The Best Graphics Cards in 2018

When a year draws to a close, suddenly you may ask yourself: "what have I done?" Good or bad, 2018 may just be another year, but nonetheless it was a big year and major leap for graphics cards. While the momentum for GeForce RTX 20 Series keeps going, we wrap up the year and look back on the graphics cards that dominate our "Best Graphics Cards Chart". Be a proud gamer if you own one of them. If not, add them on your wish list for 2019!

Best RGB Lighting & Best Performance

Some are born to outshine the brightest stars. SPECTRA 2.0 lighting system empowers the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2080 Ti AMP Extreme / 2080 AMP Extreme with the addressable LEDs, allowing for more dynamic lighting that captivates gamers and viewers alike. Choose from 13 lighting modes with animated effects available, 7 default colors and a wide spectrum provided for custom color. Each lighting zone also allows individual configuration.

The RGB lit graphics cards not only got the looks, but also the power. They are the beasts of performance equipped with new tech including real-time ray tracing and DLSS, shipping with a beefy boost clock speed of up to 1905 MHz and the GDDR6 ultra-fast memory. Powerful enough to run most graphically intensive games at 60fps in 4K without compromising on fidelity, and ultra-overclocked to be faster than any siblings in their own series. Looking for the best out of the bests for an extreme enthusiast build? Then look no further than the AMP Extreme models.

Best Dual-Slot

While our AMP Extreme models could be too thick for your system, the dual-slot ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2080 Ti AMP MAXX / RTX 2080 Twin Fan might be the right fit. Allowing more room for other expansion cards, their wide-bladed dual fans and increased heat sink dissipation area manage to keep the card at a chilly low degree. And like the other RTX GPUS, there is no shortage of horsepower to take on traditional and future gaming with the new Tensor and RT cores.

Besides, the newly introduced AMP MAXX series carries neck-to-neck overclocking performance with other AMP models, and boasts a bevy of powerful features such as POWERBOOST, 16+4 power phase and Freeze Fan stop that only AMP Extreme graphics cards offer. With these cards on hand, limited PCIe slots could no longer stop you from fast, smooth, power-inefficient and quiet gaming anymore.

Best Compact Card

Need a powerful upgrade? Own a compact gaming rig? Not keen on splurging too much on the most luxurious graphics card out there? The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2070 OC MINI / 2070 MINI is the absolute choice. Measuring only 8.3in x 5.08in x 1.61in, the mini solution fits in most of systems. Not to mention it still packs the same punch as other bigger 2070 cards.

Outside of its compact size, it can offer playable gaming performance at 1440p. Not the top-shelf quality compared to 2080 Ti and 2080 series, but the 2070 card costs less, making it an easier gateway to upcoming ray tracing and DLSS titles. The MINI models come with two variants; consider the pre-overclocked version if you want to save the hassle. Also featured is IceStorm 2.0 cooling, a combination of 90mm and 100mm dual fans and optimized heatsink for lower temperatures even in smaller systems.

Best Value

Regardless of the future-proof and powerful features from RTX cards, you don’t really need an extreme high-end card to play most titles today. Released last month, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 AMP brings up to 60 frames per second or more at 1080p. What’s more, the card is outfitted with faster GDDR5X to boost memory bandwidth. You may have heard of GDDR5X memory on 1080 or 1080 Ti GPUs, and now the memory arrives in the GTX 1060 line, offering a modest increase in performance over GDDR5.

Capable of both 4K resolutions and VR gaming, it is a great upgrade for many people who just want to enjoy their favorite games, let alone the card has a great price and offers great performance.