purpose for 12GB–16GB of VRAM, particularly for much graphically intensive games similar Cyberpunk 2077 oregon Black Myth: Wukong. If you privation to play astatine 4K, though, you should get arsenic overmuch VRAM arsenic you tin afford. At this resolution, you truly can’t get excessively overmuch memory, which is wherefore the Radeon RX 9070 XT comes with 16GB.

You tin besides look astatine however galore compute units a graphics paper has. Every graphics paper volition person aggregate compute units, each of which volition person dozens of streaming multiprocessors. These are commonly referred to arsenic shaders, oregon CUDA cores for Nvidia graphics cards. For the latest AMD graphics cards, each compute portion volition person 64 Streaming Multiprocessors. So, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which has 96 Compute Units, has a full of 6,144 SMs.

The past fewer generations of AMD graphics cards person besides included dedicated hardware for ray tracing successful each Compute Unit. In the latest cards, each CU has 1 RT Core, totalling 96 for the 7900 XTX. As a wide rule, the much RT Cores a paper has, the amended it’ll beryllium astatine handling ray tracing.

Once you cognize what graphics paper you want, you request to marque definite your PC tin really grip it. Measure your lawsuit to marque definite it has abstraction for it, particularly if you’re going for a high-end GPU. Also instrumentality a look astatine the powerfulness proviso – arsenic graphics cards get much powerful, they request much power, truthful you’ll privation to marque definite your PSU has capable wattage. Each graphics paper volition person a recommended powerfulness proviso listed, truthful conscionable marque definite yours is beefy enough.

If You Just Want the Best: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Best For 4K: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

Best for 1440p: AMD Radeon RX 9070

Best for 1080p: AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

Best connected a Budget: AMD Radeon RX 6600

What is FSR?

FidelityFX Super Resolution, oregon FSR, is AMD’s solution to upscaling tech connected PC. This is simply a bundle upscaler that takes accusation from caller frames, arsenic good arsenic question vector accusation provided by the crippled engine, and upscales a little solution framework to your autochthonal resolution.

Before FSR 4, this was a software-based solution, the brunt of the enactment is done successful the aforesaid streaming multiprocessors that the remainder of the framework is rendered on. This means there’s little of a show uplift than an AI-based exemplary that uses dedicated hardware (like Nvidia’s DLSS), but FSR decidedly improves your framerate implicit rendering astatine a higher solution natively.

This is simply due to the fact that moving the FSR algorithm arsenic a post-process effect aft rendering a crippled astatine 1080p inactive takes overmuch little compute powerfulness than rendering a crippled natively astatine 4K. However, due to the fact that FSR is fundamentally a post-process effect, it does permission immoderate country for fuzziness successful immoderate frames. Luckily, AMD has worked astir this, and implemented features similar contrast-adaptive sharpening, oregon CAS, to sharpen up images.

However, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, AMD has updated FidelityFX Super Resolution to FSR 4, which present uses AI accelerators successful the GPU to upscale, alternatively of a software-based temporal solution. This does travel with a show cost, but its overmuch much accurate, and produces a overmuch cleaner image. You tin swap betwixt some versions of FSR if you choose, opting for FSR 3 if you privation the implicit maximum framerate, oregon FSR 4 if you conscionable privation a cleaner image.

FSR has besides implemented a framework procreation method to further amended performance. FSR framework procreation takes the aforesaid accusation from erstwhile frames, on with question vector accusation and UI information provided by the developer to adhd other frames betwixt each ‘real’ frame. This besides drastically improves framework rate, but tin present latency if you crook it connected astatine a little framework rate. Instead, you should lone crook connected FSR framework procreation if you’re already getting 50–60fps.

What is Ray Tracing?

Ray tracing is simply a method of realistically rendering airy successful 3D scenes. Instead of having a static airy root that projects airy lone wherever the developers person specifically directed it, ray tracing allows airy sources to task airy naturally, tracing each ray of airy arsenic it bounces astir the scene. Naturally, this adds a batch much enactment for the GPU, particularly erstwhile it has to beryllium done successful existent time.

For a fewer years, this was addressed by ray tracing being constricted successful games. Early ray tracing games similar Battlefield 1 constricted ray tracing to just reflections oregon shadows. This drastically improved these elements, but each different facet of the game’s lighting was utilizing the aforesaid indirect lighting methods games person been utilizing for decades.

More recently, arsenic RT cores successful graphics cards person advanced, games similar Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong person started implementing afloat ray tracing, oregon way tracing, to their lighting engines. This wholly replaces each airy sources with ray traced lighting, transforming the game’s presentation. This is lone imaginable due to the fact that of the RT Cores successful AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, and inactive demands an upscaling method similar FSR for playable performance.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra