The Best Graphics Card (GPU) Deals for December 2024

We’re not foolish enough to predict what will happen to graphics card prices in the new year, as the AI boom, which is eating up GPUs like candy, shows no sign of slowing down. That means now’s the time to pick up one of these well-reviewed cards from both AMD and Nvidia. We’ve selected eight models that range from entry-level budget cards to high-performance monsters, and all of them have at least some discount—a rare thing in the hyper-competitive market. Here are the eight top graphics card deals in December.
PNY GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Graphics Card for $389.97 (list price $449.99)
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics Card for $289.99 (list price $349.99)
Asus Prime GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super OC Edition Graphics Card for $799.99 (list price $869.99)
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus Graphics Card for $509.99 (list price $564.99)
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6600 CORE Graphics Card for $209.99 (list price $279.99)
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Graphics Card for $469.99 (list price $519.99)
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6650XT CORE Graphics Card for $230.62 (list price $319.99)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Graphics Card for $189.99 (list price $239.99) (must apply coupon)
The biggest GPU maker in the world, Nvidia basically created the modern graphics card market and typically pushes the envelope in terms of speed and performance. They knew that video games would reliably supply challenging technological problems to solve and bring in a demographic willing to spend money. Advanced tech like Bitcoin mining and AI also runs off of their silicon. Their GeForce series debuted in 1999 and has seen 40 iterations.
Let’s lead off with a solid discount on a 1080p unit that doesn’t necessarily blow the doors off but promises steady performance on the games that matter. The 4060 Ti was released in 2023 and promised a speed boost over the base 4060, and that’s exactly what we got. DLSS 3, with the new Ada Lovelace architecture, makes rendering more efficient and even lets you boost to 1440p on certain titles with no loss of frames. 8GB of GDDR6 onboard memory plus 4,352 CUDA processing cores are a solid foundation, and the trio of fans keep it cool and quiet. 16% off is a big price cut in the GPU space.
PNY GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Graphics Card for $389.97 (list price $449.99)
This is another very capable graphics card at a nice price. The RTX 3060 isn’t going to give you 4K output, but 12GB of GDDR6 memory delivers a respectable 1080p on most games. These haven’t seen many price drops since they were released in 2021, so getting $60 off is a surprise. Four outputs include two DisplayPort and two HDMI for signal sharing, and it does support DLSS and ray tracing for some next-gen support.
Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics Card for $289.99 (list price $349.99)
Asus brings us an absolute speed demon of a card, ready to deliver high-performance frame rates at high-definition resolutions. With the ultra-efficient Ada Lovelace architecture and 4th generation tensor cores, it’s powerful and efficient at handling complex scenes with ease. The third-generation RT cores specialize in raytracing, giving performance up to twice as fast as the previous generation of 4070 cards. If you’re using it to power an AI model, it delivers 710 AI TOPS. The small-hub axial tech fans are quiet and efficient, and this is a nice price drop.
Asus Prime GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super OC Edition Graphics Card for $799.99 (list price $869.99)
The most budget-minded custom-design RTX 4070 graphics card that MSI builds, the 4070 Ventus is a reliable performer that stays cool thanks to a generous triple-fan ventilation system. This model sticks pretty close to the core 4070 clock speeds, which are more than enough for 1440p output at maximum frame rates, With 12GB of GDDR6 memory working through a 192-bit interface, the Ada Lovelace architecture handles raytracing and advanced effects with ease. $60 is a decent discount.
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus Graphics Card for $509.99 (list price $564.99)
AMD is the second-largest company in the GPU business and has been producing chips for markets around the world since 1969. In the graphics business, they are best known for their Radeon series of GPUs, which are sold to a variety of third-party manufacturers to integrate into cards of their own design. They’re reliably high-performing and impressive, leveraging new technology for impressive results.
PCMag has an in-depth review of the XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6600 CORE, where the site put it through its paces and concluded that it was “an able enough pick for strong gaming at 1080p” thanks to its low power requirement and compatibility with modern games. It benchmarked well in comparison with Nvidia’s RTX 3060, and at this price, it’s a significantly better bargain, especially after a few driver updates. The two-fan design is compact and efficient, and AMD Infinity Cache technology gives it remarkably low latency.
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6600 CORE Graphics Card for $209.99 (list price $279.99)
PCmag gave an Editors’ Choice nod to the AMD Radeon RX 7800, calling it “an exceptional value and the first graphics card you should consider between $300 and $900” in its review. With this price drop, it gets even more attractive. Boasting the new chiplet-based RDNA 3 architecture, it has tons of memory bandwidth, runs hyper-efficiently, and kills it at hardware ray-tracing and other advanced effects. The triple angular velocity fan system keeps it nice and cool, and it can even do 4K with good frame rates on some titles.
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Graphics Card for $469.99 (list price $519.99)
Here’s a solid price cut on another midrange card that won’t win any awards but still has a place in your battlestation. The SWFT210 is a take on Radeon’s 6650XT, which is in itself a boosted version of the 6600 with faster memory and a slightly higher clock speed. This results in an RDNA2-powered GPU that delivers consistent performance at 1440p, although it will struggle a bit if you push it to 4K. It’s great for VR headsets as well and keeps itself nice and cool with a pair of huge fans.
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6650XT CORE Graphics Card for $230.62 (list price $319.99)
This card might be showing its age, but if you’re setting up a budget battlestation for a new PC gamer, this is a solid value, especially with an extra $20 on-page coupon. PCMag reviewed the RX 7500 XT when it was released, saying that it “gets AMD to a better place than it’s been for years” and giving it an Editors’ Choice award for its reliable 1440p output at 60fps across all its benchmarking tests. Two sizable fans and heat pipes help keep this one cool.
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Graphics Card for $189.99 (list price $239.99) (must apply coupon)
If you need a new GPU for your desktop or laptop, there are a few important features to keep in mind:
There are three main manufacturers of discrete GPUs right now; Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Intel is far and away a distant third to the other two, but your preference between AMD and Nvidia makes a difference. Nvidia is the market leader and caters more to high-performance gamers, while AMD has more midrange options.
The next thing to consider is display resolution. Cards are rated to pump out pixels at a number of different amounts, but if your GPU is pushing more than your monitor can handle, it’s just wasted effort. Make sure you don’t overspend on a graphics card that over-delivers. Same thing for monitor refresh rates.
Power consumption and cooling are the other key factors of graphics cards. Newer cards are typically more efficient in terms of power draw, and fan configurations are diverse. The amount of space in your case is going to affect what kind of cooling system you can accommodate.
Graphics card buyers have been terrifyingly high over the past few years thanks to their use in mining cryptocurrency, but we’ve seen significant price corrections this year, with costs on a downward trend. However, if you’re waiting to make a purchase because you think prices will continue to go down, you might want to rethink that strategy. AMD has new GPUs rumored, and lower supplies could make the market contract. We wouldn’t expect retail costs to go up to pandemic levels, though.
The key metrics to compare GPUs are resolution, refresh rate, and power consumption. Those are pretty easy to put against each other. One of the best resources we know of is PCMag’s reviews and benchmarking tests for GPUs (and PCMag, like ExtremeTech, is a part of Ziff Davis). PCMag not only lists the specs on each card but also puts them through numerous tasks that evaluate performance and show how they stack up to other cards in the same price range.
This is one of the most contentious questions in the GPU space right now. Nvidia cards are typically priced higher than their AMD competitors, but they excel at cutting-edge techniques like ray tracing and 4K resolution. AMD does have its advantages as well, most notably lower power consumption. If performance is your key metric, Nvidia cards are objectively better, but there are definitely valid uses for AMD (and Intel) products.
Objectively, Nvidia’s RTX 4090 is the top-performing graphics card on the market right now, capable of delivering gorgeous 4K ray-traced graphics at high frame rates. You’ll expect to pay $2,000 or more for all that power, however. For a better balance of power and price, the Nvidia 4070 Ti Super is a reliable GPU that can handle peak current-gen gaming and won’t break the bank.
PCMag agrees with us that the RTX 4090 is the number one graphics card on the market right now. Other worthy contenders include the AMD RX 7800 XT, which is a great midrange card that has sold very well; the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 for 1080p gaming with a high framerate; and the Intel Arc A580 for budget gaming.
Threading the needle between cost and performance is the hard part about picking out a graphics card, but luckily we have a wide range of benchmarks to glean data from. Right now, the best pure value in the GPU market is the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. It performs well across a number of games and will usually run you around $200. Of course, cutting-edge performance comes at a cost, so you need to decide for yourself how much high-definition visuals and fast frame rates are worth to you.
Nvidia produces two distinct lines of GPUs, Giga Texel Shader eXtreme (GTX) and Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme (RTX). RTX is the newer configuration and is typically more expensive. For the price, you get the more advanced Turing and Ampere architecture, enabling hardware ray-tracing, more efficient power usage, and advanced AI compatibility.
Once again, the recently released Nvidia RTX 4090 is the fastest graphics card on the market, with a base clock speed of 2,235MHz.
Numerous manufacturers take Nvidia and AMD chipsets and build graphics cards around them. Some have better reputations than others, and in our deals roundups, we try to only feature products from the most reputable and reliable brands. In terms of build quality, warranty support, and technology, Asus is at the top of the heap right now. They hit a variety of price points with well-engineered cards that perform reliably. Other brands we like include MSI, Gigabyte, and Zotac.
PNY GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Graphics Card for $389.97 (list price $449.99)
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics Card for $289.99 (list price $349.99)
Asus Prime GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super OC Edition Graphics Card for $799.99 (list price $869.99)
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus Graphics Card for $509.99 (list price $564.99)
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6600 CORE Graphics Card for $209.99 (list price $279.99)
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Graphics Card for $469.99 (list price $519.99)
XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX6650XT CORE Graphics Card for $230.62 (list price $319.99)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Graphics Card for $189.99 (list price $239.99) (must apply coupon)
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