I'm looking to upgrade from my current Ryzen 5 3600XT system with 16GB of RAM. My preferred budget is around £200–£250, although I could stretch to roughly £350 if the performance improvement were genuinely substantial. I'm mainly considering used cards from CeX or similar retailers.
I play at 1080p and care more about high performance and frame rates than moving to a higher resolution. I haven't followed the GPU market for several years, so I'm unsure which cards offer the best value now.
Should I prioritise 8GB, 12GB, or more VRAM at this price? Is a slower card with more VRAM a better long-term choice than a faster 8GB card? Which GPUs should I be looking for?
5 Answers
An RX 6800 is worth hunting for if you can find one near £250. Its 16GB of VRAM gives it plenty of headroom, and it is considerably faster than most cards in this price range. Used-card condition and warranty coverage matter a lot, so buying through a retailer with a return period is preferable.
The best choices depend on the exact prices you find. Roughly speaking, look for an RX 6700 XT around £230–£260, an RTX 3070 around £250–£300, an RX 6800 near £250–£300, or an RTX 3080/RX 7700 XT if you are willing to spend closer to £350. Make sure your power supply can handle the card, particularly with the RTX 3080 and RX 6800.
For the used market, an RX 6700 XT with 12GB is a strong option around £230–£260. An RTX 3070 can also fit the budget and performs very well at 1080p, although its 8GB VRAM may be less comfortable in newer games. If you find an RTX 2080 Ti close to £200, it could offer excellent performance for the money, but check its condition carefully.
For 1080p, 8GB is still usable for most games, especially if you adjust texture settings, but 12GB or more is a better target if you want the card to last several years. I’d generally choose a 12GB RX 6700 XT or a 16GB RX 6800 over a weaker card solely because it has more VRAM. At the same performance level, though, extra VRAM is valuable for high-resolution textures and newer games.
If you want something newer, an Intel Arc B580 usually offers 12GB of VRAM around the £240 mark. It can be good value, but its drivers and game compatibility are less mature than AMD or Nvidia, so it may require more troubleshooting. A newer RX 9060 XT would be stronger, but it is generally closer to £300–£320 and therefore outside your preferred budget.
The RX 6800 is also expected to receive broader support for newer upscaling features, which could help extend its useful life.