When you set out to choose the right graphics card for your gaming needs, you first need
to figure out what your goals are.
What games are you going to play?
What’s the refresh rate of your monitor?
What graphical settings are you aiming for?
And what’s your target resolution?
Two of the most common resolution targets for gaming are 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440
- commonly shortened to 1080p and 1440p.
Both of these are in the popular 16:9 aspect ratio, and for years 1080 has been an accepted
gaming standard - but that’s changing.
More and more 1440 monitors are available, many with gaming-friendly features, and since
1440 offers 77% more pixels than 1080, that’s a pretty significant improvement.
For this project, we partnered with Gigabyte to test four of their most popular GPU models,
from the 1660 all the way up to the 2080 Super.
We tested each card in the same base system, with three popular games - DOOM: Eternal,
VALORANT, and Call of Duty: Warzone - at both 1080p and 1440.
Our goal was to see how all the cards performed at the highest graphics settings for each
game, with the goal of crowning two champions: the best 1080p gaming card, and the best 1440p
gaming card.
We’ll determine the “best” card by looking at the framerates you can get in each game,
with key graphics settings turned up to their highest levels, whenever possible.
More frames-per-second means a smoother visual experience in primarily single-player games
like DOOM: Eternal, and it can give you the extra visual information that means the difference
between victory and defeat in competitive shooters like Valorant and Warzone.
Of course it’s common practice in competitive shooters to turn down the graphics settings
in order to get the maximum possible FPS - but what we’re looking for is the least level
of compromise required, between great visuals and high FPS.
In our testing we’ll aim for the best-possible game appearance, and while watching along
with the video keep in mind that you could always decide to turn some visual settings
down to get higher FPS, if you’re playing competitively.
First, let’s talk about the benchmarking build.
At the heart of it we have the Intel i9-10900K, one of the fastest gaming CPUs available.
That’s nicely cooled with an AORUS RGB Liquid Cooler, with a 240mm radiator and a built-in
display for monitoring your temperatures.
The backbone of the build is an AORUS Z490 Ultra motherboard, and we have 16 gigs of
AORUS DDR4-3600 MHz memory.
Rounding out the build - and continuing the theme of “all-AORUS everything” - we have
a 750W power supply and a C200 GLASS case.
For our testing, we have two of Gigabyte’s latest gaming monitors - the G27QC and the
G27FC.
The main difference between the two is that the QC has a 1440p resolution and the FC is
a 1080p monitor.
Both have a 1ms (MPRT) response time and a 165 hz refresh rate.
That high refresh rate is important, because if you’re building a system capable of outputting
more frames per second than your monitor can display, you’re going to be missing out.
Those extra FPS aren’t wasted, exactly - but their utility becomes a lot more debatable.
And then of course we could talk about V-Sync and G-Sync, various ways of making sure your
GPU and monitor communicate in order to reduce screen tearing - but that’s really a subject
for a different video.
For right now it’s enough to say that 165hz is a solid gaming standard.
Above 165 you’ll be in the world of esports-focused monitors, with 240hz refresh rates - or higher.
For more information, make sure you check out the description below for links to these
monitors, the GPUs we will be discussing, and other AORUS products.
Now - on to the benchmarks!
First up, let’s talk 1080p, starting with DOOM: Eternal.
For testing we cranked all the visual settings up to “Ultra Nightmare,” the most demanding
of the six available graphics pre-sets.
As you can see from our chart of the FPS ranges we saw in our benchmarking, this is a demanding
game at these ultra high settings.
Since we’re dealing with a monitor with a 165hz refresh rate, we’ll consider that
a target sweet spot for where we want to be to get the most out of our GPU, without spending
more money on our hardware than we need to.
It’s important to note here that while all the Super cards put up these FPS numbers at
the ultra nightmare setting, for the 1660 we had to drop it down two levels to just
“Ultra” to get under the game’s built-in VRAM restrictions.
Ultra still looks great, of course, and it’s the 3rd highest of the game’s six graphics
settings - but below the 20 series you’re just not going to be able to crank DOOM up
to the highest level, even at 1080p.
The 1660 puts out a respectable 120 FPS at Ultra settings, which is below the refresh
rate of our monitor, but since the 1660 is about $180 cheaper than the 2060 Super, that
might be a compromise worth making.
Next up, let’s take a look at VALORANT, the CS:GO meets Overwatch competitive shooter
from Riot Games.
This was definitely the least demanding game of the three we tested, which is not surprising,
since VALORANT’s minimal system requirements mean it can actually run on Integrated graphics,
meaning you don’t even need a graphics card at all to play the game.
Of course your experience playing on a system like that won’t be the best - and if you
want competitive refresh rates at 1080p, you’ll want, you know, an actual graphics card.
As you can see, you don’t need a 20 series card to get great FPS numbers in VALORANT,
even with the graphics in the game turned up to their highest settings.
If you’re actually trying to go pro and playing on a 240 Hz monitor and can’t ever
deal with a dip below that level, then you might want to invest in a 2060 and play on
medium or lower graphics settings - just to be absolutely safe.
But for the average gamer, a 1660 is going to be a great choice for fast-paced 1080p
VALORANT action.
Now let’s talk about Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale version of
Call of Duty.
This was the most graphically demanding game of the three we tested, because although it
might not look as awe-inspiring as DOOM: Eternal on a moment to moment basis, we’re also
dealing with a more realistic world, with a level of detail that’s aiming to be convincing,
rather than cinematic.
Warzone’s map is also huge and wide open, so long-distance rendering and sightlines
are more important.
At the highest graphics settings, even the 2080 Super isn’t quite capable of hitting
the 165 FPS mark we would want, though if you have a different monitor that hits the
more common 144Hz refresh rate standard, then the 2080 will probably give you what you need.
Remember that in our graphics settings, if there was an option available we could crank
up to high - we did it.
For competitive play, even on 1080p, you’ll probably want to drop the graphics settings
down a level or two - and in that case you’ll be hitting comfortably solid numbers with
the 2070 and 2080, and even the 2060 will get the job done.
We tested this out for ourselves, and found that just by tweaking a few of the main visual
settings down from high to normal, we saw a jump of around 10-30 average FPS across
multiple different GPUs.
Now let’s bump things up to 1440p.
More pixels means more work for your graphics card, especially when we’re still aiming
for Ultra Nightmare settings in DOOM: Eternal.
Combining that game’s fast pace and intense imagery, on the highest possible settings,
at 1440p?
That’s one of the best gaming experiences to be had in 2020.
As you can see, if you want to be close to that 165 FPS target at 1440p in DOOM, on the
highest settings, you’re going to need a 2080 Super or better.
Those 2070 numbers are still decent, of course, and in our testing we found that even just
dropping down one level, to “Nightmare” graphics, could give you a 10 to 20 FPS boost.
And, hey, while we’re on the subject - creatively named graphics settings can be fun, but they
sure make videos like this more confusing than they need to be, right?
VALORANT continues to run like a breeze, even as we increase the resolution to 1440.
The stylized visuals don’t aim for fine detail or realism, but there are still some
flashy lighting and particle effects that can challenge lower-end GPUs.
You’re going to be just fine playing VALORANT with a 1660 GPU, even at 1440p, unless you
absolutely must hit that steady 240 mark for your esports monitor.
If that’s the case a 2060 will usually get you there, though we saw occasional, momentary
dips below 240 FPS in our testing.
Last and most demanding of all: Call of Duty: Warzone, on the highest settings, running
at 1440p.
As you can see, even the 2080 Super will struggle to reach the popular 144 FPS mark at 1440p.
If you’re okay with something more like 90 FPS as your target at the highest settings,
the 2070 Super can beat that, and the 2060 Super will come in right around there, most
of the time.
So - lots of numbers, lots of testing?
What does it all mean?
What’s the best graphics card?
Well - as will hopefully be clear to everyone by now, it really depends on your particular
needs, your goals, and the games you play.
If you’re mostly going to be playing Valorant on a monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate, your
needs are going to be very different than someone who is looking to max out DOOM: Eternal
on a Gigabyte gaming monitor.
With that said, here’s an overall chart of what we saw in 1080p performance across
the different GPUs:
If you’re looking for an NVIDIA GPU for 1080p gaming, while also turning up the graphics
settings, then your choice will come down to the 1660 and the 2060 Super.
With a difference of about $200 between the two cards, price will probably be your deciding
factor.
The numbers you get from a 1660 are very respectable, and with a few graphical compromises you’re
going to be able to hit FPS numbers at or near the refresh rate of your monitor, in
most games.
If you have the extra cash to spend, though, a 2060 Super gives you extra head-room, more
FPS, and of course the potential for real-time ray tracing features, which you’ll only
get with RTX cards.
At 1440p, you’re going to want to step up to the 2070 or 2080 Super.
Again the cost difference is about $200, and really the only game that didn’t quite get
where we wanted with the 2070 is Warzone.
155 FPS average in Doom: Eternal on Ultra Nightmare graphics is going to be plenty for
most people, after all - and if you insist on playing Warzone at 1440 on your 2070 GPU,
switching a few visual options down to Normal will be enough to keep your frame rates high.
In the end we find that if you’re gaming at 1080p, you can go with the 1660 with a
few compromises and save money, or step up to the luxury of the 2060 Super.
For 1440p gaming, the 2070 Super is a great option, while the 2080 Super will let you
max out more games, more often - now and into the future.
With all that in mind, make sure to check out the links in the description below for
full details on the GPUs we tested, along with the Gigabyte gaming monitors and other
products featured in the video.
Let us know what your choice is for best 1080p or 1440p graphics card in the comments.
See you next time.