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The Best Graphics Cards for 4K Gaming in 2019

You'll need a powerful graphics card (or two) to run cutting-edge PC games at 4K resolution. In our testing, these are the top 10 performing boards for pixel-packed gaming.


MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio
Zotac GeForce RTX 2060 Amp
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
AMD Radeon VII
Lowest Price
Editors' Rating              
Graphics Processor Nvidia Turing TU104 Nvidia Turing TU106 Nvidia Turing TU106 Nvidia Turing TU102 Nvidia Turing TU104 AMD Vega 10 AMD Vega 20
GPU Engine Clock Speed 1,515MHz (base clock); 1,860MHz (boost clock) 1,365MHz (base clock); 1,800MHz (boost clock) 1,410MHz (base clock); 1,620MHz (boost clock) 1,350MHz (base clock); 1,635MHz (boost clock) 1,515MHz (base clock); 1,800MHz (boost clock) 1,247MHz (base clock); 1,546MHz (boost clock) 1,400MHz (base clock) / 1,750MHz (boost clock)
Graphics Memory 8 GB 6 GB 8 GB 11 GB 8 GB 8 GB 16 GB
Card Length 12.9 inches 8.3 inches 12.1 inches 10.5 inches 10.5 inches 10.5 inches 11 inches
Ports HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort HDMI, DisplayPort
Read Review MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio
Zotac GeForce RTX 2060 Amp
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
AMD Radeon VII

How to Buy the Best 4K Graphics Card

Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and even YouTube, it's finally getting easier to find actual 4K (also referred to as "Ultra HD") video content. But as awesome as 4K video looks, if you're aiming to immerse yourself in a pixel-dense world, it's hard to beat playing cutting-edge PC games in 4K.

Only the latest consoles—the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro and the Microsoft Xbox One X—will output games at 4K. But really, if you want to play brand-new AAA games at 4K with the best visuals, you'll need a desktop PC equipped with a very powerful graphics card—especially if you want in-game eye candy dialed all the way up. After all, if you're investing in a 4K monitor or a 4K TV for gaming, you want things to look as good as they can. Running games at 4K resolution but dialing down the detail and effects settings in your games is working at cross-purposes. So the PC graphics card you buy matters—a lot.

4K Gaming: High-End Cards and Dual-GPU

At the moment, to deliver smooth frame rates at high settings at 4K resolution on a PC (that's 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, for the record) with the most-demanding games, you'll need to opt for one of the most powerful consumer-grade graphics cards available. These days, those cards include Nvidia's "Turing"-architecture GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition, the one-step-down Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition, or one of the many custom-cooled and/or overclocked models based on these cards' GeForce RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti graphics processors (GPUs).

Also in play: Cards based on AMD's Radeon RX Vega 64, as well as AMD's latest addition to the lineup, the Radeon VII. But none of these cards, GeForce or Radeon, comes cheap, most of them starting around $700 for the base models, and as high as $1,300 (!) for some third-party overclocked RTX 2080 Ti cards.

Image: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition-7.jpg

The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the card you'll want to opt for, though, if you want butter-smooth frame rates at or above 60 frames per second (fps) in anything above high settings. Alternatively, you could pick up two GeForce RTX 2080 cards and use them in a paired SLI arrangement. In some games, that setup should deliver significantly better gaming performance than a single RTX 2080 Ti card. Note, though, that if you do go this route, multi-graphics setups can introduce side issues. Most games don't ship on launch day with the optimizations to take advantage of multiple-card graphics, and some games never deliver multi-graphics support at all.

So, if you're the kind of enthusiast PC gamer who likes to jump on games on the day they're released, multi-GPU options aren't ideal solutions. Also, you might run across issues with frame timing, in which onscreen game frames don't get delivered exactly in sync, resulting in a subpar experience. For this reason, we recommend buying the best single card for the performance level you're after, whenever possible.

And then there's Nvidia's aptly named Titan line of cards. The $2,499 Titan RTX is the beast of beasts, the crème de la crème, the absolute beefiest consumer-level graphics card you can buy today. And while technically the card is more powerful than anything that's come before it, much of that power would be wasted on games alone.

Nvidia Titan RTX graphics card

These cards are made for much more than gaming, deployed more often in creative fields that do a lot of 4K and 8K video editing, 3D rendering, or 3D modeling. They're way, way overkill for games, and are often not optimized to take advantage of top titles as well as the gaming-centric RTX 2080 Ti cards (and its lessers) are.

So yes, while technically the Titan RTX could push 4K-gaming frames with grace, at that price you're better off going with a single RTX 2080 Ti and spending the leftover $1,300 upgrading your RAM, CPU, and motherboard at the same time.

4K Gaming Cards: The Best "Budget" Options

If your budget can't quite bear laying out $600 or more for a graphics card, you can find some less-expensive cards that can handle 4K gaming at lower settings. You won't get the absolute best visuals possible, but 4K gaming is technically attainable.

If you don't mind running games closer to medium detail settings at 4K, but you still want to experience the pixel-dense glory of games running at 3,840 by 2,160, last-generation cards such as AMD's Radeon RX Vega 64 are capable engines. Just remember that you won't be able to play many games at the highest detail settings.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (Angle View)

The Vega cards above fell in value due to the rollout of the RTX 2080 and the lesser GeForce RTX 2070, both released in late 2018, as well as with AMD's latest high-end card, the Radeon VII. Speaking of the RTX 2070, GeForce RTX 2070 cards start at around the $499 mark, with Nvidia's Founders Edition version at around $599. The RTX 2070 challenges cards like the older GeForce GTX 1080 on performance, and it will even beat the Radeon VII in a select number of games.

Overall, we can't recommend going much lower than $500 on your card today if you're serious about 4K gaming, though. One of the biggest concerns that any cost-conscious PC gamer should have when choosing new hardware is how "future-proof" a card is, and given that these options barely scratch the surface of pushing 60 frames per second (fps) on most current titles at middling settings, that number will only continue to drop for new games released later this year, as well as those coming out in 2020 and beyond.

Aside from gauging raw performance, you should keep a few other factors in mind when shopping for a powerful 4K-capable graphics card. Let's run through these one by one.

Consider the Target Display

The first consideration? The particular 4K display you'll be using. If you opt for a 4K monitor with a DisplayPort 1.4 input (which has the bandwidth to deliver 4K content at 144Hz, or up to 144 frames per second), any of the current-gen cards here should serve you well. But if you are thinking of using a 4K television as a large-screen gaming display, you'll likely be stuck using HDMI 2.0 to jack in.

Why? Most 4K TVs lack DisplayPort connectors. This locks you into using HDMI, and thus to 4K at 60Hz. This doesn't actually matter all that much outside of the world of the new Nvidia BFGD (short for "Big Format Gaming Display") monitors that will run 4K at up to 120Hz. (See our preview of the first of the BFGDs, from HP, the Omen X Emperium 65.) Though it is very much game-dependent, today no single GPU will push AAA games at max settings in 4K much beyond 60 frames per second.

Beyond TVs, though, gaming monitors saw more evolution in 2017 and 2018 than in practically the whole decade before. (See our picks for the top gaming monitors.) In 2018, high-refresh-rate 4K monitors came into the sort-of "mainstream." Yes, they're more expensive than a used car (averaging anywhere between $1,800 to $2,000 at this writing). However, if you have that kind of cash to throw around, they are worth a look.

Options like the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and the Acer Predator X27 are the reigning kings of this (admittedly very niche) market, and both provide 4K screens that can be boosted as high as 144Hz under specific conditions. We say "specific," because as of this writing the two main cables that carry the signal to the monitor (DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1) are only capable of delivering a full 4:4:4 signal up to 120Hz. To get to that holy grail of 144Hz, monitor manufacturers use a workaround known as "chroma subsampling," which brings the color palette down to 4:2:2. That is fine for movies and some 3D gaming, but it can wreak havoc on content like text or graphical elements rendered in the OS.

Acer Predator X27

Why do we mention all that? Because it might be tempting to break the piggy bank, rush out, grab a pair of GeForce RTX 2080 Ti cards, throw them into an SLI/NVLink configuration, and try to tap into 140-plus frame-per-second rates at 4K on ultra-high detail settings. Realistically, with one of these elite monitors, you should settle for a setup capable of pushing closer to 120fps (120Hz) to get the best visual results from your games and daily computer usage.

That's pie-in-the-sky for almost all buyers, though. Bottom line: Unless you're really awash in dough, you'll be just fine with a monitor that pushes 4K games at 60Hz. That's near the top frame rate that today's rigs equipped with a single GeForce RTX 2080 Ti card will be able to achieve on leading games, anyway. Leave higher-end frame-rate aims to Powerball winners.

One last consideration: high dynamic range (HDR). It looks gorgeous when implemented properly, and many new games (as well as a back catalog of older games) support the spec as of early 2019. You'll find many 4K HDR gaming monitors already on the market to choose among, and most have come down in price far enough to keep them competitive with their non-HDR counterparts. From the point of view of card buying, though, no worries: All current-gen GeForce and Radeon cards support it.

Mind the Video Memory

The other thing to watch for while shopping for a 4K-ready gaming card is the amount of dedicated video memory on the card. Generally, 4GB of memory is plenty if you're gaming at 1080p or below, but when you step up to 4K, a graphics card needs to handle much more data.

To keep your gaming sessions running smoothly at 4K and high detail settings, you'll want a card with at least 6GB of memory. A card with 8GB of GDDR6 or more is your best bet, especially if you're the type who likes to download game mods and/or high-resolution texture packs, which are sometimes specifically created to deliver a greater level of in-game detail for high-end cards that have extra memory capacity.

The RTX 2080 Ti, being the luxury-car card that it is, pushes things to the limit in this category. Every card comes with a whopping 11GB of onboard GDDR6 memory, capable of pushing a staggering 616GB per second across a 352-bit width bus. And the new-for-2019 AMD Radeon VII packs even more, 16GB of HBM2 memory, which is more of a boon for content creators than for your average gamer. Again, pretty much anything around the 6GB level will hold its own on medium-resolution 4K games, but start diving into the high/ultra presets of cutting-edge games, and you'll need all you can get.

DLSS: Nvidia's (Potential) Ace in the Hole?

DLSS, or "deep learning super sampling," is a new technology developed by Nvidia for use in its latest lineup of RTX cards. The tech, which uses an AI architecture to streamline the process of anti-aliasing, offers significant performance boosts over non-DLSS results.

For example, at 4K resolution with DLSS turned on, an RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition racked up an incredible score of 8,851 in our Final Fantasy XV benchmark. This represented a massive 33 percent boost in performance versus the same tests on the card with DLSS turned off. Comparatively, the latest and greatest gaming card from AMD, the $699 Radeon VII, barely scratched out a score of 3,502.

Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition

DLSS indeed shows major promise. Games run more smoothly and look better, even at the highest resolutions. However, we use the term "games" loosely, given that as of this writing (February 2019) only three games are trained in how to utilize it: Battlefield V, Metro: Exodus, and the aforementioned Final Fantasy XV.

Nvidia touted a list of 15 other games that would integrate DLSS in the next year, including Shadow of the Tomb Raider and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but as far as "system seller" titles go, that's about it. All this is to say that while DLSS is certainly impressive (it may even be the one thing that brings the world of 4K gaming into the hands of mainstream gamers), right now any widespread implementation looks to be a ways off.

Not only that, but rumors are floating around that AMD is working with Microsoft to release an answer to DLSS around mid-2019. It may be only a matter of time before AMD can claim similar performance boosts in 4K resolution on its own high-end cards.

Card Length, Power Requirements

If you're rocking a full-tower PC, card size is probably not an issue. However most high-end, 4K-capable video cards are three slots wide (two at a minimum) and a little more or less than 11 inches long, which means that most MicroATX chassis won't fit these monsters. Even many midsize ATX cases may find them a squeeze.

That said, there are some cards that make compromises, like the MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Aero ITX OC. This petite powerhouse takes only two card slots and measures just 7 inches long. But the GeForce RTX 2060 GPU itself will only be able to push around 60fps at medium settings for 4K gaming, at best.

As for the power requirements, if your existing system already has a high-end video card in place, you'll likely be fine, but check the recommended minimum power-supply wattage for any 4K-capable card you're considering. Generally, a 600-watt supply ought to be able to keep most any current single 4K-capable card juiced, but you'll need to upgrade to at least 650 or 700 watts if you opt for the power-hungry, 300-watt Radeon VII.

Many of the latest cards also require two power-supply leads (six- or eight-pin, likely some combination of both) from your supply, so make sure you have the proper cabling in place or adapters on hand.

Overclocked Out of the Box?

The distinctions among the many high-end third-party cards that are capable of 4K play can be esoteric. One of the big ones, though, is the presence (or not) of enhanced cooling hardware on the card to handle user-initiated overclocking of the GPU, or sometimes even overclocking done at the factory. Reviews of individual cards will get down into the weeds of exact clock rates or factory overclocking. But know that an overclocking focus is often a key reason why some cards of the same class (such as different RTX 2080 cards) vary so much in price.

Overclocking-minded cards tend to be larger than their same-GPU kin, with more fans and/or more elaborate heat pipes and sinks. The most expensive cards in a given line tend to be the ones with the beefiest hardware for overclocking or a factory overclock done out of the box. Telltale cards of this kind include Zotac's Amp Extreme Series, MSI's Gaming X and Gaming Z, Gigabyte's WindForce and Xtreme, Asus' Republic of Gamers, and EVGA's FTW series.

Some Basic 4K-Gaming Benchmarks...

We've benchmarked all the cards recommended on this list, and here's a snapshot of how they perform in a handful of AAA titles and synthetic benchmark tests at 4K...

4K 3DMark Graphics Cards 2019

4K Far Cry 5 Graphics Cards 2019

4K Final Fantasy XV Graphics Cards 2019

4K Shadow of the Tomb Raider Graphics Cards 2019

4K The Division Graphics Cards 2019

As you can tell from these graphs, the GeForce RTX 2080 and Radeon VII make up one roughly equivalent tier, with the RTX 2080 Ti on a level of its own. The Radeon VII card struggled to keep up specifically in the Final Fantasy XV test, likely due to the optimizations that Nvidia worked on with Square Enix during the development of the Windows port. Hit the links for our individual reviews of each card below for a lot more detail on each of these cards' performance at 4K and othe resolutions.

Ready for Our Recommendations?

We've tested a lot of video cards in Nvidia's "Turing" and AMD's "Polaris" and "Vega" families (as well as the single Radeon VII that features a new chipset all its own). Below are our current favorites for 4K gaming.

For more video card advice, check out our picks for the best graphics cards overall. And if you need a lesser video card, see our picks for the best graphics cards for 1080p gaming and our best cards for compact PC builds.

Best Graphics Cards for 4K Gaming Featured in This Roundup:

  • MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio

    Pros: Excellent cooling. Aggressive factory overclock. Dual eight-pin power connectors and higher power rating. Two-zone RGB LED lighting.

    Cons: 12.9-inch length means it won't fit in many cases. Cooling design exhausts air into chassis. Ray-tracing and DLSS features remain underutilized, like with all RTX cards.

    Bottom Line: A massive air cooler and dual eight-pin power connectors make MSI's GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio one of the most robust RTX 2080 partner cards we've seen. The only challenge? Fitting it in your PC's case.

    Read Review
  • Zotac GeForce RTX 2060 Amp

    Pros: Faster than the GeForce GTX 1070 for less money. Compact two-slot design. Quiet fans. Headroom for mild overclocking.

    Cons: Unlike Nvidia RTX 2060 Founders Edition, lacks a VirtualLink USB Type-C port. Priced higher than the GeForce GTX 1060 it replaces. 8GB of video memory would have been ideal.

    Bottom Line: The best value yet in the GeForce RTX 20-series lineup, the RTX 2060 is a worthy, if more expensive, successor to the venerable GTX 1060.

    Read Review
  • MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor

    Pros: Quiet, effective cooling. Ample overclocking headroom. Excellent 1080p and 1440p gaming performance.

    Cons: Priced higher than GTX 1070 it replaces. Not powerful enough for maxed-out 4K gaming in every game.

    Bottom Line: MSI's GeForce RTX 2070 Armor graphics card has great cooling, plus overclocking headroom to spare. It's solid for 1440p play, but it performs much like the outgoing GTX 1080, so step up to an RTX 2080 if you want a generational performance gain.

    Read Review
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition

    Pros: Sets a new bar for single-GPU performance. Quiet, cool-running design. Supports ray tracing and DLSS for future games. Easy to attain at least modest overclocks.

    Cons: Founders Edition commands a $200 premium over an already expensive base/reference card. Games will take time to adopt ray tracing and DLSS.

    Bottom Line: A Ferrari among gaming GPUs, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition represents the fastest class of cards that money can buy. Just be ready to pay a supercar price to enjoy its luxury ride for 4K and high-refresh gaming.

    Read Review
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition

    Pros: Offers roughly one-third better gaming performance than the GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition it replaces. Runs cool and quiet. Headroom for overclocking. Includes ray tracing and DLSS support for future games.

    Cons: Hiked-up price, versus GTX 1080 Founders Edition. Hard to judge value of ray tracing and DLSS until games come to market. Cooling design exhausts most air into case, not out.

    Bottom Line: An exceptionally powerful graphics card, the GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition is a home run for gaming at 4K or high refresh rates. Only its pricing and the lack of games supporting ray tracing and DLSS keep it from being a grand slam right from launch.

    Read Review
  • AMD Radeon RX Vega 64

    Pros: Competitive with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080. Smooth gaming performance at high resolutions.

    Cons: High power demands compared with the competition. Frame rates fall behind the GTX 1080, particularly at resolutions below 4K.

    Bottom Line: While the Radeon RX Vega 64 can go toe-to-toe with Nvidia's GTX 1080, it's a bit late to the party and has much higher power requirements.

    Read Review
  • AMD Radeon VII

    Pros: Comparable to GeForce RTX 2080 in 4K gaming performance. 16GB of video memory adds future-proofing. True two-slot case fitment.

    Cons: Generally, falls behind GeForce RTX 2080 for 1080p and 1440p gaming. Priced higher than its predecessor. Loud cooling fans. High board power consumption. No VirtualLink port.

    Bottom Line: AMD's new Radeon flagship graphics card, the Radeon VII is a worthwhile if power-hungrier alternative to the GeForce RTX 2080 for 4K gaming, but it generally isn't as fast at 1080p or 1440p resolutions.

    Read Review

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