Choosing a graphics card

I receive a lot of questions about video cards and how to choose one card vs. another. So, I wanted respond to their questions. The most common question I get is “What is the difference between graphics cards sold by companies like EVGA, XFX, MSI?” To put it simply, Nvidia and AMD are not retailers, they are manufacturers who sell their product to retailers like EVGA, XFX, MSI who then sell to consumers like you. Some retailers will go as far as to tweak, overclock and add or remove heat sinks on the graphics cards to “improve” the card. These improvements will sometimes increase the price of a certain card.

Understanding that each retailer changes their cards and subsequently changes their prices, one must look at the variables below to help choose the graphics card which will give them the most bang for their buck.

• Core Clock (processor) Speed
• Amount of Graphics Memory
• Memory Interface
• SLI and CrossfireX Ready?

Core Clock Speed – This is comparable to your computer’s processor. A graphics card is like a mini motherboard which has a graphics processor that is designed to only handle graphic calculations, in an effort to remove the stress from your main processor. This higher the clock speed, the more responsive it will be. Faster is better: less lag, higher frames per second (FPS) and quicker rendering times.

Amount of Graphics Memory – Graphics cards, like your computer, have random access memory (RAM). As stated in my RAM post, the more memory your graphics card has to pull from, rather than searching for it on your motherboard’s RAM or on your hard drive, the more responsive the graphics card will be.

Memory Interface – is the amount of information that is able to be passed from the graphics card to your system on a continual basis. Similar to the lanes on a highway, the more lanes the highway has, the more cars (information) it can handle. Below are examples of the most common memory interfaces I have seen:

64-bit (antiquated)
128-bit (low end $50+)
256-bit (mid range – $100+)
384-bit (high end cards – $400+)

Nvidia’s SLI and AMD’s CrossFireX – allows one to increase graphics processing by combining multiple  graphics cards to create one large system. For example: think of it as one employee working on a project by themselves vs. two or three employees all working on a project as a team. The group effort is going to be able to take on large projects and finish sooner.

In closing,  do not allow a brand or price to dictate what card you purchase. Sometimes you can get more bang for your buck going with one company vs. another for the same card. Just DO YOUR HOMEWORK and look at all the specs 🙂

HOW TO: Attach your computer to the TV

With the increasing popularity of Hulu and other websites that stream online videos, there has been a large public interest in wanting to hook their computers up to their TVs. Believe it or not it is really easy if your computer and TV both have the correct connections.

The most common connections that TVs and desktops/laptops  have is VGA. A cable like the one below on the left would connect from the backside of your computer to the backside of the TV and costs around $5, depending on the length. Another major connection type is HDMI. These connections are normally on higher end computers and are pretty common on flat screen TVs now. HDMI is used to transfer more visual information and supports higher resolutions than VGA which mean images will be finer or more visible. The high end graphics cards normally come with a DVI output connection, but come with an adapter that converts to VGA standard. If not, there are DVI to VGA adapters for around $5 as well.  After you connect the computer into the TV there should be a “PC” or “AUX” or “Input” setting on the TV or TV remote controller to switch to that input. It varies from TV to TV. This will get your TV ready to receive a signal from the computer. If you have a Microsoft Window’s-based system, you want to right-click on the desktop and click on “display settings”. This will bring up a menu that will allow you to choose to have the TV mirror the computer screen or allow your TV to act as a secondary screen. It is easiest to click on the box that has the number 2 in it, then check the box below “extend the desktop onto this monitor” which will force the TV to mirror the computer. Until you have a better understanding of the menu and how it reacts to your TV, this will be the easiest setting.

This screen can also be used to adjust your resolution. The higher the resolution, the more clear the image will be. The choice of resolutions is based on the graphics card your computer has. Here is a list of wide screen resolutions that would look best on a flat paneled widescreen TV:

852×480—–16:9
1280×720—–16:9
1365×768—–16:9
1600×900—–16:9
1920×1080—–16:9

I hope this has helped. If you need further guidance, post a question and I or others will respond  🙂