The Best Graphics Cards for Compact PCs in 2024

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A reliable top trend in PC tech over the past decade? Seeing more and more power squeezed into smaller and smaller packages over time. Nowadays, even some of the fastest and most potent graphics cards can work inside a subset of compact Mini-ITX PC cases (which, themselves, have expanded to accommodate), but you'll need to mind power, thermal, and size limits. At PCMag, we have decades of experience testing graphics cards, and we test all cards for frame rates across a rich selection of games, as well as for feature set, design, connections, and thermal traits. For most buyers, our current picks for the best compact graphics cards are AMD's Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060. No single option will work for everyone, though, so our list below outlines recommendations for all budgets. Following the picks, we'll lay out all the card considerations to know as you shop.

Before determining which graphics card to buy for a compact PC, you should ideally already own a compact desktop or be close to buying one. This is a key starting place as the size and design of your PC case will be the primary determining factor in what graphics cards you can use. In the PC case and motherboard markets, products are most often classified by form factor with ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX being the most common. It's sufficient for the most part to think about these as big (ATX), medium (Micro-ATX), and small (Mini-ITX).

Being focused on compact PCs, most of this advice revolves around the Mini-ITX form factor. Most ATX and Micro-ATX cases will take just about any size graphics card. While it's possible to get graphics cards that are too big for some ATX and Micro-ATX PC cases, this is far less common than with Mini-ITX cases. As this is the smallest common form factor, it's no surprise it has the most challenges with fitting in large components like graphics cards.

In truth, many Mini-ITX PC cases can hold most graphics cards, even exceedingly powerful ones like Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4090. This is a relatively recent development, as Mini-ITX PC cases used to be smaller, but many companies now sell extended models explicitly designed to hold large graphics cards. If you are buying one of these models, you should have an easy time finding a graphics card for your PC.

This comes at the trade-off of a slightly smaller system, though. The absolute smallest PCs you can buy today often don't have room to add a graphics card of any size, though they make up for this by being exceedingly small. You'll also find some Mini-ITX PCs that come between these two extremes and may be able to hold a graphics card...but with serious limitations. These PCs may only accept graphics cards that are half-height or that are relatively short in length.

Ultimately, before you can safely buy a graphics card for a compact PC you will need to know just how much room that PC has to work with. Of particular note is the internal distance between the front and back of the case, the total number of add-on slots, and the maximum supported card height. You will then need to check these same features of any card you buy to ensure the card can fit.

Can Your Power Supply Handle a New Video Card?

It's also essential to check the power supply for your compact PC before you buy a graphics card. Compact PCs tend to be built with similarly compact power supplies, though this is not universal. Either way, power supplies are only able to handle so much power, and these trend toward the lower-capacity end of the spectrum for compact PCs. The vast majority of modern graphics cards also require additional power directly from the power supply and cannot get all the power they need directly from the system's motherboard. This, naturally, requires the power supply to have the appropriate connections to supply this power, and if it doesn't then you should avoid buying a graphics card that needs them.

Typically, the best start is to look at your power supply and gather its information first. It will be marked with a specific wattage that indicates how much power it can handle. AMD, Intel, and Nvidia all place a recommended wattage on their graphics cards. If it's the same or lower than the power supply's shown wattage, you are likely good to go. If the graphics card's wattage is shown to be higher, you might still be able to use it, but this requires consideration on a case-by-case basis that we cannot properly advise on here. Unless you have experience in this area or can consult with someone who is, we'd suggest sticking to the recommended wattage numbers.

Next, you should also look closely to ensure the power supply you have has the power connectors you need. The most common power connectors today are the 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Again, you simply need to look at your power supply and the card you want to buy to make sure they have the same connections. If they do not, that's where you should stop. Some adapters can be used to go from other connectors to a PCIe connection, but if your power supply doesn't already have these then it's likely a strong sign it isn't up to handling the amount of power your graphics card will need.

We've found one caveat to this rule regarding Nvidia. The green GPU maker has a unique power connector for some of its graphics cards, and newer RTX 40-series graphics cards ship with this new standardized 12VHPWR connection. Nvidia typically supplies power adapters for these cards, and they should be safe to use so long as you still meet the power requirements.

Though they are in the minority today, some graphics cards are purpose-built to run solely off the power provided to the motherboard from the power supply. These used to be common, but now you only see the lowest-end cards designed for this purpose. They are easy to recognize, as they do not have any extra power connections. These cards tend to work in most systems as their power draw is typically much lower, and they also tend to be quite small. As a result, if you are having trouble finding a card to work, these are typically the best options of last resort.

Ready to Buy the Right Compact Graphics Card for You?

Determining which graphics card to buy is something that must be done on a case-by-case basis, which is why instead of a single option we suggest several in this article. So long as you don't run into any size or power restrictions, it's often best to buy the most powerful graphics card that fits your budget.

With a compact PC, you may want to consider more energy-efficient cards over more powerful ones, as it can have an impact on the performance of other components, like your processor. However, this path is difficult to recommend as you end up trading off some performance in exchange for better efficiency. We include power and heat tests in all of our graphics card reviews to help you with making this decision.

If you have a bit more room to play with in your PC case, check out our roundup of the best graphics cards for 4K gaming, which will be bigger cards. (Also check out our master guide to the best graphics cards overall, heedless of size.) Finally, complete your custom build with one of the top M.2 solid-state drives we've tested. These tiny SSDs are a perfect match if you're space-strapped.