My 8GB GTX 1080 has served me well for games like Valorant, WoW, and Counter-Strike, but newer titles are becoming more demanding. I'd like to play the latest WoW and other modern games smoothly on high settings—not necessarily ultra—while keeping the upgrade as affordable as possible. Around $500 would be preferable, since spending $1,000 feels excessive. I currently use a Ryzen 9 5900X, an ASUS ROG Strix B550-F motherboard, 32GB of RAM, and a 240Hz monitor. I've mostly played at 1080p, although I'm open to considering 1440p if it makes sense. I'm also unsure how much VRAM I should target and whether my motherboard's PCIe version will limit newer graphics cards.
2 Answers
AMD cards usually offer the most VRAM and performance for the money in this price range. The RX 9070 GRE is worth considering if you want stronger 1440p performance. A cheaper RTX 5060 can also be reasonable below $400, but its lower VRAM capacity may become more limiting in demanding AAA games.
Your motherboard should support modern GPUs. PCIe is backward and forward compatible, so a newer PCIe graphics card will work in the motherboard’s slot; you generally only lose a small amount of performance, if any. Just install it in the primary full-length slot and make sure your case has enough room.
I haven’t used an AMD card before, but I’m open to it if it gives me better value. More than 8GB of VRAM seems increasingly useful for newer games.