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Building a 4K gaming system is neither easy nor cheap. The most important part is the GPU. Here are some excellent budget GPUs for 4K gaming.
It’s no secret that 4K gaming is expensive. However, many people make the mistake of thinking they need extremely high-end or flagship components for this setup, but that’s not true. You don’t need a 16 or 24-core CPU, a premium motherboard, and 64GB DDR5 RAM for this. Any modern octa-core processor paired with a mid-range motherboard and even 32GB of RAM is more than enough. That’s because, at higher resolutions like 4K, games become GPU-dependent.
Therefore, you only need a powerful graphics card and PSU for a 4K gaming setup. Since we already have a great article on Power Supply Units, our focus today is only on GPUs. The best graphics cards as of this writing are the Nvidia RTX 5090 and 5080, but they are also extremely costly. In this article, we are sharing a list of some of the best GPUs for 4K gaming.
Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions. Also, the prices mentioned herein are subject to change.
Best GPUs for a Budget 4K Gaming PC Setup
1) Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
The Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is a powerful GPU that can easily play many games at 4K natively. It used to be much more expensive at launch, but it is now regularly available at its MSRP of $749.99 on Amazon. Its shader cores, RT cores, TMUs, ROPs, and memory bandwidth are close to the RTX 5080, despite being quite cheaper.
Therefore, it can easily deliver a great 4K gaming experience. The RTX 5070 Ti is also packed with 16GB of GDDR7 memory, so it should be fine for future gaming as well.
| Specifications | Values |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Blackwell |
| Shader cores | 8960 |
| RT cores | 70 |
| TMUs | 280 |
| ROPs | 96 |
| Base core clock speeds | 2295 MHz |
| Boost core clock speeds | 2452 MHz |
| Memory capacity | 16GB GDDR7 |
| Memory bus width | 256-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 896 GB/s |
| Manufacturing node | 5nm |
| Thermal design power (TDPs) | 300W |
2) AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is AMD’s most powerful GPU this generation and packs a lot of punch. It can deliver close to the performance of the RTX 5070 Ti while costing around $85 less. The Radeon RX 9070 XT also has the same 16GB of VRAM, so it can deliver a compelling 4K gaming performance. These are the reasons this Radeon GPU is so popular among 4K gamers. The caveat is that its ray tracing performance is quite a bit behind the current RTX GPUs.
| Specifications | Values |
|---|---|
| Architecture | RDNA 4 |
| Shader cores | 4096 |
| RT cores | 64 |
| TMUs | 256 |
| ROPs | 128 |
| Base core clock speeds | 1660 MHz |
| Boost core clock speeds | 2970 MHz |
| Memory capacity | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus width | 256-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 644.6 GB/s |
| Manufacturing node | 4nm |
| Thermal design power (TDPs) | 304W |
3) AMD Radeon RX 9070
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a really affordable GPU that can play many games at 4K resolution natively without any issues. However, in more graphically demanding games, you can use FSR 4 upscaling technology to get a great performance boost. AMD’s FSR 4 is now just as good as DLSS, if not even slightly better, in motion. Therefore, by investing just $549.99 in this GPU, you can get a decent budget 4K gaming setup. Also, this graphics card is equipped with 16GB of VRAM, like its bigger brother, the XT variant.
| Specifications | Values |
|---|---|
| Architecture | RDNA 4 |
| Shader cores | 3584 |
| RT cores | 56 |
| TMUs | 224 |
| ROPs | 128 |
| Base core clock speeds | 1330 MHz |
| Boost core clock speeds | 2520 MHz |
| Memory capacity | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus width | 256-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 644.6 GB/s |
| Manufacturing node | 4nm |
| Thermal design power (TDPs) | 220W |
4) Nvidia RTX 5070
The Nvidia RTX 5070 is the cheapest GPU we can recommend for a budget 4K gaming setup. Its features, like DLSS 4 and DLSS 4 MFG, make it possible to play games at 4K with 60 FPS for a great experience. In terms of performance, it comes close to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 in rasterization while delivering higher performance in ray tracing.
The only caveat is its 12GB VRAM, which is a bit on the lower side for 4K gaming, but so is the price. Therefore, there’s not much to complain about. Its faster GDDR7 memory will provide enough bandwidth needed for 4K gaming.
| Specifications | Values |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Blackwell |
| Shader cores | 6144 |
| RT cores | 48 |
| TMUs | 192 |
| ROPs | 80 |
| Base core clock speeds | 2235 MHz |
| Boost core clock speeds | 2610 MHz |
| Memory capacity | 12GB GDDR7 |
| Memory bus width | 192-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 672 GB/s |
| Manufacturing node | 5nm |
| Thermal design power (TDPs) | 220W |
Final Thoughts
As we know, 4K gaming is expensive. However, the GPUs mentioned above will deliver fantastic budget 4K gaming performance without costing an arm and a leg. These graphics cards are quite affordable and are equipped with enough VRAM to satisfy all your 4K needs. Choose a GPU based on your performance requirements and budget.
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