The Core i9-10900K is the most powerful 10th gen Intel CPU and the best overall gaming processor you can get right now. It’s perfect for any game you throw at it, and it won’t cause a CPU bottleneck no matter which graphics card you pair it up with. If you don’t have the 10900K and want to find a GPU buying guide for your CPU visit our graphics cards section.
While the 10900K is a flagship gaming CPU not everyone should pair it with the best GPU of today, the RTX 2080Ti. Why pay a four-digit price when you can get a graphics card that suits your needs for much less, saving some cash while keeping the optimal gaming experience? But which one? Well, read on and find out in our best graphics cards for i9-10900K guide.
Today, we will cover the best graphics card to pair with the 10900K for various potential use cases.We have the best GPUs for high refresh rate gaming, for 1440p 60fps gaming, for playing eSports titles, and more. If you want more hardware recommendations for the 10900K check out our guides for the best motherboard for i9-10900K, best CPU coolers for i9-10900K, and best RAM for i9-10900K. For more motherboard recommendations take a look at the best Z490 motherboards guide.
1. EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Black Gaming: Best 10900K graphics card for 4K 60FPS
There’s only one GPU that can achieve 60 frames per second at 4K resolution with max details in most games and that card is the RTX 2080 Ti. This is why we picked this card as the best 10900K GPU for 4K gaming.
Sure, the RTX Titan is technically the best graphics card to get right now but that one is way too expensive for us to recommend it to anyone sans users who don’t know what to do with their money.
If you want to get the best 10900K 4K graphics card for most users, get the EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Black Edition Gaming. You will be able to achieve steady 60 frames per second with all or most settings maxed in a large number of titles, with esports games achieving much higher performance.
If you have a 4K 144Hz monitor you will be able to run esports titles at the max refresh rate of your monitor, with many shooters also working at over 100fps. And when it comes to AAA single-player titles, you will be able to reach steady 60fps in most games except in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Red Dead Redemption 2. If you don’t have a 4K gaming monitor do check out our guide for the best 4K 144Hz monitors for gaming.
2. EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black Gaming: Best i9-10900K GPU for 1440p high refresh rate gaming
High refresh rate gaming usually includes two resolutions – 1440p and 1080p. And when it comes to 1440p and 1080p high refresh rate gaming, the best graphics card for the core i9-10900K is the RTX 2080 Super.
The RTX 2080 Super is the best card for 1440 high refresh rate gaming you can get right now. Sure, there’s the RTX 2080Ti but the price difference between the two is too high to justify the 10-12 percent performance increase. The RTX 2080Ti is a 4K card and it isn’t the best choice for 1440p gaming due to its price.
With the RTX 2080 Super, you will reach 100 or more frames on every esports title and in most FPS games. The only first-person shooter that won’t run at 100 frames or higher is Metro Exodus.
On the other hand, AAA games will run like a charm at 60fps or (in many cases) nearly at 100 frames per second. Even graphic hogs such as RDR 2 will run like a charm at 1440p, albeit not on every setting being on ultra.
3. Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT: Best 10900K GPU for 1080p high refresh rate gaming
The best i9-10900K graphics card for 1080p high refresh rate gaming is the RX 5700 XT. Sure, you can get the RTX 2080 Super if you don’t care about the price. But that card, despite being the technically best choice for 1080p high refresh rate gaming, is an overkill for that resolution. Except if you own a 240Hz 1080p display and want to max it out.
The RX 5700 XT can run any AAA game above 60fps at 1080p with maxed-out settings. FPS and eSports titles will run at 100 frames or higher, depending on the game. Overall, this is an excellent card for 1080p high refresh rate gaming.
The RX 5700 XT is also solid for 1440p 60fps gaming. It can reach silky smooth 60 frames per second in virtually every AAA title with (most) settings cranked out to the max. On the other hand, most first-person shooters and every esports title will run at much higher frames. If you play esports titles at 1440p and want the best possible experience, check out our guide for the best 1440p 240Hz monitors.
4. Zotac Gaming GTX 1660 Super: Best Core i9-10900K card for eSports titles at 1080p
If you bought the 10900K for work, however unlikely that might be, and just want a graphics card capable of running esports titles at high refresh rates, you should get one of the best price to performance ratio GPUs on the market.
We recommend the GTX 1660 Super as the best 10900K graphics card for esports gaming. As an added bonus, this card’s capable enough to run AAA titles with all or most settings maxed at 60 frames or higher. And it’s also capable of running esports titles at high settings and more than 100 frames or so.
5.MSI RTX 2060 Ventus GP OC: Best 10900K card for eSports gaming at 1440p
When it comes to cards for 1440p esports gaming, get the RTX 2060. You’ll have an amazing gaming experience with this card. Now while this is the best GPU for the 10900K for 1440p esports gaming it’s also capable of running most newer AAA titles at 1440p and 60fps with high-medium details. Not bad.
Overall, this card is great at 1080p and decent enough at 1440p to enable a pretty good gaming experience. We’re talking about medium-high settings at 1440p and 60fps or ultra-settings at 1080p with higher than 60fps performance, at least in AAA games.
6. EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black Gaming: Best Core i9-10900K graphics card for SFF builds
Unless you plan on building an ultra-portable SFF gaming PC based on something like the Cooler Master Elite 110 or MasterCase H100, or any other ultra-portable HTPC case that only supports low profile graphics cards, the RTX 2080 Super is the best pick for a beastly SFF gaming PC. The model in question, EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black Gaming, features two fans and has a total length of only 279mm.
The card’s short enough to fit into compact SFF cases such as the Loque Ghost S1 or Fractal Design Node 202 and its cooling solution isn’t too massive for the card to be too thick to be fitted inside a Mini-ITX case. If you want to see which ITX cases are the top buying choices do visit our best Mini-ITX case buying guide.
The card’s performance is in line with the reference RTX 2080 Super card. That means the card’s capable of high refresh rate 1440p gaming and even 4K@60fps with adjusting graphics settings. Pretty solid for an SFF-friendly GPU.
7. EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black Gaming: Best 10900K GPU for a gaming build under $2000
If you want to build a gaming PC for less than $2,000 based on the i9-10900K the best card you can get is the RTX 2080 Super. The rig includes a 1TB SSD, a solid Z490 motherboard (something like the MSI Z490 Tomahawk), 16GB of fast memory, a quality 750W PSU, and a nice case (something like the Fractal Design Meshify C).
Also, when it comes to cooling, we reserved enough money either for a top-of-the-line air cooler or for a solid budget AIO cooler. Whichever you pick, remember that the Core i9-10900K requires a quality cooling solution. If you want to see our recommendations for a $2,000 gaming rig do check out our guide for the best gaming PC build under $2,000.
Best GPU for Cyberpunk 2077
The recent Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay demo, which was available to select press outlets, ran on a PC powered by an RTX 2080Ti. The video featured full RTX effects and it ran at 1080p at 60fps.
All this means that the most expensive mainstream graphics card of today can run Cyberpunk 2077 with all ray tracing effects sans reflections at 60fps but only at 1080p. And let’s not forget that the game supports DLSS 2.0, which was utilized for the RTX 2080Ti to achieve steady 60 frames per second.
While we understand that the game isn’t as optimized as it’ll be once it comes out, the performance with the RTX 2080Ti is a bit disappointing nevertheless. Remember that DLSS 2.0 produces a great 1080p image even if the original rendering resolution is 540p. This means that, even in the final build, the RTX 2080Ti could not be enough for a smooth 4K gameplay with DLSS enabled.
So, if you have a decent graphics card but want to upgrade to play Cyberpunk 2077 in all its glory, wait for Nvidia to release its new RTX 3000 series of graphics cards. Rumors say they will offer massive improvements in ray tracing performance.
Even a card like the RTX 3060 could offer the level of performance of the RTX 2080Ti albeit with better ray-tracing performance. So, it’s best to wait in case you want to have the best Cyberpunk 2077 experience.
