Hardware Comparison
Pit GPUs and CPUs against each other for GTA 6 — projected FPS, thermals, and value per dollar. No fluff, just the deltas that matter.
GPU ladder
Best GPU for GTA 6, ranked by cost per frame
Projected 1440p High averages from our FPS model, paired with street pricing. Cost per frame is price divided by projected frame rate — lower is better.
| GPU | Tier | 1440p FPS | VRAM | Power | Price | $/frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5080 | Enthusiast | 104 | 16 GB | 360 W | $999 | $9.61 |
| RX 9070 XT | Enthusiast | 96 | 16 GB | 304 W | $599 | $6.24 |
| RTX 5070 Ti | High | 89 | 16 GB | 300 W | $749 | $8.42 |
| RTX 4070 Super | High | 78 | 12 GB | 220 W | $549 | $7.04 |
| RX 7800 XT | Mid | 71 | 16 GB | 263 W | $449 | $6.32 |
| RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB | Mid | 54 | 16 GB | 165 W | $399 | $7.39 |
| RTX 3060 12 GB | Entry | 41 | 12 GB | 170 W | $259 | $6.32 |
| RX 6600 | Entry | 33 | 8 GB | 132 W | $189 | $5.73 |
CPU ladder
CPU comparison — who holds up your 1% lows
GTA 6's traffic and pedestrian simulation is CPU-heavy. This ranks processors by how well they sustain minimum frame rates in dense districts.
| CPU | Cores | 1% lows | Pairing verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D | 8C / 16T | Excellent | Pairs cleanly with anything up to a 5090 |
| Core i7-14700K | 20C / 28T | Very good | No practical limit below the 5080 tier |
| Ryzen 5 7600 | 6C / 12T | Good | Balanced through the 4070 Super tier |
| Core i5-12400F | 6C / 12T | Fair | Starts limiting 1% lows above a 7800 XT |
| Ryzen 5 5600 | 6C / 12T | Fair | Fine at 1440p, CPU-bound at 1080p on fast GPUs |
| Core i5-10400F | 6C / 12T | Weak | Expect traffic-density stutter in dense districts |
Four rules for reading a hardware comparison
The numbers above are only useful if you weight them correctly.
Average FPS sells cards; 1% lows decide how it feels
Two GPUs within 5 frames of each other on average can feel completely different in a dense open world. When the spread between average and 1% lows exceeds 2:1, the bottleneck is CPU or VRAM — not raw GPU power.
Cost per frame only counts at your resolution
A card that wins on cost per frame at 1080p can lose badly at 4K, where VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth start gating everything. Always compare within the resolution you actually play at.
VRAM is a cliff, not a slope
Below your budget, capacity is irrelevant. One gigabyte over it, textures stream across PCIe and frame times spike. This is why a 16 GB mid-range card can outlast a faster 8 GB card in a game the size of Leonida.
Power draw is a system cost
A 360 W card frequently needs a PSU upgrade and better case airflow. Fold both into the comparison before you decide one GPU is only $150 more than another.
What the interactive comparison adds
The tables above are static. The builder lets you pick any two parts and diff them directly.
Launching soon
Rolling out at GTA 6 launch. Get on the list — we'll ping you the moment this tool goes live.
- Side-by-side FPS deltas at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K
- Thermal and power draw pulled from community benchmarks
- Value score: FPS per dollar, weighted for street price
GPU and CPU questions before you buy
Straight answers on capacity, cost per frame and upgrade timing.
Which GPU is best for GTA 6?
For 1440p High at a locked 60 FPS with room to spare, the RX 9070 XT and RTX 5070 Ti are the value picks — both carry 16 GB of VRAM, which matters more than raw shader throughput in a world this large. The RTX 5080 is the safe 4K choice. Below $300, the RTX 3060 12 GB remains the most sensible entry card because of its capacity, not its speed.
Is an 8 GB graphics card enough for GTA 6?
For 1080p Medium with an upscaler, probably. For 1440p High, no. GTA 6 is expected to push texture budgets past 8 GB at High settings, and once you exceed capacity the penalty lands on 1% lows as visible stutter rather than on the average frame rate.
Does CPU matter for GTA 6 or is it GPU-bound?
Both, at different resolutions. At 4K the GPU dominates and almost any modern 6-core keeps up. At 1080p with a fast card, GTA 6's traffic and pedestrian simulation is CPU-heavy enough that an older 6-core will cap your frame rate well below what the GPU could deliver.
How do you calculate cost per frame?
Current street price divided by projected 1440p High average frame rate. It is a blunt instrument — it ignores VRAM headroom, power draw and resale value — so use it to shortlist two or three cards, then compare those on the factors in the reading guide above.
Are these GTA 6 benchmark numbers official?
No. Rockstar has published no PC benchmarks. Every figure here comes from our own model, calibrated against RDR2 and GTA V PC on the same RAGE engine and cross-checked with published third-party benchmark suites. We replace projections with measured results within 48 hours of the PC launch.
Should I upgrade my GPU now or wait for GTA 6?
Wait if your current card clears the recommended tier — pre-launch pricing on the tiers that matter has historically softened once real benchmarks land. Upgrade now only if you are below the minimum spec or stuck on 8 GB and playing at 1440p, where you would be buying the upgrade regardless of GTA 6.