Best Graphics Card

Your Ultimate Guide to Buying a Best Graphics Card

Are you an avid gamer, games like GTA, ark survival evolved, and Valorant your guilty pleasure? Or are you a professional content creator? Do you stay up at night editing videos and photos, using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects along with Adobe Photoshop to its best? Well, in either case, a dedicated graphics card for your PC can take your performance a long way. However, selecting a graphics card best suited for your needs can be a tricky job. No worries, though, as this article will tell you all you need to know about a graphics card to make the right choice. With tons of compelling choices and brands competing for neck and neck, the choice can be tricky. 

Graphical Processing Unit (GPU): 

As the name suggests, GPU (graphic processing unit) is a specialized chip (a single-chip processor) used to manage and enhance the creation and rendering of images, video, and animations (1). A Graphics Card is an electronic circuit (with GPU onboard) along with memory and output ports. A graphic card installed into an empty motherboard slot is responsible for driving the pixels found on your monitor. Your graphics card performs essential calculations, which are translated into an RGB value for each pixel which ultimately pops out a nice, clean image on your monitor.

To better understand what to look at when buying a graphics card or how a graphics card works, you need to look at one of its primary specs.

Like a motherboard contains a CPU, the graphics card has a GPU, specifically manufactured to enhance your computer graphics. There are two types of GPUs:

Integrated GPU:

An integrated GPU refers to a GPU that is an integral part of the CPU or merged on the motherboard. Ultimately, computer will have a reduced weight and lower costs. Intel Graphics Technology is the front face for integrated GPUs. 

Discrete GPU:

When the demands of your system increase, for example, in gaming or video editing as described above, you should think about investing in a dedicated graphics card or a discrete GPU. They are known for increasing the processing power of your system. However, they also account for increased energy consumption and producing more heat. 

Who should invest in a Discrete GPU?

GPUs have progressed to become more general-purpose processors in encryption, networking, AI (artificial intelligence), hyperscale data centers, supercomputing as well as handling a growing range of applications. 

  • Gamers: First and foremost, gamers should invest in a dedicated graphics card. Your choice should always be to invest in a system with the latest GPU. A dedicated graphics card can do wonders for your gaming experience. It is as essential as a good RAM and CPU for your game to run smoothly with a great visual display. 
  • People who use multiple monitors: If you have a PC setup with multiple displays, you could benefit from a discrete GPU. What would work best for you is to combine integrated graphics and a dedicated graphics card. If your only purpose is to run multiple browser windows and similar simple tasks, you can use an economical dedicated graphics card along with the PC’s built-in graphics. An example would be NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660. 
  • Professional users: If you are a content creator who needs to edit videos and photos and run software like 3D rendering, and video editing, you should start looking at a discrete GPU option. You will see a notable difference in performance, among other things, as the burden is lifted from your RAM and CPU and shared by the GPU explicitly built for this task.

The two brands known for making GPUs are NVIDIA and AMD. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX series and AMD’s Radeon RX series are what you should be looking at as your options. However, suppose your need for a dedicated graphics card arises from a professional POV (as stated above). In such a case, you should pay more attention to Titan and Quadro from NVIDIA and Radeon Pro and Instinct by AMD. 

AMD vs. NVIDIA: A healthy comparison for your ease:

As specified, the two forerunners in the discrete GPU field are AMD and NVIDIA. The GPUs made by these companies are used by third parties to formulate graphics cards. NVIDIA often makes and sells reference designs that show how they will formulate the rest of the card around their designed GPU. 

Radeon vs. GeForce: A Look at the Two Series:

Radeon:

An advance by AMD in 1080p and 1440p gaming was when it released its ‘Navi’ line of mid-range graphics cards in July 2019. The launch included the release of Radeon RX 5700, RX 5700 XT, and its anniversary edition. The Navi line is based explicitly on new technology, i.e., the Radeon DNA, which allows them to work exceptionally well in the specified resolution and a 60fps and above frame rate. 

With the new year, AMD comes with a new class of cards that can compete with NVIDIA on all levels. The old models have the Radeon RX 550 and 560 in the low end and 570 and 590 in the middle end. Even though they are ideal for 1080p gaming, they are most likely to be replaced by Radeon RX 5500 XT and 5600 XT as the latest arrivals. Further being released are the Radeon RX 580, RX Vega 64, and RX Vega 56 for 1080p and 1440p gaming. 

For the top-end competition, AMD brought out the RDNA 2 based Radeon RX 6700 XT, 6800, 6800 XT, and 6900 XT in the first months of 2021. Although these could not beat NVIDIAs 30 series Founder Edition cards, they were still better than their ancestors: RDNA 1 cards. The RDNA 2 cards specifically enhance RDNA 1’s features and include cores for ray tracing, amongst other specs. 

Even though AMD’s recent launches like Radeon RX 6800 XT and 6800 are well able to compete with NVIDIAs top cards, there are a few issues that set them back. There are discontinuities and breakage in frame rates on some old games and a few other graphical glitches that AMD has noticed and promised to fix.

GeForce:

The newest launch by NVIDIA is the series of high-end cards integrated with their latest ‘Ampere’ technology. The series, known as the GeForce RTX 30 series, has taken over the market by storm. RT cores have been pushed back to the second generation, Tensor cores to the third generation, and the memory is now GDDR6X from previously being GDDR6. 

The low-end now consists of cards from GeForce GT 1030 to 1050, costing less than $100. Mid-range cards include GTX 1650 till GTX 1660 Ti for $150 to $300. High-end starts with GeForce RTX 3080 with a price of $699.

Their previous series, the 20 series or the ‘Turing’ series, consisted of the latest technologies of ray tracing and DLLs. However, a setback was that little to no games supported such cards with high-end technologies. 

The following year, they launched their GeForce RTX 2060 Super, 2070 Super, and 2080 Super compared to AMD launching Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT. Their super cards were once again a huge market hit as each card came with much-enhanced specifications. 

NVIDIA takes the lead when you look at the specifications and criteria for who is better right now. However, its price is also as high as its performance. The truth of the matter is, you cannot kick one of these out of the arena, as both heavily rely on the competition between them to better and grow. What you can do is weigh the performance and specs of the series produced by both companies and decide on your own according to your needs. 

Performance: 

For your AAA games at 1080p, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT work the best and give you the visual experience you desire. If you want to run your AAA game at 1440p smoothly, AMD offers the Radeon RX 6700 XT, and NVIDIA gives you the option of using GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. As the resolution at which you want to run your game increases, so do the features and specifications of GPUs offered by both these manufacturers. For 4k gaming and usage, NVIDIA offers the GeForce RTX 3080 with its Ti and the GeForce RTX 3090. In competition to the latter, AMD has the Radeon RX 6900 XT. 

Features: 

In the race of features, both the manufacturers have their own unique sets of features. AMD is more user-friendly as its features support the rival’s cards as well. Whereas NVIDIAs features only work with its cards. 

Apart from the gaming world, NVIDIA has also spread its wings towards the professional field of life through its recent Studio Driver program. This program is specifically to cater to professionals and creatives and generally people after the pandemic shifts. On the other hand, AMD is still focusing on the gaming world and graphics cards related to that world. 

Price:

Ever since the rivalry began in the 90s, AMD has been known to be much more affordable when compared to NVIDIA. The Radeon RX 5500 XT, as an example, is priced around $199. It has much better performance because of AMDs inclusion of VRAM in comparison to its competitor NVIDIAs GTX 1650. Similarly, the Radeon RX 6900 XT has $999, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 costs $1499 with the same specs. However, the high-end Radeon RX 6700 XT and the Radeon RX 6800 XT of AMD are a bit pricey than their NVIDIA competitors and do not offer the same features to users. 

Resolution and Monitor Technology: What needs your attention?

The resolution, i.e., is the total number of pixels present on your monitor, is a huge factor that needs to be kept in mind when you buy your dedicated graphics card. A game with a much-detailed display will need a more powerful graphics card. if you want it to run smoothly at your desired resolution. As resolution increases, your graphics card will have to burn more to maintain frame rates and give you an overall smooth and entertaining visual experience. 

The three resolutions are 1080p, 1440p, and 4k. Your card should be able to support the ‘native’ resolution of your monitor: the one at which your display looks its best and which is also supported.

At 1080p, the frame rates are managed by both the CPU and GPU.

At 1440p, it depends on the game, and most games start to rely more on the GPU than the CPU.

And at 4k, almost all of the burden of frame rates falls on the shoulders of the GPU. 

Instead of opting to play at a lower resolution, you should invest in a graphics card that supports your monitor’s resolution. For absolutely perfect gaming at 1080p, you can get your GPU for under $500.

Now trending –High Refresh Gaming:

High refresh gaming and high refresh gaming monitors are now trending amongst gamers. Now that esports is making its name amongst the masses, panels with 144Hz to 360 Hz frame rates for high refresh gaming are making their way into the market instead of the traditional 60 Hz. 

Let’s say your graphics card can display at a frame rate of more than 60 Hz; if you get a high refresh monitor, you will experience the next level of smoothness in your gameplay. In the end, it is your choice. 

HDR Compatibility:

Something you should keep in mind apart from resolution while surfing for a GPU is HDR compatibility. Every monitor, nowadays, supports HDR. However, if your monitor supports HDR 600 or above, it will become a factor that determines which GPU you buy.

FreeSync vs. G-sync:

FreeSync is AMD’s adaptive sync technology, and G-Sync is NVIDIA’s. Why do this matter?

Well, adaptive sync technology adjusts your monitor’s refresh rates to match what your GPU is outputting. It prevents discontinuities in your display, breaks, stutters, and staggers, amongst other issues. Your monitor will show you a full frame when the GPU outputs one. Hence, they will both be in sync, and ultimately, your display will be continuous. 

FreeSync is cheaper to use than G-sync, as G-sync requires extra hardware to be installed in your system. Even though there were issues in G-sync at its start, both the technologies work similarly. There is no visible difference in their outputs. 

Here it is, your guide to buying a graphics card. For starters, you should understand what a graphics card is and its specs, especially the GPU. An overview of the competition between AMD and NVIDIA is necessary for whoever is stepping out into their rivalry. The two things you should keep into account before buying a GPU are the resolution and HDR compatibility. After reading this guide, you will be well-equipped to buying your GPU. 

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