Difference between revisions of "Graphics Card"
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| − | The graphics card is very often the most important factor | + | The graphics card is very often the most important factor in gaming performance and other rendering tasks. Graphics cards are responsible for performing fast floating-point operations in parallel to produce 3D graphics at a much faster rate than the CPU can perform. |
| − | + | If you are building a system for gaming, it is recommended that you devote the largest chunk of your budget towards getting the most powerful graphics card you can afford as this will have the greatest impact by far on your gaming performance. | |
| − | |||
| − | == | + | The two main competitors in the graphics card market are Nvidia and AMD. |
| − | + | ||
| + | ==Graphics Processing Unit== | ||
| + | The graphics processing unit, or GPU is responsible for performing the bulk of graphical operations. | ||
| + | |||
| + | GPUs have their own instruction sets and architectures and connect to the motherboard via PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) ports. | ||
| + | |||
| + | GPUs differ from CPUs in that they tend to contain vast amounts of weaker cores compared to CPUs which only have a few cores, although each of them are very powerful. This difference means GPUs are optimised for tasks that can be heavily parallelised, such as graphical operations. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Video RAM== | ||
| + | Video RAM, or VRAM is specialised memory located on the graphics card, dedicated to storing image data such as textures and shaders. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Having sufficient VRAM is essential for running higher resolution textures in games without incurring a drop in framerate. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Coolers== | ||
| + | Coolers consist of a heatsink and fans that dissipate heat from the GPU, memory and other components on the card. It is recommended that you buy a card with a good aftermarket cooler if you wish to overclock, as it will result in higher temperatures. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is recommended that you avoid "Founder's Editions" of graphics cards. These are manufactured directly by Nvidia and AMD and are often the first releases of any new card. They use a blower style cooler in place of the usual open air cooler that aftermarket brands ship with. These are far less effective and often result in higher temperatures. It is only recommended that you use Founder's Edition cards for multi card setups where all the cards are located very close to one another, as blower style coolers dissipate heat towards the back of the case instead of all around, which would mean just blowing heat towards each other in these setups. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Drivers== | ||
| + | Installing the latest drivers is essential for running a graphics card at peak performance. Driver updates often optimise the performance or power efficiency of a card. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Overclocking== | ||
| + | Just like CPUs, graphics cards can be overclocked. An average overclock can increase framerates in games by around 10%. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Overclocking a card too much can cause instability and crashes. Overvolting the card can stabilise an otherwise unstable overclock, but will increase the heat generated by the card. At a certain point the thermal throttling incurred by the high temperatures will counteract the performance gains from overclocking, so having a good cooler will allow you to overclock further before this limit is reached. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Setting up a custom fan profile can help to lower noise at lower temperatures or increase cooling at higher temperatures. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The recommended overclocking software is currently MSI Afterburner. | ||
| + | |||
| + | After overclocking a card, it is essential to test that your overclock is stable using benchmarking software such as Unigine Superposition or 3DMark Time Spy. Be sure to run these for at least half an hour and watch out for any artifacts (visual glitching) or crashes and instability. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Nvidia vs AMD== | ||
| + | I'll write this up later, or someone else can make a start on this in the meantime - Sabine | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==History== | ||
| + | Feel free to write this section, someone who's not me (I can't be bothered) - Sabine | ||
{{Parts}} | {{Parts}} | ||
Revision as of 22:24, 1 March 2019
The graphics card is very often the most important factor in gaming performance and other rendering tasks. Graphics cards are responsible for performing fast floating-point operations in parallel to produce 3D graphics at a much faster rate than the CPU can perform.
If you are building a system for gaming, it is recommended that you devote the largest chunk of your budget towards getting the most powerful graphics card you can afford as this will have the greatest impact by far on your gaming performance.
The two main competitors in the graphics card market are Nvidia and AMD.
Graphics Processing Unit
The graphics processing unit, or GPU is responsible for performing the bulk of graphical operations.
GPUs have their own instruction sets and architectures and connect to the motherboard via PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) ports.
GPUs differ from CPUs in that they tend to contain vast amounts of weaker cores compared to CPUs which only have a few cores, although each of them are very powerful. This difference means GPUs are optimised for tasks that can be heavily parallelised, such as graphical operations.
Video RAM
Video RAM, or VRAM is specialised memory located on the graphics card, dedicated to storing image data such as textures and shaders.
Having sufficient VRAM is essential for running higher resolution textures in games without incurring a drop in framerate.
Coolers
Coolers consist of a heatsink and fans that dissipate heat from the GPU, memory and other components on the card. It is recommended that you buy a card with a good aftermarket cooler if you wish to overclock, as it will result in higher temperatures.
It is recommended that you avoid "Founder's Editions" of graphics cards. These are manufactured directly by Nvidia and AMD and are often the first releases of any new card. They use a blower style cooler in place of the usual open air cooler that aftermarket brands ship with. These are far less effective and often result in higher temperatures. It is only recommended that you use Founder's Edition cards for multi card setups where all the cards are located very close to one another, as blower style coolers dissipate heat towards the back of the case instead of all around, which would mean just blowing heat towards each other in these setups.
Drivers
Installing the latest drivers is essential for running a graphics card at peak performance. Driver updates often optimise the performance or power efficiency of a card.
Overclocking
Just like CPUs, graphics cards can be overclocked. An average overclock can increase framerates in games by around 10%.
Overclocking a card too much can cause instability and crashes. Overvolting the card can stabilise an otherwise unstable overclock, but will increase the heat generated by the card. At a certain point the thermal throttling incurred by the high temperatures will counteract the performance gains from overclocking, so having a good cooler will allow you to overclock further before this limit is reached.
Setting up a custom fan profile can help to lower noise at lower temperatures or increase cooling at higher temperatures.
The recommended overclocking software is currently MSI Afterburner.
After overclocking a card, it is essential to test that your overclock is stable using benchmarking software such as Unigine Superposition or 3DMark Time Spy. Be sure to run these for at least half an hour and watch out for any artifacts (visual glitching) or crashes and instability.
Nvidia vs AMD
I'll write this up later, or someone else can make a start on this in the meantime - Sabine
History
Feel free to write this section, someone who's not me (I can't be bothered) - Sabine
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