Early Black Friday graphics card deals are starting to roll out now that we're into November, and there's never been a better time to upgrade your gaming rig for less.
Black Friday deals don't officially kick off until November 29, but major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Currys' and others often cut prices weeks ahead of the main event in order to spread the logistics of shipping all that product out to buyers. So the best graphics cards might see their lowest prices at the end of November, but the prices you'll find right now are going to be right up there, and possibly just as good as you'll get after Thanksgiving.
I'm pulling together a list of all the retailers in the US and UK with early Black Friday graphics card deals to help make your shopping easier, while also giving you some advice on which graphics cards to buy given the specs on the rest of your PC. Finally, I've also pulled together a selection of the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals I found on graphics cards last year to give a bit of a preview of what to expect this month.
Today's best graphics card deals in the US
- Amazon: up to 39% on select graphics cards
- Best Buy: save up to $80 on graphics cards
- Target: up to 33% on graphics cards
- Walmart: save up to $356 on XFX graphics cards
Today's best graphics card deals in the UK
- Amazon: up to 67% on Gigabyte graphic cards
- Argos: PowerColor AMD graphics cards lowest price ever
- Currys: save up to £70 on select graphics cards
As one of TechRadar's Computing Staff Writers, I covered Black Friday deals for three years. As such, I have the knowledge and experience to find you the best deals this holiday season. That includes record-low prices on the best graphics cards, including ones that we personally reviewed and tested out here on TechRadar.
Black Friday graphics card deals: FAQs
When will Black Friday graphics card deals start?
From now onwards. While Black Friday isn't until November 29th, the actual deals tend to crop up way ahead of the calendar date itself. It's not uncommon now for actual 'Black Friday' branded deals to start weeks in advance.
What kind of specs should you look for in a new graphics card?
There are a few things to consider when buying a graphics card this Black Friday. First and foremost, you need to consider your whole gaming setup. Buying a 4K graphics card when you only have a 1080p monitor is seriously overkill, and while you can get 400 fps in many titles at 1080p with an RTX 3090 Ti, if your monitor's refresh rate is only 144Hz, you're paying for a lot of frames that you're simply not going to see.
If you're looking for 1080p gaming, the Nvidia RTX 4060 or AMD Radeon RX 7600 is as high as you really need to go.
If you're looking for 1440p gaming, the RTX 4070 Super or the RX 7700 XT or RX 7800 XT is as high as you should go.
If you're looking for 4K gaming, then the Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super or RX 7900 GRE and above is where you need to look.
If you're looking to do creative content work like 3D rendering or analytical work like machine learning, go for the RTX cards since CUDA is the technical language of a lot of creative work, and that is much more tied to Nvidia than AMD.
If you're looking for gaming with ray tracing, the Nvidia RTX cards outperform the Radeon RX cards in this type of gaming, so they're better suited in that regard, but AMD has done a lot to close the gap.
If ray tracing isn't an issue or you're on a tigher budget, the AMD Radeon RX lineup is generally cheaper and offers competitive gaming performance, so this is where we'd tell you to look for deals.
Should you wait for a Black Friday graphics card deal?
Now, whether you wait until the Black Friday sales event to buy a new graphics card is a burning question on a lot of people's minds.
All we can really say is to trust your gut. If you see an AMD RX 7800 XT on sale for 10% off MSRP and you can actually buy it, there's no reason not to jump on it. We're used to seeing 15% to 30% markups on the best graphics cards in the past couple of years, not to mention scalpers absolutely wrecking the market and driving up prices even further.
Will that RX 7800 XT go lower on Black Friday itself? Possibly, but there are also going to be a lot more people fighting over it, so there is value in locking in a good deal now and getting the peace of mind of knowing that you'll actually get the graphics card you want rather than waiting things out for another few weeks.
However, if you're looking to get one of the best 4K graphics cards like the RTX 4090, then there's some value in waiting for it to drop even further during Black Friday itself. There's no guarantee that it will drop further than where it's at now, but it likely won't shoot back up in price on Black Friday either.
For something like this, set a price in mind that you're willing to spend on this kind of card, and when you see one at or below that price, jump on it, whether that's today or on November 29.
Why to trust TechRadar this Black Friday
We've covered Black Friday for many years on TechRadar and have a team that regularly hunts down some of the best offers on graphics cards throughout the year. Based on that, we know a great bargain when we see it and will share those with you right here.
We've extensively tested all of the graphics card models released this generation, so we know which are the best and which don't live up to the hype. Combined with our years of experience covering Black Friday, we know where to look to find the best deals and how much of a discount you should expect from a deal this holiday season.
Last year's Black Friday graphics card deals in the US
Last year's Black Friday graphics card deals in the UK
