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Apex Legends is a hit battle royal game that took the world by storm when it launched in 2019. EA reported that Apex Legends registered over 100 million players in their Q1 2021 earnings call. According to Steam Charts, the game still has 4 million active players every day on Steam alone, from February 2024 to till date. The 21st Season, Upheaval, launched on May 8, 2024, and it's bringing more players into the game.
If you have been wanting to play the game, now's the time to join the fun. In this article, we are listing the best graphics cards you need to play Apex Legends at different resolutions.
NOTE: This list is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
Apex Legends system requirements
Before we proceed with showing off the best graphics cards for Apex Legends, let's look at its specs first. The graphics card alone won't run the game. Your PC's CPU, memory, and storage will also play a big role in how smoothly the game plays.
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Here's the full list of specs for playing Apex Legends:
The minimum requirements are only for 720P, which is not an ideal way to play the game. So, let's look at the recommended specs, which target 1080p resolution and higher. It requires an Intel i5-3570K CPU, which is closer to a 10th Gen Intel i3-10100, therefore any modern Intel Core i3 will do the job. You will also need 8GB of RAM to play this game with the highest settings.
Even an Nvidia RTX 3050 is faster than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 GPU listed in the specs. So most lower-end modern GPUs will play the game just fine over 60 FPS at 1080p, but if you want to play competitively, you need 120 FPS to get the most response performance. Below is the list of graphics cards that can deliver 120 FPS and higher at different resolutions.
List of the best graphics cards to buy for Apex Legends
1) AMD RX 7700 XT
Price: $379.99
The AMD RX 7700 XT is based on AMD's latest RDNA 3 architecture and is designed for 1440P gaming. So, if you have any of those 1440p high refresh rate monitors, this GPU will be perfect since it can play Apex Legends with over 200 FPS.
It can also play most modern games at 1440p with over 60 FPS without breaking a sweat. It is also quite good at ray tracing and can play ray-traced games without dropping too much FPS. It has 12GB VRAM to ensure it can run modern games at their highest graphical settings.
Pros
- It is designed for 1440p gaming.
- You can play Apex Legends at 1440p with 200 FPS on this GPU.
- Its ray-tracing performance is the best on the list.
Cons
- The power consumption is a bit higher.
2) Nvidia RTX 4060
Price: $289.99
The Nvidia RTX 4060 is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, which brought higher rasterized performance, lower power usage, and significantly better ray tracing functionality. It is a 1080p graphics card and can play Apex Legends with 180+ FPS at that resolution.
The ray tracing performance is decent, but nothing out of the ordinary. You can turn on a few ray-tracing effects in supported games, and it should be fine. If you see too many frame drops, turn on DLSS and watch the FPS rise. It also supports DLSS frame generation, further boosting the FPS in supported games.
Pros
- It is a decent GPU for 1080p gaming.
- It supports newer technologies such as DLSS upscaling and DLSS frame generation.
- It can deliver over 180 FPS in Apex Legends at 1080p.
Cons
- Its 8GB VRAM casts doubt about its performance in the long run.
3) AMD RX 7600
Price: $259.99
The Radeon RX 7600 is also based on the RDNA 3 architecture, which brought higher GPU clock speeds, memory clock speeds, rasterized performance, and ray tracing performance. It can deliver a similar performance level as the RTX 4060 but at a lower price tag.
Its performance in Apex Legends is also quite good and can deliver around 180 FPS at 1080p resolution. Even the ray tracing performance is quite decent for the price tag and can play a few ray tracing effects at the same time.
Pros
- It is made for 1080p gaming but can run competitive games at 1440p as well.
- It has support for FSR 3.0 upscaling and frame generation.
- This graphics card can play competitive games at a high refresh rate.
Cons
- The graphics card's performance is a bit limited by its slower memory speed.
4) Nvidia RTX 3060
Price: $259.99
The Nvidia RTX 3060 is based on the Ampere architecture and is among the most popular graphics cards. In fact, the RTX 3060 tops the list of the most used GPUs in the Steam hardware survey. It also has 12GB VRAM, which is a lot higher than other GPUs on this list at the same price bracket.
This graphics card can easily play Apex Legends at 1080p with the highest graphical settings and still deliver over 150 FPS. Also, the 12GB VRAM makes it future-proof against possible VRAM-hungry games in the future. Its ray tracing performance is also quite good, at least for its current price tag.
Pros
- Apex Legends' performance is quite good on this GPU.
- It can still deliver over 60 FPS at 1080p in modern games.
- If you see lower FPS in any game, turn on DLSS, and the performance will increase significantly.
Cons
- Buying the RTX 3060 will be a bit difficult since it is not always in stock.
5) AMD RX 6600
Price: $189.99
Built on the RDNA 2 architecture, the AMD RX 6600 is AMD's one of the cheapest and the best selling GPUs to date. It is the perfect budget GPU to play competitive games, and it can play Apex Legends at over 120 FPS at 1080p. So, if you have a 120Hz monitor, this GPU will be the perfect partner for playing Apex Legends at such a high refresh rate screen.
Besides competitive games, it can also run most modern games at 1080p with 60 FPS. But some demanding games may require you to turn down a few settings to reach the 60 FPS mark. It's a budget GPU, so you have to make some compromises.
Pros
- It can still run modern games at 1080p.
- It has a decently good rasterized performance with 8GB VRAM.
- It is available at incredible prices as of writing this.
- It supports FSR upscaling and frame generation.
Cons
- Its ray-tracing performance leaves a lot to be desired.
These are the best graphics cards to play Apex Legends at multiple resolutions and refresh rate targets. These graphics are powerful enough to play other modern games, so you are not stuck with Apex Legends forever. You will be able to try other competitive games when they are released.
