A top-of-the-line graphics card is easy to spot. It has lots of memory and a fast processor. Often, it's also more visually appealing than anything else that's intended to go inside a computer's case. Lots of high-performance video cards are illustrated or have decorative fans or heat sinks.
But a high-end card provides more power than most people really need. People who use their computers primarily for email, word processing or social media can find all the necessary graphics support on a CPU with integrated graphics.
A mid-range card is sufficient for most casual gamers. People who need the power of a high-end card include gaming enthusiasts and people who do lots of 3-D graphic work. A good overall measurement of a card's performance is its frame rate, measured in frames per second FPS. The frame rate describes how many complete images the card can display per second.
The human eye can process about 25 frames every second, but fast-action games require a frame rate of at least 60 FPS to provide smooth animation and scrolling. Components of the frame rate are:. The graphics card's hardware directly affects its speed. These are the hardware specifications that most affect the card's speed and the units in which they are measured:.
The computer's CPU and motherboard also play a part, since a very fast graphics card can't compensate for a motherboard's inability to deliver data quickly. Similarly, the card's connection to the motherboard and the speed at which it can get instructions from the CPU affect its performance.
Many CPUs have integrated graphics capabilities and function without a separate graphics card. These processors handle 2-D images easily, so they are ideal for productivity and internet applications. Plugging a separate graphics card into one of these systems overrides the onboard graphics functions.
Some people choose to improve their graphics card's performance by manually setting their clock speed to a higher rate, known as overclocking. People usually overclock their memory, since overclocking the GPU can lead to overheating.
While overclocking can lead to better performance, it also voids the manufacturer's warranty. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close.
Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Computer Hardware. Hardware Basics. How Graphics Cards Work.
Graphics cards take the data from your computer's central processing unit CPU and turn it into visual information you see on your monitor. A motherboard connection for data and power A graphics processor GPU to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen Video memory VRAM to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store completed pictures A monitor connection so you can see the final result. Note that as you are designing your PC or choosing a GPU upgrade, you will also want to research how hot a given graphics card runs at maximum power.
Usually this is a mix of six-pin and eight-pin connectors, but this can vary. Discrete GPUs utilize a special type of memory to store the data needed to ultimately display information on a screen. The amount of video random access memory VRAM in your GPU is important for high-performance games that use large amounts of data to construct the complex images on screen.
This is also a factor when running multiple displays, especially if they are higher resolution or refresh rate. RAM bandwidth is another important metric to consider as well. GPUs vary, in how many physical slots they fill, between single, double, and even triple slot configurations. This means you also need to consider any other components that you want to plug in alongside the GPU, especially if they are going to use a PCIe slot. You also need to ensure your case is large enough to support the components you are installing.
Insufficient space can result in improper cooling, which can lead to decreased performance. If space constraints are a concern, there are GPUs designed specifically to have a smaller profile. It needs to connect to a motherboard, and a display, or multiple displays, to function. VGA is an older, legacy connection that might still be available on some displays, but is quickly fading into obscurity.
The differences between all the different display connections is a topic deserving of its own article. Suffice it to say you will need to make sure that your chosen graphics card supports enough connections for all the monitors you want to plug into your PC, and that they are the right connections.
Note that in many cases you can buy adapters to convert a connection on the graphics card to one that a display can accept, though this can limit access to features like higher resolutions and refresh rates. You will need to double-check the specifications to make sure a given graphics card can support as many monitors as you want to connect, and that the connections are compatible between your GPU and your displays.
Some graphics cards can be connected to run in parallel with additional cards, which can provide serious boosts in performance for demanding games. This configuration is not as common as it used to be. Hopefully you have a better sense of what to look for in a GPU. Another resource to help you choose a GPU and graphics card are the games and applications you want to run. Survey the games and applications that matter most to you, and make sure that you select a graphics card that will meet at least the recommended specifications.
Where did you get the specs for RX series? This would be a major scoop if this is are actual final specs. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. All rights reserved.
Close Search. Gaming The gaming industry has been instrumental in the evolution of GPU technology. Video and professional applications Those who use their PCs for complex tasks like 3D rendering, game development, and video editing also benefit from faster GPUs.
Integrated vs. Mobile vs. Ray-tracing: the latest advancement in realistic graphics As with most PC hardware, GPU technology continues to evolve at a breakneck pace.
Nvidia vs. This is probably the most important factor to consider when making your choice. Memory Discrete GPUs utilize a special type of memory to store the data needed to ultimately display information on a screen. Integrating specialized capabilities directly into hardware was a hallmark of early GPU technology.
Many of those specialized technologies are still employed in very different forms. CPUs are typically designed to execute single-threaded code as quickly and efficiently as possible. Both AMD and Nvidia structure their cards into blocks of computing resources. Each block contains a group of cores, a scheduler, a register file, instruction cache, texture and L1 cache, and texture mapping units. When we discuss GPU designs, we often use a format that looks something like this: The GPU core count is the first number.
There are two other major components of a GPU: texture mapping units and render outputs. The number of texture mapping units in a design dictates its maximum texel output and how quickly it can address and map textures on to objects. Early 3D games used very little texturing because the job of drawing 3D polygonal shapes was difficult enough.
The number of texture mapping units in a GPU is signified by the second figure in the metric. Texture mapping can absolutely be a bottleneck in games, but the next-highest GPU in the product stack will typically offer at least more GPU cores and texture mapping units whether higher-end cards have more ROPs depends on the GPU family and the card configuration.
The number of render outputs multiplied by the clock speed of the GPU controls the pixel fill rate.
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