A Guide to Selecting the Best Graphics Cards
Therefore, it is not enough that you buy any graphics card on offer, but rather, you value a number of aspects:
Type of graphics card
For compatibility reasons, we recommend that you be clear about what graphics card your PC has. In this way, you can replace or improve it with a compatible graphics card that guarantees optimum performance. If you have lost the instruction booklet and are unable to find what your graphics card is, you can:
- Type Dxdiag in the Windows startup option.
- A window with detailed information about your computer will appear.
- Click on the “Display” tab to access the details of your graphics card.
If you buy a graphics card compatible with your computer, but exceeding the capacity of the latter, the dreaded “bottleneck” effect will occur. That is, it will not work properly.
Usage and user
Apart from the format in which the graphics cards are presented, there are three types of them depending on the approach: gaming, multimedia, and professionals. To know which one you need, you must ask yourself what type of user you are. Do you work with multimedia files?
Then you will have to buy a graphics card adapted to it. Because each graphics card is focused on a specific type of user. This, therefore, affects the characteristics of the product. If you choose a professional graphics card when all you are going to do is play a couple of old games you will be throwing money. The positive is that they can be replaced without a problem.
Therefore, if you have a more or less modern PC, but want to play the latest titles, don’t think you have to buy another computer. With a new graphics card, you can stretch the life of your PC for a few more years. In some cases, a new renewal of the graphics card will suffice in the future.
Power and speed of the graphics card
One of the reasons for the madness of graphics cards is their speed. The most powerful graphics cards can do real wonders. To measure this parameter, the raw power and the CUDA cores are key.
The figures associated with these two points are clear: the higher, the higher the power and speed. This is easy to check when you compare the best graphics cards of different generations. Logically, if your purchase is intended for gaming you will need a powerful graphics card, which runs the latest titles fluently.
Graphics card memory
Although the power is the first characteristic that you should assess when buying a graphics card, the type of memory and the bandwidth it has (GB per second) is also important. The quantity is another aspect that you should consider, but, contrary to what is usually believed, it is not the most relevant.
It is sometimes recommended that you have a quick memory than a large amount of GB. On models that match the type of memory and bandwidth, yes, decide for the one that offers the most GB.