Been thinking about your setup and honestly, if you can stretch just a tiny bit or find a deal, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB GDDR6X is hard to beat for 1440p. I ran one for months and the power efficiency is just wild compared to my old 3080. It stays cool and the DLSS 3 frame gen makes Cyberpunk run smooth as butter without cooking the card. If you really cant go over 500 tho, check out the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GDDR6. The extra VRAM is pretty future proof for these newer titles. My buddy uses one and he hasn't had a single crash. Just make sure your PSU can handle the wattage, dont risk it if youre rocking an old unit. Either way, definitely grab something new with a warranty so you dont have to worry about artifacting again.

Honestly, if you are strictly under $500 and need something reliable for 1440p, stay away from the used market unless you really know what you are doing. Dealing with a dying card is stressful enough, so grab something with a full warranty. I would suggest looking at the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB GDDR6X. You might have to hunt a bit for a sale or check open-box deals at your local microcenter, but it is worth the stretch. It crushes 1440p without breaking a sweat and uses way less power than the older generation cards, which is nice if your power supply is getting on in years. Be careful if you look at team red. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GDDR6 is also a beast and usually sits right around your budget. It has more VRAM which honestly helps with longevity, though you lose out on the DLSS feature set that makes Cyberpunk look so smooth. Just make sure your case has the clearance for those cards, especially the three-fan models. Whatever you decide, dont buy a used 3080 unless you are prepared to repaste it immediately, cause those things run super hot and the thermal pads usually crumble after a few years. Keep your receipt and just stick to a new card so you have that peace of mind during your time off.