Looking at GPUs and wondering what the difference is between NVIDIA GTX and GT cards? We’ve got the answers you need!
NVIDIA is one of the premier companies in the world of GPU and all things PC gaming and, if you’re in the market for a GPU, you’re likely going to come come across multiple models that have either a GT or GTX distinctions with different price points.
So what’s the actual difference here? Is one for casual? Is one for professionals? Can one card run high performance games while the other is only capable of lower quality?
This quick guide will help clear up the confusion between these popular GPU lines and help you determine what will work best for you.
What is NVIDIA GT?
GT refers to the series of NVIDIA cards that are your basic, entry-level cards. They are not ready to play the higher end games most of the time, and are therefore suitable for gamers who mostly stick to games that require lower performance output.
Your favorite Twitch streamer or competitive gamer usually won’t be running a GT series because, depending on the game they’re playing, the quality of graphics and/or performance will suffer.
Think of GT as the budget experience when it comes to NVIDIA GPUs.
For someone just playing at home and looking to run some easy to run indie games or older games, you can get plenty out of the GT series without worrying paying a handsome sum to run your favorite games. Still though, despite its limitations, a GT series card can still run most higher end AAA game’s so long as you play on lower graphics settings.
These cards act like a beginner series cards because the performance is essentially locked at a specific level and the speed memory of the clock. Because of this, it makes frames per second harder to push and therefore, you won’t be getting any really good 60 FPS experiences out of this.
If you don’t care about cutting-edge graphics and just want something to run your games, the GT series is going to be a fit for you.
What is an NVIDIA GTX?
GTX series is vastly superior to the GT series if you’re entering the world of serious, AAA-graphic-quality gaming. These cards are also an outstanding choice for professional graphic designers, editors and those who need high performance in the programs they use for their careers will need the top-of-the-line equipment that won’t fail them.
For streamers, a GTX card (or better) is absolutely necessary, because regardless of the game you’re playing for your audience, you need to have something that looks good.
GTX cards can regularly be found in places of business that have nothing to do with gaming, and that’s not by mistake. For businesses that need GPU power for their work, they simply can’t rely on something with less-than-optimal power to keep running efficiently.
Will a High-End GT Card Be Better Than a Low End GTX card?
A low quality GTX card will still have a bit of an edge compared to its GT brethren, simply because there is no built-in limit to GTX cards. You can overclock both GT and GTX cards, but only the GTX series will give you a noticeable boost.
A good question to ask yourself when purchasing an NVIDIA series card of any kind is what you’ll be using it for. While a good quality GT series card can play most games at a low to mid graphics settings, it will still be stressed on the higher quality titles, regardless of the model. You will never really get a completely optimal experience that you’re looking for if you’re demanding top-tier results.
GT vs GTX series Prices
A top of the line GT series card will run you about $200. For GTX series cards, prices ramp up considerably and the best available GTX model will cost you anywhere from $300-$500. The obvious difference in quality means that GTX and GT cards are simply not going to be remotely on the same price level.
Just looking at the number next to the model will usually tell you where these limitations set in. It’s priced accordingly and a GT 1030 should give the ability to play low settings on just about any game you decide to throw at it.
Regardless, it’s always worth noting that many GTX cards are generally a great bargain these days. You can find brand new GTX’s for about half of what they went for just a few years ago.
Is GTX the Best Series of NVIDIA Cards?
GTX cards are somewhat of a relic by todays standards and are not NVIDIA’s best series of cards, even though hey are still able to handle most games on medium-high settings without a problem. For example, games like The Surge 2 and Star Wars: Fallen Order could have played fairly flawlessly on a GTX 1060 laptop, despite that being an old card in relation to those titles when they were new.
The real power source for todays high performance gaming lies within NVIDIA’S RTX models. While most are fully happy with the 20 series that just a year ago was the best you could get, todays hot models are the 30 series, although you should definitely temper your expectations to just go out and scoop one up because although they’re readily available now, the cost of some of them is astronomic.
An RTX 3090, for example, (which is pretty much the best available graphics card on the planet these days) will cost you about $1500 on its own. To most, that’s completely insane to fork over as most PCs themselves don’t even cost that much to buy. You have to ask yourself if that’s affordable and whether or not it makes sense for you to chase graphical perfection.
When shopping for a graphics card, it’s always important to look at the letters and numbers in the name and this is especially true with NVIDIA. Don’t be fooled by the large VRAM that comes with GT models because this is all a smokescreen that will lead to you paying premium prices for low quality gear.
For the mid to high level gamers, a GTX model will be totally affordable and efficient to play whatever game you want at some pretty high settings. The prices have gone down in recent years as well, so if you’ve purchased a machine with an integrated GPU, it’s not going to break the bank for you to get a solid upgrade in the form of a GTX model.
Of course, some are never satisfied and for those people, the RTX models will be where they find the best overall value when it comes to modern gaming.
