Building a PC - Choosing a Graphics Card

The purpose of this article is not to rate specific graphics cards. The goal of this article is to explain various considerations a buyer should keep in mind when shopping for a new graphics card. New graphics cards come out every few months and that changes everything. The purpose of this article is to explain the different things you should look for when making your graphics card selection.

Unfortunately, it seems like GPU makers deliberately try to overwhelm you with choices. Adding to the complication is the fact that while there are only 2 major GPU creators, there are a lot of different companies that assemble the GPUs onto a final market "card" that you install in your computer. The numbering systems tend to be extremely confusing and higher numbers are not always best. Fortunately, both NVIDIA and ATI have taken steps in the last year to simplify the naming of their cards so the numbering is more logical, and so higher numbers are indeed a better card.

These two companies are the juggernauts of the GPU industry. Unless something revolutionary has happened between the writing of this article and the time you are reading it, those are the only types of cards you will be looking at. As I mentioned, the actual company who assembles the card may be someone else (BFG Tech, EVGA, or someone else), but it will be clear if it is an NVIDIA or ATI card.

On pure speed and power, the current champ changes back and forth depending on which company released their new card most recently. For the most part, they are pretty equal when it comes to power and performance.

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NVIDIA has a reputation of better driver support and less conflicts with games and software. They are also the leader in market share, which means gaming and software companies tend to be a little more certain their products work with NVIDIA cards.

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ATI cards tend to be a bit cheaper, which is especially useful if you plan to use two cards (see the SLI and Crossfire section below). While they are a little slower to get driver updates out, and conflicts are more common, problems are infrequent. When there is a conflict, usually the software maker or ATI resolves it quickly.

Briefly, SLI and Crossfire are technologies that allow you to use two graphics cards simultaneously for enhanced gaming performance. In another article I wrote about motherboard selection, I discussed SLI and Crossfire in more detail. Another writer on Bright Hub has an entire article devoted to the question of whether or not SLI and Crossfire are worth it. I highly recommend both articles. My general opinion is that SLI and Crossfire are only worth it if you are a high end gamer or need extreme graphics performance for another purpose. Otherwise, it is not worth the money since many games and software packages do not take advantage of either system. The only time I would personally use SLI or Crossfire is if I wanted to upgrade an older machine a year or two after I bought it, and could buy an identical second card (and at a low price, since it would now be a lot older).

The next section of the article deals with the hardware specifics of making sure the card you pick will actually work with the rest of your computer. Read on!