The Ryzen 9 5900X isn’t the flagship Zen 2 CPU but it’s a close second. While it trails behind the 5950X in productivity benchmarks the difference isn’t that high, especially when it comes to rendering, and video and photo editing. Games, on the other hand, work as fast on the 5900X as they work on the 5950X. The difference is there, but only on paper. A couple of frames here and there definitely won’t affect the overall experience in any meaningful way.
The CPU features 12 cores with hyperthreading design, making it perfect both for current and future AAA titles. Further, while it doesn’t have the sheer horsepower and core count of the 5950X, the 5900X can be an excellent base for an entry workstation PC, focusing on rendering, video, or photo editing. In either case, we’re looking at a build that isn’t relying much on budget and that should be capable of either offering top of the line gaming performance or excellent productivity performance.
This is why you should focus on the first part of this list, since it includes high-end cards for great gaming experience. The second part is for users who care about frames more than high resolution and for those who don’t want to become part of the current GPU shortage drama and get a decent GPU to last them until RTX 3000 and Radeon RX 6000 cards become available for purchase in normal quantities and at normal prices.
Also, while there are some last-gen cards here we’ve mostly focused on Ampere and Big Navi cards since they are the latest and greatest GPUs you can buy right now. Okay, now let’s check out the best graphics cards for Ryzen 9 5900X builds that you can buy right now, at least on paper.
Best Graphics Cards For Ryzen 9 5900X Builds – Our Picks
| Award | Model | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Graphics Cards For 4K & High Refresh Rate 1440p Gaming | ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC |  |
| Sapphire RX 6800 XT Gaming |  |
|
| Best GPUs for Ryzen 9 5900X Builds Overall | EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming |  |
| Best Cards For 5900X Workstation Purposes | EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Black Gaming |  |
| ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC | |
|
| EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming | |
|
| Best GPUs For 1440p Gaming On 5900X Builds | EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Black Gaming | |
| Sapphire RX 6800 Gaming | |
|
| Best Cards For 1080p Gaming On 5900X Builds | XFX RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro |  |
| ZOTAC Gaming RTX 2060 |  |
|
| Best GPU For 5900X While Waiting For Stock To Stabilize | ZOTAC Gaming GTX 1660 Super |  |
Best Graphics Cards For 4K & High Refresh Rate 1440p Gaming
ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC
| Memory | 10 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1440 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1710 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 2× HDMI |
Okay, considering you’re getting the Ryzen 9 5900X for the purpose of running the latest and greatest games, the logical assumption is that you probably have a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor or maybe even a 4K display. Well, for these two scenarios the RTX 3080 and the RX 6800 XT are the two best choices.
At 1440p and 100Hz or more, the 6800 XT is a better pick because it’s a bit faster on average than the RTX 3080. That said, AMD’s card has worse ray tracing performance and comes without a DLSS counterpart. But the raw gaming power is on its side, at least at 1440p.
Sapphire RX 6800 XT Gaming
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1825 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2250 MHz |
| Outputs | 2× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
The RTX 3080 is almost as fast as the RX 6800 XT at 1440p but at 4K it surpasses the AMD card by a small margin. If you need the best 4K performer the 3080 is the way to go. The Ampere GPU also has neat extra features such as DLSS, RTX Voice, and generally better performance when it comes to productivity apps (more on that later). RTX cards are also much better for gamers who also stream games due to the excellent NVidia NVENC encoder. On the flipside, the RTX 3080 comes with only 10GB of video memory while the 6800 XT features 16 gigs of memory.
At the moment 10GB, especially 10 gigabytes of ultra-fast GDDR6X memory is more than enough for 4K gaming but that could change in a year or so. But, even if 10 gigs of memory becomes too low for upcoming games at 4K, you won’t just magically start to experience stutters or freezes. Sure, the framerate will dip and you could run into issues when playing with ultra textures, but other than that you should be fine.
Best GPUs for Ryzen 9 5900X Builds Overall
If you need the absolute best graphics card available today for whatever reason, get the RTX 3090. It’s extremely expensive and only about 10 percent faster than RTX 3080 on average (at 4K), but it does come with 24GB ultra-fast memory, which could be useful for users wanting both a great gaming and a card they can use for work.
If you want the absolute best performance, but on an AMD card, wait a bit and get the RX 6900 XT. If AMD follows NVidia’s path the 6900 XT will be about 10 percent faster than the 6800 XT. In other words, basically the same performance as the RTX 3090 at 4K, but with 16 gigs of memory instead of 24, all for a much lower (price.
EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming
| Memory | 24 GB GDDR6X |
| Base Clock | 1395 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1800 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
Best Cards For 5900X Workstation Purposes
As we’ve already noted, the Ryzen 9 5900X is a capable processor with tons of raw multithreaded performance. This makes it a perfect pick for a home workstation CPU. It’s way cheaper than the 5950X but not that slower, allowing the 5900X to be the best bang for the buck CPU for work-related purposes, at least when it comes to the current Zen 2 processor lineup.
Now, picking the right GPU for a workstation shouldn’t be that hard. If you use applications that benefit from a beefy GPU we would recommend any of the new RTX 3000 cards. Their CUDA cores are perfect for apps that support GPU rendering. Also, the RTX 3000 cards are much faster than their RX 6000 counterparts on average.
Now, if you don’t care about games, just look at some productivity benchmarks and find out which card works for you. If you’re gaming as well as doing work well, then look at your preferred resolution, the amount of GPU power you need, and your budget. RTX 3080 is great for 4K while the RTX 3070 is great for 1440p. Just don’t forget that the 3070 comes with only eight gigabytes of video memory, which may prove too little for some games as well as some app workloads.
Finally, for a workstation that doesn’t deal with games, even the RTX 2000 series could be enough. If you don’t need the beastly performance of the RTX 3000 cards, you could go with the previous generation and save some money.
EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Black Gaming
| Memory | 8 GB GDDR6X |
| Base Clock | 1500 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1725 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC
| Memory | 10 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1440 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1710 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 2× HDMI |
EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming
| Memory | 24 GB GDDR6X |
| Base Clock | 1395 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1800 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
Best GPUs For 1440p Gaming On 5900X Builds
EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Black Gaming
| Memory | 8 GB GDDR6X |
| Base Clock | 1500 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1725 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
At 1440p the best card you can get is the RX 6800. 16 gigs of memory, noticeably better performance than the RTX 3070 and not that much higher price make the RX 6800 a slightly better choice. But if we take into account that the RX 6800 has double the amount of memory of the RTX 3070, the choice is even clearer. At the moment 8GB of memory is enough for 1440p, even for 4K in most games but if you want to future proof your 5900X build, go for the card with more memory.
This doesn’t work in case you want the best ray tracing effects and stuff like DLSS. In that case, the RTX 3070 is a better choice. It’s cheaper, has much better ray-tracing performance, and with DLSS enabled many games can be played at 60fps or higher with RTX effects turned on. Not a bad deal for gamers who like pretty visuals. On average, you can expect insanely high frames in esports and multiplayer titles and triple-digit (very high double-digit) framerates in AAA games, with both of these cards.
Sapphire RX 6800 Gaming
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1700 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2105 MHz |
| Outputs | 2× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
If you don’t care about running AAA games at more than 60 frames per second the RX 5700 XT is a solid choice, especially considering its current price. The RTX 2070 Super has a similar performance and is still a great 1440p card, but the recent Ampere launch led last-gen RTX cards’ prices to skyrocket. At the moment, the RTX 2070 Super isn’t a good deal unless you can find it at a large discount or in case you find an amazing used deal.
Best Cards For 1080p Gaming On 5900X Builds
XFX RX 5600 XT Thicc II Pro
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1130 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1620 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
If you somehow got the Ryzen 9 5900X and want to build a 1080p-capable gaming PC around it, your best bet is either the RX 5600 XT or the RTX 2060. Considering the current price gouges happening all over the place with RTX 2000 cards the AMD card is a better choice. On average, it’s slightly faster than the 2060 in the majority of games and while it doesn’t feature ray tracing support or RTX, it’s easier to find at a sound price.
If you don’t play games at high refresh rates (or just want to play esports titles at 100 frames or higher) then the GTX 1660 Super is an excellent choice. It can run any game at 60fps with ultra details, and it’s mostly unaffected by the recent price gouges. Waiting for a better deal in the form of budget Ampere and Big Navi cards is pointless at this moment. Considering the horrid situation with availability, even when new budget cards come out, they will probably have stock issues during the first month or two.
ZOTAC Gaming RTX 2060
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1365 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1680 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
Finally, if you think that the RX 5600 XT and the RTX 2060 aren’t good enough for 1080p, or if you want to future proof your rig, get the RX 5700 XT. It’s a speedy card that will run AAA games at 100Hz or higher for at least a couple of years from now, at least at 1080p. It’s not that much pricier than our two top picks, but it offers a lot of gaming performance for the money. The only downside is the lack of ray tracing support as well as the lack of other cool NVidia features (DLSS, RTX Voice, and a much better streaming encoder found on RTX cards).
Best GPU For 5900X While Waiting For Stock To Stabilize
ZOTAC Gaming GTX 1660 Super
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR6 |
| Base Clock | 1530 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1785 MHz |
| Outputs | 3× DisplayPort 1× HDMI |
Last but not least, a GPU for people who are ready to wait for the Ampere and Big Navi stock to stabilize. If you’re one of the people who don’t want to pay exorbitant prices for a new GPU or just don’t want to be a part of the current GPU craze, get the GTX 1660 Super and you’ll have a solid card to spend the winter with. It’s excellent for 1080p, solid for 1440p@60Hz with some details turned down, and perfect for high refresh rate gaming when it comes to esports titles, no matter the resolution.
The card can be found at its regular MSRP price and, best of all, you can actually buy one without installing multiple browser extensions and hanging out in Discord GPU stock groups. If you want a used GPU ‘till Spring, there are GTX 1070s’ for 1080p gaming. If you need a beefier graphics card, check out deals on used GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, and GTX 1080 Ti cards.
