How to buy a Graphics Card : A Buyers Guide

Nowadays graphic cards are as important as mouse or keyboards owing to increasing graphic requirements of modern games. Many games like Call of Duty series or the latest hit Batman Arkham City require computers with higher graphic ability to render the necessary graphics provided in games to increase the fun quotient.

How to buy a new Graphics Card

But often we have seen people purchasing whole new computer are often confused when it comes to graphic card selection. Yes, off course it is hard decision to make, that is why we are here to help you out of this dilemma.

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Although GPU or graphic card technology is mainly developed by two major companies namely AMD and NVIDIA, actual production of units are done by companies like Asus, Palit, MSI, Zotac and so on.

Thus to clear some confusion from your mind, here are few tips we have procured:

The first thing which should be considered before buying a graphic card is chipset. Top-of-the-line GPUs are very easy to spot. They generally are more visually appealing than anything else that goes under CPU hood and off course can cost you a fortune if you intend to purchase one. So while purchasing a card, keep attention to some attributed of graphic cards like memory and processor speed. A good GPU will have a faster processor and more cache memory than others.

Therefore if you are a normal user working on word or excel, you won’t need any graphic card, in-built graphic acceleration should be sufficient for you. If you are a casual gamer, a mid-range you can do well with mid-range GPU. But in case you are a hardcore gamer, kids, these high end graphic cards are waiting for you.

Card’s performance is overall measured in terms of frame rate (frames per second or FPS). It shows how many frames a card can display in a second. The better frame rate, more powerful your graphic card is.

GPU’s hardware also affects its performance. Here are some parameters you should check before buying a suitable graphic card for you.

  • Size of Memory Bus (Bits)
  • GPU clock speed (MHz)
  • Available memory (MB/GB)
  • Memory clock speed (MHz)

Now let’s turn towards price. Same chipset can vary in prices depending upon its manufacturing company. Thus you can check out pricings of all companies before getting one for yourself. Although pricing for same chipset may vary, most probably the quality remains same though you should consider other factors too, like warranty in number of years and availability of service centers.

We have listed top 5 graphic cards available in market for your convenience here:

  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 ($611.00)

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  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 ($904.00)

    GeForce_GTX_590
  • AMD Radeon HD 6990 ($850.00)

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  • AMD Radeon HD 6970 ($369.00)

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  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 ($349.00)

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Let us know what you think!

About the author

Nitin Agarwal

A blogger, tech evangelist, YouTube creator, books lover, traveler, thinker, and believer of minimalist lifestyle.