Choosing your next graphics card

Are you looking to upgrade your graphics card? It could be your first time buying a new graphics card, or you simply might not have upgraded in a while. We’ll help you understand the basics of buying a graphics card and their features, to help you choose the best graphics card for you.

What is a graphics card?

A graphics card is a computer device which primary plays the role of rendering graphical output from your PC to your monitor screen. This is either 2D graphics (what you see on your computer desktop when browsing the internet, or using office apps) or 3D graphics (What you see when playing 3D games or running 3D simulations). Rendering 3D graphics, naturally, is more intensive, and whilst practically all budget graphics cards are capable of rendering almost all 2D graphics, when it comes to 3D graphics, there is a large discrepancy in performance from low to high tiers.

When running in 3D mode, cards work by performing billions and trillions of mathematical calculations very quickly to determine what the resulting output should look like. Each scene is rendered as a “frame”, and dozens or hundreds of frames can be produced per second, giving the illusion of movement. Because fundamentally graphics cards are just performing maths, people have found other uses for graphics cards, such as mining cryptocurrency, which also relies on heavy mathematical computation.

Why is it called a graphics “card”? Since the introduction of personal computers in the 1970s, computers have featured “expansion slots” to allow specialised devices to be included with the system. These devices were known as “expansion cards”, because of their shape, as they were self-contained rectangular printed circuit boards (PCBs) with connectors and ports. Graphics “cards” were one such expansion card. Over time, due to exponentional improvements in technology, these graphics cards consumed a lot of power and produced a lot of heat, requiring a cooling solution such as a metal heatsink, then in modern times, fans to actively blow air and cool the heatsink. Thus, we end up with the look of today’s modern graphics card - you can’t see the electronic components on the circuit board anymore, as it’s completely covered with a heatsink, fans and usually stylish plastic trim from the manufacturer.

AMD or Nvidia? Team Red or Team Green? Welcome Intel?

Traditionally, there were two options to consider when choosing a graphics card: either AMD (“Team Red”) or Nvidia (“Team Green”). These colours are based on the colours of each brand’s respective logos, with AMD graphics cards being called “Radeon” since the year 2000, and Nvidia graphics cards being called “GeForce” since 1999. However, this graphics rivalry has spanned almost 30 years, since the mid 1990s! Both companies compete over the latest and greatest graphics cards, and have constantly pushed the envelope for performance and features.

A new entrant to the modern graphics card market is Intel (“Team Blue”), who released their Arc graphics lineup in 2022. While it is early days for Intel as a graphics card manufacturer, their graphics cards have some appeal and are improving over time with software updates. We wait with baited breath to see what the future holds for Intel.

Choosing a graphics card manufacturer/AIB partner

While AMD, Nvidia, and now Intel, are names synonymous with graphics cards, they are actually the companies that produce the “graphics cores”. These cores are the brains that power your games. However, the rest of the graphics card, such as the coolers, power components and aesthetic design, are all produced by an “Add-in Board” partner (“AIB partner”). The end result is a complete graphics card manufactured and released by the AIB partner, who co-brands these graphics cards with the appropriate graphics core manufacturer.

Some big names that manufacture graphics cards for both AMD and Nvidia include Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. However, some brands will exclusively manufacture graphics cards for either Team Green or Team Red. These brands include PowerColor Sapphire and XFX for AMD, and Colorful, Galax and Zotac for Nvidia. Most recently in late 2022, EVGA put an end to manufacturing graphics cards and severed ties with Nvidia, which created a huge buzz in the gaming industry.

Comparing features of graphics cards

Between Team Red, Team Green and Team Blue, each brand has their strengths and weaknesses. Here’s some things to consider: Performance: this will be the biggest factor in determining the right brand to buy. Some games will perform better with certain manufacturers than others. For example, Fortnite is known for performing much better on Nvidia graphics cards, while Call of Duty performs much better on AMD graphics cards.

Compatibility: depending on the components in the rest of your PC, the graphics card you choose might not be best suited for the build. A classic example is pairing a high-end graphics card with an underpowered or older CPU, which will bottleneck the high-end graphics card in many scenarios. We always make sure that our PCs have the right combination of hardware to get the best performance possible with that configuration!

Card design: due to the wide variety of AIB partners in the market, the same graphics card model made by different manufacturers can potentially vary in performance due to variations in cooler design or power delivery. Different cards will also vary in size and heat output, which will impact the size of the PC and the combination of components you can choose. At Reload PC, we love small-form factor PCs, and with our magic, we’ve been able to build incredibly powerful PCs in tiny enclosures that still perform great!

Building a custom PC

If you’re looking to get a custom PC to meet your gaming or productivity needs, get in touch with us and we’ll craft the right PC for you! From tiny portable gaming powerhouses, to large productivity rigs, we can make anything happen!