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There was a time when 4K gaming used to be an expensive affair. A few years ago, you would have needed a costly monitor and a $1000 RTX 2080 Ti GPU to get started, but that's not the case anymore. Thanks to major technological improvements and upscaling features like DLSS, FSR, and XeSS, getting a solid performance at UHD resolution is no longer a pipe dream. You can get a decent 4K gaming experience with a $700 graphics card.
Thus, we have curated a list of some of the best budget GPUs you can buy for 4K gaming in 2024.
Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
Discover these budget GPUs to buy for 4K gaming
1) AMD RX 7900 XTX
Price: $999
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Nvidia has pretty much priced itself out of the budget of many users, at least in the high-end market. Luckily, AMD has come to the rescue. It is currently offering its AMD RX 7900 XTX at around the $900 mark via retailers like Amazon and Newegg. For this price, you get a top-tier card that can comfortably provide one of the best 4K gaming experiences in 2024.
Even graphically demanding games like Alan Wake 2 can deliver around 60 FPS at native UHD resolution. However, you may need to turn on FSR Quality in some areas like Cauldron Lake. Most other games run at 4K natively without needing FSR. The ray tracing capability is also quite decent, but you must set FSR to Performance mode, depending on the game, to get a decent framerate.
Pros
- Has incredible potential at UHD resolution.
- Equipped with 24GB of VRAM, which is the highest on this list.
- Its faster memory helps in emulator games.
Cons
- Its ray-tracing performance is not as good as that of its Nvidia counterpart.
2) Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super
Price: $799
The Nvidia 4070 Ti Super is a powerful card that can provide a good 4K gaming performance in 2024, especially if you prioritize ray tracing since Nvidia GPUs are generally quite good at it. You can comfortably apply multiple RT effects with DLSS Quality mode and still achieve a decent framerate.
If you want even more performance, you turn on DLSS Frame Generation, which has the potential to double the FPS. Also, there's another feature called Ray Reconstruction, which is an AI-based denoiser that can provide clean graphics renders in supported games.
Pros
- Has a great ray tracing performance.
- Can play many games at UHD resolution.
- Includes features like Ray Reconstruction to deliver better RT image quality.
Cons
- Tad expensive considering its rasterized performance.
3) AMD RX 7900 XT
Price: $899
The AMD Radeon 7900 XT is among the best video cards you can buy on a budget. It is currently available for as low as $689 on Newegg and yet delivers a performance level unlike any other GPU. You can play Cyberpunk 2077, an AAA title, at 4K native resolution at around 60 FPS without any upscaling.
However, if you set FSR to Quality, the framerate can jump to 80 and above, which should provide even better performance. This GPU comes with 20GB memory, which no other card has in this price range. With such high memory capacity, you should have fluid experience for years.
Pros
- Delivers a fantastic performance for the price tag.
- Can run many games at UHD resolution natively.
- Its ray tracing performance is quite decent.
Cons
- The power consumption is on the higher side.
4) Nvidia RTX 4070 Super
Price: $599
This RTX GPU will run most games at 4K, including AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and more, but you must turn on DLSS in some of them to get around 60 FPS. However, titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Resident Evil 4: Remake, and others can be at UHD resolution natively.
The card's ray tracing performance is also quite decent, but you can only enable a few RT effects simultaneously without degrading the framerate too much. The Nvidia RTX 4070 Super is also incredibly efficient and requires a lot less power, so chances are you can use this graphics card without needing to upgrade your PSU.
Pros
- Can play many titles at UHD resolution.
- Has features like DLSS and Frame Generation to improve framerate significantly.
- Extremely efficient and uses less power.
Cons
- The VRAM capacity is on the lower side.
5) AMD RX 7900 GRE
Price: $549
The AMD Radeon 7900 GRE is an excellent GPU, considering its pricing. It's even more powerful than the Nvidia 4070 Super, yet it costs less than that. Most games, including AAA titles, can run at UHD resolution natively, but some require FSR upscaling to achieve 60 FPS.
It has 16GB VRAM, which is a decent capacity for the price tag. It can also play ray tracing games, but I wouldn't recommend using it extensively. There are some compromises in buying such a cheaper 4K GPU, and the ray tracing performance of this card definitely feels like it at such high resolutions.
Pros
- Has an incredible value that will increase its potential in the long run.
- Equipped with a decent amount of memory.
- It overclocks quite well and can provide even more performance.
Cons
- Turning on RT will reduce framerate quite aggressively.
This concludes our list of the budget GPUs for 4K gaming. If you want the best performance at 4K resolution, go for the AMD RX 7900 XTX. However, if you want a graphics card that costs a bit less, I'd recommend the AMD RX 7900 XT (non-XTX) instead since it provides incredible value for money, which you can't get with any other card.
While the two GPUs we recommend are excellent in rasterization, their ray tracing performance is no match for the Nvidia cards. Thus, if your priority is the best ray tracing performance, choose the Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super.
Check out our other articles:
- AMD RX 7900 XT vs 7900 GRE
- How to choose motherboards for RTX 4060 Ti GPUs?
- 5 best GPUs to play Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail
