How Are Gaming Video Cards Different?
Shopping for a new video card can be quite the hassle for anyone new to PC gaming, or other consumers/gift buyers not too familiar with the medium. A graphics card is an enhancer made specifically to create images and display them onscreen. The most important step when deciding to purchase a new video card for gaming is to make sure your system is up to the card’s requirements.
Your Gaming Video Card
Download the proper drivers needed for your card. Next, make sure your motherboard is compatible for the type of card that you want. (PCIe video cards won‘t work with AGP or PCI slots).You will want to take into account the amount of memory the card holds. Video cards usually hold from 128MB to 4GB. 256 MB is considered the minimum requirement for most games today. However, 512 MB is rapidly becoming the standard.
Gaming Video Card Frame Rate
One of the most important aspects of searching for a video card is frame rate, which basically denotes how many frames can be displayed by your system per second. Most people and websites use this as the basis for how good a graphics card is, which is understandable, considering this determines how fast the visual information is displayed. The faster the frame rate, the more expensive the card. Having the proper chipsets for your gaming experience is a good idea as well. Two major companies make 3D graphics cards for the public ( independent companies develop them, too, but these two publishers are more widely known). ATI and nVidia are the leaders in gaming video cards. Some games play better with ATI and others play better with nVidia. Another point of interest is the amount of power the card uses. Gaming video cards are made to use a lot of power. Some even come with external power hookups.
Gaming Video Card Price
A category which is most important to consumers is usually price, which will vary widely among video cards. An example of a great deal for a lower end video card might be the BFG GeForce 9600 GT at $79. It has 512MB of memory and plays High Definition and DirectX Microsoft games. If you’re looking for a higher-end model, the BFG GeForce GTX 295 at $474 has 1792MB and runs with the power of two 200 series GTX’s. It’s basically quadruple the power of the 9600 video card. It’s important to know what kind of gaming you are going to want to do when you search for a new card. That will determine a lot of the other factors. Games that require very high resolution will require a more expensive card for the complete playing experience. Whatever you do, always make sure your gaming video card is compatible with your system and preferred games.
