Choosing the right graphics card

When building or buying a new computer one of the most important parts is deciding on a graphics card for the system. This can vary from person to person depending on the users needs. An office computer will require a different graphics card as opposed to a computer that is going to be used for CAD modelling. In this article we take a look at different user persona’s and graphics cards appropriate for them along with understanding the terms and how you can choose a graphics card yourself.

Choosing a new graphics card doesn’t have to be a tedious task. Actually, many people find it to be the best part as to others it is the most important part of their computer.

The first step to choosing the right graphics card for you is to analyse your typical use case. If your computer is going to be strictly used for emails and office based tasks, then the graphics card is something of less importance as those tasks aren’t graphics intensive. Are you going to be playing games on your computer? What kind of games? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you even think about looking at graphics cards online.

AMD or Nvidia?

Once you have decided upon your use case for the computer and what you are going to be utilising it for it’s time to start thinking about which manufacturer you would like to side with. Again, like processors, there are only 2 major manufacturers to choose from. On one side of the table we have AMD graphics cards and on the other we have Nvidia. Nvidia recently unveiled their GTX 2000 series graphics cards which offer incredible performance, at a price. AMD offer their RX range of cards which tend to be more budget friendly but ultimately do the same job. There are benefits with going with either manufacturer, for example one of the benefits with siding with Nvidia is access to a G-Sync technology and the Nvidia ShadowPlay application which allows the recording of games / applications without the system taking a hit with performance. Alternatively, AMD offers their Free-Sync technology and other benefits such as access to the AMD Radeon software. You may find bigger price drops and better budget cards with AMD so if money is something you are thinking about we’d recommend going with AMD. Cheaper doesn’t always mean you’re getting a worse experience.

What kind of screen will you use?

It’s all fine having a powerful graphics card, but what’s the point of having something so powerful that you can’t utilise it? This is one of the less common problems people run into but if you are only using a 1080p monitor, then there is no point in spending more than £250 on a graphics card when a card at a much lower price can do exactly the same with no end-difference.

Summary

In summary, the main deciding factor when choosing a graphics card is your budget. In some cases there are some people might not even require a dedicated graphics card and can rely simply on the integrated graphics that come on-board with their processor. Integrated graphics are getting more powerful with every new generation of processor.