How To Select The Right Video Card For A Fast Gaming Computer.

Selecting a video card might be one of the most important things you do when building your gaming machine. If you make a bad decision here you’ll regret it in the future. Of course, that doesn’t mean that picking the right graphics card has to be difficult, or expensive.

Yes, we’ve all heard the horror (or gloating) stories of gamers who spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on two video cards. Unless you’re rich, or feel like taking out a loan, you don’t need to spend an insane amount of money to find a great video card; however, you do need to do your homework.

Before you choose a video card make sure you at least have a motherboard in mind, otherwise you may end up choosing a video card that isn’t supported by your hardware!

AGP or PCIe

Most modern video cards will only support PCI-Express, as the AGP standard is now obsolete; however you may run across an AGP card or two that offers decent performance at a relatively low cost. As great as it would be to save that money, remember that AGP is obsolete, which means you’ll have to find an old motherboard that support AGP. Chances are this motherboard will not support the new processors and memory speeds.

If you’re following our Build a Gaming Computer guide, then the decision is made for you: PCI-Express. The motherboards we recommend do not have an AGP slot.

PCIe Speed

There are a lot of PCIe video cards on the market, and they all come in different interface speeds. Since you’re building a gaming computer, you’ll want to stick with the maximum interface speed supported by your motherboard.

If you’re following this guide, the motherboards we recommend all support PCIe x16 (and the Big Budget motherboard supports two PCIe x16 cards).

It’s All About Performance

You may, at first, be dazzled by raw pixel numbers on products such as the Quadro FX series of video cards. Don’t be fooled by these numbers: the Quadro FX series is built for professional graphics setups requiring a large amount of raw pixel pumping power. These cards often fail to perform decently as a consumer-grade product. In fact, most games will run slower on a top of the line Quadro FX card than on a mid-range consumer graphics card.

With that being said, buying a video card isn’t strictly about price versus performance. Instead, it’s more about what video games you generally play and how they perform on different video cards.

If you’re on a budget, shop within your budget, but compare the performance of video cards running the games you want to play. Doing a simple Google search for “Video Card Review” will bring up a lot of results that you can draw your opinion from.

Monitors and Resolution

Now is a good time to bring up the subject of monitors. You’re more than likely going to be getting an LCD monitor, because they’re the industry standard – you’re going to have one hell of a time finding a decently priced CRT monitor.

With that in mind, remember that LCD monitors generally have a lower maximum resolution than CRTs of old. It’s pretty common to find low-end monitors that have a resolution of only 1024×768. This is important to note, because it doesn’t matter how great your video card runs at 1900×1200 when your monitor only supports 1024×768.

This is an especially important task for the gamer on a tight budget. Keeping a close eye on how well your video card performs under your monitors optimal resolution can save you several hundred dollars, if you shop carefully.

ATI or nVidia?
Some gamers are very brand loyal. Some gamers swear by ATI while others swear by nVidia. Do not get caught up in brand loyalty! Yes, one brand may hold the top performance crown, but if you limit yourself to brand loyalty you’ll miss out on great deals, like a mid-range card that performs like a high-end card.

Bigger is not Always Better
Yes, it would be nice to have a Quad-SLI nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra system. The problem is that you’ll never get four times the performance of a single card. While you’ll be able to gloat about your super gaming rig (for about a year, or until the latest batch of cards come out), your bank account will be crying at the thousands of dollars you needlessly spent on those video cards.

If you’re looking to future-proof your computer, getting multiple video cards is not the best way to do it – there’s no guarantee that your current PCIe slots will be enough to sustain the bandwidth needed by future cards; however, if you’re looking to gloat, then by all means, go ahead.

Bottom Line
If you’re willing to spend somewhere between $100 and $200, you’ll get a decent mid-range video card that will last you a few years. Below $100 and there’s no guarantee your card will play next year’s games. Above $200 and your card will still last the same amount of time, but you’ll get a higher resolution and (sometimes) better performance.

Recommended Video Cards

Tight Budget

Sparkle GeForce 8600 GT – $119.99 – This DirectX 10 card will run almost every modern game (albeit at lower resolutions). It connects to a PCIe x16 slot, comes with 512MB of video memory.

Average Budget

XFX GeForce 8800 GTS Extreme – $379.99 – We make quite a leap in price, but the performance gains are admirable. This DirectX 10 video card has extra clock power and 640MB of video memory to run your current gen and next gen games. This card is capable of SLI connectivity, but you’ll need to buy a motherboard that supports multiple PCIe x16 connections.

Big Budget

BFG GeForce 8800 Ultra – $729.99 – When you want the best, you’re going to pay through your nose, and this BFG is no exception. Of course, the price comes with a huge leap in performance. With 768MB of video memory, this card is capable of running the most high-end video games with ease. You can also use two of these cards in a SLI configuration for additional performance.

GeekStreak.com