1- Graphic Card Briefing
Upgrading a graphic card is the second most common upgrade for a computer (adding additional memory being the most common).
Even the most undemanding user may need more graphical power, especially for newer operating systems as they introduce more graphical tricks on your desktop.
While gamers would generally get the most attention on their graphic cards and getting extremely powerful cards that can keep up for the most demanding games, they are not the only ones that would benefit from a graphic card update.
There is two main types of graphics: 2D and 3D.
Two-Dimension graphics are very familiar to everyone, from Windows GUI to word processing, web pages and videos, they are all rendered in 2D.
Everything is placed on a virtual "grid" and is then fed to the graphic card, which is later turned into a video signal that gets to your monitor.
Three-Dimensional graphics are much more complicated, that is why we need a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) to keep up with all the rendering, especially when games utilize complex shader and lighting effects. Most current cards usually can keep up with moderately complex rendering.
However, not all 2D graphics are very simple and fast, some specialized applications for artists or graphic designers can utilize a huge amount of CPU power, even if better optimisation codes allows GPGPU computing nowadays.
GPU's are very parallel in terms of computing and would need a very fast location which it has to store information, that is why faster memory speeds on graphic cards usually increase performance, so the GPU would not need to wait for the memory.
Since most graphic intensive applications utilize the CPU and the GPU at the same time, they need a fast way to connect to each other. Most newer-generation cards use the PCI-E bus, which is the most popular. The second bus for graphic cards is the AGP bus, but it is becoming deprecated right now. A PCI bus is very old and is used only on pre-2001 graphic cards.
While the PCI standard was sufficient for most add-on cards for about a decade, it is just not fast enough for high-speed connection between the Graphic Card and the rest of the system, which can cause enormous slowdowns.
2- General 3D Briefing.
All of you guys may wonder what makes all those 3D Games really look "3D", well 3D rendering is very complicated and I can only explain the basics of it without making this guide too boring.
First, the CPU loads up the instructions and creates a 3D map where every object will be in your field of vision.
Then, the graphic card loads up and processes the vertexes, which are basically triangles for a model. Its those who make objects really look 3D, but a lack of vertexes can make a round head look cubic.
After the vertexes, the GPU puts on the Textures, which is the skin for the vertexes. Every side of an 3D object has a texture on it, otherwise it would look transparant. (just like a wireframe)
After all these had been done, you have a basic 3D scene that can be sent to the screen, but games usually add more effects.
The GPU can also process Shadows, to make the game look more realistic.
At the end, the GPU adds shader effects, which is 2D effects added after the 3D image had been rendered. Those effects are usually called "Pixel Shaders". They can add various effects to a 3D Scene like the sun glare, brokeh effects, focus effects, and much more.
3- What kind of graphic card is better for me?
"It Depends"
All other things being equal, there is no reason not to have a video card more capable than what you need. But since budget is an important factor, you need to consider just what you do need.
E-Mail and Web Surfing
This is the lowest end of computing-power usage and have very basic needs. This applies to productivity tasks like e-mail, business related world processing and spreadsheets. However, as more eye-candy and HD videos are proliferating, it can still place moderate demands on graphics.
What is needed : You will mostly need a good integrated chipset, however, a cheap, older and less powerful dedicated graphic card will provide a better overall performance.
Casual Gamers
If you don't spend a lot of time playing games, or is a gamer that does not really care about breathtaking graphics, you fall in this category.
What is needed : A new entry-level graphic card should do the trick, but if you want more insurance about performance, you may want a mid-range graphic card.
Gamers
These are the people that everyone hears about. They always get the latest cutting-edge technology and have computer power beyond the average.
What is needed : The latest and most powerful Graphic card in the High-End category, you may also want to look at dual-card options.
3D Animation, Modeling and Video Production
Applications that fall in this domain will sure benefit from a powerful graphic card, but the emphasis is different. Image quality and precision is far more important than raw speed.
What is needed : A Mid-range graphic card should suffice for amateurs, but more serious work will need a workstation class card.
Media Center
One of the popular attempted "convergence devices" of recent years is the media center PC. This can range from a computer with a normal monitor that can receive TV signals, to a central media server that can send movies to the main TV itself.
What is needed : An Entry-level graphic card with a TV Tuner card will suffice. For HD Videos, it is recommended to have a HDMI or DVI Output on the graphic card itself.
4- Software Implementations and Why should I care?
There is currently two main API's (Application Programming Interface), OpenGL and DirectX. Most people would know DirectX, since it is proprietary of Microsoft, and they largely promote it. While OpenGL is mostly Open Source and developed by the Khronos Group.
While individual programmers prefer OpenGL for its simplicity and extensibility, for the average user, both of them are very similar.
The newest DirectX version is the v11 (Direct3D 11), while the v10 and v9 are still used in some games, v8 and v7 are getting obsolete. Usually, newer is the version, better the visuals will be, and in some cases, performance improvements are to be noticed. (This applies also to OpenGL)
You should buy a DirectX 11 compatible card, as most upcoming games are DirectX 11.
OpenGL's newest version is the 4.2, while not much games use the 4.x, the v3.1 is still the most popular, and v2.1 and 1.5 are getting obsolete.
Usually supported DirectX and OpenGL versions are closely related, a DX11 card supports GL4, a DX10 card will support GL3, and so on.
5- Important Keywords and Their Meanings.
You will probably hear everyone things like : "Config Core", "Texture Mapping Unit", "Raster Operation Unit" or even "Double-precision FP Speed". Did you ever knew what those words meant? It probably didn't matter to you.
In this part, we are going to look every important word that you may need to buy a Graphic Card.
GPU : Graphic Processing Unit. A name that nVidia gave to its Graphic Processors in the late 1999's, it became so popular that it is employed now for every Graphic Card.
Transistor : A tiny component that act like an gate, a lot combined together can make powerful GPU's. Generally more there are, better it is.
Fab : The fabrication process. It is the size of each tiny transistor in the GPU. (measured in nm) Smaller is the number, the less heat the GPU will make while working.
Bus interface : It is the transportation method for the Data in your Graphic Card. Modern Graphic Cards use PCI-E, while older ones may use AGP or even PCI.
Memory : The data storage for the Graphic Card. You will generally need 1GB for mid-range graphic cards, and 2GB for high-end ones, it doesn't improve performance in any way.
Clock rate : That is the number of cycles a GPU can perform for each second. Generally it is better to have more, but more doesn't always mean better! There are other factors.
Config core : That is prehaps the most important part when looking for a Graphic Card. It is the configuration of the GPU. There is Unified Shader Unit, Texture Mapping Unit and Render Output unit.
Unified Shader Unit : Units that processes basic 3D Scenes, more is better for GPU's in the same generation. But for completely different architecture, you cannot compare directly with this.
Texture Mapping Unit : Units in the GPU that processes Textures, generally more they are, better it is.
Render Output unit : Units that add the final touch of effects on 3D Scenes and convert them into 2D Signals to be sent to the screen. More they are, better it is.
RAMDAC : Digital to analog converter that converts Digital Signals into Analogue signals to be displayed on your screen.
Fillrate : There is Pixel Fillrate and Texture Fillrate, those are the numbers of pixels or textures the Graphic Card can output in one second. Higher it is, better it is.
Memory Bandwidth : The bandwidth of the Memory Bus, larger it is, faster the card could transfer and read data from its video RAM.
Memory Bus : The type of Bus the card has. There are DDR2, DDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5. GDDR5 is currently the fastest one. But don't take a graphic card that has a bus slower than DDR3.
Memory Bus Width : The width of the Bus, larger it is, better it is.
GFLOPS : Operations the card can process in each second (mesured in G [1G = 1,000,000,000]). Higher it is, better it is.
TDP : The power that the graphic card consumes when at peak load (everything working at 100%), lower TDP means better power saving, but at the cost of performance. - "Tom's Hardware"
Upgrading a graphic card is the second most common upgrade for a computer (adding additional memory being the most common).
Even the most undemanding user may need more graphical power, especially for newer operating systems as they introduce more graphical tricks on your desktop.
While gamers would generally get the most attention on their graphic cards and getting extremely powerful cards that can keep up for the most demanding games, they are not the only ones that would benefit from a graphic card update.
There is two main types of graphics: 2D and 3D.
Two-Dimension graphics are very familiar to everyone, from Windows GUI to word processing, web pages and videos, they are all rendered in 2D.
Everything is placed on a virtual "grid" and is then fed to the graphic card, which is later turned into a video signal that gets to your monitor.
Three-Dimensional graphics are much more complicated, that is why we need a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) to keep up with all the rendering, especially when games utilize complex shader and lighting effects. Most current cards usually can keep up with moderately complex rendering.
However, not all 2D graphics are very simple and fast, some specialized applications for artists or graphic designers can utilize a huge amount of CPU power, even if better optimisation codes allows GPGPU computing nowadays.
GPU's are very parallel in terms of computing and would need a very fast location which it has to store information, that is why faster memory speeds on graphic cards usually increase performance, so the GPU would not need to wait for the memory.
Since most graphic intensive applications utilize the CPU and the GPU at the same time, they need a fast way to connect to each other. Most newer-generation cards use the PCI-E bus, which is the most popular. The second bus for graphic cards is the AGP bus, but it is becoming deprecated right now. A PCI bus is very old and is used only on pre-2001 graphic cards.
While the PCI standard was sufficient for most add-on cards for about a decade, it is just not fast enough for high-speed connection between the Graphic Card and the rest of the system, which can cause enormous slowdowns.
2- General 3D Briefing.
All of you guys may wonder what makes all those 3D Games really look "3D", well 3D rendering is very complicated and I can only explain the basics of it without making this guide too boring.
First, the CPU loads up the instructions and creates a 3D map where every object will be in your field of vision.
Then, the graphic card loads up and processes the vertexes, which are basically triangles for a model. Its those who make objects really look 3D, but a lack of vertexes can make a round head look cubic.
After the vertexes, the GPU puts on the Textures, which is the skin for the vertexes. Every side of an 3D object has a texture on it, otherwise it would look transparant. (just like a wireframe)
After all these had been done, you have a basic 3D scene that can be sent to the screen, but games usually add more effects.
The GPU can also process Shadows, to make the game look more realistic.
At the end, the GPU adds shader effects, which is 2D effects added after the 3D image had been rendered. Those effects are usually called "Pixel Shaders". They can add various effects to a 3D Scene like the sun glare, brokeh effects, focus effects, and much more.
3- What kind of graphic card is better for me?
"It Depends"
All other things being equal, there is no reason not to have a video card more capable than what you need. But since budget is an important factor, you need to consider just what you do need.
E-Mail and Web Surfing
This is the lowest end of computing-power usage and have very basic needs. This applies to productivity tasks like e-mail, business related world processing and spreadsheets. However, as more eye-candy and HD videos are proliferating, it can still place moderate demands on graphics.
What is needed : You will mostly need a good integrated chipset, however, a cheap, older and less powerful dedicated graphic card will provide a better overall performance.
Casual Gamers
If you don't spend a lot of time playing games, or is a gamer that does not really care about breathtaking graphics, you fall in this category.
What is needed : A new entry-level graphic card should do the trick, but if you want more insurance about performance, you may want a mid-range graphic card.
Gamers
These are the people that everyone hears about. They always get the latest cutting-edge technology and have computer power beyond the average.
What is needed : The latest and most powerful Graphic card in the High-End category, you may also want to look at dual-card options.
3D Animation, Modeling and Video Production
Applications that fall in this domain will sure benefit from a powerful graphic card, but the emphasis is different. Image quality and precision is far more important than raw speed.
What is needed : A Mid-range graphic card should suffice for amateurs, but more serious work will need a workstation class card.
Media Center
One of the popular attempted "convergence devices" of recent years is the media center PC. This can range from a computer with a normal monitor that can receive TV signals, to a central media server that can send movies to the main TV itself.
What is needed : An Entry-level graphic card with a TV Tuner card will suffice. For HD Videos, it is recommended to have a HDMI or DVI Output on the graphic card itself.
4- Software Implementations and Why should I care?
There is currently two main API's (Application Programming Interface), OpenGL and DirectX. Most people would know DirectX, since it is proprietary of Microsoft, and they largely promote it. While OpenGL is mostly Open Source and developed by the Khronos Group.
While individual programmers prefer OpenGL for its simplicity and extensibility, for the average user, both of them are very similar.
The newest DirectX version is the v11 (Direct3D 11), while the v10 and v9 are still used in some games, v8 and v7 are getting obsolete. Usually, newer is the version, better the visuals will be, and in some cases, performance improvements are to be noticed. (This applies also to OpenGL)
You should buy a DirectX 11 compatible card, as most upcoming games are DirectX 11.
OpenGL's newest version is the 4.2, while not much games use the 4.x, the v3.1 is still the most popular, and v2.1 and 1.5 are getting obsolete.
Usually supported DirectX and OpenGL versions are closely related, a DX11 card supports GL4, a DX10 card will support GL3, and so on.
5- Important Keywords and Their Meanings.
You will probably hear everyone things like : "Config Core", "Texture Mapping Unit", "Raster Operation Unit" or even "Double-precision FP Speed". Did you ever knew what those words meant? It probably didn't matter to you.
In this part, we are going to look every important word that you may need to buy a Graphic Card.
GPU : Graphic Processing Unit. A name that nVidia gave to its Graphic Processors in the late 1999's, it became so popular that it is employed now for every Graphic Card.
Transistor : A tiny component that act like an gate, a lot combined together can make powerful GPU's. Generally more there are, better it is.
Fab : The fabrication process. It is the size of each tiny transistor in the GPU. (measured in nm) Smaller is the number, the less heat the GPU will make while working.
Bus interface : It is the transportation method for the Data in your Graphic Card. Modern Graphic Cards use PCI-E, while older ones may use AGP or even PCI.
Memory : The data storage for the Graphic Card. You will generally need 1GB for mid-range graphic cards, and 2GB for high-end ones, it doesn't improve performance in any way.
Clock rate : That is the number of cycles a GPU can perform for each second. Generally it is better to have more, but more doesn't always mean better! There are other factors.
Config core : That is prehaps the most important part when looking for a Graphic Card. It is the configuration of the GPU. There is Unified Shader Unit, Texture Mapping Unit and Render Output unit.
Unified Shader Unit : Units that processes basic 3D Scenes, more is better for GPU's in the same generation. But for completely different architecture, you cannot compare directly with this.
Texture Mapping Unit : Units in the GPU that processes Textures, generally more they are, better it is.
Render Output unit : Units that add the final touch of effects on 3D Scenes and convert them into 2D Signals to be sent to the screen. More they are, better it is.
RAMDAC : Digital to analog converter that converts Digital Signals into Analogue signals to be displayed on your screen.
Fillrate : There is Pixel Fillrate and Texture Fillrate, those are the numbers of pixels or textures the Graphic Card can output in one second. Higher it is, better it is.
Memory Bandwidth : The bandwidth of the Memory Bus, larger it is, faster the card could transfer and read data from its video RAM.
Memory Bus : The type of Bus the card has. There are DDR2, DDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5. GDDR5 is currently the fastest one. But don't take a graphic card that has a bus slower than DDR3.
Memory Bus Width : The width of the Bus, larger it is, better it is.
GFLOPS : Operations the card can process in each second (mesured in G [1G = 1,000,000,000]). Higher it is, better it is.
TDP : The power that the graphic card consumes when at peak load (everything working at 100%), lower TDP means better power saving, but at the cost of performance. - "Tom's Hardware"
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