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What graphics card do I need for HDR and what PC games support it?

GPUs and HDR explained

Katharine Castle avatar
Feature by Katharine Castle Former Editor-in-chief
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HDR on PC hasn't improved much in 2019. Despite there being more HDR gaming monitors than ever before, the very best gaming monitors for HDR continue to be quite expensive compared to non-HDR monitors, and the situation around Windows 10 support for it is still a bit of a mess. However, provided you're willing to fight through all that, then the next step on your path to high dynamic range glory is to get an HDR compatible graphics card.

Below, you'll find a complete list of all the Nvidia and AMD graphics cards that have built-in support for HDR, as well as everything you need to know about getting one that also supports Nvidia and AMD's own HDR standards, G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync 2. I've also put together a list of all the PC games that support HDR as well, so you know exactly which PC games you can start playing in high dynamic range.

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HDR: Nvidia graphics cards

The good news is that all of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 900, 10-series and new 16-series and RTX 20-series desktop graphics cards are primed and ready for HDR straight out of the box. Hooray! The bad news is that the 900-series can only do it over their HDMI 2.0 connectors, because their DVI and DisplayPort outputs don't support it. Boooo. This is because HDR support for DisplayPort was only introduced in DisplayPort 1.4. Nvidia's GTX 900-series, on the other hand, are stuck with DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

Fortunately, Nvidia rectified this for their 10-series of GTX graphics cards. As you can see from the table below, all of these can do HDR over HDMI and DisplayPort, because all of GTX 10-series cards come with DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. Nvidia's GTX 16-series and RTX 20-series, meanwhile, come with DisplayPort 1.4a ready and HDMI 2.0b outputs.

HDMI 2.0HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a
Nvidia GeForce GTX 950Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050TiNvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980TiNvidia GeForce GTX 1070TiNvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan XNvidia GeForce GTX 1080Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080TiNvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super
Nvidia Titan XNvidia GeForce RTX 2070
Nvidia Titan XpNvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti

HDR: AMD graphics cards

For those on the AMD side of the fence, you're looking mainly at their Polaris family of GPUs - that is, the RX 400 and RX 500 series - as well as their high-end Vega graphics cards and the Radeon 7. You can also expect the new Big Navi graphics cards to support HDR when they eventually come out, too.

However, if you happen to have one of AMD's older R9 300 series cards, you may well be in luck, as these also support HDR over their HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, albeit with a few limitations - namely, they can only reach a maximum of 30fps at 4K and a colour depth of 8-bits rather than 10-bits when connected over HDMI due to bandwidth limitations.

HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.2HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4
AMD Radeon R9 380AMD Radeon RX 460
AMD Radeon R9 380XAMD Radeon RX 470
AMD Radeon R9 390AMD Radeon RX 480
AMD Radeon R9 390XAMD Radeon RX 550
AMD Radeon RX 560
AMD Radeon RX 570
AMD Radeon RX 580
AMD Radeon RX 590
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
AMD Radeon 7
AMD Radeon RX 5700
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

What graphics card do I need for Nvidia G-Sync HDR?

Alas, even though Nvidia's 900-series of GTX graphics cards are capable of producing an HDR image, you'll need one of the 1000, 1600 or RTX 2000 series to make use of Nvidia's G-Sync HDR standard - specifically, the GTX 1050 or higher.

You'll also need to make sure it has the correct driver - R396 GA2 or higher - and that your PC is running Windows 10. Nvidia also recommends using your graphics card's DisplayPort 1.4 connection.

What graphics card do I need for AMD FreeSync 2?

AMD's FreeSync 2 tech is a little harder to untangle than Nvidia's G-Sync HDR, as every graphics card that currently supports regular FreeSync also supports FreeSync 2. That means all of the AMD cards listed above, as well as the Radeon HD 7790, Radeon HD 8770, R5, R7 and R9 200 series (excluding the R9 270X and R9 280X), and the R5, R7 and R9 300 series (excluding the R9 370X). It also includes the Radeon R9 Nano cards, Radeon R9 Fury cards and the 2016 edition of the Radeon Pro Duo.

As a result, this means all of these cards can, in fact, do HDR, as long as they're hooked up to a FreeSync 2 monitor and you're playing a game with FreeSync 2 support, AMD have now confirmed to me. That rather limits your choices a bit - not all the games in the PC game list below actually have specific FreeSync 2 support, for instance - but at least there's a smidge more flexibility than Nvidia's G-Sync HDR cards.

Personally, I'd recommend sticking with the RX 400, RX 500 and Vega graphics cards listed in the table above to be absolutely sure you're getting the best HDR experience possible with your AMD card, but at least older graphics card owners aren't completely left out in the cold here.

What PC games support HDR?

It's still far from perfect, but the number of PC games that support HDR now is looking a lot healthier than it did this time last year. There are always more coming, too, and I'll update this list as and when new HDR games get announced. Right now, though, these are all the games that support HDR on PC:

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