Graphics Card Buying Guide

Desktop graphics card buying guide with tips & purchasing recommendations.

Updated May 29, 2010 10:36 PM PST

Introduction – Selecting The Best Graphics Card For Your Needs

Determining what video card to purchase with a new computer is very much dependent upon what you are going to be using the computer for.  Word processing and Internet only, graphics design, video editing, casual gaming, and serious gaming are computing tasks that have different graphics card requirements.

If you are a casual computing user who primarily uses their PC for word processing, web surfing, watching a DVD movie or listening to music, selecting a video card isn’t going to be much of a problem.  Just about every computer sold on the market offers at the minimum what’s called an integrated video card, perfect for these general computing tasks.

An integrated video card is basically a graphics chip soldered on your computers motherboard that shares the computers main memory. 

Intel is one of the leading manufacturers of integrated video card solutions.

Thankfully because of growing technology demands, integrated graphics solutions are more powerful than ever, and as long as your system has plenty of main memory to feed it, an integrated video card won’t slow down the rest of the computer system. 

On the other hand if your computing needs go beyond the basics or you outgrow what an integrated video card can offer, you are going to have to upgrade to a dedicated graphics card.

Dedicated video cards in comparison are a separate graphics board that plugs into the computers motherboard.  Unlike integrated graphics cards, dedicated video cards have their own powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) in addition to their own dedicated pool of memory to feed the GPU. Nvidia and ATI are the two leading innovators of dedicated graphics card solutions.

Graphics Card User Type Recommendations

General Computing                                  

For general computing chores you will find that most integrated graphics chips are going to be more than sufficient.  Word processing, surfing the web, watching a DVD movie and listening to music do not require much, if any 3D graphics processing power at all.  If you fit in this category just about any integrated or dedicated solution from Intel, Nvidia, or ATI will be fine.

The only possible exception to this rule may be for high definition video playback such as Apple HD movie trailers, Blu-Ray movies, etc.  Newer Intel integrated video card solutions can handle HD playback, though some older integrated video cards may not be rated for HD video.  If you are unsure it is best to check with the video card manufacturer.

Graphics or Video Design

For graphics and video design workstations it is best to look for additional features that the basic integrated video card may not offer including guaranteed support for high-end HD monitors, multi-monitor support, and 3D acceleration.

Newer integrated video cards can support the majority of HD resolutions required for high resolution HD monitors, though in many cases depending on the overall performance of your computer and the nature of the computing task, an integrated video solution is not be powerful enough for smooth video/graphics playback even when the card technically supports the HD resolution.

To be on the safe side any graphics or video design workstation is better off equipped with a dedicated video card. And by going with a dedicated video card you can in addition to avoiding potential performance problems also gain support for multiple monitors, a feature most dedicated video cards offer. 

If you do in fact plan on running a multi-monitor setup which many graphics design professionals do, you may want to look for graphics cards that has dual DVI/display port connectors since DVI may be necessary to support HD monitors with extremely high resolutions. 

Dedicated video cards also offer better video acceleration which will help boost performance of the entire video subsystem in addition to computer performance overall.  Dedicated video cards take a lot of processing load away from your computers Central Processing Unit (CPU), freeing up the CPU for other processing tasks.

A dedicated video card is great for digital design applications like Photoshop or Premiere Pro.  These and other design programs will benefit from a dedicated graphics accelerator since dedicated video cards have their own pool of super fast dedicated graphics memory which design programs love.  Picking up a graphics card with 512MB or more of dedicated memory is very much preferred.

An optional feature you may also want to look for in a dedicated video card if you plan on doing video editing is one that supports VIVO.  VIVO stands for video-in/video-out, it is a feature that allows you to plug in a video source like a TV or VHS to capture and export analog video.  VIVO can also be found in an add-in board or external device so this is totally optional.   

Basic Gaming

Gaming is another beast entirely when it comes to selecting the best video card.  The majority of today’s games are almost entirely 3D, and because of this you will want to buy at the minimum a 3D graphics accelerator to enjoy even fairly basic games.

If you’re into 2D games like Solitaire or rudimentary 3D games like Chess Titans bundled with Windows 7 an integrated graphics card from Intel suffice, but anything beyond this you will most definitely want to pick up a dedicated 3D accelerated graphics card from either ATI or Nvidia Corporation. 

Basic gamers are those individuals who play the occasional 3D game and who don’t necessarily mind if they cannot max out all the eye candy 3D game features. If you see yourself enjoying a game even at lower resolutions and without all the fancy 3D features maxed out, this is your category, and a basic gaming card should be perfect for you.

If you do fall in the basic gaming category, a fully DirectX10 supported dedicated graphics card from either ATI or Nvidia with at least 512MB of video memory is highly recommend even though you may be able to get by with a video card with lower end specifications.  We set the bar a bit higher than usual because at the minimum this will give you enough graphics horsepower to play a slew games now and in the near future you will still be able to play occasional 3D games at reasonably enjoyable speeds.

Heavy Gaming

If hardcore gaming is going to be your primary use for your computer, you will absolutely want to get a high-end dedicated video card from ATI or NVIDIA with at least 1GB of dedicated memory. In the world of 3D gaming to achieve maximum frame rates and pixel pushing power you will need a powerful 3D graphics accelerator.

Paired with the latest Intel or AMD processors, gigs and gigs of RAM, loads of hard drive storage, and other hardcore computing technologies, a high-end 3D accelerated graphics card will give you the capability to play just about any game on the market at acceptable frame rates and with all the eye candy graphics features turned on.

For heavy gaming a 3D graphics card that has at least 1GB of video memory and full support for Microsoft’s DirectX 11 API is a must, especially if you run Windows 7.  Windows 7 has native support for DirectX 11 and many games well into the future will utilize DirectX 11’s advanced capabilities.

At this time both ATI and NVIDIA offer high-end graphics cards that are neck and neck in the performance department and you can’t go wrong with either. Expect to pay a hefty price though for either of their high-end models, sometimes upwards of $500.  Of course if 3D gaming is your thing every penny spent will be worth it.

Let’s not forget that ATI and Nvidia also offer dual graphics card options which allow computers to further push the 3D envelope.  Expect to pay a small fortune of course, though with two video cards working in tandem sometimes gaming performance can improve dramatically, even to the point of doubling performance in some 3D games.  ATI calls their dual GPU technology CrossFire and Nvidia calls their technology SLI. 

Video Card Recommendations

Graphics Card Buying Guide Conclusion:

We hope you've enjoyed our graphics card buying guide. If you have any questions or you would like free purchasing advice, please Ask the computer tech.

Want to learn more about buying a desktop computer? Click any of the buttons below to access more desktop buying guide pages for additional purchasing information and advice.

• Laptop Buyers Guide
  
  
• Windows 7 Firewall Review
  
  
• Wireless Network Setups
  
  
• Hard Drive Backup Solutions
  
  
• How To Use Msconfig Startup Utility
  
  
• How To Use The Ping Command
  
  
• How To Dual Boot Windows 7
  
  
• Upgrading Windows 7 FAQ
  
  
• Windows 7 32bit Vs 64bit FAQ

• Windows 7 Articles

• Laptop Video Card Buying Guide