Graphic Video Cards

Graphic Video Cards

Shop & Compare Graphic Cards/ Video Cards / AGP / PCI / PCI Express

With the ongoing demand for faster imaging in personal computers, gaming consoles and even cellular phones, graphic cards have become an indispensable part of the highly technological world. Graphic cards may be known in so many other names such as video cards, video adapter, graphics accelerator card, display adapter but which ever it may be, it points out simply to an expansion card which generates output images to a display.

Converting binary codes into images is a tedious task. From straight lines, a wire frame must be created. Then, the spaces in between have to be filled with pixels in a process called rasterization. During the process, lighting, color, and texture are added. In a matter of a second, these processes must be done about sixty times. Thus, even if most computer mother boards have a graphic chip set, imaging usually consume a lot of the RAM and it slows down the performance of the unit. Having a graphic cards which has its own RAM and processor can speed up the imaging process especially for those who wish to run 3D programs.

There are several manufacturers of graphic cards with ATI and Nvidia occupying the top slot for popularity. For the budget conscious, below are some suggested graphic cards to purchase and their specs

ATI Radeon HD 5770

Core Clock: 850MHz
Graphics Memory: 1GB
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: Two DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

ATI Radeon HD 5750

Core Clock: 700MHz
Graphics Memory: 1GB
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: Two DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

ATI Radeon HD 5670

Core Clock: 775MHz
Graphics Memory: 512MB
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

Nvidia GeForce GTS 450

Core Clock: 783MHz
Graphics Memory: 1GB
Interface: PCI Express x16
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 (1GB)

Core Clock: 775MHz
Graphics Memory: 1GB
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: HDMI; DVI; DisplayPort
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

Aside from money matters, there are also other factors that have to be considered. First is the slot it takes up. This is a disadvantage of the Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 and ATI Radeon HD 5750 as they will block the adjacent slot. Performance in terms of the monitor’s resolution may also be impeded as in the example of Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 which performs well on a 22-inch screen but will lag with a 24-inch. Also, some graphic cards require an additional power connector as in the case of ATI Radeon HD 5750 . Som graphic cards use less power usage as in th example of the ATI Radeon HD 5770 and ATI Radeon HD 5750.

For those seeking absolute excellent performance, the graphic cards below are highly recommended:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 480

Core Clock: 700MHz
Graphics Memory: 1,536MB
Interface: PCI Express x16
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

ATI Radeon HD 5970

Core Clock: 725MHz
Graphics Memory: 2GB DDR5
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: Two dual-link DVI; Mini DisplayPort
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

Nvidia GeForce GTX 470

Core Clock: 607MHz
Graphics Memory: 1,280MB
Interface: PCI-E x16
Onboard Ports: 2 DVI, 1 mini-HDMI
Bundled Adapters: VGA, HDMI
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

AMD Radeon HD 6990

Core Clock: 830MHz
Graphics Memory: 4GB DDR5
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: One dual-link DVI; four mini-DisplayPort
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

Nvidia GeForce GTX 580

Core Clock: 772MHz
Graphics Memory: 1,536MB GDDR5
Interface: PCI Express x16
Onboard Ports: Two dual-link DVI; one mini-HDMI
DirectX Support: DirectX 11

However, a major draw back of these graphic cards is that they consume more space, requires additional power connectors and their fans are usually a bit noisy when they have to perform much.