Honestly, if youre working in DaVinci Resolve, you really want to stick with Nvidia. Their CUDA cores and NVENC encoder are basically the gold standard for smooth playback and fast exports. For your 250 dollar budget, the best value right now is definitely the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6. I used this card in a budget edit rig recently and it handled 1080p projects with color grading and transitions like a champ. The drivers are super stable which is a must when youre trying to meet a deadline. If you can find a deal on a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6, that extra VRAM is nice for longer projects, but the 4060 is newer and faster for most things imo. Just avoid any 4GB or 6GB cards, you'll regret it later... stick to 8GB and you'll be totally fine for 1080p.

Totally agree that Nvidia is the way to go for Resolve. But honestly, if you can find a MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 on sale, jump on it. Even though it is a gen older than the 4060, that 12GB of VRAM is a massive lifesaver when you start layering effects or working with heavy color grades. Its usually right at the top of your 250 dollar budget too.

Just saw this thread and honestly you guys are spot on about prioritizing the vram and encoders. I tried to cut corners a while back by getting a heavily used card off a marketplace to save cash but it was a total nightmare. My system kept crashing mid-render and I lost hours of work... basically learned that saving money up front isnt worth it if the hardware is sketchy. Better to buy new for the warranty tho.