Since AMD improved its architecture, buying a graphics card is more complicated than ever, especially if we go to the mid-range or low-end. In case you have a budget of € 300 , it may be useful to know which are the best AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards that you can find on the market.
After the arrival of RDNA , NVIDIA has seen how AMD has scratched sales in the middle, low and even high ranges. Although NVIDIA continues to be the leader with ease, the buyer is not so clear which graphics card to buy for € 300, since models like the 6GB RX 5600 have hit the mark. We want to help you in your choice, so we present the best options for this price range.
MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT MECH OC 6GB GDDR6
MSI graphics cards are synonymous with quality and have proven to be one of the most trusted brands on the market.
We find this model with dual TORX FAN 3.0 fans very interesting because it cools the GPU very well and offers a compact size that allows us to install it in most PC cases. What’s more, if you are looking to play in virtual reality, tell you that it comes with VR Ready .
However, we have not discussed here for these reasons, but because it comes with 6 GB GDDR6 takes advantage really well with his RDNA architecture, which is a manufacturing process 7 nm. Also, its memory speed is 14 Gbps and it has a 192-bit bus.
There are other reasons why we think it is one of the best graphics for € 300, such as its PCIe 4.0 support. That said, its improved frequencies on this MSI model are another of its great assets:
- Base frequency: 1185 MHz .
- Game frequency: 1460 MHz .
- Frequency boost. 1620 MHz .
A power supply with a minimum power of 450 W is recommended and has 4 basic ports: 3 DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b .
If you’re looking for the best possible performance under $ 300, this is one of the best graphics cards you can buy. The RX 5600 XT does not have Ray Tracing, but it offers a gaming performance very similar to the RTX 2060 , surpassing it in FPS.
ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6
ZOTAC is known for offering graphics cards with great value for money , and this is yet another example. With the departure of NVIDIA Ampere, we will see that the RTX 2060 start to drop below € 300, which is very interesting if we want to enjoy Ray Tracing.
It has 6 GB GDDR6 and a 1680 MHz boost frequency that will offer us the possibility of playing at 2K at more than 60 FPS . Thanks to the IceStorm 2.0 cooling system, we can enjoy our RTX 2060 at maximum performance, even though it does not equip 3 fans.
It comes with a small factory overclock that will help us squeeze its performance. In addition, it is a graphics card with Turing architecture, which has been critically acclaimed for its excellent performance. Regarding its ports, it comes with an HDMI 2.0b port and 3 DisplayPorts 1.4 .
Although its power consumption is 160 W, it is recommended to have a source of 500 W minimum because it is a GPU that consumes much more when it is running at full speed.
The great disadvantage of this graphics card is its price, but below € 300 we should not look for more graphics: the RTX 2060 is the chosen one . The main reason is in Ray Tracing, which is the future because the upcoming AMD RDNA2 GPUs.
The RX 5600 XT range is very powerful, but lacks such technology, as does NVIDIA’s GTX 1660. That said, watch out for the AMD GPU because it can offer us more FPS than the RTX 2060 in many games.
EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER SC ULTRA GAMING 6GB GDDR6
Finally, we offer you a very complete product with first-rate quality: an EVGA GTX 1660 SUPER . Some may take their heads because we have not put a GTX 1660 Ti , but the truth is that this variant is not worth it because it offers an average gain of 2 more FPS for too many euros.
In this way, the GTX 1660 SUPER seems more successful, taking into account that the Ti improves it slightly. In this case, we have 6 GB GDDR6 of memory with a width of 192-bit. The factory overclock that EVGA offers us gives us a boost frequency of 1830 MHz .
It is true that it does not include Ray Tracing, but it is compatible with DirectX 12 as well. Like its direct rival (the RX 5600 XT) it requires a 450W minimum power supply. It only brings 3 ports, which are the following:
- 1 x DVI-D.
- 1 x HDMI 2.0b.
- 1 x DisplayPort 1.4.
It offers a lower gaming performance than the RX 5600 XT and the RTX 2060, as they are two very even graphics cards in terms of constant FPS. However, we must bear in mind that this GTX 1660 can be found below € 250 , while the other two are very close to € 300.
This GTX 1660 SUPER from EVGA offers us the possibility of playing at more than 60 FPS in 1080p in recent titles with Ultra graphics settings. On the other hand, we can play 2K in older titles with high settings, although this possibility is diminished in more recent titles.
Which one is the best?
In this sense, we will be blunt: if you can find the RTX 2060 below € 300, that should be your choice. The reason is that it is the only model that supports RTX technology, which has been postulated as a mandatory option for the future.
If it is not possible to find an RTX 2060 under € 300, my choice would be a RX 5600 XT . It is a GPU that has made things very difficult for NVIDIA in the mid-range, forcing it to lower the price of the RTX 2060.
Do not be touchy with the RX 5600 XT because AMD greatly improved the performance of this graphics card in successive driver updates.
