The best graphics cards to buy right now

With the festive season over, many gamers who saved their pennies in 2018 will be looking to get a new graphics card in the first quarter of 2019.

There are a range of new and old graphics cards available at the moment, ranging from the top-of-the-range Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti to the more budget-friendly Radeon RX 580.

The card you pick will likely be based on how much you can afford, but also on what your targets are.

For those with 1080p monitors and no plans to upgrade their screens, a high-end card will be overkill as the display will not take full advantage of its power.

Buying a more powerful card with the goal of future-proofing your PC while you save up for a better display – or more RAM or faster CPU – is also an option.

However, it is good to keep in mind that technology exhibitions like the upcoming CES 2019 often play host to new product launches – which may see new cards coming to the market.

This makes buying an “old” graphics card less attractive, especially if new cards are unveiled and you find yourself owning hardware that is two generations behind.

Pick what you need

It is for this reason you must first assess what your goals are with your gaming PC.

If you plan to only play games in 1080p, buy a card which satisfies these needs. If you plan to turn your rig into a 4K gaming machine over the next six months, then buy a card which may be overkill right now, but which will deliver the frame rates and quality settings you want down the line.

To help you decide which card is for you, we have taken benchmark rankings of popular cards from Tom’s Hardware.

We then ranked the cards from least to most powerful, based on the rankings.

Local pricing for each card was then added, providing the performance and price list below.

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti – R2,800

• Battlefield 1: 1080p Medium – 79FPS
• GTA V: 1080p High – 83FPS
• The Witcher 3: 1080p Medium – 64FPS

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AMD Radeon RX 570 (4GB) – R3,200

• Battlefield 1: 1080p Ultra – 75FPS
• GTA V: 1080p Very High – 89FPS
• The Witcher 3: 1080p Ultra – 66FPS

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AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB) – R4,000

• Battlefield 1: 1440p Ultra – 62FPS
• GTA V: 1440p Very High – 73FPS
• The Witcher 3: 1440p Ultra – 52FPS

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AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 – R6,500

• Battlefield 1: 1440p Ultra – 82FPS
• Hitman: 1440p Ultra – 89FPS
• The Witcher 3: 1440p Ultra – 77FPS

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti – R7,000

• Battlefield 1: 1440p Ultra – 85FPS
• Doom: 1440p Ultra – 130FPS
• The Witcher 3: 1440p Ultra – 84FPS

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 – R8,999

• Battlefield 4: 2160p Ultra – 53FPS
• GTA V: 2160p Very High – 42FPS
• The Witcher 3: 2160p Highest – 49FPS

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 – R10,000

• Battlefield 1: 2160p Ultra – 63FPS
• GTA V: 2160p Very High – 72FPS
• The Witcher 3: 2160p Ultra – 56FPS

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 – R15,000

• Battlefield 1: 2160p Ultra – 76FPS
• GTA V: 2160p Very High – 86FPS
• The Witcher 3: 2160p Ultra – 76FPS

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti – R24,000

• Battlefield 5: 2160p Ultra – 84FPS
• GTA V: 2160p Very High – 97FPS
• The Witcher 3: 2160p Ultra – 94FPS

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