After a successful launch by AMD, Intel had to respond with something, and it responded just fine. After many rolling titbits over the Internet, Intel finally launched the 13th gen processor series to compete with all segments of AMD products. Whether it be the enthusiast class or the budget PC builder, Intel has processors that cover them all. Today in this article, we will cover the best graphics card for i7 13700K, which gives great value without breaking the bank.
The Intel Core i7 13700K is an unlocked processor with 16 cores. Eight are Performance or P-cores, and the remaining eight are Efficient or E-cores. It’s a powerhouse in terms of performance, as the base and turbo clock of the P cores is 3.40 GHz and 5.30 GHz. While the E cores have base and turbo clocks of 2.50 GHz and 4.20 GHz, and it comes with the Intel Turbo Max technology 3.0 and can achieve a max Turbo Frequency of 5.40 GHz.
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Best Overall Performance ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Value for Money MSI RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best AMD Option SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD RX 6800 XT Gaming Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Compact Design ZOTAC Gaming RTX 4080 16GB Trinity OC 16GB Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Mid-Range Option GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC 8G Read More | See On Amazon |
If you want to build a PC with the i7 13700K processor, consider the top-end GPUs to go with your build. This processor can easily handle the highest GPUs without breaking a sweat. It has the processing power it needs to keep up with the likes of 4090, which is the performance King of GPUs in this generation.
I will include all the best GPUs you can pair with this high-end processor. If you still have trouble selecting, I will also include a buying guide where I will give you a list of checkpoints you can consult to choose your GPU, although if you select from the list, you will not face any performance bottlenecks. Just make sure you have the PSU to fuel the processor-GPU combo.
Now without waiting further, let us dive straight into the list so you can make an informed choice.
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Best Graphics Card for i7 13700K Reviews
Released in the last quarter of 2023, the RTX 4090 is Nvidia’s fastest card at its release. It is also the fastest consumer-grade graphics card in existence. It comes with a massive MSRP of $1600 and an equally massive size of 358x149x70mm, which means it will require a pretty large PC case to provide adequate airflow to keep the card performing as it should for as long as possible.
The card features 16384 CUDA Cores, almost 50% more than the runner-up RTX 3090 Ti’s 10752 cores. This time, Nvidia also increased the boost clock from 1.86GHz to 2.52GHz in the RTX 4090. The result is significantly improved performance in gaming and other graphically demanding workloads. The card has a power rating of 450W and will require a minimum PSU of 850W. Although this card consumes a lot of power, it seems surprising that, with such performance leaps, the power rating is the same 450W that RTX 3090 Ti had.
On our i7-13700K system, we tested the three highly demanding AAA titles on this card at 4K settings with ray tracing enabled: Metro Exodus, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Far Cry 6. In the first game, we got an average frame rate of 90 FPS; in the second and third, the average turned out to be 93 and 97 FPS, respectively. So, in terms of games, the card performed as expected.
Is this the best graphics card to couple with your i7-13700K? Although there is no doubt that it is the fastest graphics card, you can get your hands on. However, a graphics card or any PC component must be more than just a performance beast to be the best. Value-wise, the RTX 3080 is the best of all the graphics cards we tested. However, if the best means raw performance for you, then yes, the RTX 4090 is the best card for your i7-13700K that you can buy.
The MSI RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X 12G is based on Nvidia’s Ampere Architecture and comes at the bumped-up MSRP of ~$1300 compared to the $1200 the original can be had. The Supreme X has been overclocked to perform slightly faster than the stock card.
It features 10240 CUDA cores. For comparison’s sake, the 3080 has 8960 while the 3090 features 10496. Across the same architecture, an increase in CUDA cores does result in corresponding performance gains. As a result, the 3080 Ti is noticeably faster than the 3080 and almost unnoticeable from the 3090.
On the memory side, the card has 12 gigs of GDDR6X memory with a bandwidth of 19 Gbps on a 384-bit bus. The halving of memory is the only major difference between the 3090 and 3080 Ti. Although having as much GPU memory as possible doesn’t hurt, 24GB is overkill for most gamers, even high-end ones.
The card is 336x140x61 mm and should fit inside a mid-tower case just fine. The TGP of the Supreme X is around 400W, and MSI recommends an 850W PSU for it. In contrast, the stock card consumes 350W and requires a 750W PSU. Are the marginal performance gains worth the additional price and energy? We’ll leave it up to you to decide.
We tested 3 highly graphically demanding games at 4K settings with ray tracing enabled for our gaming benchmarks. In Far Cry 6, we got an average frame rate of 89, while in Metro Exodus and Red Dead Redemption 2, we got a stable 84 FPS framerate. So yeah, more than a smooth 4K gaming experience!
This card is a good deal, with graphics cards already pushing the $2000 mark at ~$1300. However, with the stock RTX 3080 Ti already offering marginal performance gains over the 3080, the price increase of Supreme X over the original seems even harder to justify. In other words, go with the 3080 and save yourself a small fortune (~$500) by sacrificing some half a dozen FPS, we’d say.
The Sapphire RX 6800 XT is based on AMD’s rDNA 2 Architecture and comes with an MSRP of $700. The 6800XT boasts 4608 Stream Processors and 72 Ray Accelerators, compared to the $480 RX 6700 XT’s 2560 Streaming Processors and 40 Ray Accelerators, resulting in substantial performance improvement that almost linearly scales with a price.
In memory, too, there are considerable improvements in the 6800 XT over the 6700 XT. For example, Infinity Cache increased from 96 MB to 128 MB while the memory interface bumped up to 256-bit instead of 192. The result is substantial improvements in memory bandwidth (384GBps to 512GBps) manifested in faster loading of texture details and, coupled with higher processor count, an overall much smoother gaming experience.
Regarding the size of the Sapphire RX 6800 XT, it takes up 2.7 slots (read 3), which effectively means that 3 of your PCIe slots will be rendered useless. You also want to invest in a suitable ATX motherboard; mini-versions won’t cut it. The card’s dimensions at 310(L)X 134.3(W)X 55.3 (H)mm are, however, more forgiving than most mainstream high-end cards, and it should fit inside even a mini-tower case. However, we don’t recommend pushing your luck too far and ending up with a perpetually overheated and throttled GPU because there wasn’t sufficient airflow. The card has a TGP of 350W, which means you might want to invest in a quality 750W PSU.
The gaming performance of the 6800 XT was highly varied. The pessimism set by the 40 FPS recorded in Metro Exodus was quickly overshadowed by the surprising 67 FPS recorded in Far Cry 6 and 51 FPS in Red Dead Redemption 2. However, these are respectable numbers because AMD needs to catch up with Nvidia in ray tracing.
So, is the Sapphire RX 6800 XT the best graphics card for i7-13700K? At $700, this is in the RTX 3080 territory. While AMD cards provide better deals at lower resolutions with no tracing effects, in our case, it would be a mistake to choose the 6800XT if a 3080 is available without huge markups on MSRP.
The ZOTAC RTX Trinity 4080 is based on Nvidia’s latest Ada Lovelace architecture and comes with an MSRP of $1199. It is the successor to 3080 but only nominally as it is much more expensive than the 3080. So, an apples-to-apples comparison should be matched with the $1199 3080 Ti. The 4080 features Nvidia’s DLSS3 technology (only available in 40 series cards) to improve frame rates in highly graphically demanding games.
The card has seen a reduction in core counts, “on all counts,” so to speak. For example, it features 9728 CUDA Cores compared to 3080 Ti’s 10240 Cores. Same with the RT and Tensor Cores. However, the higher base and boost clock speeds of 4080 at 2.21GHz and 2.51GHz, offset these differences, compared to 3080Ti’s 1.37 and 1.67 GHz, respectively. The result is 4080, still defeating 3080 Ti by a significant margin.
This is a pretty big card, at 356.1mm x 150.1mm x 71.4mm, almost the same size as the higher-end 4090. Although the card will fit inside a Mid Tower case, its 320W TGP means it will generate a lot of heat. So, you might be better off going with a full tower case to provide plenty of ventilation to the graphics card.
Regarding gaming performance, the gains provided by the 4080 over the 3080 Ti are marginal. For instance, we got 92 FPS at 4K with RT-enabled compared to the 84 FPS we got with the MSI RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X. Similarly, we got an average of 98 FPS in Far Cry 6 over the 89 FPS we got with the 3080 Ti.
So, is the RTX 4080 the best graphics card for your i7-13700K? The card offers noticeable improvements over the 3080 Ti, so we’d recommend it if you had to choose between them. However, $1200 is too steep for a card that was supposed to succeed the 3080. If you have money, we recommend “take the full measure and go all the way” with the RTX 4090 instead.
Coming at an MSRP of $850, the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC 8G, as its name implies, is the overclocked version of the $599 RTX 3070 Ti reference card, which is based on Nvidia’s Ampere architecture. While the original card has a core clock speed of 1770 MHz, the aftermarket variant comes with 1830 MHz, resulting in slightly higher framerates. The 3070 Ti features 6144 CUDA cores which, though slightly higher than the 3070’s 5888 cores, are drastically lower than the much better-value 3080’s 8704 CUDA cores.
The 3070 Ti features 8GB of GDDR6X instead of the GDDR6 memory in the 3070, which translates to higher memory clock speeds and significantly higher bandwidth at 608 GB/s instead of the 3070’s 448 GB/s. As a result, the textures and details in AAA titles load much faster.
The dimensions of the 3070 Ti have been set at 320x129x55 mm, which means that it should fit inside a typical Mid Tower case just fine. Despite similar overall performance to the 3070, the 3070 Ti draws significantly more power at 290W (~300W on this model) than the former’s 220W. So, expect to buy a suitable 750W PSU to power your system adequately.
Gaming performance was acceptable on this card as the average remained between 60-70 FPS at 4K ultra settings with ray tracing enabled. For instance, when we ran Metro Exodus, the average framerate stayed nearly constant at 60 FPS, while Red Dead Redemption 2 hovered at a slightly higher 63 FPS. And finally, in Far Cry 6, the average turned out to be 66 FPS.
So, pretty good card. Then why isn’t it the best graphics card for your i7-13700K? Well, mainly due to its price. Although the 3070 Ti offers slight improvements over the $499 RTX 3070, they are not worth the extra $100 and the higher power draw. If you want to get better performance for value, we recommend you either stick with the RTX 3070, make a slightly higher leap to the $699 3080, and skip the 3070 Ti altogether.
Final Words for Best GPU for i7 13700K
Let’s try to wrap things up now as we have covered each graphics card individually and are now well aware of their pros and cons and the cost. I7 13700K is a reasonably well-performing, powerful chip that needs no introduction. Therefore, it’s worthy of an equally well-performing graphics card to keep things balanced and steady. All the graphics cards we have tested serve well for what they are worth, especially in the current market, where graphics cards are back to their normal prices instead of the scalped and inflated ones like they were in the crypto boom and chip shortage.
Not stretching too long, let me make this brief for all of you to decide the best at the end. So, starting with the last-gen stuff, all 3 cards from Nvidia and AMD, which are Sapphire Pulse RX 6800 XT, Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC, and MSI RTX 3080 Ti SUPRIM X, respectively, hold up considerably well to this day and are capable of providing amazing 1440p high refresh rate gaming experience as well as serviceable 4K one. RX 6800 XT has the highest amount of VRAM, having 16GB in total, but RTX 3080 Ti takes the lead in raw performance with its 12GB of VRAM, which is not bad at all and fine.
Those willing to jump directly into the latest graphics card series to get the maximum performance uplift in gaming and productivity can choose from the Zotac RTX 4080 Trinity and ASUS ROG RTX 4090 OC. Both are the flagship GPUs of the current generation and hold the crown of most powerful and relatively less power-hungry graphics cards compared to the old 3000 series of graphics cards. If you can afford to pay the extra premium to get the maximum frames in your games, these are the best current market offers!
