Graphics Cards Buying Guide

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Upgrading your graphics card  can make a world of difference to your computer's performance.  We are here to help you understand some of the key components behind it all. 

An Overview

Most graphics cards are based on either the Nvidia Geforce  or ATI Radeon  family of chips. Each has their strengths and both offer state-of-the-art image acceleration and comparable features.  

  • Performance improves as you move up a range, as top chips will offer more features than the lower-cost options.
  • All current graphics processors are suitable for office work and home use. 
  • Serious gamers tend to invest in Nvidia Geforce 6800  series or ATI Radeon X1900 XTX  chips.
  • Graphics cards use their own video memory  to store data, images, and textures.  The more you have, the better the performance. 
  • For the latest games and video applications, we will recommend a card of at least 128MB  or 256MB. 
  • Be sure that the card you buy favours monitors with at least a 75Hz  resolution.  This is to avoid eye strain that would come with the screen's flicker otherwise.
  • Depending on the motherboard, you need an AGP  or PCI Express  graphics card.  This is the newest interface standard, offering double the bandwidth in order to produce faster and more complex graphics.
  • Look for support for both analogue  (VGA) and digital  (DVI) displays.  It is also good to have S-video  and composite video  outputs for use with TVs.     

Quick Picks

Low-End Cards

Mid-Range Cards

High-End Cards

Related Guides

Building a Computer

Components and Hardware

Video Capture Cards and TV Cards

Computers and Monitors

External Links

  • CustomPC.co.uk:  Compare editor and user reviews on different kinds of graphics cards. 
  • ITReviews.co.uk:  Read more in this guide to choosing the best graphics cards and graphics card adapters. 
  • PCW.co.uk:  Personal Computer World brings you an article on how to pick the perfect graphics card.

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