While GPUs were notoriously difficult to purchase throughout the last few years due to silicon shortages and a sharp increase in the demand for graphics cards, the market has since stabilized. That means now is a good time to buy a GPU if you're looking to upgrade or build a rig, and for a great mid-range gaming experience, one of the best cards you can get is AMD's Radeon RX 6700 XT. It's already pretty affordable at its current usual price of $369.99, but right now, you can get MSI's version of the card for just $319.99 on Newegg — a full $50 discount, and the lowest-ever price the GPU has sold for.
Originally introduced in 2021 (in the midst of the GPU shortage) with a rather steep MSRP of $479, the value of the Radeon RX 6700 XT has only gone up as its price has fallen. Positioned as a direct competitor to both the RTX 3060 and the RTX 3070, it's one of the best graphics cards for gamers that want strong 1440p performance but don't mind sacrificing a little power for savings.
Specs include 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, a 96MB Infinity Cache, 2,560 stream processors, 40 compute units, 160 texture units, 40 ray accelerators, and a TDP of 230W. Its base clock speed is 2,321MHz, with a 2,424MHz "game clock" (what users should expect while playing most games) and a 2,581MHz boost clock. AMD recommends a 650W power supply for the dual-slot card.
Similar to other AMD GPUs, the 6700 XT's Achilles heel is its very poor raytracing performance. NVIDIA's lead over Team Red in this department is significant, so if you care a lot about raytracing, you'll be better off with the comparable RTX 3070 (or a newer 40-Series card like the RTX 4070 if you're willing to pay a lot more). However, if you don't mind not using the feature, the RX 6700 XT will serve you well.
