The graphics card (also called video card or GPU) is an internal component of the PC. It is dedicated to games , 3D or VR . Let me be clear: for office use only (internet surfing, word processing), there is no need to use dedicated equipment. Many processors include sufficient graphics chipset. But if you like to have a good time at your computer and enjoy the best possible graphics, the following is for you.
Of course, video processing, amateur editing or playing movies require little more than the latest generation processors from Intel and AMD, but entry-level video cards (under € 100) are a good choice and even a smart purchase to save on processors that sometimes reach high prices. From TechCompact you can have now the best choices.
Titan graphics card
New NVIDIA graphics cards
On the other hand, those who want to enter directly into the pleasures of multimedia, benefit from much more detailed games than on consoles, connect several screens to experience extraordinary sensations, marvel at the VR and the delicacy of the 4K, or even more impressive, to immerse yourself in virtual reality with dedicated headsets have no choice but to get a powerful gamer graphics card from AMD or NVIDIA.
The price range ranges from less than 50 to more than € 1,300, or even more if you opt for a model whose all characteristics (memory, frequency, bus) are taken to the extreme. The chapters “The prices of graphics cards” and “The differences between GPU AMD and NVIDIA” help you in your choice by detailing the ranges and uses. But to know everything about these tools capable of transforming a computer into a superb multimedia device, let’s start by discovering their innards.
To optimize your gaming setup, changing your graphics card is often a very good idea. Indispensable to be able to provide a realistic and fluid experience, the graphics card is the guarantor of your gaming pleasure. Suffice to say that it should not be chosen at random!
Besides the manufacturer, the brand and the generation of the card, we must also consider the amount of memory that equips it, the frequency with which it is clocked, and also how it is cooled.
Put together, these elements allow you to gauge in a few moments the quality of a graphics card.
Graphics processor
Graphics cards: what are the differences between manufacturers?
You will have noticed that when it comes to graphics cards, two manufacturers share the cake: AMD and Nvidia.
However, the graphics processors (GPU for Graphics Processing Unit) of these two players are distributed by a large number of brands such as Asus, Gigabyte, MSI or Sapphire.
Concretely: AMD and Nvidia only sell a small part of the graphics card panel. They mainly design the architecture of the chip, and make their technology available to manufacturers (Asus , Gigabyte, EVGA , KFA2, etc.) who produce the graphics cards we know. They appropriate these technologies, and optimize the frequencies, add more memory to it, and design ideal cooling solutions to support long gaming sessions.
