Graphics cards and system requirements: How can you tell which is better?

from Stardock Forums

With CPU's it's always been obvious.

An i7 is stronger than an i5 which is stronger than an i3 which is stronger than a Pentium which is stronger than a 486 which is stronger than a 386 which is stronger than a 286, etc....

But graphics cards seem to have no such obvious indicator. I've been told that RAM doesn't matter much with a graphics card, so how do you tell which is stronger? The descriptions seem to be all over the map with no consistency, so I'm confused.

If you tell me the game requires a EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti Superclock or better, how do I know if a Asus ATI Radeon HD6450 is better or worse? (for example)

 

 

51,136 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Unfortunately, you have to research the specs on the cards. 

Case in point: I had an NVidia GT 120, which came out after the superior 9800. By looking at the specs it was obvious that the GT120 was merely a rebranded 9500. And the 9500 was inferior to the 8800. The only way to know was by looking at the specs. 

This also means doing research to know what each specification is and why it is important. 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting heft, reply 1

Unfortunately, you have to research the specs on the cards. 

Case in point: I had an NVidia GT 120, which came out after the superior 9800. By looking at the specs it was obvious that the GT120 was merely a rebranded 9500. And the 9500 was inferior to the 8800. The only way to know was by looking at the specs. 

This also means doing research to know what each specification is and why it is important. 

 

Thanks! Can you suggest any good sites that discueeses the various specifications and their importance?

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

over the many years I have been in the PC building industry, I have developed a personal rule of thumb regarding video card performance from noting the MODEL numbers of the chips of the cards (which is usually clearly labeled on the card and box for the card,

and the pattern noticed is as follows

first digit relates to the generation of the card  (nvidia 1<2<3<4<5<6<7 in performance for the NEXT digit(s)(

 second and third digits relative position in range (eg nvidia 240 is four genernations weaker than a nvidia 640 but a nvidia 480 should be more powerful than a nvidia 750, (but might be on a par) as the video card makers try to improve the performance.

and the same pattern (but with different generation numbers) works with the ATI cards ie ati 4850<ati7790<ati7850

harpo

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Basically, forget the product numbers altogether, it's just marketing schmoo. Sometimes, they cover up thinks like older chips branded into new product line as lower and card to sell the surplus.

 

Basically, you have to watch for the following parameters: used chip (and subsequently architecture, for example the Kepler chips brought huge performance gain), VRAM amount (larger is better for detailed textures), core clock speed, VRAM speed, bus width, number and type of shaders, etc.

Read on each item and learn how do they affect performance in specific scenarios (for example, older games won't utilize so many shaders and texture processing units, while newer games will). 

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Campaigner, reply 3

Toms Hardware is good :)

Yes! Excellent resource. 

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Best Graphics Card For The Money August

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

 


God Bless the SOA2 , Armada III and Interregnum* Teams

 * I understand that GoaFan is technically not a team, unless those voices he hears are real.

 

backs out of the room slowly...    *_* :borg:

 

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

i3/i5/i7 isn't as straightforward as that.

 

I'm not up on the specifics of their tier system at present, but when I bought my current chipset, the i5 2500K was significantly faster than most of the i7's on the market.  The difference between it and the i7 2600k(besides 100 bucks) was 100 mhz, and hyperthreading.  They separated them out by virtual core count, i7's were hyperthreaded quads, while i5's were hyperthreaded duals or normal quads.  Any of the lower clocked i7's would have been significantly slower than the 2500K.

 

You should always check benchmarks when shopping for components.  Even ignoring the nonsense they throw into the mix, without a benchmark you can end up paying for a second or third generation processor that costs you more for less performance than the current generation.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks Everyone!

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

My goto site is http://www.techreport.com

 

They have in depth reviews as well as a nice article called the system guide where they give sample parts at different price ranges that they recommend. 

 

Also, if you are looking for a good price, i suggest pcpartpicker.com which lets you view every vendors prices and get email alerts when something goes on sale to an amount you want (under $150 for example)