For those who are planning to buy a new PC whether it is for work or gaming purpose, the most important factor will be what type of graphics card it may have?
Yea, of course, a graphics card, but you must know certain things about a GPU before purchasing.
Getting your hands on a good GPU is not an easy task. You’ve to think twice or thrice before having it.
But before going through how to choose the best graphics card to et’s talk about what actually the term GPU stands for and what is its significant status.
GPU?
In the early period of computers, there this CPU (Central Processing Unit) was used to translate information into images and would handle basic graphic processing. But it isn’t good for heavy and intensive graphical processing, as it slows down the rendering process and offer bad video quality result when playing the video games.
GPU, graphical unit processing plays a very significant role in processing a large amount of image information tasks and preforms good video rendering. Graphic designing application or 3D software can work well with GPU.
If you are a gaming addict then you’ll definitely know well about the graphic card. A good graphics card can also power up other processors and manipulates a lot of data in parallel, making them incredibly fast.
But GPU isn’t just used for gaming purpose it could also be used for the designing or business application. For Example, video editing application and 3D rendering applications.
Types of GPU
Mainly there are two types of GPU, one is gaming-oriented GPU and another is work-station GPU.
If you are a gamer, then definitely the gaming-oriented GPU works well for your needs. In today’s world games like assassin’s creed and PUBG makes feel like you’re playing in real. It’s because the game being developed are quite complex and uses high graphics.
But if you’re a pro designer and use software like Maya 3D max, AUTOCAD or other video editing tools, then you need to work on a workstation GPU. From this, you can easily render your images and animate your videos without having any trouble. Furthermore, it can offer stability and reliability on your work.
Ok now let’s go through some noteworthy factors through which you can choose which best fits for your need.
MEMORY
The key factor of a graphic card is a memory. It matters a lot in deciding how much speed and power you really want.
While deciding upon the memory factor, the two main things need to be considered which is size and bandwidth.
Size of the memory really doesn’t make your GPU run faster. If you’re going to purchase a large size memory than it’s not desirable for 1080p resolution. It’s only suitable for running high resolutions like 4K and for three monitors in surround.
But on other hand the bandwidth really matters, means it can fasten up the speed. It is measured in gigabits per second. A graphic card with low size 1GB and having high bandwidth is far better than a GPU which is having a large size and low DDR2 bandwidth.
TDP (Thermal Design Power)
As we know some of the PC modules needs more power. But if you’re going to put a good GPU inside then your PC consumes a lot of power.
So here’s the TDP which is the combo of how much power graphic card pulls in and how much it produces.
So while choosing a GPU the main thing to consider is how much power it’s pulling. You’ll also need to upgrade the power supply unit which is already installed in your PC.
INTERFACE
Before bumping into any GPU, you should also consider the design and interface of it. What if you purchased a new GPU and after purchasing, you get to know it doesn’t fit and looks a bit unusual.
Moreover, look into the compatibility with the power supply of your PC and how many 8 and 6 pin PCIe power slots it has.
Connectivity
When you get your GPU you’ve to connect it with your monitor. There are mainly DVI, HDMI ports and then there’s another connecter VGA but it’s not found in modern monitors so easily.
So you must know what type of connection you’ll need. Is it HDMI or VGA or any other connector?
You should see whether the GPU works with your monitor or not? Not all GPU type is going to work with the multiple monitor. Therefore, look for different varieties of connectors in it.
Cooling Mechanism
As you guys know that GPU uses lots of power and produce a large amount of heat. But if there is no cooling mechanism for balancing off the heat produced by GPU, it will merely roast down your PC.
The GPU fan is not enough for cooling purpose. You can easily get another cooler fan with your GPU. There are primarily two types of cooler fans, a reference cooler and other is custom cooler.
Reference cooler does same as your PC’s fan. It just blows out the heat from graphic card and cool it down. The drawback is that it’s a bit noisy.
On other hand, the custom cooler is designed for few graphic cards. It draws out the heat from GPU and put it into heatsinks. Heatsinks is a kind of heat pipes which compacts the heat.
So, these are some important factors too look upon while selecting a good GPU for your need. Now, let’s talk about some of the GPU for working and gaming purposes.
