Best Graphics Cards Under $500 In 2024

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With Nvidia and AMD cutting the inflated prices of GPUs and bringing more stock to the end consumers, we now have some of the best graphics cards sitting right under the $500 threshold. Finally, gamers and content creators can breathe a sigh of relief with updated prices. 

Most mid-range cards are tumbling below their listed price on Amazon, eBay, and Newegg, but we are not completely out of the inflation zone as some higher-end cards are well above the $1,000 price mark. For now though, prices of GPUs are falling as we are moving closer to the year 2024 and it’s now possible to get a solid graphics card for gaming and content creation by spending $500. 

Nvidia cards are still 20% expensive as compared to their AMD counterparts, but as we have more stock available in the market, third-party GPU retailers are offering huge discounts to get rid of old stock. The Nvidia RTX 3070 that was originally launched for $500 is now being sold for between $450 to $500. At the same time, the price of AMD’s RX 6750 XT has fallen below $550 on Amazon and eBay. 

The RX 6600 has dipped down to $350 while being comparable to Nvidia’s RTX 3050 desktop version. In reality, a lot of cards with the Ampere and RDNA 2 architecture have become affordable, and it’s the right time to get your hands on them (if you want). 

The current prices of GPUs are not permanent, and they may even go lower once the Nvidia Ada and AMD RDNA 3 make their way into the market, but for now, the cards that we’ve reviewed in this guide will give you a nice bump in performance. 

List of the Best Graphics Cards under $500 

Here are the top options to consider:

XFX RX 6700 XT – Best Pick Under $500

Video Memory: 12GB GDDR6   |   Boost Clock Speed: 2581 MHz   |   Cores: 2560   |   TDP: 230W   |   PSU Needed: 650W

Reason to Buy:

• Great performance for a lower price
• Higher VRAM
• Good bang for your buck
• Ideal for 1080p and 1440p gaming

The XFX RX 6700 XT sits just below the MSRP level on Amazon and Newegg. It performs similarly to the RX 6750 XT, but the latter packs more clock speed, and bandwidth, and needs more power. 

The 6750 XT gives you a 5% bump in performance, but it also needs you to throw more cash on the table for a small gain. To us, it doesn’t make much sense to pay a bit more cash to get performance that hardly makes any difference. 

Our crown goes to the RX 6700 XT which comes with plenty of video memory and boost clock speed to grind games at 1080p or 1440p settings. On paper, the RX 6700 XT looks like the modified version of the RX 5700 XT. Both of these cards pack the same number of cores, but there’s slightly more clock speed on RX 6700 XT, and that puts it ahead of RX 5700 XT. 

Under heavy gaming workloads, you can expect the RX 6700 XT to hit speeds up to 2.5 GHz beating its competitor, the RTX 3060 Ti. The only races that RTX 3060 Ti wins over the RX 6700 XT are the ray-tracing and DLSS ones. With ray-tracing and DLSS turned on, the RX 6700 XT acts more like a normal RTX 3060. 

Overall, the beefy VRAM and 2581 MHz boost clock speed make the XFX RX 6700 XT a great card for bumping up the average frame rates. It’s a solid performer in 1080p/1440p performer for those looking to spend less than $500. 

The only thing that might take your attention away from this card is the lack of support for ray-tracing and DLSS. It’s weaker in RT performance, so you cannot enjoy playing games on this card that support ray-tracing. AMD has included the FSR, but it’s no match against Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0. We hope that Red Team brings us some good news with their upcoming RDNA 3 models. 

Gigabyte RTX 3070 – Great Value for Just over $500

Video Memory: 8GB GDDR6   |   Boost Clock Speed: 1815 MHz   |   Cores: 5888   |   TDP: 220W   |   PSU Needed: 650W

Reasons to Buy:

• Excellent performance for the money
• Improved ray-tracing and DLSS 
• Affordable price tag

This RTX 3070 from Gigabyte is one of the best price-to-performance ratio cards in the higher-end Nvidia line-up. It gives us a glimpse of our favorite GPU from Nvidia, the RTX 2080 Ti. 

Just like its elder siblings, the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080, it was hard to find RTX 3070 with a cheaper price tag, but now that there’s a surplus supply of RTX 3000 series cards in the market, the RTX 3070 is sold for under $550.

While looking at the RTX 3070, we found that there’s a fraction of the price difference between the normal RTX 3070 and the RTX 3070 Ti. Increasing your budget cap only a little bit more would bring you better performance if you go with RTX 3070 Ti instead of the normal 3070.

When we compare the RTX 3070 with RX 6700 XT, the former brings more performance to our desk. In our comparison tests, we found that RTX 3070 delivers more performance juice when it comes to 1080p/1440p gaming. Although the RX 6700 XT packs more VRAM and boosts clock speed on its end, it still sits behind the RTX 3070 when it comes to achieving higher frame rates. 

In gaming tests, the RTX 3070 traded blows with the AMD’s RX 6700 XT, but both of these cards were still able to produce 60fps at 1080p settings, so the average fps difference wasn’t much to talk about at that point. 

However, as soon as the RTX 3070 takes out its secret weapons, the ray-tracing, and DLSS, it beats the RX 6700 XT by a huge margin. It even wins over its cousin, the RTX 3060 Ti in RT performance. If you are moving up from a lower-end RTX card like RTX 2060 or RTX 3060, then you’ll see a nice boost in performance if you go with RTX 3070. 

It has a decent 8GB video memory and a blazing boost clock speed of 1,815 MHz to grind any workload. At the moment, 8GB would be enough to handle any AAA title that you’ll throw in its way. Once the AAA titles start breaking the 8GB threshold, you’ll need a card with more video memory to conquer the gaming world. 

As of the time of this writing, the RTX 3070 gives you the most bang for your buck in 1080p and 1440p gaming. Also, it’s a seriously good option for a high-end workstation if you are dealing with professional content creation projects. 

If you are all set on going with the Nvidia card and do not want to spend more than $500, then this is the right pick for you, but if you can expand your budget a little more, then you can get a card like RTX 3080 with more VRAM and bandwidth to make your machine future-proof. 

Zotac RTX 3060 – A Cheaper Option For Trying Ray-Tracing

Video Memory: 12GB GDDR6   |   Boost Clock Speed: 1807 MHz   |   Cores: 3840   |   TDP: 170W   |   PSU Needed: 600W

Reasons to Buy:

• Made for 1080p/1440 gaming workloads
• Future-proof VRAM
• Cheaper than other options

The Zotac RTX 3060 comes with around a $350 price tag and is the cheapest lower mid-range card in the Nvidia’s Ampere line-up. It’s one step up from the RTX 2070, but doesn’t perform as well as its elder brother, the RTX 3060 Ti. The RTX 3060 is equipped with 12GB of VRAM, 3840 CUDA cores, 2^nd gen ray-tracing, and 3^rd gen tensor cores. Additionally, Zotac has done a great job in tuning its boost clock speed up to 1807 MHz, which is roughly 5 to 6% more than what we have on the Founders Edition version. 

In terms of gaming performance, the RTX 3060 is similar to that of the RTX 2070, but as you enable the ray-tracing and DLSS options in-game, the RTX 3060 beats the RTX 2070 by throwing a bit more frame rates on your screen. Nvidia has a dedicated RTX 3060 with more VRAM and now, 12GB is way enough to scale any game up to 1440p ultra setting without compromising on your average frame rates. 

In some AAA titles, the RTX 3060 even gets closer to the RTX 3060 Ti, but never wins due to fewer CUDA cores packed on it. However, the price difference between RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti is normally just $80 so if you can find a great deal on RTX 3060 Ti, then you can grab more performance.

For now though, RTX 3060 is still a reliable GPU to get under the $500 budget. It gives you better ray-tracing/DLSS performance as compared to other entry-level cards in the Ampere lineup. If there’s any card from AMD that can go toe to toe with the RTX 3060, then it’s the RX 5700 XT. 

Both of these chips deliver the same level of performance in gaming and professional workloads, but enabling the ray-tracing and DLSS turns the tables  in favor of the RTX 3060 at the end of the day. 

MSI RX 6600 – A Budget-Friendly Option for AMD Users

Video Memory: 8GB GDDR6   |   Boost Clock Speed: 1792 MHz   |   Cores: 1792   |   TDP: 132W   |   PSU Needed: 550W

Reasons to Buy:

• Made for 1080p 60fps gaming
• Consumes less power
• Lower price tag

The RX 6600 is the reflection of the later version RX 6600 XT, but it holds back its powers to a certain point. It’s still up to 15% faster than the RTX 3050, but again gets beaten down by the RTX 3060 during heavy workloads. However, the RX 6600 is one of the most inexpensive graphics cards under $500 to get you a solid 1080 60fps gaming experience. At a time when most cards are being sold below the MSRP level, this is the one that gives you the most return on your investment. 

There’s a lot of competition in the mid-range GPU market right now and the RX 6600 is still earning its due by beating out the RTX 3050, RTX 2060, and some of the GTX-16 Series cards. 

However, the RTX 3060 prevents it from climbing up the ladder and taking over other RTX 30-Series cards. If you play games without ray-tracing and DLSS, then the RX 6600 delivers the same level of performance that you get from the RTX 2070. 

You can set any game to 1080p ultra-settings, and you’ll get over 60fps like a breeze, but it suffers a lot and brings down the average fps when you turn on the ray-tracing. In some of our tests with ray-tracing turned on, the RX 6600 was even beaten by the RTX 2060, which is the least powerful GPU in ray-tracing. 

If you are not a fan of ray-tracing and just need a card that lives up to the 1080p 60fps milestone, the RX 6600 is for you. It draws significantly less amount of power when compared to the previous cards on our list. Additionally, it’s cheaper and MSI is selling it for less than $300 on Amazon and Newegg. You can also get cheaper deals for RX 6600 from XFX, Sapphire, and PowerColor.

EVGA RTX 3050 – The Cheapest RTX Card 

Video Memory: 8GB GDDR6   |   Boost Clock Speed: 1845 MHz   |   Cores: 2560   |   TDP: 130W   |   PSU Needed: 550W

Reasons to Buy:

• Good ray-tracing and DLSS performance
• Cheaper price
• Decent 1080p performance

Although the RTX 3050 is the latest entry into Nvidia’s ray-tracing universe, it cannot be compared directly to the already existing giants of the RTX world. 

From a price point perspective, it’s the cheapest ray-tracing GPU that you can get right now and in terms of performance, it’s faster than the GTX 1660 Super, but slower than the AMD’s RX 6600. The AMD RX 6600 is up to 30% faster than the RTX 3050 in standard gameplay, but as you switch to ray-tracing, the RTX 3050 immediately takes the lead over the RX 6600.

Though, if you are not a fan of ray-tracing, then the RX 6600 is still better in mainstream performance as compared to the RTX 3050. This is especially true when you play games at 1080p settings, because then the RX 6600 manages to hit more frame rates in AAA titles. This doesn’t mean that the RTX 3050 isn’t able to push over the 1080p 60fps, it does, but the same goal is achieved by the RX 6600 for a much lower price tag. 

The EVGA RTX 3050 still costs around $300, and for just mainstream performance is still a lot. The RX 6600 gives you the same level of performance bump around $250, although if you want to experience the gaming world in its full glory, then RTX 3050 has the needed features to let you do so. If you do not care about improved shadows and lighting in gameplay, then the AMD’s RX 6600 would give you better performance than this card. The RTX 3050 is meant for gamers who want to taste the ray-tracing and DLSS without putting a hole into their wallet. 

Gaming Benchmark Results

We tested a few games at 1080p high settings on all of these cards, here are the average frame rates that we got: 

GPU	Far Cry 6	Forza Horizon 5	Red Dead Redemption 2	Borderlands 3	Watch Dogs Legion
XFX RX 6700 XT	170fps	190fps	179fps	240fps	148fps
Gigabyte RTX 3070	165fps	183fps	171fps	209fps	151fps
Zotac RTX 3060	122fps	119fps	129fps	149fps	114fps
MSI RX 6600	138fps	141fps	135fps	157fps	117fps
EVGA RTX 3050	95fps	89fps	101fps	110fps	91fps

Quick Shopping Tips

When looking for a GPU under a specific budget, here’s what to look for:

• Video Memory: 4GB is the least to have these days, 6GB is still a sweet spot, and 8GB is where things start flowing smoothly. If you are buying a GPU for gaming, then always consider more VRAM. More video memory also comes into play when you are pushing higher resolutions. 
• G-Sync or FreeSync: If you are planning to attach your card to a higher refresh rate display screen, then both of these features will come in handy. G-Sync is limited to Nvidia cards whereas FreeSync is favored by AMD GPUs. Both of these offer a tearing-free visual experience when you switch to higher refresh rate screens. 
• Ray-Tracing/DLSS/FSR: Ray-tracing is a great feature supported by the latest Nvidia cards to add more life to visuals. Also, to boost the frame rates, Nvidia cards support DLSS, which uses AI to gear up frame rates without disturbing the image quality. AMD offers FSR, which has the same function but is no match to what Nvidia offers.
• PSU: Before buying a GPU, make sure there’s enough power supply available in your system. Graphics cards that come under the $500 territory need a 6-pin or 8-pin power connector to run properly. Modern cards require you to have at least 550W PSU in your system. 

How We Test

To test the graphics cards, we have to opt for high-end hardware so that there’s a minimal bottleneck. 

Below are the specs of our system:

• CPU: Core i7 12700K 3.6 GHz (stock clock speed)
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE B660 Gaming X
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB
• Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB
• PSU: Corsair RMx Series 850Watt Gold
• OS: Windows 11 64-bit

We have tested these cards by throwing AAA titles in their way at different resolutions. Generally, the graphics cards that fall under the $500 budget category are capable of gaming at 1080p and 1440p resolution. 

It’s because the cards that are capable of gaming at 4K resolutions are still above the $800 boundary. We are still waiting for the prices to go down, and once 4K cards fall below our expected budget, we’ll update this guide.

Also, it was difficult to get our hands on the mid-range Founders Edition cards, so we opted for the reference cards from third-party manufacturers like MSI, Zotac, Gigabyte, EVGA, etc.

Our tests are simple to follow, we play games at different settings and note down the average frame rates. After that, we list the graphics cards in a descending hierarchy, where the top one stands as the most powerful. 

How We Choose

Our criteria are simple as well, we pick the graphics cards based on their price-to-performance ratio. We follow the 1080p 60fps criteria, which is the most recommended performance one would need out of a graphics card. 

We opt for a sub $500 GPU that at least can scale games up to 1080p settings while maintaining the frame rates above 60fps. 

Verdict

With an abundant supply of silicon in the market, graphics cards are getting cheaper and this trend will likely continue as we get closer to the launch of RTX 4000 and RX 7000 Series cards. We’ve rounded up the best sub $500 cards that are being sold below the MSRP level.

On our list, there’s tough competition between the AMD RX 6700 and Nvidia RTX 3070, but the RTX 3070 wins the competition by offering ray-tracing and DLSS. There’s a small price jump from RX 6700 XT to RTX 3070, which is may be negligible at this price point, but if you want the best graphics card under $500, it’ll have to be the RX 6700 XT.

For ray-tracing and DLSS fans, the RTX 3070 holds more value, but paying an extra $40 to $60 would bring improved visuals and lighting to your game play.