If 4K gaming is what you're after, then there's no way around the fact that you'll need a powerful graphics card. Although NVIDIA makes excellent 4K-capable video cards in the guise of the RTX 4080 and 4090, prices start at $1200, and that's a price most people won't consider paying. Instead, consider the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT GPU. It normally retails for $899.99, but today you can get it for only $749.99. Even better, you also get a free copy of Starfield when it's released. If you want to play Starfield in 4K, then you definitely need this kind of power in a GPU.
PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Video Card for $749.99
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is AMD's second most powerful card. It is more powerful than any previous generation card released, and that goes for NVIDIA's offerings like the RTX 3090 and 3090 Ti as well. It's roughly on par with the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. However, at this price it's actually less expensive than the RTX 4070 Ti, even though the 4070 Ti normally commands a lower MSRP. Also, the RX 7900 XT comes with a healthy does of RAM, 20GB to be exact. That's a lot more than the 4070 Ti's paltry 12GB. It doesn't matter currently for gaming, but it might matter in the future, and it does matter for other applications like 3D rendering. In terms of 4K gaming, there are less expensive cards that can run games just fine, like the RTX 4070 or even the RTX 3080. However, for comfortable 4K gaming, with consistent framerates of 60fps and beyond, we think the RX 7900 XT (at this price) is a better choice.
If You Need Ray Tracing, Stick with NVIDIA
AMD Radeon cards are outstanding alternatives to the NVIDIA GeForce cards in terms of both price and availability. For most gamers who want to maximize their performance for their dollar, these AMD GPUs are the way to go. However, if you're set on playing 4K games with ray tracing enabled, then you'll want to stick with NVIDIA. That's because the GeForce cards admittedly perform far better than their Radeon counterparts when it comes to ray tracing. Ray tracing is a form of rendering that allows for more realstic lighting effects. It makes light sources and shadows look better, but at the steep cost of GPU resources. At the end of the day, if you really want ray tracing, then you'll have to pony up that extra money. Is it really worth it for some extra lighting effects? That's up to you.
