Choosing a Gaming Video Card for your PC
Choosing the right gaming video card for your needs can be a tough decision for many. There are so many different graphics cards out there, all with different specs and features, it's hard to know what is best for you.
Your gaming video card will be responsible for producing the dazzling 3D graphics and effects seen in the latest computer games. A better graphics card makes for a better 3D gaming experience, so gamers should choose the best video card they can afford.
AGP or PCI Express
There are two ways to connect your graphics card to your motherboard, via an AGP or PCI Express slot. Generally, a motherboard will only support one these slot types. So you need to make sure which it is before looking for a video card.AGP has been the norm for a long time now, but it is old technology.
PCI Express is the new kid on the block, and it’s only a matter of time until it completely takes over from AGP. The benefit of PCI Express is that it can handle a greater data throughput than an AGP slot.
PCI Express offers performance of up to 4X faster than the fastest AGP slot. It’s relatively new technology, and it isn’t being used to its full potential yet. Although, we predict that games released in the next 1-2 years will make full use of PCI Express technology.
Another advantage of PCI Express is you can connect more than one video card to your computer. This is impossible with AGP, a motherboard can only ever have one AGP slot.
If you’re simply upgrading your gaming computer with a new video card, you should check whether your motherboard supports AGP or PCI Express, and then choose a card accordingly. Don’t worry if your motherboard has an AGP slot. Even though it’s not the latest technology, AGP is going to stay around for a long time. Many of the best video cards come in AGP versions.
On the other hand, if you’re building a new system from scratch, you have the choice. We recommend choosing a gaming video card with PCI Express, and a motherboard that supports it. As we said before, the games of the future will soon harness the power of this new technology, leaving AGP in the dark. So by choosing PCI Express now, it will save you the upgrade later when AGP becomes obsolete.
Also, don’t confuse PCI Express with PCI. A long time ago you would connect your graphics card through a PCI slot on your motherboard. This is very slow compared to todays standards, and is completely outdated.
Screenshot from id Software's Doom 3
ATI or nVidia
Very much like the CPU market, there are two companies that dominate the world of gaming video cards, ATI and nVidia. They make the best video card chips in the world. ATI is responsible for the Radeon series, while nVidia is behind the GeForce line of cards. Although ATI and nVidia make the graphics card technology you see in all the latest cards, they don’t actually sell them themselves. They license their best video card chips to companies such as GeCube, Saphire, Asus, and ABit (just to name a few) who then sell their own variants on the original technology.Rendering Features
The speed and efficiency of the GPU isn’t the only thing that counts. The latest 3D games and software make use of advanced 3D rendering effects such as anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, bump-mapping, pixel shaders and much more.If you run a game that was written with such features in mind, and your graphics card doesn’t support them, you will experience a significant performance loss, or at worst the game won’t run at all. The best gaming video cards on the market try to keep up with all the latest 3D rendering techniques in the software world.
Screenshot from Valve's Half Life 2
Other Functions
Video cards provide other functions apart from rendering 3D graphics. For example, you can have high-definition output, output to a TV screen, or to multiple monitors. If you want such features, be sure to check if they’re listed on the box.- DVI: This is a higher-definition output used with newer monitors and some high-end TVs. Connecting to your monitor via DVI offers better image quality than the standard VGA connection. If you want to take advantage of DVI, buy a graphics card and monitor that supports it.
- TV-Out: If you wish to display the output of your video card onto a TV screen, you will need a graphics card that supports TV-Out. Many of the best video cards on the market have this feature, aswell as budget-line cards. You connect your graphics card to a TV using an S-video connection. If you have an older TV with an RCA input instead of S-video, you will need an S-video to RCA adaptor.
- Dual Monitor Support: If you want to split your video output across two monitors, you will need dual monitor support on your graphics card. This feature is useful for developers, engineers, designers, and multi-taskers who wish to view many different windows on their desktop at once. Usually, one output will be VGA and the other DVI. Learn more about dual monitor video card setups here.
Don't forget about NVIDIA's SLI and ATI's CrossFire technology. You can learn all about these multiple GPU technologies with our guides:
Choosing Your Gaming Video Card
Now that you have a little background information on the features of a video card, you can start to make your decision on what is the best gaming video card for your needs.Unfortunately choosing a gaming video card can be quite confusing. There are so many different models and different varieties of each model, it can be overwhelming. ATI and nVidia also have different naming conventions that can cause added confusion. Check out our guide on the best video cards of 2011 to help you with your choice.
Screenshot from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2
Selecting a gaming video card all depends on your needs and budget. The graphics card is perhaps the most important component in a gaming computer. Gamers should purchase the best video card they can afford. You can find the best deals on video cards online here
If you've bought a gaming video card and need help on installing it, then check out our step by step guide on Installing A Graphics Card.
