Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2025

Why NVIDIA Graphics Cards Are the Best

Intel and AMD graphics cards are cheaper than NVIDIA. However, they lack support for many graphical technologies that are essential for gaming in 2025. While Intel and AMD have their own alternatives to NVIDIA’s algorithms, their performance and quality leave much to be desired.

DLSS Anti-Aliasing

When this technology is enabled, the game is rendered at a lower resolution and then upscaled by a neural network to match the display’s native resolution. This significantly boosts FPS in games while causing only a slight reduction in image quality.

DLSS anti-aliasing performs better at higher display resolutions. In Full HD, the image quality noticeably degrades, in Quad HD, the difference is minimal, and in Ultra HD, the upscaled image can even look good or better than the native resolution. NVIDIA explains this by stating that the higher the original resolution, the more data the neural network has for image reconstruction, significantly improving its effectiveness. Thanks to DLSS anti-aliasing, NVIDIA GPUs are the best choice for high-resolution gaming.

Frame Generation and Multi-Frame Generation

These technologies create intermediate frames between real ones, significantly boosting FPS in games. For example, standard frame generation increases FPS by approximately 1.5 to 2 times, while multi-frame generation can boost it by 3 to 4 times.

However, these algorithms have some drawbacks:

• Input lag slightly increases;
• Some games may exhibit visual artifacts;
• Frame generation works only on RTX 4000 and 5000 series GPUs;
• Multi-frame generation is exclusive to RTX 5000 series GPUs.

Frame generation technologies are not yet perfect, but they improve with each update. It is recommended to enable these algorithms when the native FPS is at least 40–50 frames per second. In this case, visual artifacts disappear, and input lag remains minimal. Additionally, enabling NVIDIA Reflex can help compensate for any increased latency.

NVIDIA Reflex

This technology reduces input lag by 2–3 times. Its working principle is quite complex, but in simple terms, the algorithm optimizes the interaction between the CPU and GPU, ensuring that all available resources are focused on processing the game engine rather than background operating system tasks, helping players get a more responsive gaming experience.

Ray Reconstruction

When ray tracing is enabled, various visual artifacts, known as noise, appear in the image. NVIDIA GPUs automatically remove this noise using a denoising algorithm powered by tensor cores. However, denoising is not perfect—it reduces the sharpness and detail of ray-traced effects, with reflections suffering the most, often appearing blurry.

To overcome the limitations of denoising and enhance the quality of ray-traced effects, NVIDIA developed Ray Reconstruction. This algorithm uses a neural network to improve the detail and clarity of ray-traced effects, delivering more realistic visuals.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 are primarily designed for professional workloads rather than gaming. This is due to their large video memory and expensive price.

However, if your goal is to achieve the highest possible FPS in any game, these GPUs are undoubtedly the best choice. If budget is not a concern, they will provide unmatched performance in 4K and beyond.