Latest news with #50Series
WIRED
16-04-2025
- WIRED
The PNY GeForce RTX 5060 Ti OC Is Great If You Pay Retail
Not everyone wants to spend $1,000 or more on a graphics card for their PC. I personally know way more people gaming on modest, midrange cards than I do people with the latest and greatest. The newly announced RTX 5060 Ti, with a sub-$500 MSRP, could be the card you've been waiting for to replace an aging RTX 20 or 30 Series card. Unfortunately, that could also mean these cards are hard to come by. The higher-end 50 Series GPUs still require active effort to get a hold of, although they do seem to be trickling out to retailers. A lower price, plus weeks of low stock, might create a feeding frenzy. If you're updating an older system that's tied to a 1080p screen at 120 Hz or less, you'll be very pleased with the performance and ease of use. If you're building a new system in 2025, you should at least be targeting 1440p, and I think there are other cards that will have a longer life at that resolution. Photograph: Brad Bourque Form Factor and Power While the more expensive 50-Series GPUs have a new 12V-2x6 connector, the PNY card I have just takes a classic 8-pin connector, which should help with compatibility in older systems. One minor nitpick is that the power connector itself is way over by the bracket at the back of the case. It's technically closer to the power supply, but it may cause some awkwardness in modern gaming cases, or force you to re-run the cable. Physically, it's extremely compact, which you'd expect from a card that's trying to squeeze into random leftover cases. The two fans might get the job done, but it certainly sounds louder than three, although these fans are quieter than my case fans during regular use. It has a silent mode as well, and I found the fans didn't run all the time, especially at 1080p, so I don't imagine this will be a bother. Photograph: Brad Bourque Performance I turn the settings all the way up for these games, which is what most folks will do when they get a new graphics card. Photograph: Brad Bourque
WIRED
01-04-2025
- WIRED
The Best Graphics Cards (GPUs) for Your Gaming PC
Normally, I'd recommend a previous generation card, but the RTX 40 Series and AMD 7000 cards are almost entirely out of stock or massively marked up at major retailers. There are still a few older-generation cards you can pick up relatively easily, and they're some of the only options under $500, with newer generations only having the more expensive cards live. These cards are squarely targeting 1,920 x 1,080 for gaming, so don't get your hopes up if you have a higher resolution or refresh rate. AMD Before the 50 Series launch, I was using a Sapphire Pulse 7900 XT, a card I would love to recommend now, as it served me well for two years at 3,440 x 1,440 and was under $700 in June 2023. Unfortunately, it's currently hard to find in stock, and restocks will slow down considerably now that the new AMD cards are on the market. Instead, I'd reach a little further down the power scale and grab an RX 7600. While I haven't spent time with this model, I've been historically pleased with Sapphire's cards, and it should be fairly capable at 1080p in older titles, indie games, and great for your average evening of Rocket League or Minecraft. Again, this card isn't going to push 1440p, especially in newer games, and it's going to lack some of the features you're seeing on the latest and greatest GPUs. It should get you down the road until things have hopefully calmed down a bit, though. Nvidia As of early April 2025, the only previous-generation card I can consistently find in stock from Nvidia is the RTX 4060, a GPU which is also approaching two years on the market. It was a capable card at 1080p, but it doesn't keep up quite as well with today's games, and you'll have to turn the settings down to even consider 1440p. Of the available picks, I like the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ventus 2X Black, a compact card with a low power requirement that should fit into basically any modern system. MSI has a great track record for reliable, straightforward graphics cards, and this one is in stock and recently discounted. Of the two, I think the AMD is a better buy, even though it's performance is slightly less impressive on paper than the RTX 4060. At the sub-$500 price point, a $100 price difference can be massive, so keep an eye out for discounts to make sure you're getting the best deal, especially as these generations begin to close out. Buying Used When it comes to GPUs, I'm generally a fan of buying new. Not only will you ensure you have proper warranty and RMA support if something goes wrong, but it can be hard to know if someone misused the GPU, either through heavy crypto mining, poor temperature control in their system, or artifacts and issues they didn't disclose. I'm often a fan of buying used in other areas, but with demand and prices so high, it can be hard to trust strangers. If you do buy used, make sure to do your legwork. Local meetups via Craigslist or Reddit can have great deals and give you a chance to inspect the GPU, even if you can't make sure it boots up. You can also ask for video proof of the card running a game that also includes the serial number in one continuous shot. If you're considering buying a used card online, make sure you're aware of the marketplace and payment processors' return and dispute policies. When you get the card home, inspect it immediately for any damage to the card, particularly on the PCIe fin and the power connectors. Once installed, a software tool called GPU-Z can verify the card's hardware to make sure it matches the expected numbers for the model. Run some games on it right away, so that if anything is wrong you can reach out to the seller right away.
WIRED
06-03-2025
- WIRED
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5070 Doesn't Quite Have the Muscle
Nvidia's 50 Series releases are chugging right along, even though things haven't exactly been smooth. The top end of the series has shown impressive 4K performance, but finding one in stock for close to MSRP requires active effort or plenty of patience. At just $549, the RTX 5070 is currently the least expensive graphics card in the 50 Series to be officially announced. It can handle 1080p gaming just fine, but it struggles to keep up at 1440p, and especially with high-refresh-rate monitors becoming more common. It's a nice size, but I'd recommend saving up for the more expensive GPUs, or looking at previous generations. Compact Shape This new card is noticeably smaller than the RTX 5080 FE (8/10, WIRED Recommends) and RTX 5090 FE (7/10, WIRED Recommends), rising just barely above the top of the PCIe plate, with a true two-slot width and a length that's a full 62 millimeters (2.4 inches) shorter. It's also smaller than the Asus Prime RTX 5070 Ti (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which uses a more traditional cooler setup. While the larger cards would fit in most builds, the RTX 5070 should have no issues finding its way into even the most compact cases. Photograph: Brad Bourque It's a shame these Founders Editions aren't an unlimited offering, because I think this generation is quite nice. I'm a big fan of the design, which has an understated look that feels really premium. I'm not a fan of brightly lit cards with designs that can't be matched to other parts, and I think the Founders Edition cards will look right at home in almost any case. Like the other 50 Series cards, the RTX 5070 FE uses the new 12V-2x6 connector, and includes a braided nylon adapter for your existing PSU. You should only need a 650-watt power supply for this card, down from 750 watts for the 5070 Ti, which will once again benefit small and budget system builders. Gaming Performance I've dug into the effects of multiframe generation in the other reviews, the RTX 5090 FE in particular, so for this review I focused on performance with the feature turned off. If you're trying to ensure smooth performance, the extra frames per second (fps) it provides will probably be worth it for this card more than the others. Chart courtesy of Brad Bourque
WIRED
31-01-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5080 Is a Solid High-End GPU
Nvidia's newest 50 Series GPUs are slowly trickling out, and as usual, the very top-end RTX 5090 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the graphics card that everyone is talking about. It boasts extreme 4K gaming, the latest in AI-powered gaming enhancements, and a power draw to match. I can't blame you for not wanting to spend $2,000 on a GPU; that's enough to build a midrange gaming PC on its own. At just $1,000 for the RTX 5080 Founders Edition, this still-expensive step-down card will be the model that more people seriously consider, even if it's still a splurge. It's a better choice from a performance perspective, meeting people where they already are in terms of monitor resolution, game choice, and existing power supplies. But how does it fare against the more expensive card, and how does it handle some of the more popular and evergreen games? Well enough to my eyes. If you're building your next high-end gaming PC and are looking for a high-end video card to match, this might be exactly what you're looking for—if you can find one for sale. Same Size, More Efficient The form factor of the RTX 5080 is identical to its more powerful counterpart, with a true two slot design that should fit in most cases very comfortably. I really appreciate the size reduction overall, and I hope AIC cards follow suit. Photograph: Brad Bourque Where the RTX 5090 draws an immense 575 watts, the 5080 only asks for 360 watts with the same new power connector. Like the RTX 5090 FE, the RTX 5080 includes an adapter, and I imagine most partner cards will as well. That means a lower overall system power requirement, with Nvidia recommending just 850 watts for the Founders Edition. I expect this will be an easier requirement for existing rigs to meet without needing to buy a new 1,000-watt or higher PSU. DLSS Performance Nvidia introduced a new version of its AI-powered enhancement tools for the RTX 50 Series. These notably add support for multi-frame generation, which uses AI to generate up to three frames between. If you're interested in learning more about the effects of using this tech on image quality, make sure to check out the RTX 5090 review. The short version is that multi-frame generation can produce minor artifacts, particularly in areas where two objects at different depths overlap, such as looking through a fence. These are hard to spot across a whole screen though, and the higher frame rate makes the gaming experience much smoother, so the frames are onscreen less time. I'll start by checking out performance in Cyberpunk 2077, one of the more demanding games that currently supports multi-frame generation. Screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque
