The Right Graphics Card for Your Need

There's a graphics card available for every need and budget, starting from ones that cost less than 4K to those that exceed 30K. We reviewed 90 of them in our lab to help you choose the best one

Monday, October 01, 2007

Remember the good old days when a game like Pacman was a rage? Games have come a long way since then. Graphics cards manufacturers have been working closely with game developers and coming out with increasingly powerful GPUs. So much so that today you can buy graphics cards that are so poweful that the characters in a game you play on them will appear life-like. Nowadays new GPUs are being released at a very rapid pace. Owing to this, the market is flooded with all sorts of graphics cards that are based on different GPUs. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are only a handful of GPU manufacturers (you can count them on your fingers), but the graphics cards manufacturers that use them are many. So you'll find different brands of graphics cards based on the same GPU. Some will over-clock their cards, while others will provide better cooling solutions, and still others will bundle lots of goodies like popular game titles. All this makes it very difficult to decide what to choose. To help you decide, we managed to get 90 graphics cards from different vendors. We evaluated them and categorized them to make it easy for you to choose the right one. But before we get into the reviews of those cards, we'll give you a few pointers on what to look for when buying a graphics card.

DirectX 10 support
This is the era of DirectX 10 and unified architecture. The move toward unified architecture is co-related to the development of DirectX 10. The prime aim behind DirectX 10 is to improve the ease of programming and allow designers to easily implement enhanced graphics effects and more. DirectX 10 brings along with it Shader Model 4, with some additions such as instructions for integer and bitwise calculations, and the debut of the Geometry Shader. DirectX 10 reduces the load on the CPU by taking up more of the rendering processes. The Geometry Shader allows better manipulation of vertex and other objects. This means more than one way to access, process, and move data. All these new manipulations enable developers to add new features into games and utilize GPUs for more than just rendering a scene. If you want to utilize the full potential of Windows Vista and also want to play the latest games on floor, you'll need a graphics card that supports DirectX 10. Such cards are available in the budget range as well, and although their gaming performance is nothing to boast of, they're mainly meant to play HD content and provide good Vista experience. So today, you should not settle for a graphics card that doesn't support DirectX 10.

How important is RAM?
RAM constitutes a vital part in a GPU. We noticed that some of the cheaper cards with lesser RAM underperformed compared to ones with higher RAM. Generally, budget range cards use DDR (double data rate) or DDR2 memory, running at around 400 to 800 MHz. As you move up the ladder, you'll find cards with DDR3 or DDR4 memory running at much higher speeds. Faster RAM increases memory bandwidth, hence information can be loaded and offloaded much faster. In entry level or budget cards, you'll not find much of a performance difference between 256 and 512 MB of video memory. Gamers however need to go for cards with higher video memory.

Types of cooling solutions
Heat is the biggest enemy of a graphics card, because it reduces the performance. If you've ever scouted around for a graphics card, you would have noticed huge pieces of metal or fans stuck to them. These are meant to keep the cards cool. While testing so many graphics cards, we found some differences between the various cooling solutions they shipped with. Asus, for instance, was the only one that had a card, the 8800GTX, with a liquid cooling solution. Asus calls it 'Aqua tank,' and has patented it. It keeps the card cool, which directly translates to better performance. We've also found some cards having what's known as a Zalman fan. This provides better cooling than ordinary fans. Plus, it spins only when the card is being stressed, meaning more power saving. We've found Zalman fans mostly in mid-range cards. The other kind of cooling solution is a heatsink. This is usually made of aluminum fins, which dissipate heat very fast, thereby keeping the card cool. We've not found too much of a difference between the different heat sinks of cards we tested. One thing that you should check is which side of the card is the heat sink attached on. It could create a problem if it's attached behind the GPU. Motherboards with a single PCI-Express slot usually have the slot very close to the CPU. Such a graphics card will not fit on this motherboard. If a motherboard has two PCI-Express slots, then it will fit in the one further to the CPU, and render the second one completely useless.

Over-clocked or not?
Over-clocking is very common amongst gamers. However, over-clocking has its ups and downs. Though it helps you increase the performance of the card by a few notches, the flip side is that this results in excessive heat generation. So it's always essential to keep the cooling solution in mind before thinking about over-clocking. There are vendors who provide 'factory over-clocked cards,' ie, over-clock the card in their own factory before shipping it in the market. It surely gives them an edge over other cards in terms of performance, but they cost a little more. There are several free software available that help over-clock your card without much fuss. RivaTuner is a common over-clocking software used by many gamers. However, if you are an occasional gamer and aren't bothered much about the fps score, then you can do away with over-clocking.

Features to look for
Today's GPU is not just about gaming, there are several other elements to it. Be it an entry level card or a high end card, each one is packed with features that will out do the other. Features like HDMI support, HDCP support, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD are all packed with the GPU to provide a much better High Definition Digital viewing experience. Be it NVIDIA's PureVideo technology or ATI's Unified Video Decoding, the race to provide enhanced digital viewing experience to the consumer is on. You will find cards with HDMI output ports enabling you to connect your HDMI capable LCD with your card. Now with such high end features you need not look any further for enhanced HD viewing experience; get the latest cards onto your system and you have all the required features for a pleasant HD viewing experience.

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