Top 7 Best Graphics Cards for Ray Tracing in 2023
In computer games, particularly those with high fidelity lighting, ray tracing simulates real-life lighting effects by tracking light from its source to its destination. Ray tracing is a technology that simulates lighting effects in real-life. Basically, ray tracing works like a mirror to create accurate reflections of a scene. Your graphics card must be capable of implementing this technology if you want to use it.
As a result of memory buffers and depth buffers, ray tracing speeds up rendering, and it also allows you to create characters and environments that appear realistic. Computer games can be made more realistic with ray tracing, which is embedded in many 3D-modeling software programs. This technology can also be used for several other purposes.
It’s necessary to have RT cores on your graphics card if you want to play games with ray tracing. You’ll need an Nvidia RTX or AMD Radeon RX 6000. Here are the top 7 best graphics cards with ray tracing capability for 2023. You will need the latest graphics card drivers to be able to use these cards.
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ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC – Best Overall
Pros
Architecture based on NVIDIA Ampere
Cores for Ray Tracing 2nd Gen
The third generation of Tensor Cores
Memory capacity of 12GB 192-bit GDDR6
Cooling with IceStorm 2.0
Ready for 8K, VR, and 4 displays
HDMI and DisplayPort outputs
Negatives
Pricey
Review
With 12GB of GDDR6 memory and superior graphics performance, the ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC is the best graphics card for ray tracing. It comes with 12GB GDDR6 memory. If you don’t have too many concerns about ultra-high settings, this is an adequate card. It can handle most AAA games at 1440p or 1080p as well as 4K gaming without compromising visual quality.
It has a memory bus of 192 bits and can access one or two gigabytes of memory per chunk. Due to its unique IceStorm 2.0 and Fire Storm technologies, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3060 Twin-Edge OC can deliver a higher clock speed than other cards with similar memory capacities.
As a result of the RTX architecture and 3rd generation Tensor cores, the card is twice as powerful and power efficient as its predecessors. The metal backplate also improves rigidity and heat dissipation. In addition to the NVIDIA Ampere architecture and 2nd Gen ray tracing cores, this graphics card includes IceStorm 2.0 cooling, a freeze fan, and active fan control for superior cooling performance. In addition to being 8K ready, it has four display options, as well as Vulkan RT API, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and OpenGL 4.6 compatibility.
What Makes This Graphics Card the Best Ray Tracing Graphics Card for 2023?
ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC Graphics Card features NVIDIA’s second-generation RTX graphics architecture called Ampere, making it the best option if you are looking for a good GPU for ray tracing.
A twin-fan thermal solution ensures cooler temperatures compared to previous RTX generations. It has enhanced RT Cores, streaming multiprocessors, and 192-bit RAM. Compared to other ray-tracing GPUs, ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3060 Twin OC delivers outstanding performance. This card isn’t the fastest on the market, but it provides a great deal of performance headroom and produces breathtaking visual effects.
This card offers a faster boost clock speed, a smaller size, and a conservative heatsink, as well as providing ray-tracing capabilities at an affordable price.
Despite being slightly more powerful, the 3060 is capable of handling 1080p games. In addition to offering 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores and 12GB 192-bit GDDR6 memory with a boost clock speed of 1807 MHz, the ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC offers better ray tracing and virtual reality capabilities. Additionally, IceStorm 2.0 Cooling, Freeze Fan Stop, and Active Fan Control provide superior cooling performance. DisplayPort and HDMI connections make it easy for you to connect. With all these features, it makes for a great ray tracing graphics card.
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PNY GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Graphics Card – Runner Up
Pros
Raytracing cores from generation 2
GDDR6 memory of 8GB
CUDA cores: 4864
RGB EPIC-X
Cooling with two fans
Interface PCI Express 4.0
Cons
Mining is not supported
Review
In terms of ray tracing, the PNY GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB is one of the world’s most impressive new graphics cards. In addition to offering superb graphics performance, this card is compatible with a wide range of games thanks to its advanced design. The GPU possesses a massive amount of raw power.
A dual-fan cooler, along with 8GB GDDR6, is part of the PNY GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which uses Ampere architecture to handle 1080p gaming’s graphical demands. It supports CUDA and has dual-slot memory.
A 1410MHz core clock and a 1665MHz boost clock make this graphics card easily capable of meeting high-end gaming demands. You can also enjoy superior performance and RGB design with the EPIC-X RGB, as well as 4864 CUDA processing cores and up to 448GB/sec of memory bandwidth.
There are also DisplayPort 1.4a, HDMI 2.1 and enhanced 2Gen ray tracing cores on this card, which provides a 25MH/s ETH hash rate. You will get PCI Express 4.0 interface on this card, which is compatible with various systems.
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MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 Graphics Card – Budget Pick
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDRR6
Pros
Capability of ray tracing
Memory with GDRR6 of 6GB
Supports ultra-settings for games
Operation in a quiet manner
Affordably priced
Cons
Plastic backplate
Review
With its insane performance out of the box and ample overclocking headroom, MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 is the best choice if you’re looking for an affordable, ray tracing graphics card.
The RTX 2060 offers a significant improvement in performance over the RX 580 in terms of performance, while the latter struggles to maintain a competitive minimum framerate. Despite its low price tag, it offers excellent value for money and competitive performance. It is equipped with 6GB of GDDR6 memory and supports ray tracing. MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 has a 1710 MHz boost clock speed. It is VR-ready and has excellent graphics. It has a turning architecture and supports ray tracing.
The GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card offers some extra performance and is the best choice for those looking to enable real-time ray tracing and DLSS. Featuring an overclock of nine percent, it offers NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and 192-bit textures. It can deliver up to 7680 x 4320 digital resolution. It is HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a compatible.
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ASUS ROG STRIX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 – Premium Pick
Pros
Multiprocessors that stream at a high speed
RT cores of the second generation
Tensor cores of the third generation
Fan design with Axial-Tech
Memory of 24GB GDDR6X
Cons
The price is very high
Review
With its ray tracing capabilities and 24GB of GDDR6X memory, ASUS’ GeForce RTX 3090 STRIX is the company’s latest flagship graphics card. The card also features a low acoustic profile and a beefy cooling system.
There are a lot of features on the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card, which is very expensive. You can play games with it because it supports DirectX 12 and all the features you’d expect from a GeForce gaming card. With 2nd Generation RT core and shading, you can experience a new level of ray tracing thanks to the card’s same level of throughput as the first generation RT cores.
Video quality is also outstanding with HDMI 2.1 support and 24-GB of GDDR6X memory on the RTX 3090. The black plastic shroud and silver metal accents of this graphics card have a very stylish and polarizing design. Even though the card’s looks might turn some heads, its performance is outstanding and it’s definitely worth a look.
In addition to 2nd Gen RT cores, this card also contains 3rd Gen tensor cores. It has an Axial-Tech fan design for efficient cooling. It has NVIDIA Ampere streaming multiprocessors. This card offers a whole new level of ray tracing. A 2.9-slot design provides more thermal headroom and cooling space.
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PowerColor Red Devil AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT Graphics Card
The pros
1440p performance at its best
Gaming in silence
Cooler with three fans
The RGB effect is unique
Cons
Compared to NVIDIA cards, this card has poor ray tracing performance
Review
AMD Radeon-RX 6750 XT from PowerColor Red Devil is another graphics card you can use for ray tracing. Despite the fact that it doesn’t have as much power as the premium Red Devil, it still offers great value for money. Furthermore, it supports overclocking and has a ten-phase VRM.
This AMD Radeon-based gaming graphics card has a triple-fan cooling solution. A thick aluminum fin stack makes up the heatsinks, which peek out from the shroud of the cooler. Additionally, it is factory overclockable, with a maximum boost speed of 2.65GHz. A three-pin addressable RGB header and RGB LED lighting are also available on the PowerColor Red Devil AMD Radeon card. It has excellent memory and clock speed for the price.
With its 76 frames per second on Battlefield 5 4K benchmarks, this AMD Radeon RX 6700 is comparable to the RTX 6700 at the highest settings. XFX has also released some great AMD Radeon cards for less money. AMD Radeon XT PowerColor Red Devil delivers great 1080p raster performance along with ray-tracing performance for gamers looking for RGB graphics cards.
With 192-bit memory bus, 40 compute units, and 12GB GDDR6 VRAM, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is a powerful graphics card that is a direct replacement for the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT.
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EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC Gaming Graphics Card
EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC Gaming, 1
Pros
Tracing of rays in real time
Cooling system with dual fans
Backplate made entirely of metal
Memory capacity of 12GB GDDR6
Cons
It’s a little noisier now
Review
The EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC Gaming Graphics Card is quite capable of ray tracing despite its small size. It is the first card in the Founders Edition line to come from EVGA. It features a custom heatsink and dual fans to provide efficient cooling. In addition to its promising performance at 1080p resolution, the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black is compatible with four video outputs, making it suitable for gamers who play games in a 1080p resolution.
The card has a DisplayPort 1.4a connection and a HDMI 2.1 port, so you can drive three monitors and a television. Despite not having ultra-fast GDDR6X memory, the 12GB GDDR6 video memory on the EVGA GeForce RTX 30-series graphics card can drive 3 monitors and a television with ease. In 1440p 60FPS games, the EVGA GeForce, RTX-3060 XC Gaming graphics card is very responsive. The RTX 3060 is built on the same 8nm process as the GeForce RTX 2070. Boost your graphics card’s clock speed to 1882 MHz and play games with real-time ray tracing.
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ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 Overclocked Graphics Card
Pros
Powered by NVIDIA Turing
Supports up to 4 monitors
IP5X dust-resistant wing-blade fans
Durable aluminum protective backplate
Cons
Runs hot
Review
For ray tracing, you can also use the ASUS GeForce RTX 2060, which has 6GB of GDDR6 memory and is overclocked. Though it does not support 4K graphics, it does well at 2560x1440p resolution. It also does well in all games. The 2060 can easily surpass the 60-frame mark, although quality settings may need to be reduced in some titles.
With 6GB of GDDR6 memory, the RTX 2060 delivers blazingly fast gaming speeds. A dual-fan design of the card ensures maximum performance and keeps things cool. In order to make the card more overclockable, it was designed with dual power connections and extra cooling built in, which made it possible to overclock it.
A new Turing GPU architecture is used in the ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. With its six-fold performance advantage over its predecessors, real-time ray tracing provides full-pixel detail with no precomputed limitations thanks to real-time ray tracing. Additionally, this GPU comes with the RTX platform, which optimizes gaming performance using artificial intelligence.
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How to Choose the Best Graphics Card for Ray Tracing in 2023?
It is important that you consider a few things before you purchase a graphics card for ray tracing. Here are a few things you need to consider before purchasing a graphics card.
AMD vs. NVIDIA
You should consider the brand when buying a new graphics card that is capable of ray tracing. There are two leading manufacturers of graphics cards, namely, NVIDIA and AMD. NVIDIA is the best at ray tracing graphics cards, but AMD GPU is also a decent performer. Choose the best graphics card for gaming by comparing the brands.
Ray Tracing Capability
You have to take ray tracing into account when buying a graphics card. Currently, only Nvidia and AMD can deliver real-time ray tracing, so you need to choose the right one. When AMD started providing ray tracing support, they were late to the game. However, they have powerful GPUs, but they don’t perform as well as comparable Nvidia GPUs.
Thermal Design Power
When purchasing a new graphics card for ray tracing, it is important to take the Thermal Design Power (TDP) into consideration. TDP measures how much heat a GPU can generate and gives a wattage estimate of how much power it uses. For example, a graphics card with a TDP of 200 uses about 200 watts from its power supply. With a graphics card of this TDP, you should not encounter overheating even with more demanding applications.
Memory
The amount of memory in your graphics card is important for high-end games. Several things need to be considered if you want to use ray tracing on your gaming PC. When your graphics card has more memory, it will run faster and better.
Connections
Ray tracing relies heavily on the connections on a graphics card. PCI and PCIe connections are available on most graphics cards. PCI ports are the oldest connections. The AGP port is more common today and is intended for graphics cards. PCIe ports are faster and have more connections. Both PCIe and AGP ports can support ray tracing. Make sure you choose a graphics card with multiple connections.
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Frequently Asked Questions About GPUs for Ray Tracing
What Graphics Card Has the Best Ray Tracing?
AMD and Nvidia both provide some great graphics cards with exceptional power efficiency and quiet operation. If you are considering upgrading your graphics card, you may be wondering which graphics card has the best ray tracing.
As the fastest and most expensive graphics card on the market, the NVIDIA RTX 3090 is widely considered the best ray tracing card. AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT is another powerful GPU.
Can GTX Cards Do Ray Tracing?
A new driver from Nvidia will allow GTX cards to support ray-tracing, which is great news for gamers. GTX cards don’t have dedicated hardware, so they can only offer basic ray-tracing effects. However, this support does not guarantee a high-quality gaming experience. In comparison to the old GTX graphics cards, Nvidia’s RTX series has more powerful hardware.
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Is RTX Better Than GTX?
A number of NVIDIA’s RTX graphics cards were introduced with GeForce 20. They are more powerful and better than GTX cards. RTX cards perform better in ray tracing than GTX cards. Although both GPUs feature ray tracing, RTX GPUs perform better in GPU rendering. In addition to ray tracing capabilities, both GPUs feature the new Turing architecture, making them future-proof choices. Because of this, they will perform better in next-generation games at a lower price, making them more affordable.
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Final Thoughts on Best Graphics Cards for Ray Tracing
If you want better graphics and visual effects when gaming, you need a graphics card that supports ray tracing. Ray tracing simulates light and shadows, which is a technique that isn’t available on every GPU, so you need to choose one that suits your gaming needs carefully. Using this guide, we have reviewed the 7 best graphics cards for ray tracing in 2023 that you can buy for gaming. As new models become available, we plan to update this page regularly. Please write in the comments if you have any suggestions or need more information.
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