The gaming and crypto mining industries were some of the chief consumers of graphic cards. But, since the pandemic hit, graphic designers, animation studios, game companies, and other advanced software requiring companies were made to work from home. This situation created a rather unexpected consumer market for budget-friendly graphic cards.
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The Current Situation of the GPU Market
Before we get into this, let’s understand how marketing works. The chief companies: Nvidia and AMD don’t manufacture that many graphics cards. Instead, they provide the designs and allow many companies to use their technology in their products.
The price to make these chips is up to Nvidia and AMD, but their calculation depends on components, logistics and other factors. One of the main components are the semiconductors – which the companies order months and sometimes years in advance. So, when they were faced with a sudden increase in demand – the system failed.
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What Happened?
It is safe to say that the current state of the market is the worst it’s ever been.
When the Nvidia GTX 10 series and AMD’s RX 500 series were introduced to the market in 2017, we experienced something similar. The GPU prices were on the rise and increased about 15%, but they quickly returned to normal. The difference between then and now isn’t that this is a new problem; it’s that the current state of the world has worsened it.
When more people started to stay at home due to the pandemic, the demand for computer systems increased, and the personal computer market grew by 13.7%!
Why Do You Need Budget-friendly Graphic Cards? 
Using a budget-friendly graphic card can significantly improve your computer’s performance. It will make your pc feel lighter, and in a way improve its health. Installing a new GPU will make your gaming experience better, and give you better video quality. Free up memory, your pc will run smoother and can even be used to make money.
It enhances and elevates your pc experience. A built-in graphic card can be good enough but is unable to provide the pleasing experience – that of an AMD or Nvidia.
Better Gaming
Gaming in 60fps is better than gaming in 30fps. If you play a game with the lowest settings, you’ll automatically get bored of how unpleasant it is to the eyes. A GPU serves for you to be able to work with higher graphics and better quality.
Better Video Quality
These days everyone uses their PCs to view or edit videos. Although internal GPUs have their qualities, you are not able to customize them to your work. A graphic card will make all of these processing better; fusing, editing, viewing.
Free Up Memory
Every computer has its built-in memory, which it uses for temporary and permanent storage. When you use a graphic card, your storage increases as well; this helps your pc; to free up space and use it for other tasks.
Making Money
So you’re wondering how you can make money using a better graphic card; the answer is CRYPTO MINING!! This refers to the process of gaining cryptocurrency by solving cryptographic equations. To solve these equations, you need a high-performance computer – a significant component of which; is a good GPU.
10 Budget-friendly Graphic Cards to Buy in 2021
If you are in the market for good and budget-friendly graphic cards, here are a few to consider:
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RX 5500 XT Thicc II Pro – 8GB
The GPU AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT is worth every penny you spend for it. The current market value is around 200$. The card is packed with 1408 stream processors, a boost clock speed of 1717 while in gaming mode and 1845 MHz while in OC mode. The interface is PCI Express 4.0 x 16.
This card provides another worldly 1080 gaming experience, with high-fidelity AAA gaming up to 60 fps and esports gaming up to 60fps.
This card deals with a GDDR6 8GB efficient memory; memory speed is 14 GB/s. The memory interface width is 128-Bit, with the bandwidth being 224 GB/s.
It requires an 8-pin power connection, and the recommended system power requirement for RX 5500 is 450 W.
RTX 3070 Ti
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 ti graphic card is the definition of worth every penny. It is one the best budget-friendly graphic cards. This card has an 8GB GDDR6X, which runs 19GB/s, and a 256-bit memory interface.
This GPU can view a max of 7680 x 4320 resolution. The engine clock runs 1800 MHz in OC mode and 1770 MHz in gaming mode. It also includes a 6144 CUDA core.
This GPU requires two 8-pin power connectors, and the recommended system power requirement is 750W.
RX 6800 XT
The Radeon RX 6800 was released on 28th October 2020, with its production still being active; as of today. This GPU is priced at around $650. With the processor size being 7nm, this RX 6000 generation processor packs 26800 million transistors.
The base clock speed is 1825 MHz, the game clock speed is 2015 MHz, and the boost clock is up to 2250 MHz. It comes with a 16 GB GDDR6 memory and a 256-bit memory bus. Along with this, it has a bandwidth of 512 GB/s.
It requires two 8-pin power connects and outputs via HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB Type-C. Many games, such as Cyberpunk 2077, assassins creed, hitman 3, easily reach 60+ fps at 4K on the RX 6800 XT card.
RTX 2080 Super
The GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphic had a launch price of $699. Its performance and specs make it worth it all. It was released on July 23, 2019, so its price has significantly dropped, though there haven’t been any compromises on the quality.
It runs with 8GB GDDR6 memory and a bandwidth of 495 GB/s. The base clock speed is 1650 MHz, the boost clock is 1815 MHz, and the memory clock is 1937MHz with 15.5 GB/s effectiveness.
This card has a 116.2 GPixels/s pixel rate, allowing the max resolution to be 7680×4320. It requires a 600 W PSU and a 6-pin power connector as well as an 8-Pin power connector.
RTX 2060
Geforce RTX 2060 is a Geforce 20 generation processor with its launch price being $350. However, it has dropped since the release of newer systems.
It runs on a 6GB GDDR6 memory, with a bandwidth of 336 GB/s. The base clock functions on 1365 MHz, boost clock: 1680 MHz, and Memory clock: 1750 MHz with 14 GB/s effective.
Its highest resolution support is 7680×4320, with a pixel rate of 80.64 GPxels/s.
It requires one 8-pin power connector and a PSU of 450 W.
GTX 1660 super – 4GB
The GeForce GTX 1660 super functions on 1408 Nvidia CUDA cores, a boost clock of 1785MHz, and a base clock being 1530 MHz.
This GPU has a 6GB GDDR6 memory running for 14 GB/s. It has a 192-bit memory interface width and 336 GB/s bandwidth.
The maximum display support from this card is 7680×4320. It requires one 8-pin power connector and a minimum 450-watt power supply.
GTX 1050 Ti – 4GB
The Geforce 1050 Ti comes with its 768 CUDA cores. It’s considered one of the best budget-friendly graphic cards. It has a base clock of 1290 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz.
The memory configuration is 4GB GDDR5 with a speed of 7 GB/s. The memory interface width is 128-bit, with the bandwidth being 112 GB/s. The maximum displayable resolution is 7690×4320.
It requires no extra power connectors but requires 300W PSU.
RX 570 – 4GB
The Radeon RX 570 was launched in August 2017 as a part of the Radeon 500 series and can cost around $200.
The card Consists of 32 compute units, its base frequency is 1168 MHz, and boost frequency is up to 1244MHz. Its max display resolution can go up to 2680×4320.
This graphic card unit; has a 4 GB GDDR5 memory, functioning at 7 GB/s. The memory interface and bandwidth are 256-bit and 224 GB/s, respectively. It requires one 6-pin power connector and a 450W PSU.
GTX 970 – 4GB
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 was launched in September 2014; at $339.
This card has a Maxwell architecture; the base clock frequency is 1050 MHz, with a 2.0 GPU boost. The boost clock is 1178 MHz.
It has 4GB GDDR5 memory, with an interface of 256-bit and a bandwidth of 224.32 GB/s.
GTX 970 has 1664 CUDA cores. It requires two 6-pin power connectors and a power supply of 500W.
GTX 960 – 4GB
The GeForce GTX was launched in January 2015. Its launch price was $220.
It has Maxwell architecture. It has 1024 CUDA. The digital resolution can go up to 5120×3200; the pixel rate is 41.73 GPixels/s.
The frequency of its base clock is 1127 MHz, and for the boost clock, it is 1178 MHz. Its memory is 4GB GDDR5, with a 1752.5 MHz clock. The memory interface is 128 bit, and the bandwidth is 112.16 GB/s.
Moreover, it requires a 6-pin power connector and a PSU of 450 W.