BASIS OF CHOOSING GRAPHIC CARD

WHAT IS GRAPHIC CARD? 

Well let's start with what does Graphic card means?
Graphic Card in a computer is used for rendering images from the computer to output onto a monitor. This is done by converting the data that the computer processes to a digital or analogue signal which can be displayed on the monitor. All computers will come with a graphics card, but not all will be suitable for more demanding tasks such as playing games, or video rendering.

TYPES OF GRAPHIC CARDS:

INTEGRATED:

Integrated graphics is a GPU that is built into either the motherboard but which is the cost now built onto the CPU this means no add in card is used. These are most common in laptops and computers as they are basically free with the Processor but cannot be upgraded unless you swap the processor for a higher version.

DISCRETE:

This is an add in card that is installed into an expansion slot on the motherboard Discrete Graphics cards are usually only for people that want to game, edit video or who do CAD design as they are a lot more powerful than an integrated solution which is more suited towards browsing the web and Office work.

MANUFACTURERS

AMD

·AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) produce their own graphics   cards which are mostly targeted towards budget gaming   and business but also product their own integrated   graphics solutions unlike Nvidia.

·AMD CPU Integrated Graphics cards can crossfire or work   in tandem with a dedicated graphics card of the same   design   to increase performance.

NVIDIA

Nvidia are a top producer of graphics cards that make cheap budget graphics cards all the way up to high performance gaming graphics costing upwards of £700 they only make dedicated graphics cards as they are not a CPU vendor.

INTEL

Intel only produce Integrated graphics solutions as they already take up a High Percentage of the CPU market providing mobile and desktop solutions

WHAT TO LOOK WHILE CHOOSING A GRAPHIC CARD?

For most people, gaming is the most intensive graphical task that you will ask your PC to perform.

If you’re not a gamer, then you might not care as much about your GPU’s capabilities unless you run other kinds of applications that can make direct use of a GPU’s special processing capabilities. Examples include video editing, where a GPU can be used to speed up processes like encoding video, and computer-aided design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM) applications like AutoCAD, which can also use the GPU for significantly better performance.

For Gaming

Simply put, if you’re building a PC to play games, then the GPU will be your most important purchase. Other components can affect performance, like the CPU and RAM, but getting a GPU that’s too weak for your chosen games is guaranteed to result in disappointment.Buying the best GPU you can afford is a good way to future-proof your build, and keep it ready to play popular games that have yet to be released.

For Professional

High-end applications like AutoCAD and Adobe Premiere Pro can make use of GPUs to speed up processing and make for faster and more efficient workflows.In fact, there’s a class of GPUs aimed specifically at these users. These workstation GPUs are optimized for these applications, and their drivers are certified to be stable and reliable. These GPUs aren’t always the best at powering games, even though they can be much more expensive than consumer GPUs.

FACTORS

Compatibility

While a new graphics card will help with your graphics performance, your video playing software, games or video editing programs may still be slowed down by other parts of your system, such as your RAM and CPU. If you’re building a new PC, or want to upgrade your current desktop, it’s important to make sure your graphics card is compatible with the rest of your system. (It’s generally not possible to upgrade the graphics card in a laptop.) A CPU fast enough to keep up with your graphics card, as well as a PSU (Power Supply Unit) with enough power to feed both of them, are essential. Full-size graphics cards need an x16 slot on motherboard to configure it with system, but there are also smaller x8 sized graphics cards available.

You will be able to figure out what PSU you have by opening the side panel of your desktop PC (while it is turned off and disconnected from power). The PSU looks like a rectangular block and will be either at the very bottom or very top of your desktop PC. There will be information on it to let you know the model and brand, and, most importantly, the wattage. You can then use a power supply calculator to figure out if there is enough power available on your PC for your graphics card of choice.

GPU

The important calculations on graphics cards are done in the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). There are two major GPU manufacturers, AMD and Nvidia. You may hear or see people referring to graphics cards by the GPU they have – such as Nvidia GTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 590.

Many different manufacturers build graphics cards from AMD’s and Nvidia’s GPUs, which is why you’ll see things like Asus Rog 2070 and Gigabyte GeForce 2070. As long as you stick to well-known brands, you are generally safe to ignore the graphics card manufacturer and focus on finding a card with the right GPU.

Size of Memory

Just as CPUs use RAM (Random Access Memory) to speed up their operation, GPUs need dedicated memory to do their calculations efficiently. The memory will be built into the graphics card, and usually, there is a set amount of memory that each GPU comes with.

Lower-end cards will come with up to 4GB of memory, whereas higher-end cards may have up to 16GB. The amount of memory your card has will only matter in situations where a lot of video data needs to be kept in memory for quick access. This is normally in video-games with expansive high-definition environments, or when editing very long or 4k video files. If you run out of video memory, the game or video editor will start stuttering as objects within the image will need to be loaded every time they appear on your screen.

Type of memory

There are multiple types of video memory, such as DDR4, GDDR5, and GDDR5X. All of these have slight improvements in speed over the previous type. The newest version is GDDR6, which is only in the highest-end graphics cards currently available, such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080. Generally, you shouldn’t worry about the type of video memory that your card has, as it will be suited to fit the design of your GPU.

Frames Per Second or FPS

Frames per second is a measurement that basically tells you how fast your graphics card can render discrete frames onto your screen.

The higher the framerate the smoother the gameplay will look on screen, for example, most gamers will look for a card that can perform at around 30 FPS minimum. That being said, if you’re going to be playing fast moving games then we’d recommend opting for a card that can perform to at least 60 FPS at your desired resolution.

Clock Speed

Within a card family, such as the 980 Ti, you’ll notice that clock speeds vary between manufacturer or ‘card partner’.

The clock speed is a good indicator of how a card will perform. You’ll see this number advertised in MHz. Many of the manufacturers will highlight a ‘base clock’ and a ‘boost clock’, the base clock being the number at which the graphics card will usually operate and the boost clock being the number that the GPU might perform at under certain conditions.

It is possible to overclock a GPU yourself, much like a CPU. Be wary though as it’s possible to damage the card in doing this. If you’re looking to overclock then we’d advise you to buy a graphics card that’s overclocked out of the box.

Heat Sink and Fan

Heatsink and Fan forms the cooling part of the graphics card, which are used to lower down the temperature of GPU and RAM (in some cards). Heatsink is a passive cooling device that is made up of copper or aluminum and its main purpose is to take the heat away from the GPU and dissipates it in the surroundings. Fan is an active cooling device that blows air onto the heatsink to make heatsink cool down faster so that it can draw away the heat quickly from the components. Some low end graphics cards are equipped with only heatsink but the all the mid and high range ones have both heatsink and fan combination for proper and efficient cooling.

Resolution

Chances are you’ve heard of resolution, the measurement of how many pixels are displayed on your monitor or screen. Typical resolutions you’ll come across these days are 720p, 1080p and now 4K or UHD as it’s sometimes referred to.

Typically, a monitors ‘native resolution’ is the resolution by which it’s designed to look its best in. The screen will often support lower resolutions but not higher.

With graphics cards it’s a slightly different story as most modern day graphics cards will ‘support’ 4K resolutions, whether they play 3D games at 4K is a slightly different story.

1080p or ‘High Definition’ as it’s also known still rules the mainstream monitor market although 1440p monitors are becoming more common (2,560×1,440 pixels). 4K monitors are also coming down in price and running games at this resolution does make them look dramatically better.

if you’re going to be playing games at 4K then be sure to buy a higher end graphics card as 4K is a serious strain on performance levels and can result in a massive drop in frame rate if not using a powerful enough graphics card.

FORM FACTORS

SINGLE SLOT:A single slot graphics card which are usually low powered due to not needing a cooler.

DUAL SLOT:A dual slot graphics card are usually more geared towards gaming and CAD design as they can have a much bigger cooler on to dissipate the heat created by the card.

TRIPLE SLOT:A Triple slot card is primarily for gaming these are graphics cards that run very hot and have a beefy cooling solution to allow extra overclocking for enthusiasts

LOW PROFILE:Low profile cards are usually cards that are made to replace integrated graphics cards they can usually support more monitors than the standard IGPU but can only play very basic games such as minecraft etc.

The graphics card accomplishes this task using four main components:

•   A motherboard connection for data and power
•   A processor to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen
•   Memory to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store completed         pictures
•   A monitor connection so you can see the final result

 AMD VS NVIDIA ?

What Is AMD?

AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, is the second-biggest name in the world of

personal computing. Serving as Intel’s singular rival in the CPU market, both are continually pushing the limits of x86 and x64 processors across the industry.A battle that’s been going on for decades, and it is looking as heated as ever

What Is AMD’s Radeon?

Radeon started as an ATI brand, not an AMD brand. ATI, or Array Technology Inc., served as Nvidia’s chief rival in the PC graphics space from the ’90s to the mid-’00s, so initially, it was Nvidia vs. ATI. In 2006, AMD acquired ATI and the Radeon brand.

Radeon GPUs are consumer-oriented gaming graphics cards. In recent years, they are branded with R3, R5, R9, and RX variation.

Nvidia

Nvidia emerged in the 90s as one of many competitors in PC graphics, alongside 3DFX and ATI. We obviously know what happened to ATI, but since then, Nvidia has steadily climbed the market. Transitioning into the PS3/360 eras, they acquired market dominance over ATI just before AMD acquired them.In addition to PC graphics, however, Nvidia is also making itself known in other markets, most notably, self-driving cars and AI. While both companies are interested in the mobile and console markets, Nvidia has grown more adventurous with its non-graphics outings, likely due to their position in the market

What Is Nvidia’s GeForce?

GeForce is simply the brand that Nvidia uses for their graphics cards. Unlike with AMD, there isn’t really a story behind the brand name here.

GeForce GPUs are branded with GT, GTX, and RTX.

Architecture

Cards from both these companies have different architecture and technology. For example Nvidia calls their Pixel Shading Units / Pixel Shaders as Cuda Cores and AMD calls them as Stream Processors. To learn about the different components of the graphics cards in detail, read the article below.

Price Range

Nvidia has good range of graphics cards in all price range i.e. from lower price to high price as compared to AMD. Budget Graphics card from Nvidia are very popular because of their low cost and decent performance for their price. AMD range of cards is limited as compared to Nvidia but you can find some very good mid to high range of cards in AMD.

Performance

Performance of the card depends upon its model, architecture and also price range. A mid-range card from both Nvidia and AMD will perform almost similar with one card performing better in one and the other in other game.

Overclocking

Both Nvidia and AMD Graphics cards can be overclocked to a certain extent but I have seen Nvidia cards to have more overclocking potential as compared to AMD ones.

Nvidia Graphics Card Manufacturers – Asus, XFX, Zotac, Palit, Gainward, Gigabyte, Galaxy, PNY, MSI, Forsa, Leadtek, Point of View, Sparkle, Foxconn, EVGA,

AMD Graphics Card Manufacturers – Sapphire, MSI, Asus, XFX, PowerColor, HIS, VTX3D, Gigabyte

CONCLUSION

If you are looking for good value for money graphics cards with good overclocking potential then I would say that you should look for Nvidia based cards.

AMD and NVIDIA come out with a new range of graphics cards every year or two, so it’s a good idea to follow news on the topic for a while before making a purchase. This will help you avoid spending money on an expensive card just before an updated version comes out. You might also want to keep track of general trends in graphics card prices. Early in 2018 prices skyrocketed due to the use of graphics cards in mining cryptocurrencies, but prices have started trending downwards since. You can use sites like PC Part Picker to keep track of general price trends to avoid spending too much on your card.

Current graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD require a PCI-E slot on your motherboard, and almost always with the x16 length. You will have to check which slot your desired card requires, and ensure that you have one of those slots available on your motherboard using the instructions in the previous section. Older types of graphics card used conventional PCI or AGP slots, but cards that use these slots are now rare and have limited power.

Once you have chosen your graphics card and put together your new PC, there are a number of things you can do to make sure you’re getting the most out of your hardware. Keep Reading our blog on optimizing your working performance by selecting right Graphic Card.

References

• https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-GPUs-and-graphics-cards?_escaped_fragment_=n%3D12&redirected_qid=7619988
• https://www.lifewire.com/4k-resolution-overview-and-perspective-1846842
• https://blog.2amgaming.com/2019/09/o-que-e-gpu-placa-de-video/
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Memory.svg?uselang=fr
• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-radeon-rx-590-vs-nvidia-gtx-1060,38087.html