Best Graphics Card under $250 for 1080p & 1440p Gaming in 2024

If you are looking for a graphic card under 250 dollars for gaming, then you won’t be disappointed because there are some very good options available nowadays. Under this budget, you can get a powerful mid-range budget graphics card or a mainstream graphics card that offers a great balance between price and performance. These sub 250 dollars graphics cards can easily run the latest AAA games on ultra-graphics settings at 1080p, delivering 60 FPS on average. They are also capable of 1440p gaming, but you may have to reduce or lower some of the demanding graphics settings to get respectable frame rates, which is generally around 50 to 60 FPS.

Most of these graphics cards that fall under 250 dollars price segment are lower on consumption and can work with a good quality 450W PSU. Also, they are pretty well equipped with features and do support FreeSync / G-Sync to prevent screen tearing and stuttering in games to deliver a smooth and lag-free gaming experience. Other than gaming, these sub-250 dollar graphics cards can be used for professional work too that involves video editing & rendering, 3D modeling, CAD, etc. So, if you are looking for such a mainstream graphics card that offers great value and performance, then here, I am going to list some of the best ones out there in the market.

Best Graphics Card under $250 from Nvidia

Below are the best graphics cards under 250 dollars from Nvidia.

ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 AMP

GeForce GTX 1660 is one of the best video cards that you have for under 250 dollars. The card is built on the Turing GPU architecture and comes with 1408 CUDA Cores and 6GB GDDR5 memory (192-bit) that runs at 8 Gbps. The card is great for 1080p gaming and you can also have a taste of 1440p gaming too with some reduced settings. If we compare it to previous mainstream mid-range cards, then it is up to 30% faster than GTX 1060 3GB and up to 15% faster than the GTX 1060 6GB. It is as fast as the Radeon RX 590, which is a mid-range card from AMD. On GeForce GTX 1660, you can enjoy almost all the latest AAA games on ultra-graphics settings at 1080p and can get 60+ FPS on average.

The specific model of GeForce GTX 1660 that we have here is the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 AMP, which is an overclocked model and comes with dual-fan cooler. The card has got GPU Boost clock of 1845 MHz, which is 60 MHz more than the reference. It comes with IceStorm 2.0 Cooling solution that consists of dual 90mm fans and a wide array aluminum heatsink with three 6mm copper heatpipes for better and efficient heat transfer. The cooler does a pretty great job in keeping the card pretty cool, even under full load. Also, the fans are quiet in operation. The card is on the compact side and is only 210mm in length, which makes it fit in most of the small form factor cases, including the mini-ITX ones. A wraparound metal backplate not only protects the backside of the card but from the sides too. The card is dual slot in design and requires an 8-pin PCIe connector and 450W PSU for its working. Connectivity options on this card include three DisplayPort and a single HDMI 2.0b port.

Check out: Best GeForce GTX 1660 Cards for Gaming & Work

Buy ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 AMP

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6G

[Fastest Graphics Card in this List, Semi-passive Cooling]

GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the fastest graphics card that you can get under 250 dollars budget. The card costs a little more than the plain GTX 1660 but provides up to 20% more performance over it. The card gives you GTX 1660 Ti level of performance, which is a much more expensive card and costs above 250 dollars. GTX 1660 SUPER is basically a GTX 1660 but with faster GDDR6 memory. It comes with the same number of 1408 CUDA Cores and is built on the Turing GPU architecture on the 12nm process. This card can run the latest AAA games on 1080p settings at ultra to max settings with 60 FPS+ on average. You can also enjoy a decent 1440p gaming experience on this card by reducing some of the demanding in-game graphics settings.

Here we have Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6G, which is an OC edition GTX 1660 SUPER card and is pretty affordable too. It has got GPU Boost clock of 1830 MHz, which is 45 MHz higher than the reference or stock. The WINDFORCE 2X Cooling System on this card comes with dual 90mm unique blade alternate spinning fans and a pretty efficient heatsink with a single copper heat pipe that makes direct contact with the GPU for better heat transfer. The fans on this card spin in the opposite direction to reduce the turbulent airflow and allows smoother airflow for better heat dissipation. The card also features 3D Active Fan that provides semi-passive cooling. The fans will remain off when the GPU is in a low load or running a low-power game and they start spinning when the load on the GPU increases to prevent it from overheating. The card does have a backplate that is made of plastic and it protects the card from damage during handling. For power, it requires an 8-pin PCIe connector and a 450W PSU. The display connectivity options on this card include three DisplayPort and an HDMI port.

Check out: Best GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Cards for Gaming & Work

Buy Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6G

Best Graphics Card under $250 from AMD

Below are the best graphics cards under 250 dollars from AMD.

SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 590 8GB GDDR5

If you are looking for an AMD graphics card under 250 dollars then the best you can find is the Radeon RX 590. This card performs an equal or a little bit better than GTX 1660 but is around 13% slower than GTX 1660 SUPER. It is a VR-ready card and can run latest games on ultra-graphics settings at 1080p and on high settings at 1440p comfortably. Radeon RX 590 comes is built on the Polaris GPU architecture on 12nm FinFET process and comes with 2304 Stream Processors and 8GB GDDR5 memory having a 256-bit interface. This is basically a faster version of the older RX 580 and offers around 12% more performance over it.

Here we have Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 590, which is one of the best RX 590 cards that you can get under 250 dollars budget. It is an overclocked card that has a GPU Boost clock of up to 1545 MHz. The Dual-X Cooling system on this card comprises a well-designed heatsink with copper heat pipes and dual 92mm fans with ball bearings for a longer lifespan. These are Quick Connect fans, which means they use a special proprietary connector instead of wires and are much easier to replace and clean. The card also employs semi-passive cooling, where the fans remain turned off under low GPU load and temperature, and they kick back in action when the temperature crosses a certain threshold value, which is mainly during gaming or doing GPU-intensive tasks. The metal backplate on this card is sturdy and fancy looking. The card has dual-slot design and is a smart-looking card. It is also big on performance and remains cool and quiet under heavy GPU load. It is a bit higher in the power consumption department compared to Nvidia cards in this price segment and consumes up to 235W of power. It requires a single 8-pin PCIe power connector and a 500W PSU is needed for it. Another great thing about this card is that it offers 5 display outputs that include two DisplayPort, two HDMI port,s and one DVI port.  

Buy SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 590 8GB GDDR5

Other Good Radeon RX 590 Cards

• PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 590 8GB GDDR5
• PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 590 8GB GDDR5
• XFX AMD Radeon RX 590 Fatboy Core Edition

Read also:

• GTX 1660 vs GTX 1060 vs RX 590 Comparison
• GTX 1660 SUPER vs GTX 1660 Ti vs GTX 1660 vs RX 590

Final Words

In the end, I would only like to say that you can get a pretty powerful graphics card for under 250 dollars from both Nvidia and AMD. These cards are great for 1080p gaming and are also quite suitable for 1440p gaming too if you can make a sacrifice on some graphics settings, which would not be a problem for most of the users in this segment. The cards offer great performance and can be used in a budget workstation computer too. If you are still having any doubts regarding which card to choose from then you can ask me your queries in the comment section below.