Best Graphics Card Reviews 2018

The bandwidth, processing power, and memory size are the main factors that affect the pricing of a graphics card. A typical gamer will want the best graphics cards on the shelf with all the ‘nice things.' When you consider the price of such cards, you will quickly snap back to reality. A high-end graphics card will cost around $700 while a less expensive one that’s not quite as powerful can go for $200 or less.

It’s almost natural to be attracted to products with low prices, but when it comes to graphics cards, rock-bottom prices are alerting you of cheap graphics cards! Don’t be persuaded by the price or by the thought of saving a few bucks. If you invest in a great graphics card now—one that’s still within your budget—you won’t need to replace it within a year or two.

Have you tried to run some application on your computer, but everything starts to run in slow motion or doesn’t even work at all? Especially if the particular application you’re trying to open requires the assistance of your graphics card? It’s possible, then, that you may need to upgrade your card. If you want to get an upgrade, here are the features you should be looking out for:

• Bandwidth
• Size
• Power
• Cooler
• Memory
• Memory type
• Compatibility

Now that you know what to look out for, keep reading to have a better understanding of how these features affect the performance of a graphics card.

Most people looking to buy a graphics card opt for ones with larger memory, believing that the higher the memory, the better the card. This thought process is synonymous to deciding to purchase a car because of the size of the gas tank. The most important feature to consider is the bandwidth. This is the speed of the card, or how fast it can process, and it’s measured in GB/s (translation for the non-techies, gigabytes per second). Simply stated, the higher the bandwidth, the better, because then your card can process faster frame rates and retain the quality of your graphics.

Because bandwidth is one of the most important features, you’ll find that cards with higher bandwidth are more expensive. The memory of a graphics card is not as significant in terms of raw performance. For instance, GDDR5 cards are better than GDDR3s because the former has twice the bandwidth.

Size is another thing you’ll consider when buying a graphics card. It’s possible the new card is bigger than the one you’re replacing it with, and fitting it in your CPU shell might be an issue. Though most cards are around 10 inches long, there are some that are up to 12 inches, so be sure of its dimensions before you purchase.

That last thing you want to happen is to buy a new, advanced graphics card only to find out that your PC doesn’t have the required power to supply the card, effectively ruining the dreams you were having about all those games you were going to play. What a bummer! To avoid this, make sure you check the PCIe power connectors of your system. If you already have a power supply unit (PSU) installed, confirm the wattage ratings and how many amps the 12V rails supply. Check these against the graphics card to make sure your unit has enough juice to power it. If not, check for another graphics card that can work with your system or consider getting yourself a PSU.

Graphics cards use up a lot of power, which creates a lot of heat. Your graphics processing unit (GPU) will burn up if it doesn’t have a cooler, which is why graphics cards come with a cooling system. There are two types of card coolers: Reference, which channels heat through the back of the case, and aftermarket, which is custom made and high-performance. The reference coolers are a bit noisy while the aftermarket type is quieter, but dissipates heat into the CPU casing, which raises the temperature of the case. Unless your system already has a way of managing its general temperature, this could be a problem. If your system temperature goes beyond 131 degrees F during gaming, you might want to consider reference coolers and live with the noise. But if your system already manages heat efficiently, you’d be better off with the high-performance aftermarket coolers.

The hardcore gamer wants to get the best possible gaming experience. Playing in 4K resolution and combining monitors with sounds outputting in surround will require some memory power. This is where the amount of memory a graphics card has comes into play. The RAM is used for storing visual images and post-processing effects, which is why most high-end games require a lot of memory to function optimally because there’s a lot of data to be processed. Unless you plan to combine monitors and play in surround, the regular 2GB or 4GB RAM is okay for a graphics card.

When it comes to performance, the type of memory your graphics card has will determine its output. The memory size handles the amount of graphics data that needs to be processed while the memory type—which determines the bandwidth—manages the rate at which the data is transferred (and this translates to performance!). A GDDR5 memory allows for twice the amount of data transfer as GDDR3. When it comes to performance, 1GB GDDR5 card is better than 2GB GDDR3.

After all is said, the graphics card you buy will ultimately be determined by the type of CPU you have. Older CPUs won’t be able to run higher-end graphics cards, but may be able to run mid-range ones instead. If you’re interested in playing graphics-heavy games on your PC, you might want to consider some upgrades if your system isn’t up to par. Or better still, you could invest in a more powerful PC.