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Best graphics card for 4K 120Hz & 144Hz in 2023

Powerful GPUs for high-resolution gaming
Last Updated on November 22, 2023

If you’re looking to maximize your gaming experience, then you’ll need the best graphics card for 4K, 120hz, and 144hz you can find. then a powerful graphics card is essential. With the advent of 4K, 120 Hz, and 144 Hz monitors becoming more and more common, finding the right GPU that can handle these settings can be a daunting task.

In this article, we will look at some of the best GPUs on the market for 4K 120 Hz and 144 Hz gaming to help you make an informed decision about which one is right for you.

This is the highest resolution gaming monitors can deliver, so it’s going to be normal to see high-end GPUs in this list. So, if you’re in the market for a GPU for this task expect to spend some money on components, but also prepare yourself for the best gaming experience money can buy.

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Nvidia GPUs

AMD GPUs

Products at a Glance

How we picked the best GPU for 4K 120Hz & 144Hz

Selecting a GPU that’s able to run games and support the highest resolution is somewhat easy. However, we still have our method.

We started out by looking over the performance benchmarks of each card. We were looking to see high frames per second across all modern games. Alongside performance, it’s also nice to see some good specs that back it up. This way we can determine if the GPU is better suited for gaming only or for gaming and productive tasks. This led us to the final decision.

Our Recommended

Best graphics card for 4K 120Hz & 144Hz in 2023

1
PROS
  • Great frequencies
  • DisplayPort 2.1
  • Amazing performance
  • Strong infinity cache
  • The best price
CONS
  • Not that strong with ray tracing
  • No DLSS

This is the flagship AMD GPU. The 7900 XTX is set to give Nvidia a battle so strong they’ll regret setting the price the way they did.

This GPU is built to support the highest resolutions and most demanding gaming requests on the market. The main reason why we’ve chosen this GPU instead of the Nvidia 4090 as our editor’s choice is the pricing. 

The RX 7900 XTX came to the market at an MSRP of $999, for this price you’ll receive a GPU that runs AAA games in 4K way above the 140 FPS mark. Thanks to the 24 GB GDDR6 VRAM, 384-bit memory bus, and 960.00 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU is capable of reaching a beautiful mark of 122.8 TFLOPS for FP16 (half) performance. 

If you’re looking for a GPU that will ensure you great performance, and a fair cost, then this must be your top choice. Setting things straight, this is not the more powerful GPU on the market right now but is a close second with a better price.

2
PROS
  • Strong DLSS
  • Amazing ray tracing performance
  • Great at content creation
  • Beautiful gaming experience
  • GDDR6X
CONS
  • Power hungry
  • Expensive

This takes us to the strongest GPU on the market right now. If money is no concern for you, then the 4090 should be your number one choice.

The RTX 4090 is Nvidia’s flagship GPU; built to provide the best performance technology. The GPU has shown amazing results across all benchmarks, and not only for gaming.

The top advantage this GPU has is the strength and speed it provides when taken out of context and used for demanding content creation tasks, such as 3D rendering or video editing, etc. 

The RTX 4090 packs 24 GB GDDR6X memory which is faster than the non-x version but also draws more power. Also, it has 16384 cores that house 76,300 million transistors; more than numbers, this is telling us how strong the GPU is to support high resolutions. The 4090 will handle 4K and high refresh rates easily. 

Furthermore, the GPU features a 384-bit memory bus, a 1,008 GB/s bandwidth, and no L3 cache but it gets to a boost clock speed of 2520 MHz and 82.58 TFLOPS (1:1) at FP16 (half) performance.

3
PROS
  • Great price
  • DisplayPort 2.1
  • Strong infinity cache
  • Fast frequencies
CONS
  • Poor ray tracing
  • No DLSS

We will stick to last-gen GPUs in this list. The reason for this is that we consider that 144Hz is a demanding limit of frames per second the GPU must run. So it’s always a good idea to have the most updated GPUs to do this work.

The last-gen GPUs have shown an incredible jump in architecture, power efficiency, and performance; it would be foolish not to have them on this list.

The RX 7900 XT is the cheapest GPU of every last-gen unit, both from AMD and Nvidia. It was released at $899 and has been proven as a solid contender to the RTX 4080.

The 7900 XT features the latest infinity cache from AMD which makes it perfect for gaming at high resolutions. Plus it packs a 20 GB GDDR6 VRAM, a boost clock speed of 2394 MHz, and an L3 cache of 80 MB. This GPU will run 4K at the best setting and high FPS count.

4
PROS
  • Powerful ray tracing accelerators
  • DLSS
  • Strong performances
  • Fast clock speeds
CONS
  • More expensive than the 7900 XT

Last but not least, we have the Nvidia RTX 4080. This is the second high-end GPU from Nvidia’s last generation but it has no reason to envy its big sibling.

The RTX 4080 is a strong competitor that will endure any tasks that are placed against it.  The 4080 features 16 GB GDDR6X video memory; this is 4GB less than the 7900 XT but under the 6X technology which is supposed to be faster.

Moreover, it packs a 256-bit memory bus, 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, and a boost clock speed of 2505 MHz. According to the site Techpowerup, this GPU can deliver up to 15% better performance than the 7900 XT.

However, by this far in multiple benchmarks, the 4080 and 7900 XT have shown to be roughly equal in performance – except when there are lots of ray tracing and DLSS involved.

Features and considerations

When it comes to gaming, having the best experience possible is essential. Whether you’re a casual gamer or a serious enthusiast, the right GPU can make all the difference when playing at 4K resolutions with 120Hz or 144Hz refresh rates.

With so many options on the market, it’s important to know what features and considerations you need to look for when choosing a GPU. 

The most critical factor, in selecting a GPU, is its power-to-cost ratio. You want to ensure that your graphics card has enough power to handle high frame rates while still being within your budget.

It’s also important to consider how much memory your graphics card has, as this will determine how well games run at higher resolutions and higher frame rates.

How many GB graphics card do I need for 4K gaming?

We’d say the minimum would be 12GB for 4K gaming. 4K does typically demand a more premium and powerful graphics card, so looking at GPUs like the Nvidia 30 and 40 series could be a good place to start.

Can an RTX 3060 run 4K?

The 3060 works best at 1080p and 1440p, but you can use it for 4K gaming. You may not be able to go all-out with it though, so expect the frame-rate to be a little on the low side.

Our Verdict

4K gaming, especially at high refresh rates and frames per second is a hard beat to dame. To get these results constantly and without fault, one must consider getting the best GPUs and components.

For the job, you have the RX 7900 XTX. This GPU besides behaving amazingly in this resolution offers all of its qualities at a good price of around a thousand dollars. If you want or need the best of the best and don’t care about the money, you can’t let the RTX 4090 fly. It is simply the best GPU in the market.