Graphics Cards

Let’s talk about Graphics cards. Next to the central processing unit (CPU), the graphics processing unit (GPU) has the most impact on a gaming PC’s performance. The Graphics cards consist of an additional processor that takes data from the CPU, and translates it into images that can be rendered on your display. In other words, when you’re playing a game, the Graphics cards are doing most of the heavy lifting.

The more powerful the GPU (sometimes referred to as a graphics card) the more information can be calculated and displayed in a shorter time, and the better your gameplay experience will be overall.

Uses Of Graphics Cards

For many people, gaming is the most hardware intensive task that you will ask your PC to perform. It’s no surprise then, that serious gamers spend hours researching the latest GPU technology, and often upgrade their Graphics cards on a regular basis. As Graphics cards get faster, games are designed to take advantage of the extra performance, and that pushes manufacturers to make even faster GPUs, continuing the cycle.

• Understanding Your Display Card

Even if you don’t think your computer usage is particularly graphically intense, it can be beneficial to have a specialized graphics card in your computer.

A video card by definition in a computer processes the mathematical operations necessary to speedy display images and videos. It typically contains dedicated random access memory, or RAM, chips used to store data related to visual media and a specialized processor chip called a graphics processing unit, or the GPU, which is optimized for dealing with video.

• Developers of video

-intensive programs write subsections of their software that directly command the GPU, rather than the computer’s main central processing unit. Because the GPU handles specialized instructions designed for video, but even though the CPU is a general purpose instrument, you can often get more video performance out of a computer by selecting a good graphics card than by upgrading its general purpose CPU or RAM chips.

When it comes to brand names, an AMD and NVIDIA graphics card is a common choice.

• Onboard GPUs and Video Cards

Rather than having a dedicated display card, some computers have what’s called an onboard, or integrated, graphics processing unit. The term onboard GPU refers to a chip located on the computer’s main circuit board, or motherboard.

An onboard GPU is often cheaper, and it potentially leaves an expansion slot where a circuit board opens inside the computer for future use. It can also save power over a dedicated video card and generate less heat inside the computer, meaning that fewer fans or other cooling systems are needed to keep the computer running comfortably.

The downside is that such chips usually share RAM with the computer’s general operations, meaning that less is available for the computer to solve complex graphical operations. This means that for more intensive video operations (and video games) it’s often advantageous to have a standalone graphics card, although an integrated GPU chip is often fine for watching the occasional streaming video or doing simple video and photo edits.

• You’re Display Card Requirements

Whether you need something beyond an onboard GPU and what requirements you may have depend on what you do with your computer. If you mostly use programs, such as Microsoft Word and Excel, send email and access the web, then the card that came with your computer is likely fine.

If you do more sophisticated tasks, such as editing video or photos for your business or you enjoy using your computer to play games, you may need a more powerful graphics card. If you’re not sure which card you need, look at the required and recommended hardware list for some of the software that you plan to use. Often, programs will list minimum and recommended video cards by name and will then suggest a minimum amount of video RAM for you to make sure you have installed.

• Installing a Video Card

Provided your computer has an available compatible expansion slot, you can usually install a standalone video card, if your computer doesn’t already have one. If your computer does have one, you can usually replace it with a new one, if you need to do so.

If you have a video card and also an onboard GPU, your computer will usually default to using the more complex and powerful video card for most video operations, although you may be able to configure this behavior.

Buyers guide: Everything You Needs To Know

There are some of the important factors we are discussing about graphic cards. Here we are providing clarity about graphics cards

Integrated vs. discrete GPUs

Most modern CPUs have integrated graphics, which are essentially GPUs that are built into the CPU itself, or are otherwise closely interlinked with the CPU. These integrated graphics tend to be lower-performance options, providing enough power to drive the operating system and run web browsers, email clients, productivity apps, and other routine software, but not enough for anything more than casual (or older) games. This is quickly changing as CPUs become more powerful, but for now, if you want to play games, a separate (or discrete) graphic cards is likely the best solution.

Standalone Graphics cards range from relatively low-cost, entry-level options all the way up to incredibly powerful GPUs that can cost well over $1,000 all by themselves. You can buy discrete GPUs as part of pre-built systems, for a PC you’re building yourself, or to upgrade an older GPU.

Mobile vs. desktop

Choosing a graphic cards isn’t just important when you’re building or buying a new desktop PC. Many gaming focused laptop computers utilize discrete GPUs as well. If gaming on the go is a high priority, you’ll want to ensure your laptop has graphic cards that are capable of playing the games you want, and that you aren’t relying exclusively on the lower-power integrated graphics of your CPU.

Laptop Graphic cards used to be significantly less powerful than their full-sized desktop cousins due to space limitations and thermal considerations. Now they are now closer to parity than ever. Many modern gaming laptops use discrete graphic cards that are very close in performance to their desktop equivalents, or are optimized to fit an impressive amount of power into very thin and light notebooks.

Battlefield V ray tracing demo

As with most PC hardware, graphic cards technology continues to evolve at a breakneck pace. A recent example of evolving graphics technology is “real-time ray tracing.” Ray tracing technology allows for more realistic lighting effects that more accurately simulate the way light and reflections behave in the real world.

Graphics Cards for Different Budgets

Here below you can find graphics cards for different budgets. You can find graphics cards as low as 50 dollars and as high as 500 dollars or more. So according to your budget & requirements, you can decide which graphics card to get for your PC.

Top Advantages of Graphics Cards

Here are the top advantages and benefits of having a dedicated graphics card for your PC.

Overall System Performance Increase

One of the main benefits of having a graphics card is that it leads to an overall increase in the performance of your PC. It takes the load off from the CPU because the dedicated graphics card does all the graphics processing or graphics-related tasks. It also frees up the RAM from the graphics data because the dedicated graphics card comes with its own video memory that is much faster than the computer memory or normal RAM. Also, a dedicated graphics card will perform graphics-related tasks much better as compared to onboard graphics.

Graphics Performance Increase

A dedicated graphics card comes with more features and offers much better performance in graphics applications and software’s. It can run your graphics based softwares (Adobe Illustrator etc.), photo editing softwares like Photoshop, video editing softwares with greater accuracy and providing better performance. You can watch Full HD movies (1080p), Blu-ray movies in much better quality with a good dedicated graphics card. If you are building an HTPC then you should get a good graphics card to have the best home theater experience. For HTPC it is advisable to get a passively cooled graphics card because it is totally silent in operation and will not ruin your movie-watching experience.

Better Gaming Experience

With onboard or integrated graphics you won’t be able to play the latest games, and even if you will be able to run them, then you will not always get playable frame rates and have to play them in the lowest settings possible. But if you have a decent graphics card in the mid-range or even budget segment then you can latest games on mid to high settings with playable frame rates without any lag. So if you are someone who wants to play each and every game on your PC then you cannot do so without a dedicated graphics card.

Running Multiple Monitors

If want to run dual monitors or multiple monitors on your PC then you must need a dedicated graphics card. You don’t even need an expensive graphics card for multiple monitors set up as an entry-level or budget graphics card is more than enough for this task.

Better Driver Support

Dedicated graphics cards have better driver support and compatibility as compared to your integrated graphics. This comes in very handy when you move to a different or newer operating system or want to run some specific graphics applications or software on your computer.

Features

A dedicated graphics card comes with more features that you normally won’t find in the onboard graphics. Some of the advanced features can prove very handy for your graphics related work. The number of features varies from card to card because budget graphics cards come with lesser features compared to mid-range and high-end graphics cards that have too many advanced features with them including Virtual Reality or VR capability.

Conclusion

Getting a graphics card for your PC is always a good idea whether you like games or not. If you have a lower budget then you can get an entry-level or budget graphics card but if there are no budget constraints then I recommend you to get a good mid-range graphics card so that you also enjoy the latest games at 1080p.