After Understanding the Specs, Buyers Realize it's About Personal Choice
Whether you’re building a new computer from scratch, or just upgrading your current PC to handle new developments in video games and graphic design tools, buying a video card is one of the most important choices you’ll make for your PC.
It can also be one of the most confusing experiences you’ll have to deal with, especially if you’re a beginner or relative layman. But as long as you learn a few key points, the information on the back of the box won’t seem so much like gibberish, and you’ll be able to make an informed decision about what you need.
The Main Features of a Video Card
Video cards literally control what appears on your screen, and how it appears, so it’s a very important component. A card has four basic specifications you need to look for:
- Speed
- Memory / Resolution
- Card Slot Type (PCI, AGP, PCI-E)
- Price
Each of these features holds a different appeal for people who use their computers for different things, and knowing which is most useful for your needs is far more important than actually knowing every little detail about what the terms mean.
What You Need
The old adage “different strokes for different folks” goes double for video cards. Even the terms used to describe them seem to be divided between different kinds of users, with “video card” generally being used among graphic designers and artists, and “graphics card” being used among gamers.
The need for each of the features listed above is obviously going to be different for each type of user, but the Cliffs Notes version is as follows, which I’ve divided into four broad categories of users:
- Graphic designers, artists, and CAD designers will be more interested in the resolution and memory capabilities than speed. Because they’re often working with large, complex files, they can let the video speed of their card slip a little bit in a tradeoff for more memory capability.
- Gamers will be interested in speed above all else, although as video games have become more and more complex in recent years, memory is quickly catching up.
- Video editors will want balance. They may have to sacrifice having either top of the line resolution or speed, but it’s worth it to be able to work smoothly with large, resource burning video files.
- Casual users who don’t use their computer for much video-intensive work will probably be most concerned with price. Dropping over $400 on a performance video card may seem scary or absurd to someone who only uses their PC to surf the web and send email, so it’s important to remember that you can get a decent, effective card to handle all of your needs for a quarter of the price.
Brand Names
The top players in the graphics card field are Nvidia and ATI, thanks mainly to their popularity among gamers. They are also the largest companies in the field, and in fact, many of the smaller manufacturers use parts and other technology produced by Nvidia and ATI—that’s standard procedure for the tech industry, though.
The fact that many of the cards out there come from the same place is just one of many reasons that brand name is perhaps the least important thing to consider when buying a video card. Performance and specs that match up to your personal needs are the ultimate consideration, and you can get equivalent specs from many different manufacturers.
The only thing to consider when browsing brand names are little perks like warranty and convenience. If you like going to big box stores to buy your components, for example, you’ll have to choose one of the big brand names, and probably pay a little extra. If you’re into scouring the Internet for amazing buys and obscure brands, however, you can find good deals on off brands.
Connectivity
Finally, two connections will be key to the vast majority of card users, and those connections affect how the card connects to the computer and how the card connects to the monitor.
For connecting to the computer, there are three options out there:
- PCI (Old, slower)
- AGP (Current, fast)
- PCI-Express (New, fastest)
You really won’t have much of an option here—your choices will be limited by the connection slot your have available on your PC. But it’s nice to see the progression of the technology, and to know which to choose, if you can, if speed is your main interest.
And for connecting from your card (the back of your computer) to your monitor, you’ll almost certainly be using a DVI output, as that’s what is used by modern LCD monitors. Older CRT monitors will connect with a VGA cable, and you’ll need an adapter to connect your old monitor to your new video card. Such an adapter is usually included along with either your monitor or your video card.
Connectivity is where you’ll have the least amount of options. Beyond that, there are as many video cards out there as there are colors in the rainbow. It’s not always about which one is best, but more so about which one is best for you.
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