Graphics Card Guide

[Sheppy96]

OK here's a little guide to buying a graphics card to upgrading your computer. Could a mod sticky this please

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OK there are two main types of graphics cards:

Integrated graphics:
Comes on most if not all modern motherboards. If you only need a computer for emails, web surfing, MSN, microsoft office, that kinda thing, this is perfectly fine. You will save money by NOT buying a graphics card. However, for anyone who wants to play 3D games, this is NO GO!

Graphics Card:
Graphics cards can range in price from as little as about £30, to well up over a thousand pounds. Throughout the rest of the post I will be explaining what kinda graphics card you will need for different needs. I will also include some links to sites that can help you out with choosing a graphics card.

There are two main makes of graphics cards. The make is who makes the GPU and the manufacturer is who puts the rest of the components in and makes the card complete. The makes are nVidia and ATI (also known as AMD).

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Firstly, THINGS YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT:

Here are several factors that will help you choose the right graphics card for you. Essentially, you want to find the balance between: Quality, Price and Usage.

Quality: Seen any graphics cards by XFX? Amazed by the prices? I was too. I spoke to someone who works in IT professionally (at a hospital infact). And he said not to buy from them. The price comes at a...cost. The quality is VERY low compared to other brands. You are better off buying from manafacturers such as PNY, Sapphire Radeon and ASUS.

Price: If you have a good hunt around, you can find very good deals from different sellers. Don't see a low price and jump on it immediately. Use sites like Google Shopping to find the best deal. Don't buy a graphics card that is expensive if you won't use it's full capabilities.

Usage: For basic gaming or playing older games, consider buying an entry level graphics card. These can be very cheap so if you need to upgrade them in the near future you won't have lost too much money in the process. For mid-range gaming for modern-disc games (but not ones that are too intensive), consider getting a card that costs between £50-80. Anything above that and you can find a better deal for your needs. For running the latest games on medium/high settings, you will need to spendspendspendspend...

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Gaming:
Things that make a graphics card good for gaming:

VRAM: This is the memory on the actual card reserved solely for graphics. This ranges from a low level of 512mb to a high 2gb (some cards MAY go even higher). To be honest, 1gb is sufficient but if you want to really futureproof or play on the highest settings then consider going for 2gb. RAM comes in all different types...
DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3, GDDR5 (the most common). Those are in rank order (worst-best). The type of RAM won't drastically improve performance, but it can make a difference. Note that the type of VRAM doesn't cause any problems if you have a different type of RAM, or if the motherboard memory type is different.

Clock Speed: This is basically the speed at which your card can operate. However, this is also affected by the GPU which I will explain next. Higher clock speeds are obviously better. Similarly to VRAM, the clockspeed of your VRAM will cause no conflicts with RAM or motherboard clock speeds.

GPU: This is one of the other factors affecting speed. For example, in the nVidia GT 200 series (GT 210, 220, 240), (and this is broadly speaking), the graphics cards in the series will all have the same core GPU, but will have different VRAM and clock speeds. A good GPU can make a lot of difference.

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Power supplies.

DONT GO AWAY! This is VERY important.
Always check the wattage on your power supply and on the card before you use it. Eg. if you use a graphics card that is recommended for 450W power supplies with a 300W power supply, you could VERY BADLY damage your computer. Sometimes the minimum required power is often put up on the graphics card manufacturers website so they aren't liable for breakages, but don't count on it. Also make sure you have a good power supply, as some don't deliver the power they claim to. Both nVidia and ATI have the required power rating on the page of each card they sell.

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Things that go WOWNESS:

EyeFinity: this is where you have several monitors from one graphics card for a HUGE display area.

3D Vision: cinema quality stereoscopic 3D capable. You will need a 3D monitor and glasses for this.

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3D Animation/Post Production:

If your looking for a card for doing Post Production or video editing work, both ATI and nVidia have a range of cards specifically for this. But expect to pay dearly. Very dearly indeed.

ATI FirePro
nVidia QUADRO

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Some other terms:

DirectX:
This is one piece of software that is used to "draw" on the screen. Mainly used in games. Version 9 is getting old, 10 is OK, DirectX 11 is new and the best so far. Go for DX11 if you can afford it to future proof. This is "hardwired" into the graphics card and the version cannot be updated without buying a new graphics card.

OpenGL:
This is another piece of software that does the same as DirectX. Many games don't use OpenGL any more but some do. OpenGL 4 is the latest version and was released only several weeks ago. This is "hardwired" into the graphics card and the version cannot be updated without buying a new graphics card.

Shader model: Without shaders, all the 3D objects rendered in games would have exactly the same shading ie. they would all be at the same brightness, as lighting is really calculated (at best) for each polygon, if at all. Shaders are used to calculate lighting to affect the colours for EVERY pixel. The latest shader models are more optimized and have new technology. Shader Model 5 is the latest version. This is "hardwired" into the graphics card and the version cannot be updated without buying a new graphics card.

Hardware T&L (TCL):
This stands for Transform (Clipping) and Lighting. Tranform is the act of converting 3D coordinates into 2D coordinates. Clipping means only drawing objects that the viewer can see. Lighting is when the graphics card is calculating lighting values (in coordination with shaders). This is "hardwired" into the graphics card and the version cannot be updated without buying a new graphics card.

Resolution:
Just like camera resolution, this is the amount of pixels that the graphics card supports. Eg. 1440 pixels by 900 pixels. Note that this is restricted by your monitor. If you have a 2560x1600 card, but only a 1440x900 monitor, your display limit will be 1440x900. This can't be changed either without a new graphics card.

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SLI/Crossfire:

If you aren't into all this tech-junkie shizzle, please run now. RUN.

Congratulations! You're still reading.

Basically SLI (sometimes known as crossfire) is where you have two or more graphics cards running on the same machine to improve performance hugely. Let's do a little FAQ now.

Can I use entirely different cards (ie. cards with a different GPU)?
No, they must have the same GPU.

Can I use graphics cards from different manufacturers?
Yes, provided they are the same card. Ie. ASUS GT240, eVGA GT240.

Can one of the graphics cards be overclocked?
Yes. One or more of the graphics cards can be overclocked and the other(s) can be standard clocked.

Can they have different sizes/types of VRAM?
No. They must have the same VRAM.

Can I have 3 or 4 graphics cards?
Particularly with nVidia's latest technology you can have up to 3 or 4 graphics cards.

What about the power supply?
You will need a greater power supply for SLI. There is a link in the links section to a list of nVidia certified SLI-ready PSUs.

What about the motherboard?
Make sure the motherboard supports SLI as many don't.

Do I have to use PCI express?
Yes. All the cards must use PCI express ports.

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LINKS

Further FAQ on SLI (for nVidia setup)
Tom's Hardware do a "best graphics cards for the money section. This is August 2011 but google to find the latest.
Glossary of terms for graphics cards
nVidia homepage
ATI graphics homepage
SLI power supplies

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Phew...that's a lot of ground covered. Hope you didn't fall asleep. If you want to ask me anything, ask for me to add other topics or if you would like to make a contribution then please post a reply.
Many thanks

~Sheppy96

[David]

Originally Posted by Sheppy96

OK here's a little guide to buying a graphics card to upgrading your computer. Could a mod sticky this please

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OK there are two main types of graphics cards:

Integrated graphics:
However, for anyone who wants to play 3D games, this is NO GO!

Why would integrated graphics be a no go? The AMD A8-3850 Llano APU can run Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at roughly 50 FPS @ 2.9GHz 1680x1050 high settings with 2xAA. Take the Anti-Aliasing off and tweak the CFG a bit and it should be able to run at 60+ FPS.

Other than that, great guide.

[Power Cosmic]

I think he was referring to 'oldie' integrated graphics, as in what you'd get with your average laptop, rather than things where there's an actual powerful graphics chip integrated with the processor.

[Sheppy96]

Yes I was meaning like the old cr*ppy integrated graphics you get from intel on motherboards :P I guess it's fine if you buy the chip with the computer but you can't really upgrade to it. Technically this isn't an integrated solution as it is a different kind of processor (combined CPU/GPU). However I will say that this APU is actually a pretty good deal if you get those graphics capabilities and that processor in one for the prices I have seen having a quick look around.

It can run MW2 at a decent framerate and my computer could as well, I will need to upgrade as this generation of graphics cards (ie. my GT240) are being left behind. I need to upgrade to run Battlefield 3 which means new card, new power supply :/

Would you like me to put in an APU section in the guide?

[Honey Badger]

Basically, on a laptop/notebook/*barf*netbook*/barf*, unless it's specifically an AMD or Nvidia graphics chip, it's bad. Anything that says Intel integrated graphics is going to do nothing but disappoint.