Every figure in these guides is generated from our GPU database at build time, so the numbers in the text match the numbers in the rankings. We do not test hardware ourselves — see our methodology.
12 GB is the 1440p floor and 16 GB is the one to buy — and at playable frame rates, 8 GB does not even save you money. 29 of the 85 cards we track still ship with 8 GB.
Which model fits which card, worked out from the arithmetic — 4-bit and 8-bit requirements from 7B to 70B, why bandwidth decides your token rate, and why RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB at $279 is the cheapest sensible entry point.
MSRP is a launch-day positioning statement, not a price. The one card we can price at retail sells 35% below its list figure — and that moves it from rank 10 to rank 1 on value.
A Value Score of 100 means a card returns about 30 frames per second at 1440p for every $100 it costs. The median card on this site scores 39, and the fastest card scores 28 — here is why that is correct, and where the number stops being useful.
Every graphics card at or under $300, ranked by measured 1440p performance per dollar. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB leads at 33.5 fps per $100 — and it is also the cheapest 16 GB card we track.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is 14% faster at 1440p than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 for 9% more money. But the card that beats both on price-per-frame is the one nobody puts in the headline.