In 2025, choosing the right GPU is more critical than ever. Whether you’re a casual gamer, a content creator, or someone looking to build a powerhouse PC, your graphics card is the heart of your system’s performance. With so many options on the market—from budget-friendly picks to high-end powerhouses—it can be overwhelming to figure out which one fits your needs.
When shopping for a GPU, you’re not just choosing based on price or brand. You need to factor in your specific use cases, desired performance, and even future-proofing your build. The landscape has changed drastically in the past few years, with new architectures and technologies pushing the boundaries of what GPUs can do.
In this guide, I’ll break down everything you need to know to make an informed decision in 2025, including:
- The key features to look for
- How much VRAM you really need
- The balance between performance and price
- Top choices across various price points
Let’s get into it.
When looking for a GPU it’s important to decide whether you want to purchase new or used. Depending on your budget, buying a used GPU from Ebay and Facebook Marketplace can be the way to go if you’re looking for a good deal. However, buying from a reputable seller means you get a warranty and peace of mind that your new graphics card will function properly. With that out of the way, let’s look at some things to consider.
How much VRAM do you really need?
Modern games are becoming increasingly more and more power hungry and resource intensive as graphics textures become larger with high fidelity. The question you need to ask yourself is what resolution you want your games to run at. General rule of thumb:
1080p – at least 8GB
1440p – at least 12GB
4k – at least 16GB
The bigger the resolution you have, the bigger the texture files will be that your graphics card will need to store in VRAM. As you scale up your resolution, VRAM becomes more and more important. So strongly consider what resolution you’ll be playing in, and the types of games you’ll be playing.
Another thing you have to consider is the CPU you will be pairing your card with. If you splurge on a 4080 super and are running a 7th generation Intel i5 processor, your performance will be severely limited by your CPU. This is what we call bottlenecking and avoid this at all costs! It’s important to balance your parts to get the most performance out of your system, and ultimately get the best value for your money.
Now let’s get into some of my top choices currently. I will give an AMD and NVIDIA option for each resolution/price point.
Unfortunately, the 50 series NVIDIA cards and the new 9070 and 9070xt only appear at MSRP for a short period of time before they’re sold out. I highly recommend the 9070xt, but only if you can find it for the $750 MSRP. For that reason, I will be leaving them off this list.
1080p Gaming:
NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB can be found for under $350 new, and under $350 on Facebook Marketplace and Ebay. The Ti version is not worth the extra money since it also has 8GB of VRAM. If you want to save $100, go with the RTX 3060.
AMD RADEON 6700xt 12GB can be found for a similar price of $350 with a much beefier 12GB of VRAM
1440p Gaming:
NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti 12GB can be found for $700 on ebay.
AMD RADEON 7800xt 16GB. This is my preferred option at this resolution and price point.
4k Gaming:
This is where things get tricky… as you’ll have to shell out a lot of money if you want good performance.
You might be able to get away with an RTX 4080 or 4080 super, but a 4090 is need if you want to get the most out of your 4k resolution.
As for the AMD card, a 7900 xtx is my preferred option. It has 24GB of VRAM which matches the 4090 and can be found for half the price.
When it comes to finding a graphics card that works for you, it literally pays to do your research. So, take your time and find a good deal that works for you in the long run.