How to Choose the Right Graphics Card

In today’s gaming ecosystem, graphics cards are at the forefront of user demand. Gamers are desperate to find a top-end card in a market where even the lower midrange segment is overly expensive due to silicone chip shortages and GPU mining. That said, let’s ignore the dire market situation for a moment and explain what considerations other than the price you should look at when buying a graphics card.

GPU: Let’s Start From Scratch

You’re probably familiar with basic computer terms such as the computer's central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU). However, here’s a quick rundown on graphics basics. GPU makes sure your gameplay doesn’t stutter or freeze and that it loads textures smoothly by processing data together with your CPU and rendering the gaming environment on your display. As gaming is a highly intensive task, having a weak GPU will affect your framerates (FPS, or how many frames the GPU is capable of rendering per second) and thus give you a choppier gaming experience. Investing in the top-notch graphics card will future-proof your PC build and keep it ready to play even the most demanding games. Here are some of the main factors to consider when shopping around for the brand-new GPU:

Space and Connectivity

Next, check the ports; namely, you’ll have to connect your graphics card to your monitor. Modern monitors typically have HDMI, USB Type-C, or DisplayPort ports, while older ones might also support DVI or VGA. Most of the current configurations have three DisplayPorts and one HDMI output. Make sure to check the connections your card has - if it’s a newer one, you should be able to connect it through HDMI or the DisplayPort.

Graphics Card Memory

As with every other PC component, the main question you should ask yourself when choosing a graphics card is: how will you be using it? If you’re building your PC to play games or go for video game gambling, then the GPU will be your most important purchase. When performing graphic tasks of this kind, the more video RAM your card has, the more detailed textures it can process and render. If you’re playing graphic-intense games with a large amount of data or run multiple displays, do not even think about cards with less than 4 GB. More demanding games that run at 1080p resolution call for a minimum of 6 GB of RAM to be able to perform smoothly. Finally, if going for 2k or 4k gaming, a GPU with 8 GB or more is a must.

Thermal Design Power

Another basic specification that you should check before purchasing the graphics is the so-called TDP or Thermal Design Power. All GPUs generate a lot of heat and require powerful cooling technology to maintain seamless performance. The TDP expresses the ratio between the power that the GPU pulls and the heat it generates, indicated in watts. If the TDP is high, your graphics card will require more energy to operate and produce more heat. Knowing the power consumption of the card you're planning to purchase lets you determine if your power supply is
adequate or if you need to upgrade it. Even though a 600W PSU should be enough to handle most graphics cards, if you want to purchase the most powerful ones, go for 800W or more instead. Remember that when choosing a GPU that while it likely spends the most power of all the components in your case, the CPU and other peripherals will need some juice too. Never try to match your PSU power to the requirements of your GPU alone.

AMD vs. Nvidia

Although there are numerous third-party GPU manufacturers on the market, until Intel brings its own cards to the table, gamers have a simple choice: Nvidia or AMD-tech-based cards. Generally speaking, Nvidia and AMD are fairly evenly matched in the high end, with the RX 6800XT from AMD trading blows with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 and most market segments up to the lower budget class having a good card in both camps. That said, Nvidia does have better ray-tracing performance and a more advanced system of improving graphical fidelity through their patented AI-assisted Dynamic Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) system. Still, AMD has its own open-source answer for this, too, called FSR (Fidelity Super Resolution). The choice should really come down to price and availability, as both companies offer a wide range of excellent cards that are fairly evenly matched at the moment.

Bottom Line