Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz in 2024

In spite of the fact that you might be able to afford it, purchasing a graphics card isn’t as straightforward as picking out the latest model. Your monitor is one of many factors to consider. In the case of an RTX 3090, a 1080p 144Hz monitor would be useless since the monitor simply cannot keep up with the GPU, and wasted frames equal wasted money. The GPU can even cause screen tearing if it is severely overpowered.

We are here to help you if you have purchased a Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz monitor and you want to pair it with a GPU that keeps it from exceeding its limits rather than pushing it to them. You will find reviews of five of the top graphics cards you can currently buy for playing games on 1080p 144Hz monitors to guide you through this difficult buying experience. Let’s begin!

PCGuide has been covering the GPU war for years now, so we know exactly what you’re facing. When it comes to graphics cards, the industry can seem like more of an arms race than a market competition at times, making it a daunting prospect to interact with, especially if you are new to PC gaming.

Almost as good as knowing graphics cards by heart! In addition to helping you find the Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz, we’re constantly engaging with new and not-so-new products, not just for your benefit but also for our own. Our core belief is that if a GPU isn’t good enough for us, then it isn’t even close to being adequate for you.

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Our goal is to find GPUs that offer power and reliability in 1080p 144Hz monitors, so we can push some very impressive fps averages across a wide range of titles.

Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz in 2024

1. MSI RTX 2060 Super Ventus

MSI’s Ventus is equipped with the excellent RTX 2060 Super GPU, an enhanced version of the entry-level 20-Series 2060 GPU. In addition to 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and 2176 CUDA cores, this GPU also provides advanced DLSS and ray tracing capabilities. A 1080p gaming experience at 144Hz is available on this card and it is one of the fastest currently available graphics cards. If you need an upgrade to 1440p resolution, the monitor runs cool and delivers a serious amount of frames per second.

A great GPU for 1080p gaming is Nvidia’s RTX 2060 Super. Featuring 2176 shading cores, 34 RT cores for stunningly smooth hardware ray tracing when supported by software, and 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, this GPU will keep you gaming at peak performance at all times.

Normally, the Ventus would shoot between 100 and 280 frames per second, but with G-Sync technology from Nvidia, even when it is traveling faster than the 144Hz display, an automatic slowing function keeps it in sync with your display. Perfect!

The MSI Ventus graphics card features dual fans, direct-contact copper heat pipes and dual fans, so as long as it’s well cooled, it won’t ever exceed 70°C or 75dBA.

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The pre-overclocked nature of this card allows it to have excellent thermal characteristics. As a result, if you manually overclock your card, you can play demanding games like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and RDRII seamlessly. EST COOLING

2. Gigabyte RTX 2060 Windforce Gaming

Aside from a name that calls attention to low temperatures, the Gigabyte RTX 2060 Windforce Gaming graphics card also offers excellent performance and is the ideal platform for manual overclocking. In addition to RT cores, Tensor cores, and variable-rate shading, the RTX 2060 chipset resides at its core, which is designed for high-definition 1080p gaming precision.

Gaming enthusiasts who are looking for a card that can handle 1444Hz monitors with the best thermal solution in the industry will find the Gigabyte 2060 Windforce to be an excellent choice.

Featuring three rotating fans that alternate with each other and four copper heat pipes that directly contact the GPU die, this card can handle extreme loads. Despite the noise, the tri-fan system provides higher performance than many other dual-fan cards.

With a core clock speed of 1830MHz out of the box, this card is already pre-overclocked beyond factory settings. Therefore, you can even further enhance its performance by manually overclocking.

In fact, there are several things I like about the Gigabyte card, including the RTX 2060 chipset from Nvidia, which may not be quite as strong as the Super but is still a good choice if you want some 1080p excellence.

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Gigabyte’s graphics card generally runs in the 100-150 fps range, so it’s the Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz output, especially because it does not have integrated GPU syncing. While it often falls below the 60fps threshold when playing more demanding games, it retains a smooth and even picture quality thanks to its 6GB GDDR6 memory configuration.

3. Gigabyte Windforce Gaming 1660 Ti

It retains the same two alternate spinning Windforce fans as the RTX 2060 Gigabyte card, even though there are only two on this unit. Despite being an especially small card, it appeals to both OC enthusiasts and minimalists alike. This card is powered by a Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, which allows it to deliver impressive gaming performance. Obviously, this card does not have the special features that you’d find on RTX Turing cards, but it is a great choice for most people. For the price, this is a top card for gaming with 1080p and 144Hz screens and a terrific choice.

Gigabyte’s alternate spinning fan cooling system provides excellent thermal performance with the Windforce model. How does alternate spinning work? Alternating fan speeds actually reduces air turbulence within the shroud, which means that air will not be caught up in blustery crosswinds, but will be able to pass over the heat sinks and far from the GPU fast.

During challenging games like RDRII, the card can average around 40fps. At stock settings, it can reach over 160fps on some titles like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. When you perform some custom OC-ing, you will be able to increase those rates to that of the RTX 2060.

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This card comes packed with one of the best cards from the 16-Series, a 1660 Ti, which allows it to deliver top-notch gaming performances in 1080p. It does not contain RT or Tensor cores, but offers the same advanced performance as remote cousins in the RTX series with separate data paths and GDDR6 VRAM.

One of the most attractive aspects of the 17-Series is its form factor. These cards are half the length of most GTX 10-Series cards and RTX-series cards, so their raw power should be praised. For those who want a micro tower card, this is the one to choose.

4. Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse

Since the Ryzen 5700 XT GPU is the Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz that is manufactured on a 7-nm process, it requires a lot of cooling. Qualcomm has developed a method for reducing temperatures without increasing volume.

The axial shroud contains the Dual-X cooling system, which comes with two 95mm fans with powerful blades capable of dissipating heat from the sink at low rpms.

AMD’s Ryzen 7500 XT is built on AMD’s RDNA architecture, with a redesigned SM, efficient IPC, GDDR6 memory, and 2560 cores, 160 texture units, and 64 render units. It has been pre-overclocked to allow it to achieve 1080p averages of about 125fps with base and boost clocks shifting from 1605MHz to 1670MHz and 1925MHz, respectively.

AMD cards are notoriously tough to overclock due to their GPUs being always near capacity, but thanks to its pristine thermal design, this 5700 XT Sapphire will, allow you to be a little bit more adventurous with your OC-ing.

5. Zotac GTX 1660

The Zotac GTX 1660 graphics card’s 8 inch form factor should suit your design preferences perfectly. Smaller cards have smaller fans, and quieter fans mean quieter performance in general.

There will be some warm refuse air venting into your case since it’s a twin-fan card. However, as long as your fan curve and other peripherals are protected, you shouldn’t have an issue.

Nvidia’s Turing architecture is yet another reason to buy the 1660. Due to its lack of RT and Tensor cores, it cannot perform hardware ray tracing and can’t perform hyper-fast AI deep learning, but its lack of these cores is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. Therefore, you are assured that your money is invested in performance that is standard, rather than in niche special functions.

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We recommend that you lower the settings a little bit on the GTX 1660 if you want to get the most out of that 144Hz refresh rate. For another alternative, Zotac has redesigned their Firestorm software. An intuitive and clear user interface makes it easy to set performance parameters.

Things To Consider

Frames Per Second: It’s not as difficult as it seems to buy a graphics card for a specific monitor. For the purpose of this scenario, let’s assume our monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate, which means that it will automatically refresh the image on the display every 144 milliseconds. Thus, we want the GPU to be capable of pushing out as many frames per second as possible, but not to the point where it risks exceeding 144 frames per second.

You can find many online benchmarks that measure frame rate performance at various resolutions for a given video card. If possible, you should opt for a GPU with syncing technology so it will work seamlessly with your screen.

Cooling: Thermals should be taken into consideration when buying a graphics card. Keeping it as cool as possible is essential so that it can consistently perform at its best. Overheating graphics cards throttle performance and decrease the frame rate.

Secondary cooling can be achieved with your case fans, but integrated GPU cooling is primarily handled by two methods. Cards with blowers produce warm air that is exhausted directly from your case. Two or more fans usually accompany axial cards (open-air). Their purpose is to cool your system, but also to exhaust excess heat.

Dimensions: It is more important to consider the GPU dimensions when shopping for a GPU in practice. Getting it to fit your case or sagging a lot, or whether it blocks expansion slots on your motherboard, is difficult.

Prior to purchasing a GPU, you ought to measure your case and its brackets. In most cases, the largest micro cases and even mid tower cases can fit modern GPUs.

VRAM: GPUs contain video memory, also known as VRAM. Moreover, it ensures smooth, even graphics on your monitor’s display and provides lightning-fast visual information. For playable frame rates and graphics quality, you need a large GPU VRAM capacity to handle the higher resolution of the screen. It takes at least 4GB of memory to support 1080p, but 8GB is ideal.

Modern VRAM sticks typically come in DDR4, DDR5, DDR5X, or DDR6 formats, each of which demonstrates a slight increase in efficiency over the previous versions. It’s best to choose a GPU with GDDR6 VRAM, even though we aren’t interested in a super-powered GPU.

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Our Verdict

We believe that the Best Graphics Card for 1080p 144Hz monitor should provide a high frame rate and include integrated sync technology to prevent overheating the screen and creating screen tears. It is hard to go wrong with the MSI 2060 Super Ventus, but hey, if you’re not into high-end components, don’t worry about it. It’s not hard to find 1080p 144Hz cards for a fraction of the price of the Gigabyte 1660 Ti, Sapphire Pulse, and Zotac cards.

The Gigabyte RTX 2060 Windforce, with its tri-fan system, is definitely the king in terms of thermal efficiency; although, if three fans are too noisy for your taste, Zotac’s dynamo 1660 could be a good alternative. This case fits into most cases for a variety of reasons. Most of the time, it’s cool, quiet, and looks good. In the event that you’re an AMD supporter and a fan of some of these features, the Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse can prove to be a formidable alternative to Nvidia tech, and the tinkering Sapphire did meant it was free of any of the deficiencies it had in its original release.