Best GPU for PUBG

Based on 87 Pro Players

The most used graphics cards by PUBG players

The most popular graphics cards are calculated based on 87 professional players.

Introduction


If you want to be the best player you can be it is of vital importance that you’re not being held back by your gear. It’s instrumental that you have a mouse that suits you, that your keyboard doesn’t feel unwieldy, and so on. The same can be said about the internals of your gaming system; you can have all the best peripherals in the world, but if your rig is struggling to put out 30 frames per second you’re never going to be playing to your full potential.

We’ve unleashed our analysts on the current GPU market to come up with a list of GPUs for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Seeing as PUBG can be quite the demanding game, it can be very important to know what to buy so that it matches your setup beforehand, so this guide should be able to help you with that.

Disclaimer

The Pro Usage Top 5 gets updated daily so that you can get an up-to-date overview of what the pros are using at any given time, which includes discontinued cards. In the body of the article we will focus on cards that are currently available for purchase.

What makes a GPU good for PUBG?


In essence the task of a GPU is simple: it’s responsible for displaying everything that’s on your screen, and ideally it should do just that without any issues or stutters, and at the highest FPS possible. The good thing is that, as opposed to keyboards, mice, and all of that there’s really nothing much that goes into choosing a GPU. You really just want to make sure that it fits your budget and that the performance is up to par.

PUBG isn’t exactly the same as Crysis back in the day where you need a supercomputer to run it properly, but it is a demanding game nonetheless. An integrated graphical processor won’t cut it for this game, and if you want to get to the 144 Hz mark you’re going to have to spend some money on a decent rig. Going for a steady refresh rate of 360 frames per second is still pretty much a pipe dream, even with a PC absolutely filled with top tier components and when playing at 1080p. For other games, 1440p could be becoming the competitive standard since they are so easy to run that basically any recent GPU is overkill at 1080p, but that is quite clearly not the case with PUBG.

Professionals are paid to play the games they play, so it’s only natural that they don’t skimp on their gear and just go for the best GPU out there, but if you’re not interested in going for the absolute best performance you might as well get a cheaper card since there’s not a massive difference between similar cards in this game and the top cards can’t even reach (very far) beyond 240 frames per second anyway. One thing is for sure: if you want to game at competitive framerates in PUBG you will need to set aside a decent budget for your PC.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

NVIDIA Reflex Compatible


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

Used by 6 PUBG players ()
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    ibiza
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    SILERZZ
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    chocoTaco

The GeForce RTX 4090 is part of the 40 series of graphics cards, made by NVIDIA. These succeeded the 30 series of graphics cards.

Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores16384
Boost Clock2.52GHz
Memory Size24GB
Memory TypeGDDR6X

As we said: PUBG is not an easy game to run, so if you truly want to be competitive you will want the best hardware out there. If money is not an issue and you’re interested in optimizing your game to the max we recommend going for the best performing card out there, which is the RTX 4090.

The 4090 will rather cleanly deliver 240 frames per second, though it does dip below that level if you’re dropping somewhere surrounded by enemies. Due to the way PUBG is optimized, going down to lower tier cards doesn’t give you massive gains when it comes to fps levels, so if the price tag of the 4090 is a bit too rich for you then you can always consider a lower tier card without giving up all too much when it comes to performance.

Nevertheless, if you want a relatively worry-free 240 FPS experience (when playing at competitive video settings) then the 4090 is basically your only option at this point in time. It’ll also stay nicely above 240 frames per second (with a couple more framerate drops, of course) at 1440p.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

NVIDIA Reflex Compatible


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The GeForce RTX 4080 is part of the 40 series of graphics cards, made by NVIDIA. These succeeded the 30 series of graphics cards.

Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores9728
Boost Clock2.51GHz
Memory Size16GB
Memory TypeGDDR6X

The RTX 4080 is around 33% cheaper than the 4090 while only performing about 8% worse than that card in PUBG, so if you can live with that performance difference, the 4080 is a great card to consider. It also helps that the 4080 is just quite simply a great GPU: it’ll serve you well for years to come and it will handle the latest and greatest games with relative ease, so if you want to future-proof your build without going for the absolute top GPU (and the price tag that it comes with) then the 4080 is a good GPU to consider.

It’s going to be dipping below that 240Hz refresh rate mark more often than the 4090, but it still delivers reliable performances in PUBG, making it the best option for people who are playing with a 240Hz monitor and don’t mind the occasional dip here and there.

At 1440p it’ll hover right around the 230 frames per second mark on average, further emphasizing that this is a great card for people who aren’t interested in paying hundreds of dollars more for a 4090 and (comparatively) little performance gains in PUBG.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

NVIDIA Reflex Compatible


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

Used by 4 PUBG players ()
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    xmpl
  • SKUIJKE
    SKUIJKE
  • Insight
    Insight
  • Thenderlost
    Thenderlost

The GeForce RTX 3080 is part of the 30 series of graphics cards, made by NVIDIA. These succeeded the 20 series of graphics cards.

Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores8960
Boost Clock1.71GHz
Memory Size12GB
Memory TypeGDDR6X

The RTX 3080 is part of an older line of GPUs, and that makes it an exciting option for gamers who are on a budget since there’s a chance you can find this one at reduced prices. It’ll deliver around 220 frames per second on average, so it’s not powerful enough to allow you to fully take advantage of a 240Hz monitor but if you’re okay with that then this could be a steal if you’re focusing on PUBG as your main game.

At 1440p it loses around 20 frames per second for an average of around 200 frames per second. Those are respectable numbers in this game, so if you’re gaming at 1440p this should still be on your list, though the newer cards in this list will quite obviously outperform the 3080.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

NVIDIA Reflex Compatible


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

The GeForce RTX 3060 is part of the 30 series of graphics cards, made by NVIDIA. These succeeded the 20 series of graphics cards.

Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores3584
Boost Clock1.78GHz
Memory Size12GB, 8GB
Memory TypeGDDR6X

It might be strange to see a budget card like the 3060 suddenly popping up in a list that’s populated with top tier cards, but given the fact that pretty much every modern card will deliver between 130-240 frames per second in this game there are no real big ‘performance tiers’ here like we see with other guides. There’s no 360Hz card, for example, because no card can reach those framerates in this game.

If you’re on a budget and you’re just trying to build a PC that will nicely stay above the 144 FPS mark then the 3060 is a good card to consider. It doesn’t deliver as many frames as the beefier (and much more expensive) cards in this list, but given its price/performance proposition it’s a card that we warmly recommend. You’ll getting around 180 frames per second with the 3060. That’s not a massive drop from the more expensive cards in this list, so this is a fantastic budget option.

Best GPU for PUBG – Conclusion


PUBG is a very heavy game to run. As such, most modern graphics cards have performances that are close together, at least when compared to what we see in other games. In some of our other analyzed games, it basically makes no sense to go for higher tier cards if you’re playing at 1080p and competitive video settings since those cards are basically overkill for those applications (having higher framerates has advantages beyond the refresh rate, but there are diminishing returns there) but that’s not the case with PUBG.

As such, deciding on a PUBG GPU is actually pretty easy: just look at your budget. If you want the best performance, get the best GPU. There is no such thing as overkill in this game. If you’re only looking at PUBG performance then it’s pretty much that simple. If you’re also playing other games and have a budget to take into account, we recommend going for a decent mid tier card. The performance differences between the top tier cards such as the 4090 and less powerful cards such as the 4080 are not very big in this game, and unless you’re hard into competitive PUBG it can be hard to justify the price differences between the top cards and the lower cards when looking at performances.

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