Apex Legends is one of the harder competitive games to run. Its graphics far outscale those of Valorant and other competitive shooters.

This means if you want the performance necessary to exceed in a first person shooter, you’ll need a pretty powerful graphics card.

In this list I’m going to cover the best GPUs for getting massive frames out of Apex Legends.

1. GeForce RTX 3090 Ti

SPECIFICATIONS

Name	GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
Memory	24GB
Memory Speed	1560 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6X
Fans	3
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	13.2″ x 2.4″ x 5.5″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

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PROS

• The Best GPU on the market, hands down
• Extremely fast and powerful
• 24 GB of VRAM is huge
• Much faster than non-Ti version
• 140+ FPS while playing Apex Legends in 4k

CONS

• Most expensive GPU on the market
• Large dimensions, requires a big case
• Power hungry (may need a 1000w PSU)

If you have a bottomless wallet and want to have the best PC in your gaming circle, get this card. It is extremely powerful.

Simply put, Apex Legends will run perfectly fine off of my GPU with 6 GB of VRAM. This GPU has 24 GB of VRAM and will blow Apex Legends out of the water.

It uses PCIe x16, which makes it extremely fast and responsive.

Just make sure you have a high refresh rate monitor that can keep up with the frames that this bad boy outputs. In FPS games like Apex Legends, you want those high framerates.

Of course, you want high frames in every game, but it’s extra important in first person shooters because you need to hit quick flicks and see every single movement the enemy players make.

The only real downside to this GPU is that it may be a bit overkill, if you can believe that.

Apex Legends can run perfectly fine off of less expensive cards. However, this is the only card that can give you a consistent 140 FPS while playing in 4k.

Just make sure that the rest of your system can keep up with the card. It would suck to spend all that money just for your CPU or RAM to bottleneck it.

On top of this, make sure that your power supply puts out enough watts (1,000W to be safe) to handle this card.

2. GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

SPECIFICATIONS

Name	GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Memory	12GB
Memory Speed	1900 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6X
Fans	3
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	11″ x 4.4″ x 1.6″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

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PROS

• Quiet
• Very close to the RTX 3090
• 120+FPS in Apex Legends on max settings in 4k
• 250+ FPS on max settings in 1080p
• Not as big as the 3090 Ti

CONS

• Power hungry
• Costs much more than the non-Ti version for only slightly better performance

This GPU isn’t quite as good as the 3090 Ti, but it comes very close. If 4k gaming matters to you, this will get the job done.

Of course, if you have a 144 Hz monitor, you probably want 140 FPS. This GPU won’t be able to do that in Apex Legends on max settings.

On low settings, though, it’ll be hitting the 200 FPS mark more often than not!

If you game in 1080p or 1440p then this card is perfect for you. Sure, you could spend a few hundred more on the RTX 3090 Ti, but this card will give you well over 140 FPS at those resolutions.

So, if you have a high budget, but not high enough for the 3090 Ti, then this is the best card you can get. It’s extremely powerful thanks to those 12 GBs of VRAM and the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.

This suffers from the same downsides as the RTX 3090 Ti, just at a smaller capacity. It’s expensive, but still $400 cheaper than the 3090 Ti. It’s power hungry, but only needs 750 – 850w, instead of 1,000w. It’s large, but not too large, etc, etc.

Overall, this GPU will get the job done every time. It’s an NVIDIA card so it has ray tracing, DLSS, NVENC, and all of those other fantastic features. These aren’t all available in Apex, yet, but hopefully they will be soon.

You won’t have to worry about performance issues for many years if you pick up this card, that’s for sure.

3. Radeon RX 6800 XT

SPECIFICATIONS

Name	AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
Memory	16GB
Memory Speed	1600 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6
Fans	3
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C
Dimensions	10.5″ x 9.5″ x 3.5″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

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PROS

• Can hit 140+ FPS in 4k while playing Apex Legends
• 16 GB of VRAM is great
• Much cheaper than the 3090 Ti and 3080 Ti while providing similar performance
• Fantastic performance to cost ratio

CONS

• Power hungry (750+ Watt)
• Runs Hot
• No NVIDIA features (DLSS, Ray tracing, etc)
• Can get loud

It blows my mind how “cheap” this GPU is. Sure, it’s still about $700 at the moment, but if you compare it to other cards that perform this well, that’s insanely cheap.

The 3080 Ti and 3090 Ti are over $1,000, yet this keeps up with them.

You can hop on Youtube right now and watch someone play Apex Legends in 4k on max settings with this card and get an average framerate of over 140.

This is pretty much perfect since it keeps up with 144 Hz monitors, which most FPS players game on.

Of course, you can always get more frames by turning your settings down a little, or gaming on 1440p or 1080p instead.

Since most players play on 1080p, this card is an absolute powerhouse. On max settings, you’ll be getting over 200 FPS most of the time. So this GPU really covers all of its bases, and for extremely cheap.

The only major downside for this card is that it isn’t an NVIDIA card so it doesn’t have those handy NVIDIA features. This will matter to some people, but most people won’t notice it.

Like all really powerful GPUs, you’ll need a decent power supply and CPU to keep up with it.

4. GeForce RTX 3080

Name	GeForce RTX 3080
Memory	10GB
Memory Speed	1900 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6X
Fans	2
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	14.9″ x 9.3″ x 4.3″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• 4k, max settings is no problem in Apex Legends
• 10 GB is a lot of VRAM
• NVIDIA features like Reflex, Broadcast, G-Sync, etc
• 1440 and 1080p gaming is flawless

CONS

• RX 6800 XT costs less for similar performance

I’ll be honest here, most people don’t game in 4k, so 4k performance won’t be important to many of you reading this. If 4k is important to you, though, then this is the card you want.

You can save about $100 if you get the 6800 XT instead, but at this point you might as well just splurge for the 3080.

The 3080 will have RTX ray tracing and DLSS which will go a long way towards making your games look and perform flawlessly. DLSS and Ray tracing aren’t available in Apex quite yet, but hopefully the devs work on this!

Sure, this isn’t as strong as the 3090 or 3080 Ti, but it’s still a fantastic card. It is expensive, but it’s the cheapest “elite” GPU on the market.

As far as Apex Legends goes, you’ll be able to do everything with this card. If you want 4k, it can handle 4k at max settings and still deliver 100+ FPS.

If you don’t want 4k, or are willing to play on lower settings, then you can reach 200+ FPS easily.

5. GeForce RTX 3070

Name	GeForce RTX 3070 LHR 8GB
Memory	8GB
Memory Speed	1755 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6
Fans	2
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	9.1″ x 2″ x 4.9″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

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PROS

• Can play Apex Legends in 4k
• GDDR6 VRAM
• DLSS and ray tracing
• Runs quiet and cool

CONS

• Power hungry
• Needs 12-pin connector
• Little pricey

I know what you’re thinking, but I promise this is the last RTX card on the list. This card has all of the benefits of being an NVIDIA card.

It has ray tracing, DLSS, etc. 8 GB is less VRAM than we’re used to, but it is still plenty of memory, especially for Apex Legends.

You can find videos of people playing Apex in 4k while getting 100+ FPS with no problem. Of course, if you plan on playing in 1080p or 1440p you’ll be able to game on any settings you want.

This may actually be my top recommended card on this list if you’re on a budget. For $100 more you can pick up an RTX 3080 or RX 6800, but those are pretty overkill if you play in 1080 or 1440p.

The AMD card also won’t have all of those fancy NVIDIA features. This card will have more than enough power for most gamers’ needs, so you can’t go wrong. If you want to spend a little less, though, don’t worry I got you covered.

6. Radeon RX 6700 XT

Name	Radeon RX 6700 XT
Memory	12GB
Memory Speed	2424 MHz
Memory Type	GDDR6
Fans	2
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	9.7″ x 2″ x 5.2″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• 12 GB of VRAM, x16 Interface, and GDDR6 memory
• Very cheap for its performance
• Competes with RTX 3070
• Perfect for 1080p and 1440p gaming
• Can play Apex Legends in 4k (low settings) at 100+ FPS

CONS

• No NVIDIA features (DLSS, NVENC, etc) – but DLSS and NVIDIA ray tracing not supported in Apex Legends yet anyways
• Runs pretty hot
• Needs 650w+ power supply

It’s hard for me to find any issues with this card for the price it costs. This has 12 GB of VRAM which is absolutely insane and why this thing can keep up with the RTX 3070 despite costing $100 less.

This card has enough power to blow Apex Legends out of the water without any problems. If you’re on a budget, it’s not going to get any better than this.

This is especially true if you game on 1080 or 1440p. In 1440p you’re going to be hitting over 140 FPS most of the time, even on max settings, which is perfect for high refresh rate monitors.

If you need more frames you can always turn your settings down.

If you game on 1080p, and plan to for the foreseeable future, then this card is perfect. There’s no reason to pay an extra $1,000 for a 3090 Ti when this will do everything you need.

Now, if you want the extra NVIDIA features, then the RTX 3070 will be better. Whether it’s worth it or not will depend on your habits and preferences, but both are great cards.

7. Radeon RX 6600 XT

Name	Radeon RX 6600 XT
Memory	8GB
Memory Speed	16 GHz
Memory Type	GDDR6
Fans	2
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16
Display Ports	1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a
Dimensions	9.49″ x 5.16″ x 1.61″ (L x W x H)

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• Beats out RTX 3060 and much cheaper
• Fantastic 1080p performance in Apex Legends (any settings)
• Decent 1440p performance (over 100 FPS) in Apex Legends
• Can hit over 60 FPS in 4k in Apex Legends

CONS

• No NVIDIA ray tracing or DLSS

The only downside to this card is that it isn’t an NVIDIA card, but it really doesn’t matter. AMD has been killing it with the RX GPUs.

They’re always much cheaper than their RTX counterparts, and this one doesn’t break the mold in that regard.

If you’re playing in 1080p, then this card will do everything you need it to. This can run Apex Legends on max settings and still hit 160+ FPS. This is perfect if you have a 144hz monitor.

If you want to play on 1440p, this card still has you covered, but you’ll want to set your graphics to low.

This isn’t the best card for 4k, but that’s okay because most people aren’t using 4k monitors yet. It can still get 60 FPS on low settings in 4k, but if you have a 144hz monitor or better, that just won’t do.

In first person shooters like Apex, you definitely want to squeeze out every last frame you can. If you game in 1080p or 1440p, this is probably the cheapest card you’ll find that performs this well.

What Makes A GPU Good For Apex Legends?

A GPU is good for gaming if it has a lot of VRAM and fast clock speeds. For Apex Legends you will want 6 GB of VRAM in your GPU and a PCIe 3.0 x8 or better interface. These specs will ensure that your GPU can run Apex Legends at 140+ FPS, which is important if you play on a 144 Hz monitor or better.

In short, a good GPU will pump out a lot of frames. GPUs with high VRAM will do the job just fine. If you shop around for GPUs, you’ll notice that all of them will say X GB in the title.

This is how much VRAM the GPU has. VRAM is very similar to your computer’s RAM, except it’s specifically for your GPU.

Beyond just the VRAM, you want your GPU to be fast (of course). The faster your GPU is, the faster it can run calculations, and the smoother your games will run.

It’s hard to say what clock speed to look for in a GPU, though, because NVIDIA and AMD both use different architectures so you can’t compare them one-to-one.

It’s usually a better idea to just look at the VRAM size (and the price) to determine which is a more powerful card.

Speaking of NVIDIA, RTX GPUs also come with ray tracing and DLSS. This all sounds awesome, but unfortunately doesn’t do much for Apex Legends.

If you play many other games that do support these features, then they quickly become important. However, they should not weigh on your mind too much for an Apex Legends specific card.

Is GPU Important For Apex Legends

The GPU is very important for Apex Legends. The GPU is important for Apex Legends because its graphics are fairly complex and having a high framerate is very important for in-game performance. Apex Legends isn’t the most graphically-intensive game, but it does require a mid-range GPU to get a good framerate.

The GPU you use is important for just about every game with graphics like Apex Legends. Sure, your GPU isn’t as important for Apex as it is for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, but it’s still important.

Apex’s graphics can be pretty demanding when they’re set to max, so having a suitable GPU is important. Of course, you can always set your graphics on low, but even then you’ll want a dedicated GPU.

Apex’s graphics are a little too intense for most integrated GPUs, and having a decent framerate will make a huge difference when you’re in a gun fight.

Is Apex Legends More GPU Or CPU Intensive?

Apex Legends is more GPU intensive than CPU intensive. Apex Legends has pretty demanding graphics which use more GPU power than CPU power. However, the game does a really good job of balancing out which component it uses. So you’ll want your GPU’s and CPU’s performances to be on par with each other.

More specifically, Apex Legends will use more GPU or CPU depending on your settings. If you max out your graphics in Apex, then it will quickly rely much more on your GPU.

If you leave your settings low, then it will use less of your GPU while still using your CPU. However, once your CPU reaches a certain point of performance, there will be no point in upgrading it.

On the other hand, you can always upgrade your GPU to get better frames in Apex Legends.

You can run a few different tests to figure out whether your CPU or GPU is limiting your Apex Legends experience.

If you keep your ragdoll and physics settings on high and lower your rendering and graphics settings but your framerate doesn’t increase, then your CPU is bottlenecking your performance.

If your framerate does increase, this means your GPU can’t keep up with your graphics settings.

Apex Legends GPU Requirements

Apex Legends’ minimum GPU requirement is a NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 or better. However, this will only run the game and not guarantee a high framerate. To get a smooth 60 FPS in Apex Legends, which is important for first person shooters, you need a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or better.

Apex Legends has pretty lax GPU requirements and they’re actually pretty standard across similar games.

For example, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone both require a GeForce GT 640 or better just to play the game. They also both recommend a GeForce GTX 970 or better for 60+ FPS.

I highly recommend aiming for a GPU that can hit 60 FPS or better, because playing first person shooters while lagging is terrible and really cuts into the fun.

60 FPS is great, but if you have a 144 Hz monitor, you should really aim for a GPU that can deliver 144+ FPS consistently.