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Best GPU for i9 12900K for Top Performance

There is no denying that the Core i9 12900K is the fastest gaming processor in the market at the moment. Intel really killed it with their 12th generation of processors, allowing for better performance across the board, great pricing, and a lot of variations to choose from. If you are building a PC at the moment, the 12th generation Intel series is the way to go and the Core i9 12900K is the CPU you need if you want the best performance possible.

Now, every processor needs a good graphics card, and this is something that confuses a lot. If you are looking for the best GPU for i9 12900K, you are at the right place as we are going to explore some of the finest GPUs that are available in the market at the moment. This is an excellent time for this round up since the GPU prices have slowly started coming down and the stock status is also improving, so there is a lot to look forward to, especially if you have decided to just go ahead and upgrade.

Some Quick Shopping Tips 

Finding the best gpu for i9 12900K is not at all difficult. However, a lot of people are buying a new GPU after a long time, for obvious reasons. Therefore, there might be some confusion in the air and it is always better to clear out any confusions with some quick shopping tips that can be very, very helpful not just to the newcomers, but also the ones who are well-versed in the technology.

So, without further ado, let’s have a look.

Take the VRM Into Account: The first thing that I am going to suggest to you as a shopping tip is that you should always keep the VRAM into an account because a lot of the time, people do not really know that having adequate VRAM plays a huge, huge part in how the GPU is going to perform.

These days, if you are on the lookout for a GPU, be sure that it at least has 8 gigs of VRAM, anything less than that and you are going to put yourself in a lot of confusion and you might not want that, to begin with. My RTX 3080 comes equipped with 10 gigs of VRAM and I still feel that sometimes, I need more.

Power Requirements: GPUs have gone through several changes over the past couple of years, with one of the biggest being power efficiency. While it is safe to say that GPUs are now delivering more performance and consuming less power, it is also important to know that the power they consume is still a lot, especially if you look at the higher end offerings in the RTX 3000 series.

With the RTX 4000 series on the horizon, we are going to see a similar pattern and there is nothing wrong with it. Before you go ahead and spend your money on a GPU, be sure that your power supply is going to meet the power requirements and has enough PCIe power connectors to power the GPU or else you would have to spend more money on a new power supply.

Be Mindful of Bottlenecking: A lot of times, people who are in the market to buy a new GPU are unaware of something called bottlenecking, it might sound like something that is not at all worrisome but if your GPU is faster than the CPU you are using, then you are going to be running into some serious bottleneck.

Therefore, before you get your hands on any modern GPU, be sure that it will not bottleneck your CPU because it is annoying to have something that cannot perform adequately.

Additional Features: Gone are the days when almost every GPU that you would see in the market was the same. Modern GPUs are a lot more different in terms of the specs and additional features that you are going to get and while innovation and feature-set is always great, but this also introduces more confusion because people are now wondering what they should be investing in.

For starters, if you are buying an RTX 3000 series, you are going to get Ray Tracing, DLSS, and more features that are going to help the supported games much, much better. Similarly, AMD has its own set of features that you will be getting access to.

The point here is that none of these features are gimmicks, they are actually there to make your overall experience better and provide a more immersive experience when gaming.

Budget: I know it might sound like something that is not at all important but trust me, you would need to be sure that your budget is good enough so you can buy the GPU that you want. I do understand that for the longest time, GPUs were a lot more expensive because of the chip shortage, scalping, and mining, but things have started to normalize and GPU stocks are becoming more and more available.

Whatever the case might be, be sure that you are determining the budget beforehand, so your overall experience is not wasted.

Reviewing The Best GPU for i9 12900K

Now that we are done looking at all the important shopping tips we have for you, the next step is to look at the best GPU for i9 12900K. For your convenience, we are only including the GPUs that we think are best for this beastly processor and will deliver top of the notch performance. We are going to feature GPUs from both red and green teams, so regardless of what team you are on, there is something for everyone.

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC

Editor’s Pick 

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC

Specs:

Clock Speed: 1890 MHz. | VRAM: 24GB GDDR6X. | CUDA Cores: 10496. | PSU Requirement: 750W+ | Dimensions: 12.53 ” x 5.51 ” x 2.27 ” Inch

The first GPU that we are looking at is the famous Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 and it is safe to say that if you are looking at the market for perhaps the best GPU that money can buy, this is the one that you should go for. This was released originally with the RTX 3080 and absolutely wiped the floor as this was the first time when Nvidia released a GPU that delivered a consumer GPU that could take part in gaming as well as some other computational tasks thanks to massive 24gig VRAM.

With that said, the Strix variant comes with one of the best designs that you can find on any GPU in the market; it is beefy, loaded with tastefully done RGB, and absolutely solid. If you are looking for a GPU that looks mean aside from delivering mean performance, this is definitely something that you need to look into.

One of the biggest reasons I chose to feature this GPU here is simple, the factory overclock is excellent and you can rest easy knowing that you will not have to go ahead and overclock the GPU on your own. Sure, you can go ahead and try if you want, but if you just want to let everything run the way it should, it is a great way of doing so.

The Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC is one of the quietest GPUs that I have managed to use, the zero decibel technology is impressive but even when the fans do kick in, the GPU does not get noisy, and thanks to the beefy cooler, the temperatures do not really run into any issues and the GPU never really throttles, so you should be glad to know that you are going to get excellent performance in terms of thermals and cooling.

The best part here is the performance you are going to get out of games with the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC. The GPU can handle every single game at 4K and it is impressive, to say the least Sure, the games that are running the latest RTX technology might need some tweaking but other than that, no issues. Whether you are playing Far Cry 6, Metro Exodus, Horizon Zero Dawn, or Cyberpunk 2077, the GPU has no issues in maintaining the frame rate throughout the entire run.

After using it for so long, I cannot really think of instances where I wished I had a better GPU. However, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC is big, beefy, and requires a hefty power supply, so I would recommend that you use at least 750W or above to be in the safer zone.

Overall, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC is an excellent, excellent GPU that is meant for top-notch performance and it shows off that with great pride and well, looks, as well. If you have been on the hunt for something that does not make any compromises, then this is it.

Pros 

  • One of the best looking GPUs in the market.
  • Solid build quality with no compromises.
  • Impressive thermal performance
  • Class-leading performance in games.
  • Tastefully done RGB lighting.

Cons 

  • The GPU is massive and heavy.
  • Requires a beefy power supply.

EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra

Runner Up

EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra

Specs:

Clock Speed: 1800 MHz. | VRAM: 12GB GDDR6X. | CUDA Cores: 10240. | PSU Requirement: 750W+ | Dimensions: 11.81 ” x 5.38 ” x 2.75 ” Inch

The next GPU that we are looking at is the famed EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra, the reason why I am featuring variants from only AIB is rather simple, I want the users to know that instead of going for Founders Edition, they can put their money in something that is better and will deliver excellent performance through and through.

The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra might not seem like that big of an upgrade but you would be surprised to know that in terms of gaming, it actually performs just as well as the RTX 3090 and that is massive considering how this one comes with half the VRAM of the 3090 with 12GB being the max. Which, however, is adequate for gaming, so if you are in the mood to go ahead and have fun, this is the way to do it.

Furthermore, the RTX 3080 Ti variant that I reviewed comes with a massive factory overclock, which is always a great thing considering how you can just about rest easy knowing that your car is not going to run when you are going to go ahead and play games. The best part is that the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra is actually just as fast as the RTX 3090 and in some cases, even faster, which left me baffled to a point that I had to run the tests a number of times.

Being an EVGA variant, you are getting plenty of support and features that will help you overclock the GPU to your preferences, and you even have fans as well as RGB headers on-board, which is great.  Last but not the least, the EVGA Precision X1 software has to be my favorite. The GPU feels hefty and massive in hands, which is one thing that I did expect but actually holding it is something one cannot define in words.

Since I am talking about the software, the performance on the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra is perhaps class-leading. Not a single game that I tested did not deliver amazing performance. The GPU outperforms and outshines the competition with ease. It does not matter if you are conquering the wastelands in God of War or roaming around the fictional Yara in Far Cry 6, the GPU is excellent in terms of the overall performance and the GPU also remains cool thanks to great overall temperatures.

Moving onto the downsides, I honestly cannot really find a lot of faults with EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra. The GPU does draw a lot of power and the massive size is something that you will have to be mindful about but other than that, the performance remains excellent.

Overall, the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra is definitely one of the best GPUs for i9 12900K and if you are looking for something that will help you in gaming and productivity both, then getting this GPU is definitely something that you should be aware of.

Pros

  • Gaming performance at 4K is excellent.
  • Massive factory overclock.
  • Almost as fast and faster than the RTX 3090.
  • Easy to overclock.
  • RGB and fan headers for some added looks.

Cons 

  • Draws a lot of power. 
  • Absolutely massive in size and heft.

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC

Best i9 12900K GPU for 4K Gaming

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC

Specs:

Clock Speed: 1935 MHz. | VRAM: 10GB GDDR6X. | CUDA Cores: 8704. | PSU Requirement: 750W+ | Dimensions: 12.53 ” x 5.51 ” x 2.27 “ Inch

We are finally moving to the last GPU for Nvidia users and we have something special for you. Everyone already knows that the RTX 3090 and the 3080 Ti are very, very powerful. However, the RTX 3080 managed to steal the spotlight for being one of the best performing GPUs in the market and with a price tag that is a lot more attainable than the elder siblings.

Not just that, the performance delta between these cards was not as massive, either. So, even if you decide to go with the RTX 3080, you would not be missing out a lot, except some VRAM. Still, the reason behind featuring the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC is simple, this is perhaps the best RTX 3080 variant you can pick up and what’s even better is that I have been personally using it in my gaming rig since launch and have not felt like changing it.

Now, most of us are already familiar with what Asus has done with the overall looks of the card so I’m not going to get into detail because we all know that the card looks phenomenal; the new Strix design just works and works really, really well.

I am going to direct your attention towards the performance because this is where things are going to get really, really good. For starters, you are looking at the GPU delivering solid 4K performance. I’ll be honest, I never really thought that I’d be able to game at 4K but using the 3080 has changed my opinion forever. In Doom Eternal with ultra nightmare settings, I was able to get 147 frames a second, that’s higher than my display’s refresh rate. The same goes for Red Dead Redemption 2 which delivered 73 frames a second, and while Metro Exodus did deliver a very respectable 56 frames per second. 

Needless to say, the performance on this GPU is definitely something that a lot of people will be talking about for some time now and let me tell you that this GPU does not hold back in terms of performance as this is perhaps one of the best GPUs I have had the pleasure to use.

Moving further to the temperatures and the overall cooling, Asus has nailed it in that aspect, too. Not only does the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC looks amazing in terms of cooling but it is also one of the best performers when you are talking about cooling and the GPU remains well under temperatures throughout the entire test session or gaming session, for that matter.

Honestly, I cannot really find any complaints about the GPU aside from the fact that being heavily overclocked, this is one of the hungriest 3080s in terms of power, so be sure that your power supply is up to the mark.

Overall, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC is more than capable of handling all your gaming needs, to be honest. This is the fastest RTX 3080 that I had the pleasure to test and use in my personal rig, as well. 

Pros 

  • Massive overclocking potential.
  • The best RTX 3080 in terms of performance.
  • Class-leading looks.
  • Remains cool even under pressure.

Cons

  • Draws a lot of power.

Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

Best AMD GPU for i9 12900K

Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

Specs:

Clock Speed: 2285 MHz. | VRAM: 16GB GDDR6. | Stream Processors: 5120. | PSU Requirement: 750W+ | Dimensions: 310(L)X 134.3(W)X 55.3 (H)mm

We are finally diverting our attention to the AMD offerings that are available in the market and well, truth be told, you will not be disappointed by just how good things are, to begin with. For the longest time, AMD suffered a lot in the market because despite everything, the company just could not catch up to Nvidia in terms of graphical prowess. Sure, it managed to beat Intel in processors but when the talk turned to the GPUs, you simply could not get the same offering and well, that caused a lot of stir.

However, with the RX 6000 series, things started to look a bit better and the Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is just one of the examples that will deliver top of the line performance. Since we are on the topic of performance, the actual performance of this GPU is more than capable that you would be happy to buy this. For instance, in Metro Exodus, you can expect above 70 frames a second and that is a good thing. The same goes for games like Dying Light 2, God of War, Far Cry 6, and more. However, the important thing that you must know is that the performance numbers that I have talked about are only in games that have their DXR turned off. Turning on any Raytracing takes the performance despite the GPU being capable, which only shows that AMD needs to put in some work on the overall optimization.

Thankfully, the card does offer decent overclocking and in non-raytracing games, you can expect some amazing performance, something that can easily manage to go up against the options like RTX 3090 and 3080, but the moment raytracing kicks in, you can expect some frame drops. Another thing that I did like about the Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is the fact that it can actually really work in some workload situations. So, you should be all good to go.

As far as the downsides are concerned, honestly, the performance is something that leaves something to be desired. It is 2022 and ray tracing is becoming more and more common, so if you are looking to compare your RX 6900 XT with the RTX 3000 series, you will be missing out on some raytracing that looks excellent, to say the least.

Overall, it is safe to say that the Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is an excellent card, it does deliver on its performances but the lack of ray tracing prowess is something that is still not there.

Pros 

  • Offers decent overclocking headroom.
  • Solid build quality. 
  • Great temperatures.
  • Can easily compete with the RTX 3000 series.

Cons

  • The RTX performance is still not as good. 

XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319

Best i9 12900K GPU For 1440p

XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319

Specs:

Clock Speed: 2360 MHz. | VRAM: 16GB GDDR6. | Stream Processors: 4608. | PSU Requirement: 750W+ | Dimensions: 13.39 x 5.43 x 2.13 Inch

We are finally at the end of our list with just one great GPU that is available for everyone to buy. If you want a great GPU that delivers fantastic performance and most importantly does not fall behind the competition, this is just something that you should be going for. AMD has come a long, long way and we are well aware of how good the RX 6000 series has become. This right here is a great GPU for anyone who is looking for good overall performance, so let’s get started and see what you have at hand.

Honestly, the moment I took the GPU out of the box, I realized by the heft and size of this GPU that you are getting good performance and quality. However, it was not until I plugged it in that I realized that the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 is actually a substantial GPU in terms of the performance and it is not going to hit you in a brick wall, either.

For starters, the performance gain over previous AMD cards is massive, to say the least. I am left surprised by just how good the GPU performed in almost every scenario. That is excellent news for those who have waited years just so they can get an AMD GPU once again. After all, my first, proper GPU was also from AMD (known as ATI back then)

There is a lot more here; the GPU brings a substantial overclock right out of the box, which is always a good thing because you are not going to be running into any problems. Another great thing is that the GPU itself runs really, really quiet and the efficiency that you see here is another thing that makes you love the RX 6800 XT.

You are also getting even more overclocking potential, USB-C output, and support for HDMI 2.1, as well as all the other connectivity offerings that you want. 

But let’s just go back to the most important factor for which most of us are here, to begin with, and that’s performance. The XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 scored an impressive 98.1 frames a second in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, 97.6 in Borderlands 3, 86.3 in Control, 150 in Death Stranding, and 257 in Doom Eternal. All these scores were on 1440p with maxed out settings and ray tracing turned off for proper results. I am even happier to tell you that if you do want to play at 4K, you can very well go ahead and do that but with some settings turned down to achieve 60 frames per second in certain games.

Now, I do have to mention that you can very well go ahead and turn raytracing on but that is one point where this card suffers when you are comparing it with the counterpart from Nvidia. I also found out that the memory overclocking is limited, at best.

Overall, the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 happens to be a great GPU for i9 12900K and if you are looking for something that is well under the prices of what other GPU are running for, this is going to be more than enough for you. Just keep raytracing off and you are good to go.

Pros 

  • The performance gain over previous generation GPUs is intense.
  • Solid 1440p performance and decent 4K performance.
  • Great efficiency and overclocking headroom.
  • Lots of connectivity options for the latest technologies.

Cons 

  • The ray tracing performance still suffers.
  • Memory overclocking is limited.

Conclusion 

To conclude it all, it is safe to say that finding the best GPU for i9 12900K is not as difficult as some might think. Sure, the market is currently going through a massive shift, and there are often so much to look into that one can easily get confused but if you have been searching for something that does deliver good performance, the best way is to just go through this round up.

All the GPUs that we have mentioned here are going to be excellent for the Core i9 12900K and will deliver fantastic performance, as well.

Frequently Asked Questions 

That depends on your usage but the RTX 3090 is the editor’s pick with the RTX 3080 Ti being the runner up in this list.

Yes, the i9 12900K variant does come with an integrated Intel UHD 770 graphics.

The Intel Core i9 12900K can easily support up to 128GB DDR5 RAM if you are willing to use that much RAM in your computer.


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Related Article: 5 Best GPU For i7 12700K in 2022
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