Graphic card selection

[sh4rif]

Hello folks

 

Disclaimer:  I've to say that I'm a newbie when it comes to building PC's therefore I may ask something that might not make sense so apologies for that.

 

I though when it comes to picking the graphic card, one should chose the graphic card with bigger memory i.e. 4gb compare to 3gb or 2 or 1GB DDR5, more memory means more performance i guess. However there are cards which are more expensive with having less memory when comparing to other cards such as Radeon R9 270x 4gb is cheaper than Radeon R9 280x 3gb.

 

Being a layman know nothing about graphic cards, would like to know what should I look for when buying a graphic card. I know there are two different kind of graphic cards are available which are nvidea and AMD. 

 

one more thing which graphic card should chose nvidea or AMD 

 

 

Regards

 

Sharif

[MCmcginness]

Hello folks

 

Disclaimer:  I've to say that I'm a newbie when it comes to building PC's therefore I may ask something that might not make sense so apologies for that.

 

I though when it comes to picking the graphic card, one should chose the graphic card with bigger memory i.e. 4gb compare to 3gb or 2 or 1GB DDR5, more memory means more performance i guess. However there are cards which are more expensive with having less memory when comparing to other cards such as Radeon R9 270x 4gb is cheaper than Radeon R9 280x 3gb.

 

Being a layman know nothing about graphic cards, would like to know what should I look for when buying a graphic card. I know there are two different kind of graphic cards are available which are nvidea and AMD. 

 

one more thing which graphic card should chose nvidea or AMD 

 

 

Regards

 

Sharif

The amount of memory only maters if your memory bus on the card can utilize it. Like to 280x is card that was designed to use all of the 3gb of vram, while the 270x was designed to use 2gb. The only time you would need more vram is on higher resolution, you can game fine on 1gb of vram, but only on lower resolution like 720p. 2gb is ideal for 1080p and 3gb is for 1080p or 1440p. so on and so forth. A 770 with 2gb of vram preforms about the same, if not better than the 280x with 3gb of vram at 1080p. When buying you should look for what resolution, and details you want to play at, the cooling on the car, and how much you are willing to spend.

 

 

Hope this help. and welcome to the community

[legopc]

The amount of memory only maters if your memory bus on the card can utilize it. Like to 280x is card that was designed to use all of the 3gb of vram, while the 270x was designed to use 2gb. The only time you would need more vram is on higher resolution, you can game fine on 1gb of vram, but only on lower resolution like 720p. 2gb is ideal for 1080p and 3gb is for 1080p or 1440p. so on and so forth. A 770 with 2gb of vram preforms about the same, if not better than the 280x with 3gb of vram at 1080p. When buying you should look for what resolution, and details you want to play at, the cooling on the car, and how much you are willing to spend.

 

 

Hope this help. and welcome to the community

please also educate him on how memory has no real effect on the speed that the gpu renders images 

[loccilucas]

Hello folks

 

Disclaimer:  I've to say that I'm a newbie when it comes to building PC's therefore I may ask something that might not make sense so apologies for that.

 

I though when it comes to picking the graphic card, one should chose the graphic card with bigger memory i.e. 4gb compare to 3gb or 2 or 1GB DDR5, more memory means more performance i guess. However there are cards which are more expensive with having less memory when comparing to other cards such as Radeon R9 270x 4gb is cheaper than Radeon R9 280x 3gb.

 

Being a layman know nothing about graphic cards, would like to know what should I look for when buying a graphic card. I know there are two different kind of graphic cards are available which are nvidea and AMD. 

 

one more thing which graphic card should chose nvidea or AMD 

 

 

Regards

 

Sharif

No more memory doesn't mean better. You only really need more memory at larger resolutions, for example if you were gaming on 3 screens I would say 4GB is good. However for 1920x1080 2GB is usually enough. The reason the 280x is more expensive than the 270x is because it is a faster card, more memory doesn't make a card faster. 

AMD and Nvidia both make great cards choosing one usually comes down to what you will be doing, your budget and the features as both company's offer different features. 

If you are gaming AMD or Nvidia doesn't matter but if you are coin mining for example AMD cards are better. 

What is your Budget I might be able to make a few suggestions?

[MCmcginness]

Hello folks

 

Disclaimer:  I've to say that I'm a newbie when it comes to building PC's therefore I may ask something that might not make sense so apologies for that.

 

I though when it comes to picking the graphic card, one should chose the graphic card with bigger memory i.e. 4gb compare to 3gb or 2 or 1GB DDR5, more memory means more performance i guess. However there are cards which are more expensive with having less memory when comparing to other cards such as Radeon R9 270x 4gb is cheaper than Radeon R9 280x 3gb.

 

Being a layman know nothing about graphic cards, would like to know what should I look for when buying a graphic card. I know there are two different kind of graphic cards are available which are nvidea and AMD. 

 

one more thing which graphic card should chose nvidea or AMD 

 

 

Regards

 

Sharif

Watch some of Linus' videos on youtube. They are quite good.

[Sonefiler]

More VRAM is not nessecarily better. For sub-900p, 1GB is enough. 1080P, 2-3GB is good. Higher, 3-4GB is best, and at 2160p, you need 4GB+.

 

Do not compare clock speeds, unless they are the exact same card inside. For example, a GTX 770 is 1046MHz, and an R9 280X is 1000MHz boost. That does not mean that the 770 is better, because they are not the same graphics card. You can compare an XFX R9 280X with a Gigabyte R9 280X, but not a Gigabyte R9 280X and a Gigabyte R9 290X.

 

Hope I helped.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

not like that mate, need a coarse redirection, info Correction Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3BKuNXdM5A,

[sh4rif]

No more memory doesn't mean better. You only really need more memory at larger resolutions, for example if you were gaming on 3 screens I would say 4GB is good. However for 1920x1080 2GB is usually enough. The reason the 280x is more expensive than the 270x is because it is a faster card, more memory doesn't make a card faster. 

AMD and Nvidia both make great cards choosing one usually comes down to what you will be doing, your budget and the features as both company's offer different features. 

If you are gaming AMD or Nvidia doesn't matter but if you are coin mining for example AMD cards are better. 

What is your Budget I might be able to make a few suggestions?

 

I would say my budget is up £200 but can go up 20 to 30 pounds if i'm getting very good card for the price... you know what i mean

[loccilucas]

I would say my budget is up £200 but can go up 20 to 30 pounds if i'm getting very good card for the price... you know what i mean

I'd say get the GTX 760 or spend alittle more and get a GTX 770 or r9-280x 

[sh4rif]

Thank you very much everyone for helping me out on this,

It is very much clear now about memory on graphic cards 

 

As a newbie builder which I'm going to build on intel i5-4670k and would install Windows 8 and MAC OS as well which graphic i should choose AMD or NVIDEA

 

Regards

[nj4ck]

Thank you very much everyone for helping me out on this,

It is very much clear now about memory on graphic cards 

 

As a newbie builder which I'm going to build on intel i5-4670k and would install Windows 8 and MAC OS as well which graphic i should choose AMD or NVIDEA

 

Regards

I'd recommend AMD for best value, however you can't go wrong with Nvidia either. I'm not sure how the prices are where you are located, but here in germany you can get an R9 280X for a good 40-50€ less than a GTX 770 and get pretty much the same performance.

[sh4rif]

I'd recommend AMD for best value, however you can't go wrong with Nvidia either. I'm not sure how the prices are where you are located, but here in germany you can get an R9 280X for a good 40-50€ less than a GTX 770 and get pretty much the same performance.

Thanks for you advise nj4ck btw I am from England and my budget is about £200-£230

[Sonefiler]

Thanks for you advise nj4ck btw I am from England and my budget is about £200-£230

I recommend a R9 280 (NO X). The 7950 performs better than the 670, and they're rebadges, so the 280 is superior.

[sh4rif]

I recommend a R9 280 (NO X). The 7950 performs better than the 670, and they're rebadges, so the 280 is superior.

btw what is the difference is between R9 280 and r9 280x?

[Sonefiler]

btw what is the difference is between R9 280 and r9 280x?

Same as the difference between the R9 290 and R9 290X

[Prokart2000]

the 270x has less stream processors than the 280x so the 280x will perform alot better

[Sonefiler]

the 270x has less stream processors than the 280x so the 280x will perform alot better

We were talking 280X vs 280 not 270X vs 280X

[Prokart2000]

We were talking 280X vs 280 not 270X vs 280X

i know im on about the ops original post