Best GPUs for ARC Raiders (2026): Picks by Refresh Target, Not by Preset

ARC Raiders puts the GPU buying question in an awkward place. The settings menu has a Cinematic preset that pushes a 4090 to its knees and a Performance Mode that lets a five-year-old card hit triple digits. So the right pick is rarely about the card itself. It is about which refresh target you game at and how much you care about RTGI on Epic.

This guide is organized that way. Five picks, one per buyer profile, indexed to refresh target first and preset second.

Our top pick: ASUS Prime RTX 5070 OC

For the 1440p 144 Hz mainstream player who wants ARC Raiders to look good and feel responsive without obsessing over the settings menu, the RTX 5070 is the cleanest answer. Twelve gigabytes of GDDR7, the full DLSS 4 plus Multi-Frame Gen stack, and enough raw raster to hold 1440p Epic with RTGI on near a 144 Hz lock.

Quick picks

Specs at a glance

Benchmarks

Numbers below are pulled from reviewer testing of ARC Raiders specifically.

ARC Raiders at 1080p high (competitive settings)

ARC Raiders at 1440p Epic (RTGI on, native)

ARC Raiders at 4K Epic (RTGI on, DLSS 4 Quality where supported)

How we picked

GPU spend dominates a gaming build at every tier, so the refresh target you game at matters more than the preset name on the screen. ARC Raiders is well optimized for a UE5 title; the same card can drive 1080p 240 Hz competitive and 1440p Epic + RTGI depending on tuning.

The framework here is three questions. What refresh rate is your monitor locking to. How much do you care about RTGI on Epic versus dropping to high for FPS headroom. And how much VRAM cushion do you want against UE5's geometry density growing chapter over chapter.

We treat 8 GB VRAM as out of bounds for new builds in 2026, full stop. Sixteen gigabytes is the floor on any card that needs to last through the next two UE5 generations of texture work. Twelve gigabytes is fine for 1440p today; under that, the texture pop surfaces within a year. For a deeper read on the framework, see our pillar on how to choose a GPU.

Best Overall: ASUS Prime RTX 5070 OC

Specs

RTX 5070 chip on the Prime cooler, 12 GB GDDR7 across a 192-bit bus, 2587 MHz boost, PCIe 5.0, 2.5-slot. 250 W TGP. Full Blackwell feature set: DLSS 4, Multi-Frame Gen up to 4x, Reflex 2.

What it does well

Reviewers landing around 126 FPS at 1440p ultra native and 68 FPS with RT on, jumping to 100 to 120 FPS with DLSS Quality engaged. That puts a 144 Hz Epic + RTGI experience within reach using DLSS Quality plus 2x Frame Gen, a tuning we are comfortable recommending because the base frame rate is already strong.

This is also where DLSS 4 transformer model earns its keep. Quality mode at 1440p is genuinely competitive with native TAA on visual quality and sometimes cleaner. Leaning on it is not a workaround; it is the intended path.

The 12 GB pool gets a lot of editorial heat across the GPU cluster, and it deserves the criticism at this price point. But in ARC Raiders at 1440p the texture load does not push the card past comfortable.

What you give up

Push the card to 4K Epic with RTGI and it starts to lean on DLSS Performance plus Multi-Frame Gen to get there. That is the arithmetic-dressed-as-frames territory we flag elsewhere: a 30 to 40 FPS native base with interpolated frames is not a 4K card.

The 12 GB VRAM ceiling is the bet on this generation. ARC Raiders is fine today. UE5 chapter creep over the next 18 to 24 months on Cinematic textures will be the test.

There is also a variant trap on the listing side. ASUS sells a standard Prime OC and a Prime SFF-Ready OC at a different ASIN, with a shorter PCB for small form factor cases. Confirm the listing matches the standard Prime OC if you are not specifically building SFF.

Who it's for

The 1440p 144 Hz mainstream player who mixes ranked extractions and casual runs and wants Lumen on without thinking about it. Probably has a 1440p IPS or OLED in the 144 to 165 Hz range, plays one to two hours most evenings, and does not run dedicated benchmarks.

Best Value: Sapphire Pulse RX 9070 XT

Specs

RX 9070 XT chip on the Sapphire Pulse cooler, 16 GB GDDR6 across a 256-bit bus, RDNA 4 architecture. 304 W TGP. Sapphire's manufacturer SKU is 11348-03-20G. FSR 4 plus AFMF 2. No DLSS.

What it does well

This is the editorial surprise of the article. In ARC Raiders specifically, reviewers have the RX 9070 XT ahead of the RTX 5070 in both raster and ray tracing. About 130 FPS at 1440p ultra native, a 3 percent lead over the 5070. About 83 FPS at 1440p with RT on, a 22 percent lead. The RT lead is the unusual one. ARC Raiders' RTGI implementation seems to favor RDNA 4 in a way most UE5 titles do not, and the card earns the Best Value slot on raster and RT together.

The 16 GB VRAM is the other side of the value pitch. Two years more headroom against UE5 geometry density, and no NVIDIA card at this price tier matches the pool. FSR 4 Quality at 1440p is good in 2026, which we could not honestly say two FSR generations ago. A fair lever for buyers who want 1440p 144 Hz without leaning on DLSS.

For a closer look at the head-to-head with the 5070 Ti, see the RTX 5070 Ti vs RX 9070 XT comparison.

What you give up

No DLSS 4 transformer model. NVIDIA's "DLSS Quality looks better than native at 1440p" path is not available here. FSR 4 closes most of the gap in Quality mode but the very top of the IQ pyramid still belongs to the green team.

No Reflex 2. The competitive ranked player chasing the input-lag floor gives up something measurable, particularly on a 360 Hz panel. AFMF 2 and FSR FG work, but AMD's frame-gen smoothness sits a beat behind NVIDIA's MFG.

Pulse stock has been thin through the RDNA 4 launch. Reports suggest the variant trap is real on Amazon, with third-party fulfillment and refurb listings drifting into the listing page. Verify the listing is the standard Pulse OC from Sapphire's authorized seller path. If Pulse runs out, XFX Quicksilver and PowerColor Hellhound are clean alternates at the same chip.

Who it's for

The 1440p Epic player who wants RTGI on, does not do creative work that taxes CUDA, and is not married to NVIDIA's upscaling story. Pure raster plus RT value at 1440p with VRAM headroom for the next two UE5 generations of geometry density. Probably a 1440p 144 Hz OLED or high-refresh IPS, plays a mix of extraction shooters and single-player AAA.

Best for 240Hz Competitive: ASUS Prime RTX 5060 Ti OC (16 GB)

Specs

RTX 5060 Ti chip on the Prime cooler, the 16 GB GDDR7 variant on a 128-bit bus, PCIe 5.0, 2.5-slot. 180 W TGP. Full Blackwell feature set: DLSS 4, Multi-Frame Gen, Reflex 2. The 16 GB SKU specifically. Not the 8 GB.

What it does well

ARC Raiders rewards the high-refresh competitive setup harder than most extraction shooters do. Gunfights are short, target reads matter, and the engine is well enough optimized that 240 Hz at 1080p high is in range for a mainstream card. The 5060 Ti 16 GB lands around 105 FPS at 1080p ultra native, and drops in settings plus DLSS 4 Quality plus 2x Frame Gen comfortably clears the 240 Hz ceiling.

Reflex 2 changes how the card plays at this tier. The input-latency floor matters on a 240 Hz panel where a half-second hesitation gets you killed. NVIDIA's latency stack is the most mature in 2026 and the 5060 Ti carries it.

The 16 GB pool is the second load-bearing spec. UE5 plus 8 GB at 1080p ultra is the failure mode the cluster has been calling out all year. This is the cheapest NVIDIA 50-series card that ships with the right VRAM. The 8 GB SKU at a lower price does not appear in this guide on purpose.

For a related esports-shooter cohort, see our Counter-Strike 2 GPU guide.

What you give up

1440p Epic is the ceiling, not the sweet spot. The card will run 1440p high with DLSS Quality acceptably but pushing it to Cinematic with RTGI on is asking too much. The 128-bit memory bus is the architectural compromise that shows up at higher resolutions and the 5060 Ti loses ground to cards with more bandwidth.

The 8 GB SKU exists at a different ASIN for less money and is the trap to avoid. Listings can drift on the listing page so verify the cart line item says 16 GB before checking out.

Who it's for

The competitive ARC Raiders player on a 1080p 240 Hz monitor who treats this as their daily ranked extraction game. Probably has a 1080p 240 or 360 Hz IPS or OLED panel, plays daily, cares about input latency, and wants the full DLSS 4 plus MFG stack to hit 240 cleanly.

Best Budget: XFX Swift RX 9060 XT OC (16 GB)

Specs

RX 9060 XT chip on the XFX Swift Triple Fan cooler, 16 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, RDNA 4. 160 W TGP. XFX's SKU is RX-96TS316BA, the standard black triple fan. There is also a white variant at a different ASIN. FSR 4 plus AFMF 2. No DLSS.

What it does well

The 9060 XT 16 GB is the cluster's mainstream sweet spot pick, translated to ARC Raiders. Reviewers land around 76 FPS at 1080p Cinematic with RTGI on, with 1% lows around 55. Drop to high settings and the same scene runs comfortably above 100 FPS. For the entry-tier total-build buyer who wants 1080p 144 Hz on an extraction shooter that respects UE5 VRAM, this is the right spend.

The 16 GB pool is the other half of the value pitch. The matching VRAM on the NVIDIA side costs noticeably more for similar 1080p performance. FSR 4 Quality at 1080p is a fair lever in 2026; it boosts high-settings FPS into 144 Hz territory cleanly without the sharpness loss FSR 3 used to introduce. The Q1 2026 RDNA 4 driver wave landed cleanly and ARC Raiders has been stable since.

For the larger UE5 sister cohort, see our Marvel Rivals GPU guide.

What you give up

1080p Cinematic with RTGI on is workable, not comfortable. Cinematic buyers should stretch a tier. No DLSS 4 or MFG path means the high-refresh ceiling is genuinely lower than the 5060 Ti 16 GB. No Reflex 2 for the input-latency floor, which the daily ranked player will notice.

The 8 GB SKU exists at a lower price and is the same trap as Nvidia's 8 GB cards. For UE5 specifically, do not consider it. The lower-VRAM variant drifts onto the listing page; verify the cart line item says 16 GB before checking out.

Who it's for

The entry-tier total-build buyer who wants ARC Raiders at 1080p 144 Hz looking good without the VRAM trap. Probably building their first dedicated gaming PC, has a 1080p 144 Hz IPS or OLED panel, and is not chasing 240 Hz competitive or 1440p Cinematic.

Best Premium: MSI Ventus 3X RTX 5080 OC White

Specs

RTX 5080 chip on the MSI Ventus 3X cooler, 16 GB GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, PCIe 5.0, 3-slot triple-fan in the white colorway. 360 W TGP. Full Blackwell feature set: DLSS 4, Multi-Frame Gen up to 4x, Reflex 2.

What it does well

ARC Raiders at 4K Epic with RTGI is the workload that separates the 5080 from everything below it. Reviewer testing lands the card at 120 to 150 FPS native DLAA at 4K Epic with RTGI on, and DLSS 4 Quality plus 2x Frame Gen pushes the same scene past 200 FPS. The only pick in the guide where 4K Cinematic with RTGI is comfortable rather than stretched.

The 16 GB GDDR7 plus 256-bit bus is the bandwidth profile UE5 plus Lumen at 4K needs. The 5070 Ti gets close but has to lean on DLSS Performance. The 5080 holds it on Quality, the visual-integrity floor that matters at 4K.

NVIDIA's official numbers are 300+ FPS at 4K max with Multi-Frame Gen x4. That is MFG arithmetic on a strong native base; the base frame rate is what makes the smoothness multiplier feel right, and on this card it does.

What you give up

Overkill for 1440p or below. The engine ceiling kicks in around 300 FPS and the card sits bored at most resolutions. Price-tier mismatch for anyone whose ARC Raiders is a ranked-only workload at 1080p or 1440p high.

360 W TGP reshapes the rest of the build. The PSU floor is 850 W ATX 3.x in the Tier A bracket (Seasonic Vertex GX, Corsair RM 2024 revision, Super Flower Leadex VII, MSI MEG Ai), with 1000 W if the rest of the build is a 9800X3D or heavier. The included Y-adapter for the 12V-2x6 connector is still the wrong choice on a 5080. Spend the difference on a quality native PSU cable.

Who it's for

The 4K Cinematic player. Probably has a 4K 120 Hz OLED, wants ARC Raiders' RTGI lighting at full Epic, and does not blink at the wattage or the build-tier requirements. Also serves the buyer who does light creative work alongside gaming. Blender, Premiere, Stable Diffusion all benefit from the 16 GB VRAM and the mature CUDA stack.

Bottom line: which ARC Raiders GPU should you buy?

If you are at 1080p 240 Hz and treat ARC Raiders as your daily ranked game, buy the ASUS Prime RTX 5060 Ti OC 16 GB for Reflex 2 plus DLSS 4 plus MFG. If you are at 1080p 144 Hz on an entry-tier build, buy the XFX Swift RX 9060 XT OC 16 GB for the 16 GB cushion at the right price. If you are at 1440p 144 Hz and want Lumen on without thinking about it, buy the ASUS Prime RTX 5070 OC. If you are at 1440p Epic with RTGI on and the value pitch matters, buy the Sapphire Pulse RX 9070 XT for the raster plus RT lead it carries in this title specifically. If you are at 4K Epic with RTGI and want the cinematic experience without compromise, buy the MSI Ventus 3X RTX 5080 OC White.

If you are unsure which bucket you land in, the mode-flexible answer is the RTX 5070. It serves the 1440p 144 Hz mainstream cleanly and gives room to grow without overpaying for headroom ARC Raiders does not need.

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