Use these GPUs if you're building a PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

AMD's Ryzen 9 5900X is a solid processor that's part of the Ryzen 5000 series. Succeeding the Ryzen 9 3900X CPU, this monster has 12 cores and 24 threads for a brilliant performance. If you want to build a gaming rig, we rounded up the best graphics card top use with the CPU.

We've done our best to work around inflated pricing and stock shortages but still keeping to our goal of providing only the best recommendations.

Best AMD for 4K

MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT

Staff Pick

AMD's Ryzen 9 5900X is a killer gaming CPU, so it's worth providing it with as much graphics processing power as you can afford. The RX 6900 XT is AMD's best GPU out right now, which allows for 4K gaming and takes on the RTX 3070 from NVIDIA. It has a massive 16GB of RAM and plenty of other features for butter-smooth gaming.

$900 at Newegg

Best NVIDIA for 4K

ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Staff Pick

NVIDIA RTX 3090 is a monster of a GPU with 10GB of GDDR6X RAM, a core clock speed of 1695MHz, and can easily boost to 1725MHz while in-game. If you want the best 4K gaming experience, look no further than the RTX 3090. It may be priced a little ahead of the RX 6900 XT, but its performance is also miles ahead ... if you can locate one in stock.

$1,500 at Newegg

Best AMD for 1440p

ASRock Radeon RX 6800

ASRock's Radeon RX 6800 is better than the previous 1440p recommendation in the form of the RX 5700 XT, which will provide you with additional headroom for higher FPS at similar in-game settings. It has 16GB of RAM and a beefy processor, but it's not quite good enough for advanced 4K gaming. For the Ryzen 9 5900X, this is a solid mid-tier GPU.

$590 at Newegg

Best NVIDIA for 1440p

ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC

The new mid-tier GPU is the NVIDIA RTX 3070, replacing our favorite 2060 SUPER for 1440p monitors. The performance and price of the RTX 3070 mean you'll be able to score some considerably high fidelity gaming at a reasonable price, with ray tracing and everything else included for good measure.

$570 at Newegg

Best AMD for 1080p

XFX THICC II Pro AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT

The best AMD budget GPU is the RX 5500 XT. It supports PCIe 4.0 and comes with a massive amount of RAM at 8GB of GDDR6. The processor and other specs aren't quite as good as other options here, but for the price, you could easily smash through games at 1080p and even 1440p with a few settings turned down.

$360 at Newegg

Best NVIDIA for 1080p

EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW ULTRA GAMING

You could get away with something like a GTX 1660 SUPER or a GPU from the RTX 20 series of GPUs, but NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti is a great entry card into ray tracing and the advanced graphics card range. It may be one of the more affordable 30 cards around, but this thing could even handle some 1440p gaming, so you know it's going to be a good fit for 1080p.

$450 at Newegg

Choosing the right GPU

Picking the best GPU, you can afford is where you should aim. It's always better to spend as much as you can now rather than having to spend another chunk of change sooner than later. Which GPU you should pick also largely comes down to the type of monitor you're using. If it supports AMD FreeSync, you'll want to consider AMD GPUs; the same goes for NVIDIA and monitors with G-Sync.

Should you want to enjoy some 1440p gaming and plan to upgrade to a 4K display at a later date, the MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT or ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 will do just fine should you be able to locate one in stock at the correct price. Please do not fall for scalpers who manage to buy them at RRP and sell at an inflated price.

You can still save some on your GPU without sacrificing too much on performance. The ASRock Radeon RX 6800 and ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC are awesome mid-tier GPUs and are perfect for 1440p gaming. They won't break your bank, nor will they bottleneck the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU. Don't see a GPU here that catches your eye? Have a look at our pick for the overall best graphics card.