Club Benefits
If you’re looking for the best all-around PC gaming experience, Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs are the way to go — touting the widest game support, the best AI trickery to enhance game performance in DLSS 4.5, and superior ray tracing.
But two problems: Nvidia’s a bit busy fuelling the AI data centre boom, which has caused strain on supply. Then on top of that, retailers know these are the best options, and we’re left with ballooning prices.
I may be the PC gaming guy on the Tom's Guide team, and I get super hyped when I see the breakthroughs in graphical fidelity like neural-driven path tracing in Resident Evil Requiem. But I’m not blind to the prevalent price gouging, and as someone testing the best GPUs, it’s a little depressing to be in the situation where my mates ask, “Which one should I buy?” And my answer is “don’t…just don’t.”
HOWEVER, Nvidia is fighting back, and in the UK, there are nine 50-series graphics cards (all that I’ve personally tested and recommend) that are either back down to their retail price or close enough to it that my answer to my friends is “snag one now.”
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
For those looking for a 4K monster without having to remortgage the house for a 5090, the RTX 5080 is the right choice. It’s the GPU in the daily driver I built late last year, and it’s the central nervous system to all my gaming (strapped up to my 4K gaming monitor and the TV too for a console-esque experience).
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
After putting this card through its paces, RTX 5070 Ti is my favorite of Nvidia’s latest lineup — nailing 1440p gameplay, along with shockingly good 4K performance too.
Packing enough video memory for even the most taxing AAA titles, a ton of CUDA cores for impressive rendering speeds, and Tensor cores for all that DLSS 4 goodness, it’s the sweet spot of the family. And while the discounts bring it down to around £40 over RRP, that cost is offset with a free copy of Resident Evil Requiem!
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, 5060 Ti (16GB), and 5060
Did I call the RTX 5070 an awkward middle child back on my Birthday in 2025? Sure, and my answer would’ve been to go for the RTX 5060 Ti with more video memory (GDDR7) — a crucial number for ensuring your games run smooth and stable.
However, this was back when the pricing was a mess last summer. Now, the 5070 and 5060 Ti are (finally) only £10 over RRP and are now solid mid-rangers for 1440p gameplay.
And for those getting into PC gaming for the first time, an RTX 5060 is a good place to start, with stellar 1080p performance and access to the full DLSS 4 suite. Plus, doesn’t hurt that it’s £30 below RRP.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
