Diamond Multimedia - How To Buy The Right Video Card
How To Buy The Right Video Card (a.k.a. Graphics Card)
Buying a new video card, or graphics accelerator card, for your PC can be daunting. At any time, there are approximately 60 different models of video cards available for purchase in North America. Most of which feature graphics chip technology from one of the two large graphic technology companies, ATI Technologies and NVidia Corporation.. However, if you can answer a few basic questions about how you plan to use the card and what computer system you have, you can make the process much simpler and choose the best video card for your needs and your budget.
If you are planning to upgrade your computer to Windows Vista™, please see our Diamond Multimedia Video Cards for Windows Vista™ page.
Different Levels of Video Cards
Video Cards for Enthusiasts:
These are the highest-end, fastest, best-performing cards for high quality imaging, 3D gaming and other demanding applications. If your goal is to play games with visual options turned on to their maximum settings, a card from out Xtreme class is the answer The video cards in this class generally are priced above $200.
Xtreme Performance Video Cards :
These are the highest-end, fastest, best-performing cards for high quality imaging, 3D gaming and other demanding applications. If your goal is to play games with visual options turned on to their maximum settings, a card from out Xtreme class is the answer The video cards in this class generally are priced above $200.
Video Cards for Mainstream:
These are the mid-range card. If you are looking for affordable PC graphics upgrade for gaming, video editing, digital photography, or simply web surfing, then mainstream is the answer. The video cards in this class generally are priced between $99 - $199.
Value Video Cards :
These cards are used primarily for business and desktop graphics functions, as well as specific applications like providing TV output or S-Video output or dual monitor support. If your main goal is to improve your graphics for desktop publishing or surfing the web, or you just need dual monitor support or TV output, then value video cards should be sufficient. Any video card under $99 is considered a value video card.
The next thing you need to consider is the type of computer system you have now and/or the system you are considering purchasing. The two main factors are your CPU type and speed and the type of card slot you have.
CPU Type
If your needs are limited to basic business or desktop graphics use, you can use a CPU with a speed of as little as 500 MHz, although we recommend at least 800 MHz for better performance. Above 1,600 MHz you will not notice a significant improvement for these applications.
If you are looking to run some business applications and some limited 3D gaming, you will want to have a CPU speed of at least 1,600 MHz. The faster your CPU, the better your performance will be, especially for more advanced 3D gaming.
If you want to play the latest hardcore 3D games you will want to have the fastest CPU you can reasonably afford, with a minimum of 2.4 GHz. The faster speeds allow you to play these games at higher faster frame per second, and with of the special effects turned on to enhance the realism of the experience.
Slot Type: PCI, AGP, PCI Express
Before you buy your video card, you should check what slots are available on your motherboard. There are 3 types of slots available today: PCI, AGP, and PCI Express :
PCIE or PCI Express:
The PCI Express, also known as PCI Express x16 offers performance as much as 4X faster AGP 8X bus. Nowadays PCs have at least one PCI Express x16 slot type. Although the names are similar, PCI Express and PCI are physically different shapes and use different standards of data transfer. A PCI Express video card will not fit into a PCI slot and vice-versa.
PCI:
The PCI slot was developed first and is the most limited in terms of performance. However, if you are looking for a value-level video card, there are many excellent PCI cards available that offer great performance for the money.
AGP:
The AGP offers as much as 8X improvement over PCI in terms of performance. There are several different versions of the AGP slot. AGP 1.0 is an older standard that is no longer used. Most AGP video cards are designed to work only with the newer AGP 2.0 and 3.0 versions.
PCI Express Video Cards vs. PCI Video Cards
Although the names are similar, PCI Express is separate and different from
PCI. They are physically different shapes and use different standards to
transfer data. A PCI Express video card will not fit into a PCI slot and
vice-versa. Almost all PC's have PCI slots, while PCI Express slots are
found only on newer more advanced PCs.
S-Video, TV-Out, & Dual Monitor Support
Video cards provide additional functions beside increasing the ability to render 3D graphics for gaming. The main functions include:
DVI: DVI is a higher-definition output used with some newer monitors as well as some high-end TVs. If your monitor or TV supports DVI, using this jack will give you a better picture than the standard VGA or RCA (TV-out) output. If you are using an older monitor, you can convert the DVI signal to VGA using a DVI-to-VGA adaptor.
S-Video and/or TV-Out: Most video cards, even value cards, provide the ability to send the video signal from your PC to your TV. This feature is labeled as "TV-Out" on the video card package. In most cases, the TV-out jack is an "S-video" type jack designed to send a high-quality s-video signal to newer TV's. If you are using an older TV that has RCA input instead of s-video, you can use an "S-Video to RCA adaptor" to convert the signal to RCA to input to your TV.
Dual Monitor Support: Dual monitor support refers to splitting your video signal to go across two monitors instead of one. This is very useful for designers, engineers, multi-taskers, and others who need to view large files on their desktop and still have other windows open. Usually the dual monitor support consists of one standard VGA output (standard computer monitor) and one DVI jack, which provides a higher-resolution output used for newer high-end monitors. This feature will be labeled as "dual monitor support" on most video card packages.
Choosing the Best Video Card For You
Now it's time to put it all together. Once you have decided how you are going to use the video card, what type of system you will use it with, and how much you are willing to spend, you can decide whether to buy a Xtreme performance, mainstream, or a value card as well as the slot type: PCI, AGP, or PCI Express. This will narrow down the range of options considerably.
Then decide if you require any special features: TV-out, S-video, dual monitor support; and which GPU technology you wish to buy. Both ATI and NVIDIA make excellent products. However, in the past two years, ATI Technologies have become the leader in terms of the performance of the ATI Radeon.
Choose Diamond Video Cards For Great Quality, Service, And Value!
Your last decision is which manufacturer's product to purchase. Of course, we recommend purchasing a Diamond Multimedia Video Card. Diamond has been the leader in the video card industry offering the highest quality with the lowest return rates in the industry, free customer service by telephone and e-mail.
