Monday, May 7, 2012

How To Compare Graphics Cards

By John Scott


Graphics chips are a fundamental part of any computer or laptop and will be found in every system on the market, whether it's an embedded chip in the motherboard or an external graphics card. Just put, the function of the graphics card is to convert binary data into something that may be rendered onto display mediums, for example: televisions, projectors, monitors, mobile phones along with other screens.

Every day users who only use their systems for viewing images or watching video clips will have no problem with an inbuilt graphics solution. However, you will definitely need something with a bit more power behind it if you want to be doing more particular and resource demanding activities. This is where expansion graphics cards come in. An expansion graphics card will provide more energy for your computer in a form that is devoted to generating the visual graphics display faster and look much more appealing.

Selecting the best graphics card for your needs can be an almost impossible task, made immensely harder with all the different additional features spread throughout the range.

So which graphics card is best for you?

ATI and Nvidia are currently the two most prominent graphics cards manufacturers. The two are extremely equivalent and each provide a range of cards that literally overlap one another. Nevertheless, they differ in the higher end from the graphics card marketplace.

Nvidia are famed for their super-powered gaming level GTX graphics cards and their Quadro series that is developed specifically for designers who use skilled packages, such as: Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD and AutoDesk 3D Studio Max.

ATI however are famed for offering extreme energy at a reasonable price, which is great for the everyday person who doesn't have a massive budget. Furthermore, don't get fooled into thinking that ATI doesn't generate high-end cards, their products are very effective, and it is just that Nvidia push a tiny tiny bit more out of theirs.

So let's assume you're an ordinary person, who watches a few movies, plays a few games and has a dabble at image and video editing, rather than a company who is looking to get the maximum out of a piece of software. You now have the brand you want to be taking a look at, but what next? There are so many different cards and all these different features.

Firstly, ATI graphics cards come in series, normally depicted by four numbers. You'll find 3 categories within every of those series however, low range, middle range and leading end. Low range graphics cards cost between $30-$100 and will be expected to cope with viewing images, watching normal definition films and really low finish video games. Middle range graphics cards are where the majority of the market is and ought to be expected to handle playing the majority of games on their low settings, watching standard and some high definition films and minor image editing. Top finish graphics cards are for all those who want everything to look ideal or don't need to be held back by their graphics card once they are completing tasks or chilling out; these cards could be expected to manage all games in all their glory, effective processing of video and image editing rendering and calculations and ought to be in a position to let you watch all films.

Selecting a graphics card isn't always a simple pick and choose option though, you must also check that your other hardware can work alongside the new card. Other elements include:

* GPU

* Graphics Card Slot

* Committed Graphics RAM

* BIOS or Firmware

However, if you would prefer to merely skip all of this hassle and buy a graphics card that I personally feel is fantastic value for cash and handles playing the latest games, performing some editing perform and watching all motion pictures, then take a look at the Radeon HD 6850.




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