Graphics Card Rankings & Hierarchy [2020]

Are you looking for the list of best Graphics Card at different price segments?

You’ve arrived at the right place. We have created a detailed list of Graphics Cards and we have ranked them based on their performance.

Just like we use Centurion Mark to rank Smartphone SOCs & Desktop CPUs, we are using a similar method for Desktop & Laptop GPUs. We have also assigned the cards to a tier list to make it easy for you to understand the performance difference.

So, how do we rank different Cards?

Our rankings are based on the real-world gaming performance of Graphics Cards.

Our list includes integrated and dedicated Mainstream GPUs from the last few generations by AMD, Nvidia, and Intel. Let’s get straight to the rankings, and we will explain the scoring system and testing methodology later in this article.

    Desktop Graphics Card Rankings

Here is the ranking of Desktop GPUs based on Centurion Mark.

Graphics Card Ranking List

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is currently the best Gaming GPU. When it comes to AMD, the Radeon VII is their best card as of now. AMD is yet to release its flagship GPU based on the latest Navi Architecture.

Need an easier solution to pick the right card? Use our GPU recommendation tool and get your answer within seconds.

We hope you’re finding our content helpful. We just wanted to let you know that some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate Links and we may earn a small commission when you purchase something after visiting these links. To learn more, please visit this page.

Here’s a table which is the same as the above chart but with the performance tier assigned to each Graphics Card.

Rank GPU Name Centurion Mark Tier
#1 RTX 2080 Ti 291 Flagship
#2 RTX 2080 Super 254 Flagship
#3 RTX 2080 240 Flagship
#4 GTX 1080 Ti 224 Flagship
#5 RTX 2070 Super 220 Flagship
#6 Radeon VII 217 Flagship
#7 RX 5700 XT 208 High-End
#8 RTX 2070 200 High-End
#9 RTX 2060 Super 194 High-End
#10 RX 5700 186 High-End
#11 GTX 1080 177 Upper Mid-range
#12 RX Vega 64 176 Upper Mid-range
#13 RTX 2060 172 Upper Mid-range
#14 RX 5600 XT (14 Gbps Memory) 171 Upper Mid-range
#15 GTX 1070 Ti 168 Upper Mid-range
#16 RX Vega 56 163 Upper Mid-range
#17 RX 5600 XT (12 Gbps Memory) 162 Upper Mid-range
#18 GTX 1070 150 Upper Mid-range
#19 GTX 1660 Ti 148 Upper Mid-range
#20 GTX 1660 Super 143 Upper Mid-range
#21 GTX 1660 127 Lower Mid-range
#22 RX 590 122 Lower Mid-range
#23 RX 5500 XT 8GB 120 Lower Mid-range
#24 RX 5500 XT 4GB (PCIe 4)* 117 Lower Mid-range
#25 RX 5500 XT 4GB (PCIe 3) 115 Lower Mid-range
#26 RX 580 114 Lower Mid-range
#27 GTX 1650 Super 112 Lower Mid-range
#28 GTX 1060 6GB 109 Lower Mid-range
#29 RX 570 101 Lower Mid-range
#30 GTX 1060 3GB 97 Low-End
#31 GTX 1650 87 Low-End
#32 GTX 1050 Ti 65 Low-End
#33 GTX 1050 53 Low-End
#34 RX 560 4GB 52 Low-End
#35 RX 560 2GB 47 Low-End
#36 RX 550 43 Entry Level
#37 Vega 11 (R5 3400G) 40 Entry Level
#38 GT 1030 GDDR5 39 Entry Level
#39 Vega 8 (R3 3200G) 37 Entry Level
#40 Vega 11 (R5 2400G) 37 Entry Level
#41 Vega 8 (R3 2200G) 34 Entry Level
#42 GT 1030 DDR4 25 Subpar
#43 Vega 3 (Athlon 200GE) 22 Subpar
#44 Intel UHD 630 19 Subpar
#45 Intel HD 630 18 Subpar

*This score of RX 5500 XT 4GB is tested on a PCIe 4 X570 Motherboard. While most people who will be buying this GPU will go with a non-PCIe 4.0 Motherboard, we still wanted to show its performance in the best-case scenario.

    Laptop Graphics Card Rankings

Here’s how the Laptop GPUs stack up.

Laptop GPU Rankings

We have also represented the above graphs in the table below.

Rank GPU Name Centurion Mark
#1 RTX 2080 227.8
#2 RTX 2070 188.2
#3 RTX 2080 Max-Q 183.4
#4 GTX 1080 178.3
#5 GTX 1080 Max-Q 163.6
#6 RTX 2060 160.8
#7 RTX 2070 Max-Q 158.2
#8 GTX 1070 154.4
#9 GTX 1660 Ti 152.7
#10 GTX 1070 Max-Q 140.6
#11 GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q 125.3
#12 GTX 1060 122.9
#13 RX 5500M 118.3
#14 RX 580 112.2
#15 GTX 1650 109.7
#16 RX Vega M GH 97.5
#17 GTX 1650 Max-Q 92.7
#18 GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q 83.2
#19 RX Vega M GL 78.8
#20 GTX 1050 73.6
#21 GTX 1050 Max-Q 68.1
#22 RX 560X 62.6
#23 MX350 59.1
#24 RX 550 52.4
#25 MX330 52.1
#26 MX250 51.7
#27 MX150 50.8
#28 MX230 46.7
#29 MX130 44.5
#30 Iris Plus G7 42.7
#31 Vega 10 42.3
#32 Vega 9 42.0
#33 Vega 8 41.0
#34 Iris Plus G4 39.6
#35 940MX 35.9
#36 MX110 33.3
#37 Iris Plus 655 32.8
#38 Iris Plus 645 32.2
#39 Iris Plus 650 30.9
#40 Iris Plus 640 30.4
#41 Vega 6 30.2
#42 UHD G1 30.0
#43 Vega 3 28.3
#44 UHD 630 22.1
#45 UHD 620 19.7
#46 HD 620 17.5
#47 UHD 617 15.8
#48 UHD 615 13.5
#49 UHD 610 11.4

    How Centurion Mark is Calculated?

At Tech Centurion, we calculate Centurion Mark for different products which makes it easier to compare and understand the performance difference between them. Centurion Mark isn’t a synthetic benchmark; we calculate it manually after testing the products.

Centurion Mark for Mobile GPUs cannot be compared with Desktop GPUs. We use a different scoring system for both.

For Desktop Graphics Cards, the score is based on the gaming Performance in 20 different Games + Compute Performance. We have tested the games at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K Resolution. We take both the Average FPS and 1% Lows into consideration while calculating the score. For lower-end Cards, we also perform tests at 720p and then normalize the scores.

The current score is based on 20 different games and here’s the list of those games:

Battlefield V, Crysis 3, Control, World War Z, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Grand Theft Auto V, Far Cry 5, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Strange Brigade, The Witcher 3, Wolfenstein II, Forza Horizon 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Apex Legends, Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, Just Cause 4, and Rainbow Six Siege.

We have tested some of the games at multiple APIs, including DirectX 11, DirectX 12, and Vulkan. To remove the CPU bottleneck, an Intel Core-i9 9900K is used for these tests.

The current ranking is based on Nvidia’s Game Ready 442.19 & AMD’s Adrenalin 20.2.1 Drivers.

Apart from Gaming Performance, the Compute Performance also has a small role to play in the scoring system. While Gaming performance has a weight of 90%, compute performance only has 10% significance in the score. We perform Compute tests using our Algorithms.

Our tests include the average results from both the reference cards and the AIB partner cards. The scores of factory overclocked cards are normalized against the reference specification by Nvidia & AMD. A factory OC card generally scores 1 to 3 points higher than the reference one.

We will continue to improve our rankings by adding new games and staying up to date with the latest drivers from Nvidia and AMD.

Please note that since 90% of the score is calculated using the Gaming Performance, the rankings won’t be the same for other GPU accelerated tasks such as Compute, AI, Image Processing, Deep Learning etc. If your work requires a CUDA enabled GPU, then you need to look at Nvidia cards.

    Which Graphics Card Should You Get?

When building a Gaming PC, selecting a GPU that fits the budget should be one of the first things you should do. In a Gaming PC, about 35 to 60% of your total budget should go the Graphics Card as that’s where you’ll hit the sweet spot for price/performance ratio.

Even though most of you will have a fixed budget, choosing the GPU should mainly depend on what Resolution and FPS you want to play at. There’s no point in getting an RTX 2080 Ti when all you need is 60 FPS at 1080p. Any decent card like the RTX 2060 or RX 5700 will be able to run upcoming games at 1080p 60FPS for the next 2 to 3 years or even more.

If you already own a decent Monitor, choosing the GPU that will deliver an excellent gaming experience should get easier with the help of the table below.

Graphics Card Tier Recommended Resolution Recommended Monitor Refresh Rate Optimal Gaming Experience
Flagship 4K/1440p for Single-Player. 1080p for Competitive E-sports Gaming. 240Hz/144Hz at 1080p, 144Hz at 1440p, 60Hz at 4K Yes
High-End 4K/1440p for Single-Player. 1080p for Competitive E-sports Gaming. 165 Hz/144 Hz at 1080p, 144Hz/120Hz at 1440p, 60Hz at 4K Yes
Upper Mid-range 1440p/1080p for Single-Player. 1080p for Competitive E-sports Gaming. 144Hz/120Hz/75Hz at 1080p, 75Hz/60Hz for 1440p Yes
Lower Mid-range 1080p 75Hz/60Hz at 1080p Yes
Low-End 1080p/720p 75Hz/60Hz at 1080p/720p Yes
Entry Level 720p 60Hz at 720p No
Sub-par 720p or Lower 60Hz at 720p No

If you have never played games on a PC before or if you’ve never owned a High-Refresh Rate (or High Resolution) Monitor, it is highly recommended to experience it in real. Visiting a Gaming Cafe or Computers/Electronics Store and checking out different Monitors in front of your eyes will always be the best way to decide what resolution/refresh rate you should get.

It also depends on what games you play. If you play E-sports titles like CS: GO, Overwatch, Fortnite, PUBG, and Apex Legends, then I’ll give preference to High-Refresh Rate over Resolution & Display Quality. But for Single-Player and Story-Driven Games, I’ll pick a High-Resolution Display with excellent picture quality.

In the Optimal Gaming Experience section of the above table, I’ve listed Entry Level and Sub-par cards as Poor Gaming Experience. This is just my own opinion based on my experience. Another reason why I’ve labeled them that way is that in the near future, they’ll struggle to push even 30 FPS at 720p and anything lower than 30 FPS will have occasional frame drops & lag, and the gaming experience would not be optimal.

I would rather wait and save some money than buy a card now that won’t be able to give a playable FPS in the games launching in the near future. AMD’s APUs like the Ryzen 5 3400G can be a great alternative to discrete GPUs at low-end, and I’ll highly recommend them over a card like the GT 1030 or the RX 550.

    Best Desktop Graphics Card at Each Price Segment

Here’s a list of GPUs that offer the best performance at various price segments. As the prices may vary from region to region, this may not be applicable to everyone.

In some regions, an RX Vega 56 may be priced similar to a GTX 1660 Ti and hence making it the better choice. But in other places, it is still as expensive as an RX 5700 which makes no sense at all.

Best Graphics Card at Each Price Segment

Here’s another table and this one will help you pick the right GPU based on your Total PC Budget. Please note than the Total Budget doesn’t include Monitor and peripheral devices such as a Mouse & Keyboard.

GPU Budget Total PC Cost (Excluding Monitor) Winner Recommended Resolution
Under $100 Under $400 Vega 11 (Ryzen 5 3400G) 720p Medium
Under $150 Under $500 Radeon RX 570 (Paired with Intel Core i3-9100F) 1080p Medium / 720p High
Under $200 Under $550 GTX 1650 Super (Paired with Intel Core i5-9400F) 1080p High / Medium
At $230 Under $600 GTX 1660 Super (Paired with Intel Core i5-9400F) 1080p High / 1440p Medium
Under $300 Under $750 RX 5600 XT 14 Gbps (Paired with Ryzen 5 3600) 1080p Ultra / 1440p Medium
At $350 Under $850 RX 5700 (Paired with Ryzen 5 3600) 1440p High
At $400 Under $1000 (or under $1150 if going with R7 3700X) RX 5700 XT (Paired with Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 7 3700X) 1440p High / 4K Medium
At $500 Under $1300 RTX 2070 Super (Paired with Ryzen 7 3700X) 1440p Ultra / 4K High  / 1080p High with Ray Tracing
At $700 Under $2000 RTX 2080 Super (Paired with Core-i9 9900K or 9900KS or Ryzen 9 3900X) 4K High  / 1440p Ultra with Ray Tracing
At $1200 Under $2700 RTX 2080 Ti (Paired with Core-i9 9900K or 9900KS or Ryzen 9 3950X) 4K Ultra with Ray Tracing

If you’re not into E-Sports Gaming, I would recommend going for a Ryzen 9 3900X instead of Core-i9 9900K. The i9 9900K is a better choice only when playing at High Refresh Rates and Low Resolutions, i.e Playing at 1080p 240 Hz with a 2080 Ti.

At high resolutions such as 4K, both the Intel & AMD CPUs will give similar performance as games are GPU bound. We also have an article to improve the performance of 3rd Gen Ryzen here.

    The Next Step to Choose the Right Card

Once you’re done choosing the right GPU, the next step is to decide the Card Vendor and the particular card model.

Though AMD and Nvidia do manufacture their reference cards, I’ll highly recommend choosing an AIB (Add-in Board) partner card instead due to better cooling and lower noise levels. Many reference cards have a Blower Fan which generally runs hotter and is much louder.

So, which brands should you go with?

Every GPU is different and almost every GPU Vendor has manufactured some bad cards in the past, which are either thermally inefficient or had some issue or the other. Hence, there’s no perfect brand that I can recommend.  It is highly recommended to watch/read third-party reviews of the card you’re interested in.

But if you still need to know some trusted brands to get started with, here are they:

For AMD Cards: Sapphire, PowerColor, MSI (except the RX 5700 XT Evoke), Gigabyte (except the RX Vega Cards)

For Nvidia Cards: EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, Asus, Zotac

In a custom card, you should look at the Number of Fans, Factory Overclock, Noise, Thermals, and after-sales Service in your region. Factory overclocked cards are slightly better but don’t expect a major performance boost.

It makes no sense to pay $330 for the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti when you get an RX 5700 for nearly $350 which performs 23% faster than the 1660 Ti.

Some of the Tech Websites and Youtube Channels where you can find the best GPU reviews are Hardware Unboxed, AnandTech, Gamers Nexus, PC Gamer, VideoCardz, and Guru 3D. There are many other websites and Youtube channels that you can watch as well, but these are some of the sites that I trust and regularly like to read and watch.




4 thoughts on “Graphics Card Rankings & Hierarchy [2020]”

  1. Nicely set out and informative.
    Would be nice to see a “Compute” one of these done comparing cards not only ion CUDA but also OpenCL.

    Reply

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