We'll be frank: the best graphics cards for video editing aren't cheap. But if you work as a pro video editor, they'll speed up your workflow immeasurably, so basically they're a no brainer.
To help you find the right one for your needs, we've brought together the best graphics cards for video editing in the article below. Be before we continue, be aware that you can only upgrade the graphics card in a desktop computer, not a laptop.
Yes, it is possible to increase the graphics card performance in a laptop by adding an external graphics card (eGPU), attached via Thunderbolt. But in this article we're only covering internal graphics card upgrades for desktop computers.
For more details, jump ahead to How to choose the best graphics card. Or, if you'd rather just replace your computer entirely, check out our roundups of the best video editing computer and the best laptops for video editing.
The best graphics cards for video editing in 2024
Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
If you have a large budget and want the best graphics card for video editing on the market right now, this is it. Quite simply, because the level of power and performance it offers is unmatched by anything else on the market. Which means it will make short work of even the most complex 8K editing tasks.
The specs speak for themselves: an astonishing 16,384 shader processors, 512 tensor cores and 128 ray tracing cores. Base clock speeds of up to 2,235 MHz, with a max boost clock sppedy of 2,520 MHz. Memory of 24GB GDDR6X VRAM and memory bandwith of 1,018 GB/s. It all adds up to the best card that money can buy... but you sure are paying for the privilege.
Let's be clear: this is an eye-watering expensive card and is probably overkill for the majority of video editors, particularly as it's primarily been designed for gaming enthusiastics. But if the money doesn't bother you (or someone else is paying), this card is the best in town right now.
Released this September, AMD's RX 7800 XT comes in a mid-range price that's a lot more affordable than our number one choice. Yet you're still getting pretty speedy performance, thanks to some impressive specs. With 3,840 shaders, 60 ray processors and the introduction of 120 AI accelerators to speed up creative tasks, this card should handle even complex video editing work without breaking a sweat. Which makes it our top choice for video editors right now who are looking for a good balance between price and performance.
While we've put the AMD RX 7800 XT in second place, that's largely down to its (relatively) low cost, compared to its current rival the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. But prices can move up and down over time, so if that differential narrows or reverses, then Nvidia's best affordable graphics card is well worth a look. With a boost clock speed of 2,610MHz, and 680 shader processors, it's going to be more than capable of handling complex video editing. With as less-generous 12GB of GDDR6X memory, working in 8K might sometimes be a challenge, though.
Short on cash? The good news is that a decent graphics card for video editing doesn't have to break the bank, and the GeForce RTX 3050 has a lot to offer at an affordable price.
It sits a couple of rungs below our top choice RTX 3060 Ti in Nvidia's graphics card hierarchy, both in terms of video rendering speed and also pricing. Consequently it's never going to the fastest performer, but you'll find it does a pretty good job for video editing. That's certainly what we found when we reviewed the Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop, which features an 3050 as standard.
Admittedly, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 isn't the highest specced graphics card. But it's good enough for most video editing and rendering purposes, and at its recommended price, it offers good value overall.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super is the lowest we think is acceptable to go in Nvidia's current graphics card line-up. Even cheaper cards are available, but their underwhelming performance means they're just not worth your money.
The 1660 Super should give you a reasonable turn of rendering speed if you're working with Full HD footage, though with only 6GB of video RAM on board, more upmarket RTX-series cards will have a significant edge if you're editing 8K or high frame rate 4K footage.
Like almost all graphics cards, various board manufacturers make their own variants of the GTX 1660 Super, and unless you're gunning for every last frame-per-second in gaming performance, spending extra on a factory overclocked version isn't worth it.
Being more of an entry-level graphics card, it's also possible to find the GTX 1660 Super with a physically shorter board design, making it suitable to fit in smaller PC cases, though usually the cooling heatsink and fan assembly will still require the space of two expansion bays in your motherboard.
Nvidia doesn't just offer its extensive line of GeForce graphics cards; there's also its Quadro range. Where GeForce cards are designed and marketed primarily for gaming, Quadro cards are built for professional applications like scientific computation, 3D rendering, and to a lesser extent, video editing.
The Quadro RTX A4000 sits near the middle of the Quadro range, but with faster models carrying astronomical price tags, they're aimed squarely at commercial buyers. So why pay more for a Quadro?
Well, for video editing, the vast majority of users will be fine with a GeForce card. The Quadro range gets you several processing benefits that are mostly of use to scientific and 3D rendering work, but the primary benefit for video editing are Quadro-specific video card drivers carefully optimized for popular video editing programs to ensure top-notch reliability.
If you're going to be editing mission-critical footage and system stability is therefore absolutely paramount, the Quadro RTX A4000 is an excellent graphics card and it's actually very well priced for a Quadro card (flagship Quadro cards can set you back over $10,000!).
How to choose the best graphics card
It used to be that video editing software relied solely on your computer's central processor (CPU) to process and export video. But even with four, six, eight, or even more cores, a CPU simply can't match the incredible power of a graphics card, which can contain thousands of processing cores. It's actually rather more technical than that, but the upshot is a graphics card can export video a whole lot faster than even a top-end CPU.
However, while spending top dollar on the very best graphics card will get you extra encoding performance, you really don't have to. Even a lower-mid-range card will give your editing rig a serious speed boost, with pricier video cards only yielding marginally superior performance.
Providing your editing software supports hardware video acceleration (pretty much all popular editing packages do, with apps like DaVinci Resolve being heavily reliant on graphics card hardware) upgrading your computer's graphics card can give you a worthwhile performance boost when video editing.
1. Make sure there's enough space inside your desktop tower. High-end graphics cards tend to be quite long, which can mean they won't fit inside smaller tower cases. They also tend to be fitted with a bulky cooling heatsink and fan assembly, which will require plenty of space directly below the PCIe slot that the card is plugged into.
2. Ensure your PC's power supply unit (PSU) is up to the job. Fitting a powerful, power-hungry graphics card could overload a puny power supply, at best resulting in system crashes, or at worst, a puff of smoke out the back of your computer along with a blank monitor and, well, swearing. The current generation of graphics cards use much less electricity than a few years ago when you needed a thumping great 1000 watt power supply to ensure a top-end graphics card was adequately powered. Nowadays a card like the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is rated to draw 200w of power, so a good quality 500w PSU should be adequate to power the whole PC. AMD cards, however, are less power efficient, requiring more juice and therefore a slightly higher PSU wattage.
Most graphics cards are powered via a socket on the side or back of the card, and this could take the form of a 6 pin, 8 pin, or dual 6 pin connectors. Fortunately almost all modern PSUs will be fitted with the necessary plugs to suit all these connector variants, and if not, your graphics card is likely to come with an adapter in the box.
3. Ensure your PC's motherboard is compatible. This almost certainly going to be fine. Graphics cards have been using the same physical PCI Express 16x data connector for well over a decade, so unless your motherboard is seriously archaic, you should be able to plug in a modern graphics card into your PC without issue, providing points 1 and 2 above are followed.
Read more:
Best microphones for vlogging and filmmaking
The best audio recorders for video production
The best video editing monitors
The best photo editing tools and accessories
The best mouse for video editing
The best keyboard for video editing
What to look for when choosing a monitor
Best USB-C monitors for photo editing
Everything photographers need to work from home
Best webcam for home working
