Best Video Card

If you are thinking of upgrading your desktop computer with a newer and more powerful video card, then there are plenty of good choices in the market.

Choosing the Best

The most important feature of a video card is the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), which is a special chip dedicated to graphics processing. Faster the GPU core, better is the performance of the card. Currently, nVidia and ATI offer the best graphic card processor cores in the market. Today, even these cards have two cores for processing. Opt for a super fast GPU, if you plan to run 3D gaming applications on your desktop computer.

The next most important factor is its working memory. More the working memory, faster is the processing speed of the card and better is the graphic performance of your computer. Not just the memory size, but the memory type and the interface used by the memory also matter. Go for GDDR2, GDDR3 or GDDR4 memory type, as they offer high processing speeds.

Opt for a card, which has a memory interface width in excess of 128 bit, for high speed functionality. Other things that you need to look out for are the kind of input/output ports that the card offers. Make sure that it has a D-Sub and DVI connection port. Lastly what matters is the kind of interface that is used to connect the card with your computer motherboard. The fastest interface offered today is PCI express, followed by AGP. Opt for PCI express (x16) card if you are into gaming.

If you are into 3D gaming, see to it that the card is built according to the latest DirectX or OpenGL standard. The best gaming card, could be any of the listed cards in the next section, that score high on all counts. Decide on the upgrade according to what you plan to use it for. For 3D gaming and video editing applications, you will need a video card, which scores high on all the features mentioned above.

Best Video Card in the Market

I have selected the best cards in the market today, that range from the high-end to entry-level cards. They differ quite a lot in terms of price range and specifications.

• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB ($694.94)
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 ($384.70)
• MSI Nvidia Geforce GTX 480 1536MB ($470 - $590)
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB ($279.99)
• Radeon HD 4650 ($50)
• GeForce 9600 GT ($80)
• Radeon HD 5750 1 GB ($130)

Since we are talking about the best in business here, most of them fall in the high price category. Choose one which provides you enough power to run your graphic applications and offers the best trade off in terms of features and price.