The best graphics card for video editing comes with ample VRAM for quick access to data and CUDA cores/Stream processors for performing multiple processing tasks at the same time.
Editing videos is resource-intensive. Without a powerful enough GPU driving it, video editing workflows can grind to a halt. Even the best video editing computers running the best video editing software demands a graphics card capable of keeping up with every frame, every render, every export – believe us, we’ve tried.
So, the best video editing graphics cards should increase your productivity and accelerate your workflow. Better yet, they can masterfully render visuals, apply effects, color grading, transitions, and so much more, so much more effortlessly. But with so many options on the market, it’s not an easy task to single out the one tailor-made for you and your budget.
Our expert reviewers have benchmarked and reviewed the best graphics cards for creators, gamers, and everyday users – and we’ve picked out the best for video editing. During our review, we’ve compared core aspects like performance, value for money, and availability so whatever your latest project is, there’s a graphics card to fit your video editing flow.
We’re monitoring all the best cheap graphics card prices and deals available right now.
The quick list
1. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
The RTX 4070 Ti is a value-packed workhorse ideal for video editors who want a next-gen mid-range graphics card with excellent rendering speeds and editing prowess. In terms of creative work, it’s almost as capable as graphics cards that are twice as expensive, and despite technically being a 1440p graphics card, it still manages to be adequately competitive at 4K.
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2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050
It doesn’t quite get better than the RTX 3050 if you’re pinching for pennies and are looking for a solid, pocket-friendly graphics card that doesn’t compromise on performance as far as video editing or low to mid-range gaming is concerned.
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3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
If you’re in the market for a premium graphics card that’s capable of chewing through everything – from the most graphics-intensive games to the most demanding video edits and 3D rendering tools, like Maya and Blender – there’s none better than the GeForce RTX 4090.
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The RX 6900 XT is one of the best AMD graphics cards as far as value-for-money is concerned, and given its rich catalog of features and top-notch gaming and creative performance, it’s a force to reckon with regardless of your use case.
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The Nvidia Titan RTX is an astonishingly powerful and fast graphics card, and thanks to its 24GB GDDR6 of VRAM and extra four Streaming Multiprocessors, it’s best-suited for data scientists, AI researchers, developers, content creators, and artists, but it’s not lightweight, to say the least, and certainly not a budget graphics card.
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6. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super
The GTX 1660 Super, although slower than the GTX 1660 Ti, is a super affordable graphics card that’s tailor-made for entry-level video editing and creative tasks. It’s also going to be ideal for budget gamers who want solid 1080p gaming performance – nothing more, nothing less.
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The Apple Mac mini is not just our favorite mini PC you can buy right now, but it’s also the best integrated graphics card for video editing and other creative tasks, especially for those who are already a part of the Apple ecosystem.
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What are the best graphics cards for video editing in 2024?
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Best graphics card for video editing overall
The RTX 4070 Ti is our pick for best video editing GPU. A value-packed workhorse, this next-gen mid-range graphics card features excellent rendering speeds and editing prowess. In terms of creative work, it’s almost as capable as graphics cards that are twice as expensive, and despite technically being a 1440p graphics card, it still manages to be adequately competitive at 4K.
The 12GB of GDDR6X memory might not be as high as some of the other graphics cards on the list, but it’ll still easily power through most demanding tasks without breaking a sweat, whether that’s handling high-resolution videos, detailed and complex effects, or real-time playback and rendering.
The 4070 Ti is not only more powerful and efficient but also more compact than the previous generation’s RTX 3070 Ti. Despite featuring over twice as many transistors as the 3070 Ti, the 4070 Ti is just about 75% of its size, and even its power consumption at 285W is lower than that of the predecessor in question.
All pro video editing applications, including Adobe Premiere Pro (where the RTX 4070 Ti eclipses the RX 7900 XT by about 17.5%) and creative processes like video production and 3D rendering, will benefit from its 7,680 CUDA cores, and you’ll also be able to work with more than one 4K clip at the same time.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti review
Best budget graphics card for video editing
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is the best graphics card for video editors on a budget – a solid, pocket-friendly GPU that, in our experience, doesn’t compromise on performance for video editing and low to mid-range gaming.
Needless to say, a budget graphics card will not be able to tackle AAA titles or creative tasks involving 4K visuals. However, if you’re a video editor who’s just getting started or you won’t be moving far beyond the realm of 1080p/FHD video resolution, the RTX 3050’s 8GB GDDR6 VRAM combined with a boosted clock speed of 1,780MHz and 2,560 CUDA cores is going to be more than sufficient for you – it should be, too, as you will only be paying about $250 for it.
The RTX 3050 can easily hit 60 fps in any 1080p game you throw at it, and it was mighty impressive when our experts tested it with Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, where it was able to churn out a solid 143 fps.
Despite its low price tag, it comes with ray tracing and DLSS, which is something you won’t find in other budget graphics cards, such as the GTX 1650. It’s, in fact, about 70% faster than the GTX 1650.
Yes, this is a card from the previous generation, but it came out pretty late in the cycle. And, all in all, it’s a perfect choice for moderate video editing tasks and budget gaming rigs that want a cheap graphics card with respectable performance and support for the latest features.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 review
Best video editing graphics card for power
If you’re in the market for a graphics card capable of chewing through everything – from gaming to the most demanding video edits and 3D rendering tools, like Maya and Blender – there’s none better than the GeForce RTX 4090.
It comes with a massive 24GB VRAM and more than 16,000 CUDA cores, which, combined with a boost clock speed of 2,520 MHz and memory bandwidth of 1,018 GB/s, make it the best-specced graphics card right now, and it’s also undoubtedly a very capable card for pro video editors and gamers who deal in 8K visuals.
In all fairness, though, it’s going to be overkill for most video editors. However, if your use case involves heavy gaming, then the RTX 4090 is going to be well worth the splurge for you.
As you might have already guessed, the pricing on this one is steep, to say the least. Priced at over $1,500 and its equivalent in other currencies, the RTX 4090 is certainly not for those with lean budgets, but it’s fair to say that those who can buy it will be future-proofing themselves, thanks to its 8K abilities and unmatchable power under the hood.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 review
Best AMD graphics card for video editing
The RX 6900 XT is one of the best AMD graphics cards for video editing, offering great value given its rich catalog of features and top-notch gaming and creative performance, it’s a force to reckon with regardless of your use case.
While AMD’s GDDR6 VRAM may not be as performance-driven as Nvidia’s GDDR6X memory, the former’s excellent ray tracing acceleration and robust computer units, along with its over 5,000 stream processors and a max boost clock for 2,250 MHz mean that the RX 6900 XT is perfectly capable of throwing out ultra-high frame rates when running AAA titles at both 1440p and 4K resolutions.
A 16GB VRAM will allow creatives to easily run software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Blender and handle a substantial amount of workload without any loss in performance, and that too, over extended periods, which can also be accredited to the card’s excellent thermal management.
It’s worth noting that the RX 6900 XT shares a lot of similarities to its sibling, the RX 6800 XT. They come with the same architecture, same clocks, same VRAM, and same memory bandwidth, too. However, the recommended power supply for the RX 6900 XT is 100W more, which is, in fact, a minor improvement, but it made it AMD’s fastest GPU at the time of its launch.
While the RX 6900 XT is certainly the more well-rounded and powerful option, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, which costs about $350 less, can provide more bang for your buck, especially if you’re pinching for pennies.
Best graphics card for 8K video editing
The Nvidia Titan RTX is an astonishingly powerful and fast graphics card, and thanks to its 24GB GDDR6 of VRAM and extra four Streaming Multiprocessors, it’s best-suited for data scientists, AI researchers, developers, content creators, and artists, but it’s not lightweight, to say the least, and certainly not a budget graphics card.
Put it side-by-side with its predecessor, the Titan X Pascal, and you’ll notice that it comes with twice the VRAM and about 800 more CUDA cores, both of which scream an exponential increase in video editing and gaming performance.
With 576 Tensor cores (for AI and deep learning) and 72 RT cores (for real-time ray tracing), the Titan RTX does very well to justify its high price tag. Still, given its price and its ability to achieve 11 GigaRays per second and 130 teraflops of deep learning performance, it’s easier to recommend it to scientists and animators than an everyday video editor or gamer.
Best video editing graphics card for beginners
The GTX 1660 Super, although slower than the GTX 1660 Ti, is a super affordable graphics card that’s tailor-made for entry-level video editing and creative tasks. It’s also going to be ideal for budget gamers who want solid 1080p gaming performance – nothing more, nothing less.
What’s more, it won’t ask you to set up a complicated cooling mechanism either, as it’s anything but a power-hungry graphics card. Despite lacking RT cores, there’s enough support for ray tracing, and you’ll easily be able to work with and render Full HD footage.
That said, 4K and 8K enthusiasts shouldn’t even come close to this graphics card, and they will be much better off with more high-end RTX-series cards, which, in all fairness, will cost a lot more than the GTX 1660 Super.
Besides being a delight for beginners with lean budgets, the GTX 1660 Super is also a solid choice for those with compact PC cases, as you will easily be able to find this graphics card in a shorter board design.
Read our full Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super review
Best integrated graphics card for video editing
The Apple Mac mini is our favorite mini PC, especially for content creation, since it has the best integrated graphics card for video editing and other creative tasks.
The M2 model with a 10-core GPU easily outperforms most PCs and graphics cards as far as editing 8K movie files and making projects in Ableton Live 11 are concerned. And, it’s going to be an even better investment for DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro users, as it comes with a Mac pre-installed – of course!
That said, there’s also a 16-core GPU model of the Mac Mini (that comes with the M2 Pro chip), which you can consider for even better handling of video tasks, but that’s not to say that the 10-core GPU variant isn’t ample – it certainly is going to be more than enough for just about everybody.
Should you wish to go all-out on an Apple chip for video editing, the M2 Max with two ProRes engines, two video encode engines, and, in totality, 2x faster video encoding than the M2 Pro should fancy your wits. However, that’s only available with the MacBook Pro, and there are no Mac mini models with the M2 Max chip.
Needless to say, a typical GPU comes with both video editing and gaming capabilities, which is something you won’t find with the Mac mini. Still, a relatively low price tag makes it a very compelling choice for video editors.
Read our full Apple Mac mini review
Best graphics cards for video editing: FAQs
Which is better for video editing GTX or RTX?
The GTX prefix is used for the older generation of Nvidia graphics cards, which, unlike the newer RTX cards, don’t come with dedicated RT cores for real-time ray tracing.
Given that ray tracing in video editing will allow you to churn out more accurate images, the RTX line-up of the Nvidia graphics card is certainly better than the GTX one as far as video editing is concerned.
However, that’s not to say that you can’t go about video editing like a pro with a GTX graphics card — models like the GTX 1660 Super certainly allow it.
Do I need a dedicated graphics card for video editing?
A dedicated or discrete GPU is more or less a must-have if you want to seriously perform video editing tasks, use a lot of layers and effects, and churn out deliverables day in and day out. Investing in a moderately powerful graphics card would mean that your video editing software will be able to draw power from the GPU and chew through demanding encoding and rendering tasks. For serious users, a desktop computer is usually essential, as even some of the best video editing Macs and laptops tend to feature integrated graphics cards.
However, if you’re not a pro video editor and your use case only involves playing around with FHD videos with just 2-3 layers and the odd effect here and there, you might be able to make it work without a dedicated GPU. This becomes even more possible if you have a relatively new processor or a flagship CPU, for that matter.
How to choose the best video editing graphics cards for you
When it comes to video editing, the right graphics card makes a significant difference in your overall productivity and performance. Depending on your use case, there are a few factors to consider when selecting the top graphic cards for video editing, gaming, or any other tasks.
If you intend to edit short videos, going for a high-end Nvidia or AMD GPU may be unnecessary. However, if your video production work is demanding, it’s only wiser to invest a good amount in graphics cards and get something like the RTX 4070 Ti or the RTX 4090.
If you’re looking for a budget GPU, choose a cheap yet powerful graphics card like the RTX 3050, RTX 3060, GTX 1660 Super, or the AMD Radeon RX 6600.
Compatibility is one of the most important things to consider when making this decision. Graphics cards connect to your motherboard via PCI Express sockets. This means that your motherboard’s PCle speed will have a huge impact on the card’s performance. If your motherboard is unable to move the data fast enough, the GPU won’t be able to make a lot of difference.
The size of your device also matters. A powerful graphics card will generally have larger heatsinks and fan assembly, thereby requiring more space, which can’t be provided by PCs that have small tower cases.
Also, it’s not every day that you buy a graphics card, so make sure to factor in the technological advancements in the recent past and in the coming future and purchase a GPU that will future-proof you, last you a long time, and meet all your needs.
As of now, Nvidia and AMD continue to dominate the market, and it’s a safe bet to go for the latest model that fits your budget and needs. Intel continues to stay in the game. However, it’s yet to beat Nvidia when it comes to performance and 4K rendering capabilities, and it can only be recommended to users who are in the market for a cheap, integrated GPU in a budget laptop.
How we test the best graphics cards for video editing
We’ve benchmarked everything from the best 4K graphics cards to the best 1440p graphics cards – so when it comes to identifying the best graphics cards for video editing, we know exactly what to look for.
Because GPUs are so important to a seamless video editing workflow, our review process features simulated and real-world tests to gauge performance. We use the same hardware, processors, and memory cards while testing the graphics cards.
To be thorough and recent with our results, we retest all graphics cards of the current generation when a new one comes out. This helps us analyze the gap in performance, pricing, and other factors and gives us a closer view of how value-for-money each graphics card is – we compare each one of them with cards of the previous generation, the next generation (if any), and its close rivals from the current generation.
We also consider the power and thermal consumption of the card in our testing. Video editing GPUs that easily heat can be troublesome for a hard-core user, which is why we make it a point to mention this whenever necessary.
If the graphics card in question boasts any extras, like ray tracing, we analyze it on multiple grounds while simultaneously evaluating its impact on the overall performance and then draw a fair verdict based on the use case, which, in this case, is video editing.
We tested out the best laptops for video editing – and these are the ones that made the final cut