BEST GPU FOR RYZEN UNDER 300$

Choosing the graphics card is one of the most important steps to take when building a gaming PC. It would be nice to have an unlimited budget, but most buyers don’t have that luxury.

If you’re new to PC gaming, upgrading to an older PC, or just want a good compromise without breaking your wallet, the under $ 300 price tag offers some of the best value gaming graphics cards on the market today.

If you’re playing a less demanding game, like Valorant, you can expect even 100+ frames at high settings. You plan to play old and outdated AAA titles like Witcher III or GTA V, a $ 300 GPU that offers excellent value for money.

Thanks to multiple producers and a constantly growing competitive market, there are a large number of GPU models with the same chips produced by different manufacturers.

Each manufacturer adds its own twist to its GPU and refines them. So you can expect a slight difference in performance between an Asus-produced Nvidia GTX 1660 and the same MSI-produced card.

BEST GPU FOR RYZEN UNDER 300$ IN 2021

1- BEST GPU FOR RYZEN UNDER 300$ | Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 5600 XT

1- BEST GPU FOR RYZEN UNDER 500$ | EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti SC ULTRA GAMING

1- BEST GPU FOR RYZEN | MSI GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GAMING X

1- BEST GPU UNDER 300$ | MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT GAMING X

1- BEST GPU FOR RYZEN IN USA | ASUS DUAL GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER EVO OC Edition

1- BEST GPU FOR RYZEN ON AMAZON | EVGA GeForce RTX Games 2060 KB

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AMD has been a serious competitor in the high-end with its RDNA-based Radeon RX 5000 series cards. With TSMC’s 7nm node-based architecture and fast GDDR6, they are among the most power-efficient AMD graphics cards to date.

Its most recent version, and a hit in the mid-range market, is the Radeon RX 5600 XT. It carries the same graphics core as the RX 5700, but with RAM reduced to 6GB of GDDR6 to make it a more affordable competitor to the RTX 2060. Despite the lack of Ray-Tracing support, it is a solid performer.

Priced just below our budget and a few dollars above MSRP, there’s our winner for the best graphics card under $ 300: the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT. The PULSE is the Sapphire version of the Radeon RX 5600 XT.

Sapphire is one of AMD’s oldest AIB partners and exclusively produces Radeon cards. Their designs are well known for their freeze-cooling, quiet operation, rock-solid reliability, and superior quality.

The board design features Sapphire’s famous Dual-X cooling solution, with ball-bearing fans, precision fan control, and fan 0 functions. Heat is handled quickly, quietly, and efficiently by one of the best dual fan solutions on the market.

BOTTOM LINE

A sleek and functional metal backplate, rugged VRM design, and memory cooling are also included. A dual BIOS switch also makes overclocking a breeze.

This model comes pre-overclocked from the factory, with a 17% increase in-game clock (AMD’s term for sustained boost clocks) and a 17% increase in memory speed compared to reference designs, with advanced pulse clocks up to 1750 MHz. What to beat the RTX 2060.

While not as good as NVENC, AMD’s VCE encoder is pretty decent quality if you want to stream or record your gameplay. Support for Freesync and Freesync 2.0 monitors provides an excellent smooth, high-refresh-rate experience with any game. It’s a great kit and hands down the best video card for under $ 300.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti SC ULTRA GAMING

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With the release of Nvidia’s Turing architecture, Nvidia has further improved Pascal, both in terms of efficiency and performance.

High-end RTX cards have no equivalent, but what about the mid-range $ 300 market? Based on the TU116-400-A1 full die, the 1660 Ti offers 1536 CUDA cores and 6GB of GDDR6 memory.

Despite the lack of support for Ray-Tracing, a feature reserved for more expensive Nvidia cards, the 1660 Ti still offers important features like G-sync and NVENC, giving even those on a budget the opportunity to experience a seamless experience.

Our pick for the best Nvidia graphics card under $ 300 is the EVGA GTX 1660 Ti SC ULTRA GAMING. While the EVGA GTX 1660 Ti isn’t the best graphics card on this list, it’s Nvidia’s best option for under $ 300, hands down.

EVGA is the most famous and advanced producers of Nvidia video cards. It is widely praised for its exceptional customer service, methodical quality control, and dedication to delivering the best cards on the market.

The SC ULTRA card along with an advanced boost clock out of the box, 1845 MHz vs 1770 MHz, for a nice performance improvement over the reference models. The memory is left to the reference clocks, but it is still at a respectable effective speed of 12,000 MHz.

The cooling solution includes a compact 2-fan cooler that offers excellent cooling performance and lower noise levels than single-fan graphics cards, while also being compatible with smaller cases. Also included is a backplate, for rigidity, and a passive cooler for the back of the PCB and its components.

Overclocking and fan control is provided for this card using EVGA’s Precision X1 software. With a well-designed VRM and PCB, you shouldn’t have a problem adjusting the game board for the best performance.

BOTTOM LINE

For those who want to stream, GeForce Experience and Nvidia’s enhanced NVENC Turing encoder give you versatile options with minimal impact on performance.

who want the smoothest gaming experience, the 1660 Ti card supports cheaper G-sync and Adaptive Sync, compatible monitors.

This graphics card consumes an average of 135 W, with a peak of 145 W at full gaming load. We recommend a quality 450W power supply with a minimum 1 × 8-pin PCI-e power connector.

MSI GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GAMING X

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Building on the original 1660, Nvidia uses the same base TU116-300-A1 1408 chip and adds an improved 14,000 MHz (14 Gbps) RAM. The result is the 1660 SUPER.

While it has fewer cores, the faster memory gives the 1660 SUPER a boost enough to drop within 3% of the 1660 Ti’s performance, and for a good part less expensive.

Our pick for the best cosmetic card under $ 300 is from MSI. MSI’s GAMING line offers some of the most premium graphics card designs on the market, and the GTX 1660 SUPER GAMING X gives us just that.

It is featuring a sleek metallic gray design, brushed metal backplate, and RGB. The GAMING X is as beautiful as it is efficient. Speaking of performance, the GAMING X card comes with an out-of-the-box 1830 MHz boost clock and a faster 14 Gbps memory.

The Twin-Frozr 7 chiller offers advanced cooling and quiet performance, even under heavy loads, with just 30 dBA. When not in use or under light load, the Zero Frozr function kicks in and prevents the fans from spinning below 60c.

This eliminates noise and contributes to the longevity of the fan. With accents on the front and side of the fan cover, it complements any RGB lighting effects you may have on your system.

Overclocking support is great too, as MSI Afterburner makes it easier. With a secondary heatsink for memory and increased rigidity, a heat conductive backplate for rear PCB cooling, and a well-designed VRM, you can count on stability when you push the limits.

BOTTOM LINE

As with the 1660 Ti, it is compatible with G-sync, G-sync compatible, G-sync Ultimate, and Adaptive-Sync monitors. As well as the Turing NVENC encoder.

This card consumes an average of 130 W, peaking at 140 W at full gaming load. We recommend a quality 450W power supply with a minimum 1 × 8-pin PCI-e power connector. If you are looking for aesthetics, this is the best graphics card for you. It offers excellent performance and costs less than $ 300.

MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT GAMING X

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With its simple, elegant, and performance-oriented approach, the MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT GAMING offers the coolest 5600 XT on the market. With core temperatures up to 20 ° C cooler than its competitors, MSI has really taken it out of the park and is our pick for the best graphics card to cool under $ 300.

Offering the same Twin Frozr 7 cooler as our top aesthetic pick, the GAMING X board handles exceptional performance, at an incredible 56 ° C max base temperature under load, while at just 29 dBA, and it’s the RX 5600 XT the coolest we’ve seen available. in the market.

All thanks to a combination of MSI’s heatsink with a unique wavy fin design, copper base plate, concentrated heat pipes, and tight mounting pressure; and its TORX V3.0 fans. Provide the best possible cooling capacity.

With an aggressive watch out of the box, the GAMING X offers stellar performance to go along with its freeze-cooling. Without being held back by thermal limitations, hitting and maintaining the 1615 MHz gaming clock and up to 1750 MHz Boost shouldn’t be a problem.

The VRM has its own electric cooling plate to keep the power supply cool and stable while pushing the limits. Overclocking is simplified with full compatibility with MSI’s Afterburner software. Since the cooling solution is so good, the headroom is also significantly improved for memory and center frequencies.

BOTTOM LINE

The aesthetics of this graphics card are understated, yet elegant, with a nice little RGB logo that you can customize via MSI’s Dragon Center. The brushed metal backplate adds to this look, while also adding functionality.

Improves rigidity to prevent sagging and helps cool the rear PCB by using heating pads placed in key locations. Compatible with Freesync and Freesync 2.0 monitors, for those who want a smooth gaming experience with a high refresh rate.

This board consumes an average of 160W, peaking at 180W at full gaming load. We recommend a quality 500W power supply with a minimum 2 × 8-pin PCI-e power connector.

ASUS DUAL GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER EVO OC Edition

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For those of you on a tighter budget and who don’t have $ 300 to spend but still want a great value gaming graphics card, look no further. ‘ASUS DUAL GTX 1660 SUPER EVO OC (yes, we know, that’s a mouthful).

For just $ 10 more than the MSRP of the 1660 SUPER, our selection of the best value card offers great value. Out-of-the-box speeds for the kernel are a 1530 MHz base clock, with an 1830 MHz Boost clock while playing, with an 1860 MHz OC mode option if you want that little extra oomph.

The memory is 6GB of GDDR6 clocked at 1750MHz (14000MHz, 14Gbps effective), which is a nice difference from the 12Gbps memory on the non-SUPER and adds an increase of almost 50% of the effective bandwidth.

Below 55c, the fans are turned off thanks to ASUS 0dB technology. Benefits include reduced noise and longer fan life. The aesthetic is simple, with an all-black design, with minimalist RGB stripes for a personal touch that accentuates the rest of your build.

A black aluminum backplate is included, which adds rigidity and looks great. With support for G-sync, G-sync, G-sync Ultimate, and Adaptive-Sync compatible monitors, an enhanced Turing NVENC encoder, and Nvidia’s GeForce Experience, the EVO OC offers a lot for its price.

BOTTOM LINE

As an added benefit of ASUS, they also offer a 1-year free split license and 6 months free license when you register your card. For those who plan to record and/or broadcast. This card consumes an average of 130 W, peaking at 140 W at full gaming load.

We recommend a quality 450W power supply with a minimum 1 × 8-pin PCI-e power connector. This is the best graphics card you can buy if you don’t want to spend that much on the other cards on this list. It offers excellent value for money and good performance.

EVGA GeForce RTX Games 2060 KB

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Released to go against the RX 5600 XT, the 2060 KO uses a die-cut TU104-150-KC-A1 die, unique to this model and different from other RTX 2060s.

Although the performance is the same as that of the normal 2060s, this model is sold at a lower price to be competitive. While it is a small percentage lower than the RX 5600 XT in terms of raw performance, it makes up for it with its additional features and overclocking headroom.

For those of you with over $ 300 to spend and keen to experiment with Ray-Tracing, we recommend taking a look at EVGA’s RTX 2060 KO Gaming. Unlike the GTX series, the RTX 2060 natively supports DirectX Ray-Tracing (XDR), as well as other premium features, and is Nvidia’s entry-level RTX card.

Take a look at the most advanced lighting effects available in games today. Ray tracing revolutionizes the way shadows and reflections are rendered, giving you some of the most realistic environments yet.

DLSS increases your FPS by initially rendering at a lower resolution and then taking advantage of the Tensor cores, allowing advanced AI algorithms to fill in the missing parts and smooth the edges. This results in improved performance while sacrificing image quality.

RTX Voice takes advantage of this AI as well, although it is still in beta as of this writing. Take your microphone inputs and separate your voice from background noise. This results in a much clearer final audio output. This is especially useful for streamers.

BOTTOM LINE

EVGA’s version of the RTX 2060 is more about performance than form. The aesthetic is basic, but not necessarily cheap. The board still comes with an all-metal backplate, a well-designed EVGA heatsink, and a proper VRM setup underneath. For rock-solid stability and cooling, EVGA is famous.

Coming with a 3-year warranty and exceptional EVGA customer service, this card offers state-of-the-art technology at reasonable prices. With G-sync, G-sync Compatible, G-sync Ultimate, and Adaptive-Sync all supported, your choice of monitors is endless.

This board consumes an average of 180W, peaking at 190W at full gaming load. We recommend a quality 500W power supply with a minimum 1 × 8-pin PCI-e power connector.

How to choose a graphics card for the game?

Target performance

Target performance should be your main concern when buying a dedicated gaming graphics card. The two main standards for measuring target performance in a game-oriented environment are resolution and frame rate.

Today, developers are adding native 4K resolution to their games, especially AAA titles. Fast-paced competitive shooters, on the other hand, rely on more frames per second.

The maximum frames per second are limited only by the graphics capabilities of your system. Generally speaking, you should aim for a minimum resolution of 1080p and 60fps.

The settings can be further changed according to your personal settings. The target performance is also practically limited by your monitor.

There is no point rendering a game in 4K resolution at 100 FPS if your monitor is limited to 1080p with a 60Hz refresh rate. So be sure to check your monitor specifications before investing in the correct GPU.

A 2015 game will require less power to run at 1080p and 60 FPS, while a recently released AAA title will require double or even triple that power to run at the same settings. So to get the best graphics card for gaming, find out what games you want to play and with what settings.

Power

The GPU is the most power-consuming component of a gaming PC. Generally, the better the GPU, the more power it will require. However, modern graphics card manufacturers do their best to optimize the power of their GPUs.

The two things you need to consider when it comes to the power supply are the connection pins and the actual power supply. Most discrete GPUs use either a six-pin connector or an eight-pin connector. The most demanding GPUs also use a mix of the two. The second thing to consider is the actual power consumed by your GPU.

These two factors are directly related to the power supply. You will need to make sure your power supply has the correct connectors and enough output to power the GPU of your choice.

Memory and memory speed

GPUs have their own memory, as does RAM, where crucial data for rendering and processing graphics is stored. The amount of memory required to play a given game is ultimately dedicated by the game developer and optimizations.

As a general rule of thumb, the more onboard memory the better. However, manufacturers never fit in more memory than a GPU can actually use, as that would only increase the price without providing a real improvement in performance.

You should go for a GPU with at least 4GB of onboard memory to run modern AAA titles at 1080p and 60 FPS. Memory speed also affects graphics performance. GDDR6 GPUs are almost 15% faster than GDDR5 GPUs with the same memory.

Interface and size

The interface and size of the best graphics card for you is governed by your choice of motherboard and case. As for the interface, all the GPUs connected to the motherboard’s PCIe slot. So make sure your motherboard has a PCIe slot.

If you are considering a multi-GPU setup, choose a motherboard with multiple PCIe slots. Most gaming motherboards have two PCIe slots that can be used for a multi-GPU setup or a capture card and GPU setup for streaming and recording.

When it comes to GPU size, you’re limited by the enclosure. If you’re using an ATX tower, the new builders’ choice, you don’t have to worry about space limitations.

However, if you are looking for a small and compact configuration, you will need to measure the space you have available for the low-profile GPU (smaller GPUs). Larger GPUs have multiple fans that help with cooling. On the other hand, smaller GPUs only have one fan, which makes them subject to thermal limitations under high pressure.

Clock speed

When comparing the same GPU from another manufacturer, higher clock speed translates to better performance.

Take the GeForce GTX 1080, for example. The base clock speed of such a card is 1733 MHz, while the base clock speed of a GTX 1080 made by Asus ROG is 1759 MHz. The latest card is said to be overclocked at the factory. Some cards can also be overclocked by the user.

That said, clock speeds aren’t everything. Memory and core architecture are also taken into account when measuring the performance of a GPU. An overclocked, factory or custom GPU will also produce more heat.

When buying a GPU, it is ideal to choose the highest clock speed on the GPU of your choice. However, higher models will always perform better due to the base architecture.

Some overclocked GTX 1060 cards are priced the same as the base clock RTX 2060. Obviously, the RTX performs better than its GTX counterpart due to 25% more cores.

Noise and cooling

The noise and cooling of a GPU are determined by the architecture and clock speeds. Small, compact GPUs generally have a single fan which tends to be noisy and their cooling capacity will be less than that of a multi-fan setup.

On multi-fan GPUs, which are typically larger, noise levels will be lower and cooling will be better. Clock speeds also add to heat generation and noise output.

The easiest way to control noise and cooling is to opt for a larger card with more fans and a healthy thermal structure. Alternatively, you can also opt for liquid cooling.

Budget

Budget is a real personal limitation for any PC builder. The GPU is generally the most expensive component of any version, closely followed by the CPU. So how much you spend on a GPU will determine how much you spend on the rest of your build.

If your budget is unconstrained, then the RTX 2080Ti is the best gaming GPU available in 2021. If you are on an extremely tight budget, then a GTX 1050Ti or the Radeon RX 5500 XT are good options for under $ 200. For a balanced build, the GTX 1660Ti, GTX 1070, and GTX 1080 are the most popular options.

AMD vs. Nvidia

Regardless of which GPU manufacturer you want to buy, the actual chip will be supplied by AMD or Nvidia, the two graphics card giants that have battled for market dominance.

Full GPUs are made by companies like Asus, MSI, and Zotac, who add their own design changes and tweak the internals.

Historically, Nvidia has had the upper hand when it comes to gaming-oriented graphics, but the latest chips from AMD offer the best value for money. As a general rule of thumb, go for an AMD-based GPU if your budget is limited to $ 400.

A recurring myth claims that AMD GPUs work better with AMD CPUs and that Nvidia GPUs work well with Intel CPUs. Actually, this is not true. There are no optimizations or customizations for the AMD-AMD or Intel-Nvidia combos, so GPU performance will be based on power.

Gsync vs. Freesync

Gsync and Freesync are two proprietary adaptive timing technologies developed by Nvidia and AMD respectively.

They both serve the same purpose; eliminate screen tearing and smooth gameplay. The choice between the two is based on the monitor of your choice.

If your monitor supports Gsync, opt for an Nvidia card to use this feature and vice versa if your monitor supports Freesync.

However, if your monitor doesn’t support either of the two, you can skip this point entirely. That said, high-end gaming monitors do support Gsync and Freesync, in which case this point can also be overlooked.

Sustainability

The graphics market is changing rapidly. The changes are sudden and often significant. Ray Tracing technology has recently been introduced and is bound to change the game as we know it. At the moment, however, only a handful of games support Ray Tracing and it looks half-baked at best.

Still, the RTX series that supports Ray Tracing will cost you an arm and a leg. So should you buy an expensive GPU to keep your PC running? Games developed and released from 2020 on will use Ray Tracing technology.

The upcoming Unreal Engine 5 added native ray tracing support, as shown in the tech demo. Buying an expensive GPU that supports ray tracing will certainly keep your PC up and running, but at the cost of a considerable cut in your bank account.

On the other hand, if you are running out of excess cash, you can choose to wait a few years until ray tracing technology becomes more accessible and cheaper.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 

Which is better, AMD or Nvidia?

The best solution is to find out which one offers the best value in your given budget range and which option has the features you want. Every business has a quality product and has something for everyone. Neither definitely offers the best graphics cards.

Is AMD or Nvidia better for streaming?

Objectively speaking here, Nvidia wins this one with its Turing NVENC encoder. It outperforms AMD’s VCE encoder, with better quality at the same bit rates, and is compatible with many streaming software.

What is the most powerful GPU?

The most powerful GPU for gaming today is Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti. While there are GPUs for faster workstations, they are not really relevant as they are not designed or optimized for gaming and are more expensive than most users can afford.

Is the RTX better than the GTX?

The RTX series is equipped with real-time ray tracing capabilities that the GTX range lacks. RTX GPUs have more cores and higher clock speeds than their GTX counterparts. Hence, RTX GPUs are better than GTX GPUs.

Final thoughts

And that’s pretty much all the information you need on the best GPU under 300 $. At the time of writing, the GPU market is all the rage. So finding a cheap GPU is like finding a needle in a haystack. We hope that everything you have learned here will help you make an informed purchase in the future.

To sum it all up in one sentence, go for Nvidia cards if you want a machine that will stand the test of time, and go for an AMD card if you want the best performance for your money. That said, there are plenty of options to suit all budgets and needs, so you’re sure to find the right graphics card for you.