How to Choose the Best Graphics Card

In order to choose the best graphics card, it’s important to look at how you use your computer. If your computer is dedicated to word processing and Web browsing, you don’t need an expensive, high-end graphics card. If you’re a serious gamer looking for a high-performance graphics card, you should seek a card that measures in the top of its class in specifications and includes the built-in memory needed to keep everything running smoothly.

Know the Competition
The two most popular graphics card chipsets are nVidia’s GeForce and ATI’s Radeon. When you shop for a graphics card, you aren’t looking at nVidia and ATI as manufacturers, but rather as the type of chipset inside the graphics card. You’ll find that a single manufacturer may offer both types of chipset, as each is better in certain types of applications. For example, graphics-card maker ASUS offers both nVidia graphics cards and ATI graphics cards. Other manufacturers, such as Sapphire, offer one chipset exclusively.
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Which one is better? It comes down to a number of factors. Some graphics cards work better with certain computer processors, while others perform better in certain video modes. For example, video game enthusiasts believe that ATI video cards work better in computers with AMD processors, since AMD owns ATI.
Choosing a chipset is largely a matter of subjective preference. If you’re looking for a graphics card to play your favorite video games, check those video games’ Web sites. Game developers test their products with multiple graphics cards before releasing them and can usually give players an idea of which graphics cards work best with their games and which ones are likely to have problems. If you can’t figure out which card is best from a specific game site, run a Web search for graphics cards and the game you want to play. Game-review sites and avid gamers on online forums all have an opinion, and chances are good that you can find some feedback for the performance of particular graphics cards with your favorite game.
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