If you look at the Steam Hardware Survey, you'll notice that 1080p is still the most popular resolution among gamers, accounting for over 50% of users, while 1440p and 4K only make up roughly 21% and 5%, respectively. This explains why the RTX 3060 continues to lead the GPU popularity rankings despite being over five years old at this point. Even though the RTX 4060 is catching up, it's still a 60-class card that's primarily aimed at 1080p gaming.

So if you're planning to continue gaming at 1080p, and you already own something like the RTX 4060 or RX 7600 XT, I'd think twice before rushing out to buy a faster GPU. Of course, a newer 70-class or 80-class GPU is a lot more powerful than what you have, but at 1080p, you're unlikely to get the most out of it. And depending on the games you play, you're likely to run into other limitations long before your GPU gets a chance to flex its muscles.

At 1080p, your GPU is rarely the bottleneck

A GPU upgrade is more likely to expose CPU limitations

A decade ago, you could've bought the fastest GPU on the market and used it for 1080p gaming without worrying too much about CPU bottlenecks. GPUs weren't powerful enough to overwhelm CPUs back then. Fast-forward to today, and even the entry-level RTX 5060 is significantly faster than the legendary GTX 1080 Ti from 2017. GPU horsepower is now rarely the limiting factor for 1080p gaming. So if you upgrade your RTX 3060 or 4060 to an RTX 5070, for example, there's a good chance your CPU will limit your FPS gains.

There's a reason why 70-series and 80-series cards are highly recommended for 1440p gaming or higher. At higher resolutions, your GPU has more work to do since it has to render more pixels, so your CPU won't limit its performance nearly as much as it would at 1080p. And if you currently have a 60-class GPU, chances are you have it paired with an entry-level or mid-range CPU, which only increases the likelihood of running into a bottleneck after a GPU upgrade. This is especially true if you play esports titles that already run at 200+FPS on entry-level cards.

Why upgrade to a GPU you can't fully utilize?

Diminishing returns are inevitable if you aren't upgrading the rest of your build

One of the first things you'll notice after upgrading to a much faster GPU for 1080p gaming is that its usage doesn't stay pinned at 95–99% the way you'd expect when monitoring in MSI Afterburner. Take it from someone who learned this the hard way. I upgraded from an RTX 3090 to an RTX 4090 for 1440p gaming in 2022, expecting a 50% performance uplift based on benchmarks, only to realize I was getting closer to 30% because my CPU couldn't keep up. In many titles, GPU usage hovered around 80% instead of being fully utilized.

The same thing can happen if you upgrade from an RTX 4060 to an RTX 5070 for 1080p gaming. Unless you're upgrading your CPU alongside it, you're unlikely to see the kind of FPS gains those YouTube benchmarks suggest. On top of that, if you're already close to maxing out your monitor's refresh rate, how many of those extra frames are going to even matter? Sure, it's a different story if you have a 240Hz monitor for competitive gaming, but even then, going from 150 to 200FPS isn't going to feel as transformative as going from 60 to 100. That's where diminishing returns start to kick in.

Newer AAA titles will benefit from a faster GPU

But with upscaling being so good today, is it really worth it for 1080p?

I'm not saying that entry-level GPUs are absolutely crushing it at 1080p. Some AAA titles can still be very demanding on cards like the RTX 3060 and 4060, especially if you're the type of gamer who prefers to play at High or Ultra settings. And once you enable ray tracing, your frame rates can easily hover around 30-40FPS in games like Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and Black Myth: Wukong. That alone is enough to tempt anybody to upgrade their GPU so they can get over 60FPS no matter what game they play. And with developers pushing ray tracing more than ever, it makes sense why you'd want to future-proof your PC with a higher-end GPU.

That said, it's not like you need a faster GPU to get better frame rates these days. AI upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR have improved so much in the last couple of years that they can offset the performance hit from enabling ray tracing. With decent entry-level GPUs like the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB costing north of $550, I'd much rather enable DLSS Quality and lower a few settings than spend that kind of money on a new GPU for 1080p gaming. In fact, DLSS is the sole reason why I don't feel like upgrading to an RTX 5090 for 4K gaming. If upscaling is enough to keep a 4-year-old GPU relevant for 4K gaming, I'm sure a last-gen 60-series card can remain relevant for 1080p gaming a little while longer.

Upgrade the rest of your build while GPU prices are high

There's nothing wrong with wanting a faster GPU, especially if you're struggling to run the latest games at the frame rates you like. However, if you're still gaming at 1080p with an RTX 4060 or RX 7600 XT, there's no need to rush out and pay these outrageous prices. Features like DLSS and FSR should help you squeeze more performance in the meantime, so you're better off spending your money on parts that are still reasonably priced, like a better CPU and monitor. And when GPU prices do come down, that inevitable upgrade will likely feel a lot more justified than it does today.