How to buy the best graphics card

Guide for gamers on how to buy the best graphics card

Choosing a graphics card is one of the most important segments of building and upgrading any gaming computer. Therefore, it is also part of the hardware on which players spend the most money. Still, knowing what to look for and where can be extremely difficult for anyone who is more interested in games and gaming than a specific technology. Even for those who have a good understanding of technology, coping with such changing conditions and specifications can be something very challenging.

Every gaming computer is different, the type of card that suits it best will naturally differ, depending on the games it will be used for. A compact computer for playing Minecraft in 1080p resolution will need a different graphics card than the computer on which you want to play the latest titles, in the greatest detail, and 4K resolution.

In the continuation of this article, which due to its extensiveness will be divided into two parts, we will say something more about which graphics card to choose for playing the game, given some factors. Depending on whether you want to be an occasional player, who plays Minecraft or a similar game here and there, or you want to be a "hardcore" player, who wants to play competitive games like PUBG or football PES 2021, you will need different graphics cards. 

Budget segment

AMD or NVIDIA?

AMD and Nvidia have been nicknamed the "Red" and "Green" teams. These companies did not get these nicknames for no reason at all, as they are companies that approach the design of their GPUs in a different way, which then attracts different types of gamers. Each group of players swears by the quality of one of these two types of graphics cards, for some all this pomp does not even matter, while the third group gladly switches from Red to Green Camp and vice versa, wanting to use the best of both worlds.

In general, the difference between the hardware assembly of AMD and Nvidia is quite small, because the equivalent specification cards of both manufacturers will be able to run the same games with mostly identical settings without any problems, which means that the differences are most visible in the details. It is not said without reason that he is "the devil in detail". This is certainly true of graphics cards.

Certain game titles have been developed to be more compatible with a particular type or series of graphics cards, which means that these titles will work slightly better on those cards (for example, when you start a game and see it says "Works best with AMD"). ), while other titles are designed to take advantage of certain features offered by one particular manufacturer.

 

For example, Nvidia's RTX graphics cards are maximally focused on "Ray Tracing" technology, which serves to display glare and lighting in the best possible way, which is especially important if players want to play the latest games in maximum detail and if they want the game to show everything. what can.

 

Besides, we have DLSS AI scaling technology, which is used to speed up and improve performance at high resolutions. Players who aren’t sure which way to go is usually better off focusing on finding the graphics card that offers the best considering the affordability of the price. 

 

 

What about graphics card model numbers?

For many users, it is a big problem to understand what exactly all these numbers next to the name of the graphics card mean; although understanding numbers is not as complicated as it seems, it will take you a while to get into the stunt. By the end of 2020, both manufacturers, meaning both AMD and Nvidia, will launch a brand new series of graphics cards: Nvidia will launch its GeForce RTX 3000 series, while AMD will launch its RX 6000 series.

In both cases, the first number refers to the generation of technology used on the card. Nvidia’s Series 10 was launched in 2016 and is based on Pascal’s architecture, the Series 20 was launched in 2018 and based on the Turing architecture, while the Series 30 was partially launched in September 2020 (other cards from the series on the market are expected) by the end of the year) designed based on Ampera architecture.

AMD has changed names and numbers more often, but it still seems that the Red Team is certainly moving to a consistent way of naming, with the 50 series, which were launched in 2019, inheriting the 60 series, which should be launched this year. What is extremely important to note is that each succeeding generation brings an improvement in performance and technology of 40 to 50% over the previous generation. Plus, the newer generation of graphics cards, especially if it's an "entry" level card, will get the opportunity to upgrade and update for a longer period of time.

The next number variation refers to the card model. The higher the number, the better, more powerful, but also more expensive the graphics card. Nvidia uses model numbers 60, 70, and 80 for the current 20 series, which means that graphics cards are "called" for example, 2060, 2070, and 2080, while the 30 series will also have the Nvidia GeForce 3090 model, which will be the most powerful and best in series. AMD used 500, 600, and 700-style numbers for the 50 series, resulting in graphics cards that had the full number 5500, 5600, and 5700.

AMD is expected to use the same numbering method for its latest 60 series. In short, the Nvidia GeForce 2080 is better than the Nvidia GeForce 2060. But the Nvidia GeForce 1080 Ti is better and faster than the Nvidia GeForce 2060, nonetheless. which is a 2060 newer model, built and designed on newer architecture.

Although the naming method is slightly different, competing models from the same period often match in terms of performance, with AMD's RX 5700 having performance comparable to Nvidia's RTX 2070, while the RX 5600 has comparable performance to Nvidia's. equivalent to 2060. These numbers are complex, however, additional labels denote faster, better, and more advanced versions of the same series of graphics cards. For Nvidia's graphics cards, additional names Ti or Super are used, for example, Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti, while AMD's graphics cards can use additional letters XT.

Numbering is further complicated by other cards, which use a different generation number. This rule usually applies to low-end graphics cards. For example, Nvidia Series 16 is based on the Turing Series 20 architecture but is less powerful than Series 20 cards. Fortunately, these cards still use the same numbers to distinguish models, such as the 1650 and 1660, as well as the faster and better Ti and Super variants.

Just a note, these cards are still very good for playing games at 1080p resolution, which means that they fall into that class of "budget" or very affordable gaming computers. If you want to play the latest titles in 4K resolution and high detail, it is recommended that you look in the direction of Nvidia's RTX 2070 graphics card or AMD's equivalent RX 5700.

 

Choosing a graphics card brand

Today, there are a large number of manufacturers on the market, ie brands that produce AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, whose prices differ significantly. Brands like Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte are brands that are known for high quality and reliable products, while brands like Zotac, Galax, and ASRock are known for offering good products at lower prices.

As with any technology, more expensive brands will offer you better quality and better features, but if in doubt, before you buy a graphics card and later regret it, it would be better to be well informed about the graphics card that you are most interested. Here you should also be careful not to fall for scams regarding certain brands, which are known to be sold in certain places at significantly low prices. But logic should also be used here

Graphics processing unit or GPU

The GPU or graphics processing unit is the "heart" of any graphics card because that part is used to process a huge amount of data, which enters the graphics card. Although processors consist of several large cores, GPUs contain hundreds or thousands of smaller cores, which help it perform many of the calculations required for gaming performance.

As with a computer's CPU or processor, a faster GPU means processing a larger amount of data that each core can then process, and the more cores a graphics card contains, the more calculations it can do at once. For example, the Nvidia RTX 3090, a high-end or premium graphics card, has 10,496 cores, while AMD's RX 5500 XT, a mid-range graphics card, contains only 1,408 cores.

Overclocking options

Simply put, "overclocking" a graphics card means increasing the clock speed, above the limit defined by the manufacturer. Unlike CPUs, most hardware manufacturers offer graphics cards that are already "overclocked" during production, which eliminates the need for players to spend time and effort on it.

If you "overclock" the graphics card, it will work faster, it will have a higher clock speed, but it will also generate more heat and create more noise, so this is something to pay attention to.

Memory

The same logic applies here - it's more and better, especially when it comes to displaying details at a maximum at 4K resolution. Newer entry-level cards typically come with at least 4GB of memory, mid-range cards typically have 6-8GB, and premium cards can have up to 12GB, while the high-end Nvidia RTX 3090 will be launched with a whopping 24GB. 6 GB is the minimum requirement if you want to play games fluidly at 4K resolution. Also, GDDR6 memory is faster and newer than e.g. GDDR5.

Consumption requirements

The more powerful a graphics card is, the more power it needs. Some entry-level (or entry-level) graphics cards can only work with power from a PCIe socket on the motherboard, which can provide up to 75 watts, but most will need to have a separate power connection from the power supply unit (PSU). There are two main types of power cords used to connect graphics cards: 6-pin and 8-pin, which deliver up to 75 and 150 W of power, respectively.

High-end graphics cards with high power needs can use two 6-pin connectors, one 6-pin and one 8-pin, or even two 8-pin connectors. Cables usually come with a PSU, and adapters are easily available for conversion. Nvidia is introducing a smaller 12-pin connection for its RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 cards, which will come with an adapter for two 8-pin connectors.